Let’s Talk MORE About Music

Let’s Talk MORE About Music Joanne Huang

Eras of Music • What’s considered an era (aka “style period”) in music?-When a majority of composers are writing music in similar ways • Middle Ages/Medieval Period (c.800-1400)-Catholic Church notation system • Renaissance Period (1400-1600)-Humanism  no one wants to listen to Church • Baroque Era (1600-1750) Bach dies in 1750 • Classical Period (1750-1830) • Romantic Era (1850-1900)

Modernism? • There was a new era of music in the early 1900’s • Modernism is “obsolete” so we don’t know what to call this kind of music yet • People stuck to Romanticism for a while—want to hear Beethoven & Mozart • This is developing a canon: a body of works that have achieved popularity—e.g. “the classics”, but not limited to pieces from the Classical period

Post-Romanticism • Composers had to compete with the past: Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Ralph Vaughan Williams, & Sergei Rachmaninoff • Post-Romanticism: used many aspects of Romantic music -harmony w/ extended chords-emphasis on expressiveness-long-ranging melodic flow-tone colors: rich array of timbres • These aspects combined w/ Modern era’s aspects or w/ techniques from older periods

Effects of CANON • New opera companies • Communities began to sponsor professional orchestras • USA usually hired European-born conductors-Leopold Stokowski: conductor of Philadelphia Orchestra, emphasized European works in his repertoryshaped USA tastes + orchestras • Demand for good training programsPeabody: BaltimoreNew England Conservatory: BostonJuilliard School: New York

Technology • 19th Century: better instruments were being built and also new instruments • 20th Century: achievements from 19th century continued + mechanical means of music • Some people actually did not like the classics—wanted NEW music • Space is no longer an issue; wider audience can be reached  easier to switch to a diff style of music

Wireless Technology • Development of wireless transmission of sound-Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi—wireless technology-initially trying to send Morse code signals-Dec. 23rd, 1900: speech was wirelessly transmitted for the first time-Jan. 12th & 13th, 1910: first public radio broadcasts b/c of Lee De Forest—NY’s Metropolitan Opera’s performance w/ singer Enrico Caruso

Radio Act of 1912 • 1912 Titanic -Nearest ship SS Californian had one radio operator, no SOS signal reached • USA Radio Act:1). All seagoing vessels need to hire enough radio operators2). All US radio stations need to be licensed by the government3). President can close radio stations during wartime-EX: Department of Commerce shut down radio stations on April 7, 1917

Recording • Audio:-1977: Thomas Edison recorded “Mary Had a Little Lamb”  phonograph—wax cylinders-Columbia—”graphophone”—wax cylinders-Post 1890: can easily purchase recordings of musicians-”gramophone”—flat-discs (common for rich)-1913: first album: Berlin Philharmonic recorded the complete Fifth Symphony by Beethoven on 8 discs

Connections to WWI? • Many soldiers took portable gramophones to the front • A company called Decca marketed one of its design as a “trench model”, ad on pg. 42 • Contributed to morale

Demand for Recording Machines • Not all devices were used commercially • Scholars noticed musical traditions were being lost • Researchers (interested in ethnomusicology) used the recording machines to preserve folk and ethnic musicw/ field recordings (natural environment)ex: USA Frances Densmore recorded more than 2,000 Native American melodies • Not “authentic”b/c of short recording time back then

Recording • FILM-1891: Edison “Kinetoscope” allowed one person to view silent images-Edison “Kinetophone” allowed sound to be played via headphones • Early film projectors allowed groups to watch-early 20th century film w/ audio: “sound on disc”“sound-on-film” live musicians

Film continued… • CONS:-sound was not amplified-1920s was when Lee De Forest produced a vacuum tube that allowed amplified sound-1927: first feature film “talkie”—The Jazz Singer

20th Century New Music • Not really stylistic unity; composers competed for originality • Avant-garde: new & unusual experimental ideas in the arts ex: Erik Satie mocks the past eras “Three Pieces in the Form of a Pear” • Labels in music are often borrowed from the visual arts • Interest in experimentation—Impressionism, Expressionism, and Primitivism-composer Henry Cowell’sThe Tides of Manaunaumused tone clusters: a highly dissonant chord that contains several ½ or whole step intervalsCowell used fist or forearm on piano

Impressionism (France) • 1872: Claude Monet Impression: solei levant (Sunrise) focused on color + light, vague • French musicians tried approaches that resembled the visual arts movement-forms of pieces were vague and inexact-common-practice tonality with more “added” pitches and blurred functions of many chords-unconventional scales—whole tone scale: no half steps w/ no pull to the tonic-not really a rhythmic pulse-new tone colors-unusual instruments

Voiles • Impressionists were inspired by Symbolists (French poetry movement) that emphasized imagery over narrative, “breaks” in the flow • Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun is based on Mallarme’s Symbolist poem • Debussy’s Preludes are character pieces (miniatures): popular in the Romantic Period that are short pieces and express the imagery suggested by their titles • Voiles can mean the veil or the sail—vague • Vague form-glissando: a rapid gesture that resembles the sweeping motion of a harp

Expressionism (Austria) • Characteristics:-depict emotional responses, esp. strong and distorted emotions-uneasiness, not relaxing-”a violent storm of emotion beating up from the unconscious mind” and shows “truth” • Music: -unsettling, not really any familiar musical elements-no clear cadence nor balanced phrases-indistinguishable form-erratic rhythm-dissonance dominates-atonality (not written in a key)

