The Art of Music: Music
Appreciation with an
Equity Lens
THE ART OF MUSIC:
MUSIC APPRECIATION
WITH AN EQUITY LENS
AMY MCGLOTHLIN AND JENNNIFER
BILL
ROTEL (Remixing Open Textbooks with an
Equity Lens) Project
Fitchburg, Massachusetts
The Art of Music: Music Appreciation with an Equity Lens Copyright © 2024
by Amy McGlothlin and Jennifer Bill is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except
where otherwise noted.
CONTENTS
Introduction
1
Land Acknowledgement
3
Part I. Unit I: Fundamentals
Chapter 1: Musical Instruments and
9
Ensembles
Chapter 2: Elements of Music
37
Chapter 3: How Music Makes Sense
61
Chapter 4: How to Listen
89
Part II. Unit II: Music of the
Middle Ages
Chapter 5: Music of the Middle Ages
93
Part III. Unit III: Music of the
Renaissance
Chapter 6: Music of the Renaissance
141
Part IV. Unit IV: Music of the
Baroque
Chapter 7: Elements of Baroque Music
193
Chapter 8: Genres of the Baroque Period
198
Chapter 9: The Birth of Opera
203
Chapter 10: New Music for Instruments
215
Chapter 11: Music of George Frideric
235
Handel (1685-1759)
Chapter 12: The Music of Johann
248
Sebastian Bach
Part V. Unit V: Music of the
Classical Era
Chapter 13: Intro and Characteristics
271
Chapter 14: Performing Forces and
286
Genres
Chapter 15: Composers
302
Part VI. Unit VI: Music of the 19th
Century
Chapter 16: Intro, Art Song, Piano
377
Character Pieces
Chapter 17: Chamber Music
453
Chapter 18: Program Music & the
472
Program Symphony
Chapter 19: Opera
495
Chapter 20: Absolute Symphony and
541
Nationalism
Part VII. Unit VII: Music of the
20th Century
Chapter 21: Musicals
597
Chapter 22: Modern Music of the 20th
641
and 21st Centuries
Chapter 23: Compositional Styles
676
Chapter 24: Jazz
740
Grant Information
785
INTRODUCTION | 1
INTRODUCTION
A key objective in our approach to remixing a traditional
Western Music Appreciation textbook has been to enhance
representation. As women, professional musicians, and
educators, we have long noted the absence of imagery and
musical examples that reflect our own identities in music
textbooks. Many of our students are first-generation college
attendees, students of color, members of the LGBTQIA
community, and members of various marginalized
communities, and they are seldom represented in these
materials. For decades, music appreciation textbooks have
largely overlooked women composers along with composers
and musicians from other underrepresented groups.
In this edition, we have made a concerted effort to include
photographs and examples that showcase diverse populations.
In particular, for world music examples, we have prioritized
images of performers from the relevant cultural regions. We
consider this book a work in progress and remain dedicated to
advancing representation in all aspects of music education.
This is indeed a comprehensive textbook, created by
integrating several open educational resources. We encourage
you, as the instructor, to use the sections most relevant to
your teaching goals. Although organized chronologically, the
2 | INTRODUCTION
content is designed for flexible use in any sequence you prefer.
We’ve aimed to cover the key topics traditionally found in
a Western Music Appreciation text while also including
specialized subjects from our own teaching that are often
absent in other sources.
To support more inclusive representation, we have
embedded YouTube videos within the text. Should you
encounter any broken links, please use our feedback form to
notify us so we can address them promptly.
Dr. Amy McGlothlin is an Associate Professor of Music
in the Humanities Department at Fitchburg State University
where she is the Director of Bands and the Program Director
of the B.A Creative Arts Therapies Program. A professional
saxophonist, she is a member of the Pharos Quartet and Triage
Woodwinds.
Dr. Jennifer Bill is a faculty member at Boston University
where she is a lecturer of music and serves as the director of
concert band. A professional saxophonist, she is a member
of the Pharos Quartet, the BiND Ensemble, and
BRUSH|REED.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT | 3
LAND
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
As part of ROTEL Grant’s mission to support the creation,
management, and dissemination of culturally-relevant
textbooks, we must acknowledge Indigenous Peoples as the
traditional stewards of the land, and the enduring relationship
that exists between them and their traditional territories. We
acknowledge that the boundaries that created Massachusetts
were arbitrary and a product of the settlers. We honor the
land on which the Higher Education Institutions of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts are sited as the traditional
territory of tribal nations. We acknowledge the painful history
of genocide and forced removal from their territory, and other
atrocities connected with colonization. We honor and respect
the many diverse indigenous people connected to this land
on which we gather, and our acknowledgement is one action
we can take to correct the stories and practices that erase
Indigenous People’s history and culture.
