MUSI 2737 - Appreciation of Music Final Exam Study Guide
Module 2 – Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque Eras
Composers
Hildegard of Bingen – Middle Ages
- Famous Female composer who wrote in an expressive style and was left by her parents to the church as a tithe. Her accomplishments were extraordinary for a woman at the time.
Pope Gregory – Middle Ages
- Credited with the creation of plainchant
Palestrina – Renaissance
- Early renaissance preeminent motet composer from present day Belgium and northern France who was the first to use wind instruments.
Josquin de Prez – Renaissance
- Italian composer, organist and choirmaster, who worked at St. Peter’s in Rome. Wrote the Mass Pope Marcellus which was a response to protestant music.
Teleman Susato – Renaissance
- A Flemish composer, instrumentalist, and printer who composed and arranged secular and sacred works. He played every brass and woodwind instrument available during the Renaissance and was a member of the Antwerp.
John Farmer – Renaissance
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Henry Purcell – Baroque
- An English court musician, composer, organist, and singer who wrote Dido and Aeneas.
J.S. Bach – Baroque
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Frederick Handel – Baroque
- German composer, director, and produce who wrote Messiah.
Antonio Vivaldi – Baroque
- A Venetian composer, and violin virtuosos, who was nicknamed the Reg Priest. He wrote primarily for violin and working in an all-girlss orphanage.
Composition with Composer and Genre Messiah – Frederick Handel - Oratorio The Art of the Fugue – J.S. Bach - Fugue
The Four Seasons – Antonio Vivaldi – Concerto
General musical characteristics for each Musical Era
Middle Ages – Plainchant and Gregorian chant was the primary music of the Catholic Church; monophonic texture prevailed. Later in the period, organum develops.
Renaissance – This historical period was a time of “rebirth;” the printing press was invented, interest shifted to more secular concerns. The music continued to be polyphonic, the Mass was an important genre, and secular music emerged.
Baroque – In this period there was a shift away from polyphony toward homophony, the “new style” of composition employed basso continuo, the major-minor key system was established, and the equal temperament tuning system was adopted.
Musical genres and the historical periods in which they originated Plainchant – Middle Ages
Mass (musical settings of the mass) – Renaissance Motet - Renaissance
Dance Suites – Baroque Fugue – Baroque Concerto – Baroque
Composers/musician and the genre each is well known for
J.S. Bach – fugue
Hildegard of Bingen – plainchant Leonin – plainchant and organum
Musical Genre and if it is thought to be the cultivated music tradition of Western Europe or the vernacular tradition of various cultures … or if the genre is a mix of both.
Oratoria – cultivated Motet – cultivated Concerto – cultivated Mass – cultivated
Module 3 – Classical and Romantic Eras
Composers
Joseph Haydn – Classical
- He was a prolific Austrian composer, a choirboy at St. Stephens’s Cathedral in Vienna and had the Esterházy’s as his patrons for over 30 years. He is responsible for the development of the orchestra and the string quartet, earning him the nickname Father of the Symphony, and Father of the String Quartet.
Wolfgang Mozart – Classical
- An Austrian composer, pianist and son of Leopold Mozart, and esteemed court composer-violinist. He was the extraordinarily gifted child in the history of music and was the first to rebel against the system of patronage and become a freelance musician.
Ludwig van Beethoven – Classical and Romantic
- A transitional composer that was grounded in the Classical tradtions but had emerging romantic sensibilities. This made him the link to the Romantic Age. He had no patron and had three compositional periods; 1. Clear and Clean, 2. Conflicting, and 3. Reflective. He was also the first composer to write for trombones, piccolo, contrabassoon, and more than 2 horns in a symphonic work.
Franz Schubert – Romantic
- Of Austrian descent, receiving public recognition while he was still a teen. He is responsible for the Lied being brough to the forefront. He died at the age of 31 and was buried next to Beethoven
Robert Schumann – Romantic
- A man with a bipolar personality, had the ambition to be a pianist, but injured his hand and turned to composition and criticism. Married to Clara Wieck, who would play his composition. He unified song cycles with texts from a single poet, but after a suicide attempt, he was confined to an asylum.
