Listening Quiz #4

La Création du monde, First Tableau

Milhaud, 1920s, Neoclassical, jazz-infused ballet

Milhaud, 1920s, Neoclassical, jazz ballet

La Création du monde, First Tableau

A ballet portraying the creation of the world

Tableau context

features solo saxophone, ragtime-derived syncopation, blues idiom, neoclassical counterpoint

Tableau Style

Chamber Symphony No. 4, movement 3, Étude

Milhaud, 1920s, Neoclassical, ten-part string work

Milhaud, 1920s, Neoclassical, ten-part string work

Chamber Symphony No. 4, movement 3, Étude

Neoclassicism in its purest form, 6 minute symphony

Chamber Symphony Context

10-part fugue, with entries running lowest to highest then reversed, with fugue theme inverted.

chamber symphony style

Rite of Spring, Dance of Adolescent Girls

Stravinsky, 1910s, Primitivism, Russian Ballet

Stravinsky, 1910s, Primitivism, Russian Ballet

Rite of Spring, Dance of Adolescent Girls

celebration of an ancient Slavic ritual in which a girl in the village is sacrificed to the Sun God

Rite of Spring Context

impossible bassoon solo, shocking rhythms, unpredictable accents, jarring dissonances

Rite of Spring Style

Symphony No. 5, movement 2, Allegretto

Shostakovich, 1930s, Soviet Nationalism, Symphony

Shostakovich, 1930s, Soviet Nationalism, Symphony

Symphony No. 5, movement 2, Allegretto

reflect bitterness and mourning in the face of totalitarian repression but was too popular at home and abroad for Stalin to ban

Shosty 5 context

built on the grand symphonic traditional of Gustav Mahler, following the conservative symphonic tradition of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky

shosty 5 style

Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, movement 3, Adagio

Bartók, 1930s, Modernism

Bartók, 1930s, Modernism

Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, movement 3, Adagio

seeks to create the unorthodox nature of peasant settings by using unusual classical scoring

bartok context

Bachian counterpoint, with inversions, contrary motion, native Hungarian tunes, use of timpani glissandi

Bartok Style

Hyperprism

Varèse, 1920s, Modern, Avant-garde

Varèse, 1920s, Modern, Avant-garde

Hyperprism

sought to organize and manipulate sound masses, characterized by a particular timbre, register, rhythm, or melody

hyperprism context

Form is no longer the starting point, rather the end result of sound masses manipulation

hyperprism style

String Quartet 1931, movement 4, Allegro possibile

Crawford, 1930s, Modernist, String Quartet

Crawford, 1930s, Modernist, String Quartet

String Quartet 1931, movement 4, Allegro possibile

most famous piece, written in Europe while she was on the Guggenheim Fellowship

crawford context

two-part retrograde counterpoint, like Bach Two-Part Invention, a palindrome

crawford style

Suite for Violin and Piano, movement 3

Still, 1940s, American Moderinism, Violin Suite

Still, 1940s, American Moderinism, Violin Suite

Suite for Violin and Piano, movement 3

portrays a gamin (a mischievous street urchin)

still context

stride bass piano, jazzy violin sounds, partial rondo form

still style

Quartet for the End of Time, movement 1, Liturgie de cristal

Messiaen, 1940s, 20th century music

Messiaen, 1940s, 20th century music

Quartet for the End of Time, movement 1, Liturgie de cristal

composed in a German prison camp during World War II, for performance by Messiaen and three fellow prisoners, refers to the apocalypse

messiaen context

Clarinet and violin: play stylized birdcalls, Piano and cello: lay out complex patterns of duration and pitch that repeat

messiaen style

Prelude No. 2 in C# Minor for Piano

Gershwin, 1920s, Jazz Prelude

Gershwin, 1920s, Jazz Prelude

Prelude No. 2 in C# Minor for Piano

Modeled after a slow, melodic Chopin Prelude

gershwin context

idiom is American blues, with lowered 3rds and 7ths

gershwin style