Identified tribes and/or nations of Massachusetts
Historical nations:
• Mahican
• Mashpee
4 | LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
• Massachuset
• Nauset
• Nipmuc
• Pennacook
• Pocomtuc
• Stockbridge
• Wampanoag
Present day nations and tribes:
• Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe
• Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head Aquinnah
• Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe
• Assawompsett-Nemasket Band of Wampanoags
• Pocasset Wampanoag of the Pokanoket Nation
• Pacasset Wampanoag Tribe
• Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe
• Chappaquiddick Tribe of the Wampanoag Indian
Nation
• Nipmuc Nation (Bands include the Hassanamisco,
Natick)
• Nipmuck Tribal Council of Chaubunagungamaug
• Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag
At the time of publication, the links above were all active.
Suggested readings
Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT | 5
A guide to Indigenous land acknowledgment
‘We are all on Native Land: A conversation about Land
Acknowledgements’ YouTube video
Native-Land.ca | Our home on native land (mapping of
native lands)
Beyond territorial acknowledgments – âpihtawikosisân
Your Territorial Acknowledgment Is Not Enough
This land acknowledgement was based on Digital
Commonwealth. Please contact ROTELPST@gmail.com
with any questions or concerns.
6 | LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
UNIT I: FUNDAMENTALS | 7
PART I
UNIT I:
FUNDAMENTALS
8 | UNIT I: FUNDAMENTALS
CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES | 9
CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS AND
ENSEMBLES
Musical Instruments and
Families
Instruments: A World View
Though one could say that the human voice was the first
instrument, most cultures have developed other distinctive
ways of creating musical sound, from something as simple as
two sticks struck together to the most complex pipe organ or
synthesizer. Learning about musical instruments can teach you
much about a culture’s history and aesthetics.
Here are a few general questions that
are useful to ask, especially if an
instrument is unfamiliar:
How is the sound produced?
10 | CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES
As you will see in the following explanations, there are many
ways that instruments can produce sound.
What material is it made of?
The physical composition of an instrument will often
reflect the area in which it was developed; for example, certain
types of wood or ceramics could indicate a specific
geographical region. In addition, the instrument may be made
of materials considered sacred by its culture, or be decorated in
such a way that reflects its significance to the people who play
it.
CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES | 11
How is the instrument viewed by the culture that
created it?
Although in some cultures instruments are simply viewed as
objects used in a musical performance, in others instruments
are viewed as sacred or as part of a distinctive cultural ritual.
12 | CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES
Performance technique.
As varied as the shapes, sizes, and materials of musical
instruments are throughout the world; so is the manner in
which they are played. Instruments can be struck, blown,
bowed, shaken, etc. Often one instrument can be played in a
variety of ways: For example, a violin can be bowed, plucked,
struck, or even strummed like a guitar.
Classifying Instruments
How is the instrument used?
An instrument may be used alone, or gathered with other
instruments in ensembles.
Ethnomusicologists have devised a series of categories to
classify instruments throughout the world, based on the ways
CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES | 13
in which they produce sound. Each of these words ends with
the suffix “phone,” the Greek word for sound. The following
are just the most general categories. This is called the SachsHornbostel instrument categorization method.
Aerophones:
Sound is produced by air. Aerophones use many mechanisms
to make the air in the instrument vibrate, thus creating sound
waves. If you have ever blown across the top of a soda bottle,
you’ve created an aerophone. Blowing across the bottle’s
opening splits the air so some goes across the opening and
some goes into the bottle, thus creating vibrations. If you fill
the bottle partially with water, the sound is higher, because
the column of air in the bottle is shorter. In a trumpet, the
vibration of air is created by the buzzing of the lips into a
mouthpiece. Many instruments also use reeds—small, thin
pieces of wood or bamboo—that vibrate as the air passes them,
thus creating another distinctive sound.
