Music History II FINAL

 How are Impressionistic paintings and compositions similar?

1. Impressionistic paintings and compositions are similar in that both aim to capture a fleeting mood, atmosphere, or impression rather than detailed realism or structured form.

2. Impressionism is the idea of viewing art as a whole. For instance, in paintings, painters used thick strokes and muted colors, while in music, composers used orchestration. Both focus on the viewers’ attention of the overall aspect of the piece instead of the details.

How did the World’s Fairs influence music making? Name a composer whose music was impacted and how.

1. The World’s Fairs (also known as International Expositions) played a significant role in influencing music-making by exposing composers and audiences to a wide range of global musical traditions, instruments, and performance styles that were previously unfamiliar in the Western classical tradition.   

   1. Example – Claude Debussy:

      1. Debussy attended the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris, where he heard Japanese gamelan music for the first time. This deeply impacted his compositional style. He began using:

Pentatonic scales and modal harmonies inspired by gamelan music

Layered textures and shimmering timbres resembling the sound of the gamelan ensemble,

1. A freer rhythmic structure, moving away from strict European forms.

What was controversial about Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, and what happened at the premiere?

1. The Rite of Spring was controversial for its harsh dissonances, irregular rhythms, and shocking choreography depicting a pagan ritual. At its 1913 premiere, the music and dancing caused a riot—audience members booed, shouted, and fought, making it one of the most infamous performances in music history

What is the difference between “serialism” and “total serialism”?

1. Serialism organizes pitch using a fixed series (like a 12-tone row).

Total serialism applies this idea to pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and more.

How silent are silent films? Discuss.

1. Silent films aren't truly silent—they just lack synchronized recorded dialogue.

2. They were typically shown with live music, such as piano, organ, or orchestra, and often included sound effects or narration to enhance the action. Music set the mood, covered projector noise, and helped tell the story. So, while called "silent," these films were rarely experienced in actual silence.

Where and by whom was the Quartet for the End of Time written, and who premiered it?

1. Olivier Messiaen wrote the Quartet for the End of Time in 1941 while imprisoned in Stalag VIII-A, a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp in Görlitz, Germany (now Zgorzelec, Poland). Also mimics birdsong.

   1. It was premiered in the camp on January 15, 1941 by:

      1. Olivier Messiaen (piano)

      2. Henri Akoka (clarinet)

      3. Jean Le Boulaire (violin)

      4. Étienne Pasquier (cello)

Many Artists Lick Paint, Playing Calmly Very Chill

What were composers trying to accomplish using graphic notation, and how did they go about doing it?

1. Composers using graphic notation aimed to break free from traditional musical notation and convey more abstract or unconventional musical ideas, such as timing, texture, and tone color that couldn't be easily represented with standard notation.

2. To do this, they used visual symbols, shapes, and lines instead of traditional notes and staves. These symbols could represent freedom in rhythm, extended techniques, or non-traditional sound structures. Composers like John Cage, Cornelius Cardew, and Earle Brown explored this method to allow more interpretation and flexibility from the performers, often making the music more open-ended and experimental

Pick three “-isms” and compare them.

1. Experimentalism

   1. Explores new sounds and techniques

   2. Challenges musical boundaries

   3. Includes indeterminacy, graphic scores, prepared instruments (e.g., Cage)

      Minimalism

      1. Short, repeated phrases

      2. Tonal or modal

      3. Reaction to Postmodernism

1. Impressionism

   1. Colorful, atmospheric textures

   2. Vague tonality and blurred harmonies

   3. Focus on mood and suggestion (e.g., Debussy)

How is American modernism different from European modernism? Use at least one specific composer/piece for each in your answer.

1. American Modernism 

   1. Atonality and dissonance

   2. Rhythmic complexity

   3. Experimental forms

2. Composers

   1. Aaron Copeland 

      1. Ballets: Billy the Kid (1938)

3. European Modernism

   1. New Nationalisms

   2. Reacting to both worlds

   3. New Technologies

   4. New Countries

   5. Fall of Regimes

4. Composers

   1. Oliver Messiaen

      1. Quartet for the end of time (1941)

Many new technologies were developed around the turn of the 20^th century. Discuss five (5) of them and their effect on music of the time period.

1. Logical extrapolations of these updates and revisions

2. “Second Industrial Revolution”

   1. Railroad (Golden spike: 1869)

   2. Telephone (1876)

   3. Phonograph (1877)

   4. Car (that used gas: 1893)

   5. Film (1895)

Compare the mechanism of the ondes martenot and the theremin.

1. Both electronic instruments

2. Theremin no touch has two antennas that create an electromagnetic acoustic space and move hands. On hand controls pitch and other articulation nd dynamics

3. Ondes Martno uses keys and a string to move the ring back and forth to determine pitch. Left hand controls the velocity and pitch and also the speakers and their types of waves.

4. The ring controls vibrato