Pierrotlunaire, Op. 21 • Second Viennese School: Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern • “Moonstruck Pierrot” has lunacy (moon-lunar)-Pierrot is from a commedia dell’arte: 16th century Italian entertainment with stock characters (lunar clown)-Nacht is night • Song cycle: a set of songs unified by some shared characteristic in the music and/or poetry-Schoenberg used 21 of Albert Giraud’s poems about Pierrot b/c hired by AlbertineZehme

Continued…. • Singer uses Sprechstinmme: notes are half-sung and half-spoken, sing-song effect & doesn’t have a clear relationship to instruments • Subtitle: Passacaglia: new melodies appear over a repeating bass line-ostinato: a short pattern that repeats many, many times-rising minor third followed by a descending major third usually using the pitches E-G-Eflat • fermata: tells performers to sustain a note or slience longer than its written value-piano, cello, and bass • On the bridge: player draws bow directly over the instrument’s bridge-cello does this so strings cannot vibrate freely and timbre is chilly

Other techniques • Word painting: setting the music to illustrate the literal meaning of a particular wordex: upward leap at “Duft” (fragrance)Steighteinduftsubset of text expression: general association that does not reflect literal meaning, but suits the general moodex: funeral in minor mode

Primitivism • Shares characteristics with Expressionism, but do not give a sense of impending doom or disturbing effects • Exotic juxtaposition with humans and nature, inspired by traditional arts of Africa or the Pacific Islands • MUSIC:primal, uncultural effects shunned polished techniquesno conventional concert musicemphasis on percussive rhythms  ostinato patternssimplified common-practice harmony or abandoned it

The Rite of Spring • 1910 Russian Igor Stravinsky lived in Paris at the same time as Sergei Diaghilev, an impresario for the ballet ($$$ + decision maker) • Diaghilev wanted to showcase Russian culture • Stravinsky was commissioned and thought of a pagan ritual where a young girl would dance herself to death to placate the God of SpringTalked to Nikolai Roerich, a painter & expert on Ancient Slavs’ cultureWorked out the scenario: storyline or plot of ballet

The Rite of Spring Intro & Omens of Spring • Solo bassoon played at a high register so it has a distorted timbre and is lost w/ no steady meter • Old Lithuanian wedding tune’s melody is used • Complicated texture = awakening of nature • Omens of Spring has polychord: two distinct harmonies played simultaneously  dissonance • Pounding rhythm + ostinato patterns = ritual drumming • Syncopated accents = no steady meter • 3 ostinato patterns occur simultaneously = polymetric passage

Nationalism • Composers sought to elevate one’s love of their country • Reject the music conventions of the enemy (ex: France post-Franco Prussian War, Les Six) • Rediscovering lost music of the nation (ex: England rediscovered Renaissance music) • Showcased geographic features of the country (ex: England) • Quoting hymns and patriotic songs that commemorated landscape, history, and artists (Charles Ives of USA)

Bela Bartok andZoltan Kodaly • 2 Hungarians who were ethnomusicologists and composers • They retrieved field recordings from Hungary and other places such as Turkey using a gramophone • Used the folk and ethnic music as inspiration for their own pieces • Suchoff’s classification of folk-music adaptation (five levels, pg. 61)

Romanian Christmas Carols • Bartok created Romanian Christmas Carols with 20 melodies from the Transylvania sector of Romania (1909) • Listed the source colinde, or carols in his score • Stories from ancient pagan times • Nationalistic elements: modal: scales that predate the common-practice system (from Medieval + Renaissance) major and minor were modalflexible meter b/c folk music rhythm follows poetic syllablesdrone: mimics the Hungarian bagpipe (open pipes called drones) with a sustained, unchanging note

Atonality • Tonal = music w/ a tonic (the “resting tone”) • Atonal= no resting tone and may reflect Cubism, with no fixed viewpoint and diff perspectives • Schoenberg liked the term “pantonal” b/c it always has relationships with pitches • Emancipation of the Dissonance: there was no real distinction between extremely chromatic consonance and dissonance No need to make a complex chord simpler to resolve it • Atonality led to 12 tone serialism in 1920s

Atonality • Abandons traditional scales and chords • Still could be conventional b/c of straightforward meter and rhythm • Lack of a tonic makes people pay attention to the notes in the piece • Can accompany other styles of music or be its own style (ex: Webern, part of 2nd Viennese School, Six Bagatelles for String Quartet)

Six Bagatelles • Bagatelles=character piece=“trifle”, something of little value • Employs all 12 notes of the chromatic scale within the first seven measures = pantonality, all notes matter • Atonality refers to chromatic scale as aggregate: a set that contains the 12 diff pitches in Western music (semitones)

Yay for More Terms • Uses a concert string quartet w/ new techniques-on the bridge-pizzacato-mute: a small device that limits the string’s ability to vibrate to mute it • Tempo is extremely slow In the beginning  pointillism: notes are sounded with no accompaniment so each pitch sounds isolated • Klangfarbenmelodie: tone color melody where emphasis is on a series of timbres instead of a singable melody • Canon: imitative polyphonyex: the tone colors overlap to make a canon

Let’s Talk MORE About Music