Fredrick Chopin – Romantic
- He was an incredible piano player, had an affair with the novelist Aurore Dudevant (George Sand), and revolved all works around the piano. He is the origin of the modern piano style. He died at 39 due to tuberculosis.
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel- Romantic
- Born into a highly cultured family, leading her to learn from her mother the piano, but was discouraged from making music her career. She married the court artist Wilhelm Hensel, but she composed and played for regular Sunday salon concerts at the Mendelssohn residence. She was recognized as a gifted composer during her lifetime, but was reluctant to make her compositions public, resulting in her being in the shadow of her more famous younger brother Felix Mendelssohn.
Felix Mendelssohn – Romantic
- A German pianist, conductor, organizer of music festivals, educator, and composer, who preserved the tradition of Classical-era forms.
Hector Berlioz – Romantic
- A French composer, and the first proponent of musical Romanticism in France. He left medical school to study music, was influenced by Beethoven and Shakespeare, making him a master of orchestration, and creating daring originality, bold innovation, and huge orchestral forces.
Richard Wagner – Romantic
- a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas. Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works
Scott Joplin – Romantic
- A Texas born composer and son of a former slave. He traveled the Mississippi Valley at the age of 14 and gained recognition at the 1893 World Exposition in Chicago, earning him the nickname “King of Ragtime”. His famous work maple Leaf Rage sold one million copies.
Stephen Foster – Romantic
- An American composer born outside of Pittsburgh, who composed for Christy Minstrels, a black face minstrel show. He was the first American to make a living as a professional songwriter, making hit songs that include Oh! Susanna, and Old Folks at Home. Sadly he died penniless due to alcohol.
Gustav Mahler – Romantic
- A bohemian, Jewish conductor and composer, who was a professionally a conductor and just composed in the summer. His orchestras grew to enormous proportion pushing outside the boundaries of tradition.
Composition with Composer and Genre
Symphony No. 5 in C minor – Beethoven – Symphony
Symphonie fantastique – Berlioz – Symphony
Die Walkure – Wagner – Opera
Maple Leaf Rag – Joplin – Ragtime
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – Trad/Anonymous – Spiritual
General musical characteristics for each Musical Era
Classical – this period produced lyrical melodies, phrase symmetry, diatonic harmonies, clear-cut cadences, frequent use of sequencing, and generally homophonic textures. Form was very important to music of this period.
Romantic - In this historical period, the orchestra greatly increase in size and added new instruments, dynamic range expanded, the conductor appeared as a central figure, nationalism exhibited through the inclusion of folk songs, instrumental forms expanded, and harmony was more chromatic and dissonant.
Musical genres and the historical periods in which they originated String Quartet – Classical
Symphony – Classical
African American spirituals – Romantic American parlor songs – Romantic Characterpiece – Romantic
Lieder – Romantic
Composers/musician and the genre each is well known for Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony
Hector Berlioz – Symphony Johannes Brahms – Symphony Fredrick Chopin – Characterpiece
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel – Characterpiece Joseph Haydn – Symphony
Scott Joplin – Ragtime Gustav Mahler – Symphony
W.A. Mozart – Opera Giacomo Puccini – Opera Franz Schubert – Lieder Robert Schumann – Lieder Peter Tchaikovsky – Ballet Giuseppe Verdi – Opera Richard Wagner – Opera
Musical Genre and if it is thought to be the cultivated music tradition of Western Europe or the vernacular tradition of various cultures … or if the genre is a mix of both.
Symphony – cultivated Ragtime – combination of both Opera – cultivated
Work Songs – Vernacular String Quartet – cultivated
Parlor Songs – combination of both
Module 4 – Modernist, Post-Modernist or 20th Century
Composers
Bela Bartok – Modernist
- Born in Hungary, he toured remote villages of Hungary to collect naïve songs, collecting in total over 2,000 Eastern European songs and dances. The songs and dances served as the raw material for his neo-classical style. In 1940 he moved to New York and used the features of Eastern European traditional music while adhering to the classical form.
John Cage – Post-Modernist
- A Los Angeles born composer who was experimental and led the post war avant-garde. He was a student of Henry Cowell and had early interest in non-western scales. In 1938 he invented the “prepared piano”.