14 | CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES
Chordophones:
Sound produced by strings. Both a rubber band stretched over
a shoe box and a violin could be considered chordophones, as
sound is produced by the vibration of a chord (or string). As
mentioned above, chordophones can be played in a variety of
ways: They can be plucked, struck, strummed, or played with
a device known as a bow.
CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES | 15
Membranophones:
The sound is produced by a stretched membrane (plastic,
animal skin, fiberglass, etc.). The most familiar
membranophones are the nearly infinite varieties of drums
found throughout the world.
16 | CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES
Idiophones:
Sound produced by the body of the instrument itself. The
word “idiophone” comes from the Greek “id” or “self.” When
you clap your hands together, you are essentially using them
as idiophones, as it is the hands themselves that create the
sound. Two sticks knocked together could be considered an
idiophone, as well as any number of types of bells, where the
entire instrument is struck and vibrates. A gourd filled with
beads or seeds (or a maraca) would also be considered an
idiophone because it is the interior material hitting the sides of
the instrument that creates the sound.
CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES | 17
Electrophones:
Sound produced by electric or electronic means. This is a
relatively new category that includes instruments such as
synthesizers, computers, etc.
18 | CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES
Human Voice as Instrument
The human voice is a natural musical instrument and
singing by people of all ages, alone or in groups, is an activity
in all human cultures. The human voice is essentially a wind
instrument, with the lungs supplying the air, the vocal cords
setting up the vibrations, and the cavities of the upper throat,
mouth, and nose forming a resonating chamber. Different
pitches are obtained by varying the tension of the opening
between the vocal cords.
In the Western classical tradition, voices are classified
according to their place in the pitch spectrum. From highest to
lowest, they are soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, tenor, baritone,
and bass. These terms are applied not only to voices and singers
but also to the parts they sing.
CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES | 19
The range of an individual’s voice is determined by the
physiology of the vocal cords. However, because the vocal
cords are muscles, even the most modest singing activity can
increase their flexibility and elasticity, and serious training can
do so to a remarkable degree. Singers also work to extend the
power of their voices, control pitch, and quality at all dynamic
levels, and develop speed and agility.
Vocal quality and singing technique are other important
criteria in the classification of voices. A singer’s tone color is
determined in part by anatomical features, which include the
mouth, nose, and throat as well as the vocal cords. But the
development of a particular vocal timbre is also strongly
influenced by aesthetic conventions and personal taste. A
tight, nasal tone is associated with many Asian and Arabic
traditions, whereas opera and gospel singers employ a strong
chest voice with pronounced vibrato. Even within a single
musical tradition, there may be fine distinctions based on the
character and color of the voice. For example, among operatic
voices, a lyric soprano has a light, refined quality, and a
dramatic soprano has a powerful, emotional tone.
Example of nasal tone quality
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20 | CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES
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Example of chest voice quality
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Vocal music is often identified as sacred or secular on the basis
of its text. Sacred music may be based on a scriptural text, the
words of a religious ceremony, or deal with a religious subject.
The words in secular music may express feelings, narrate a
story, describe activities associated with work or play, comment
on social or political situations, convey a nationalistic message,
and so on.
CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES | 21
Western Categories of
Instruments
Instruments are commonly classified in families, according to
their method of generating sounds. The most familiar
designations for these groupings are strings (sound produced
by vibrating strings), winds (by a vibrating column of air), and
percussion (by an object shaken or struck).
String Instruments
The members of the string family of the Western orchestra
are violin, viola, cello (or violoncello), and bass (or double
bass). All are similar in structure and appearance and also quite
homogeneous in tone color, although of different pitch ranges
because of differences in the length and diameter of their
strings. Sound is produced by drawing a horsehair bow across
the strings, less often by plucking with the fingertips (called
pizzicato). The harp is a plucked string instrument often
found in the orchestra after 1830.
22 | CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES
• Violin
• Viola
• Cello
• Double Bass
• Harp
Wind Instruments
In wind instruments, the player blows through a mouthpiece
that is attached to a conical or cylindrical tube filled with air.
The winds are subdivided into woodwinds and brass. The
naming of the orchestral winds can be both confusing and
CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES | 23
misleading. For example, the modern flute, classified as a
woodwind, is made of metal while ancestors of some modern
brass instruments were made of wood; the French horn is a
brass instrument, but the English horn is a woodwind; and the
saxophone, is classified as a woodwind because its mouthpiece
is similar to that of the clarinet, although its body is metal.