Aaron Copland – Modernist
- Born in Brooklyn and studied music in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. He wrote popular ballets and film scores that earn him academy awards. In the 1950s he was also investigates as a communist supporter.
Duke Ellington – 20th Century
- Born in Washington DC, he was playing in New York jazz clubs by the 1920s. He was concerned about the structure of his works which resulted in complex forms. He was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance. His band and compositions won over a wide audience, both white and black. He was the first black bandleader with national exposure, being the cause of Big Band becoming popular all over the United States.
Florence Price – Modernist
- The first African American female composer to have a work performed by a major symphony Orchestra, her Symphony No. ! in E minor was performed by the Chicago symphony Orchestra on June 15, 1933
George Gershwin – Modernist
- A composer and pianist who grew up in Manhattan. He became a “song plugger” for Tin Pan Alley and wrote his first hit Swanee in the 1920s. He wrote numerous 1920s orchestral-jazz works and wrote hit musicals with his brother Ira Gershwin. His music is a union of popular and classical styles, utilizing syncopation and harmonic variations that closely resembled jazz.
Charles Ives – Modernist
- Born in Connecticut, his father was a former Civil War band Leader. During his youth he was the Church organist, and then went to Yale to study composition. It was not until his old age that he was famous, but he was steeped in vernacular heritage, with a compositional voice that was modernist.
Steve Reich – Post-Modernist
- A New York born composer, he was one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. He was a pioneer of minimalist music. He was influenced by Ewe drumming, Balinese gamelan, Judaism, Stravinsky, and Bach.
Arnold Schoenberg – Modernist
- Vinnese Conductor, educator, and a highly influential expressionist composer. He developed the 12-tone method of composition and had two important students: Alban Berg, and Anton Webern
William Grant Still – Modernist
- An African American composer and violinist, who was the most important musical voice of the Harlem Renaissance. A arranged music in Memphis and new York for the radio and muisical theator. But he broke numerous racial barriers; being the first African American Composer to perform his work (Afro-American Symphony) by a major American Orchestra and was the first African American compoer to have an opera (Troubled Island) played in a major opera house. He was influenced by spirituals, blues and jazz.
Igor Stravinsky – Modernist
- A Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who was commissioned by the Ballets Russes to write the compositions for multiple ballets, The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring. He had an evolving compositional style going from a Russian Period to a Neo-Classical Period, and finally a Twelve-tone period of his music.
Composition with Composer and Genre American String Quartet – Dvork – String Quartet The Rite of Spring – Stravinsky – Ballet
Country Band March – Ives – March
Stars and Strips Forever – Sousa – March
Rhapsody in Blue – Gershwin – Concerto-like, one-movement
Appalachian Spring – Copland – Ballet
4’33” – Cage – Experimental
Electric Counterpoint – Reich – Chamber work for guitar and tape
General musical characteristics for each Musical Era
Modernist – The music of this historical era features meters that shift constantly, polyrhythm, atonality, smaller orchestras, and an emphasis on winds and percussion.
Post-Modernist – This historic era is difficult to define, however some composers leaned more on intuition, change, and improvisation. Recording and playback technology heralded the advent of electronic music.
Musical genres and the historical periods in which they originated Jazz – 20th century
12-tone or Serialism – Modernist Atonal – Modernist
Musical Theatre - Modernist Experimentalist – Post-Modernist Electronic – Post Modernist
Composers/musician and the genre each is well known for Louis Armstrong – Jazz
Alban Berg – atonal
Leonard Bernstein – Musical Theatre John Cage – Experimental
Aaron Copland – Ballet Duke Ellington – Jazz Charles Ives – Experimental Robert Johnson – Blues Charlie Parker – Jazz Charlie Patton – Blues
Ma Rainey – Blues
Steve Reich – Experimental Arnold Schoenberg – atonal Bessie Smith - Blues and Jazz John Philip Sousa – March William Grant Still – Symphony Igor Stravinsky – Ballet
Musical Genre and if it is thought to be the cultivated music tradition of Western Europe or the vernacular tradition of various cultures … or if the genre is a mix of both.
Gamelan – vernacular Blues – vernacular
Musical Theatre – combination of both