The main orchestral woodwinds are flute, clarinet, oboe,
and bassoon. Their very distinctive tone colors are due in part
to the different ways in which the air in the body of the
instrument is set in vibration. In the flute (and the piccolo)
the player blows into the mouthpiece at a sharp angle, in the
clarinet into a mouthpiece with a single reed, and in the oboe
and bassoon (also the less common English horn) through two
reeds bound together. In all woodwinds, pitch is determined
by varying the pressure of the breath in conjunction with
opening and closing holes along the side of the instrument,
either with the fingers or by keys and pads activated by the
fingers.
The members of the brass family are wound lengths of
metal tubing with a cup-shaped mouthpiece at one end and
a flared bell at the other. Pitch is controlled in part by the
pressure of the lips and the amount of air, and also by altering
the length of tubing either by valves (trumpet, French horn,
tuba) or by a sliding section of tube (trombone).
The percussion family encompasses a large and diverse
group of instruments, which in the Western system of
classification are divided into pitched and non-pitched.
24 | CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES
The nucleus of the orchestral percussion section consists of
two, three, or four timpani, or kettledrums. The Timpani are
tuned to specific pitches by varying the tension on the head
stretched over the copper bowl using a pedal.
The snare drum, bass drum, triangle, cymbals, marimba (or
xylophone), tambourine, castanets, and chimes are among the
other instruments found in the percussion section of an
orchestra when called for in particular musical works.
Percussionists usually specialize in a particular instrument but
are expected to be competent players of them all.
The piano, harpsichord, and organ constitute a separate
category of instruments. The harpsichord might be classified
as a plucked string, the piano as both a string and a percussion
instrument since its strings are struck by felt-covered hammers,
and the organ as a wind instrument, its pipes being a collection
of air-filled tubes. Because the mechanism of the keyboard
allows the player to produce several tones at once, keyboard
instruments have traditionally been treated as self-sufficient
rather than as members of an orchestral section.
Visit this website for an interactive guide to orchestral
instruments
Counterparts to Western orchestral instruments are found
in musical cultures all over the world. Among the strings are
the Indian sitar, the Japanese koto, the Russian balalaika, and
the Spanish guitar.
CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES | 25
Oboe-type instruments are found throughout the Middle
East and bamboo flutes occur across Asia and Latin America.
Brass-like instruments include the long straight trumpets used
by Tibetan monks and instruments made from animal horns
and tusks, such as the Jewish shofar.
26 | CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES
Percussion instruments are probably the most numerous
and diverse, from simple folk instruments like gourd rattles
filled with pebbles, notched sticks rubbed together, and
hollow log drums, to the huge tempered metal gongs of China,
the bronze xylophones of Indonesia, and the tuned steel drums
of the Caribbean.
Ensembles
The word “ensemble” comes from the French meaning
CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES | 27
“together” and is a broad concept that encompasses groupings
of various instruments and sizes. Ensembles can be made up
of singers alone, instruments alone, singers and instruments
together, two performers, or hundreds. Ensemble performance
is part of virtually every musical tradition. Examples of large
ensembles are the symphony orchestra, marching band, jazz
band, West Indian steel pan orchestra, Indonesian gamelan,
African drum ensembles, chorus, and gospel choir. In such
large groups, performers are usually divided into sections, each
with its particular material or function. So, for example, all the
tenors in a chorus sing the same music, and all the alto saxes in
a jazz big band play the same part. Usually, a conductor or lead
performer is responsible for keeping everyone together.
Chorus
The large vocal ensemble most familiar to Westerners is the
chorus, twenty or more singers grouped in soprano, alto,
tenor, and bass sections. The designation choir is sometimes
used for choruses that sing religious music. There is also
literature for choruses comprised of men only, women only,
and children. Small vocal ensembles, in which there are one
to three singers per part, include the chamber chorus and
barbershop quartet. Vocal ensemble music is sometimes
intended to be performed acapella, that is, by voices alone,
and other times with instruments. Choral ensemble pieces are
commonly included in operas, oratorios, and musicals.
28 | CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES
Symphony orchestra
The most important large instrumental ensemble in the
Western tradition is the symphony orchestra. Orchestras such
as the New York Philharmonic, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and
those of the New York City Opera and Metropolitan Opera,
consist of 40 or more players, depending on the requirements
of the music they are playing. The family groups the players
into sections – winds, brass, percussion, and strings.
Instruments from different sections frequently double each
other, one instrument playing the same material as another,
although perhaps in different octaves. Thus, while a symphony
by Mozart may have parts for three sections, the melody given
to the first violins is often identical to that of the flutes and
clarinets; the bassoons, cellos and basses may join forces in
playing the bass line supporting that melody while the second
CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES | 29
violins, violas, and French horns are responsible for the pitches
that fill out the harmony. The term orchestration refers to the
process of designating particular musical material to particular
instruments.
Chamber Orchestra
The origins of the orchestra in Western Europe date back to
the early baroque and the rise of opera, for which composers
wrote instrumental overtures, accompaniments to vocal
numbers, and dances. In this early period, the ensemble
typically consisted of about 16 to 20 strings plus a harpsichord,
called the continuo, that doubled the bass line and filled out
the harmonies. Other instruments could be included, but
primarily as soloists rather than regular members. The
designation chamber orchestra is sometimes applied to these
30 | CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES
early orchestras, reflecting the fact that, during the Baroque
period, orchestral music was often composed as entertainment
for the nobility and performed in the rooms, or chambers, of
their palaces, rather than the large concert halls of today.
During the classical period, the orchestra expanded in size
to between 40 and 60 players. Strings remain the heart of the
ensemble, but there are more of them, and by the early 19th
century, pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, French
horns, trumpets, and timpani had become standard members.
For the most part, the woodwinds double the strings, the
horns fill out the harmonies, and the trumpets and timpani
add rhythmic emphasis. For many composers of the 19th
century, exploring the timbral possibilities of the orchestra
became an increasingly important aspect of the creative
process. The ensemble of the romantic period grew to 80 or
more players through the increase in the number of
instruments of the classical orchestra and the addition of new
ones – piccolo, English horn, contrabassoon, trombone, tuba,
harp, celeste, cymbals, triangle, a variety of drums. Scores also
called for special effects such as muting – muffling or altering
the sound of string instruments by placing a wooden clamp
placed across the bridge, or brass instruments by inserting
material into the bell. There is no single concept of the
orchestra in the 20th century. Composers have written for
chamber ensembles and for gigantic forces; they have used
traditional instrumentations but also further extended the
palette of musical tone colors by incorporating non-western
CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES | 31
instruments, invented instruments, electronically altered
instruments, and non-musical sound sources such as sirens.
Some have approached the orchestra not as the deliverer of
melody, rhythm, and harmony, but as a palette of tone colors,
to be mixed, juxtaposed, manipulated, ordered, and
experienced as a sonic collage.
Jazz Big Band
The jazz big band is another example of a large ensemble. The
instruments are typically divided into the reed section (saxes,
sometimes clarinets), the brass section (trumpets, trombones,
sometimes cornets), and the rhythm section (commonly
piano, guitar, string bass, and drum set). The rhythm section –
which appears in most groups, large and small – is responsible
for maintaining the rhythm (hence the name) as well as the
harmony on which the featured soloists are improvising.
Because of their size, jazz big bands often play from written
arrangements (see Chapter 7: Jazz)
32 | CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES
Gamelan
The gamelan of Indonesia is an example of a large non-Western
ensemble. The distinctive sound of the gamelan is created by
metallophones, that is, instruments made of metal and struck
with a mallet. Some resemble small, medium, and large
xylophones, but with tuned bars of bronze instead of wood.
Some look like a collection of lidded cooking kettles of
different sizes. The layers of melody created by these
instruments are punctuated by gongs, chimes, and drums. The
gamelan accompanies ceremonial plays and dances and is
deeply connected to religious rituals. The instruments
themselves are charged with charismatic power and are often
intricately carved and brilliantly painted with figures and
designs that replicate elements of cosmological forces.
CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES | 33
Chamber Ensembles and Jazz
Combos
Another type of grouping found in many musical traditions
consists of a small number of players – from 2 to 8 or 9 – each
of whom has a separate, unique part. An important feature
of small ensembles is an overall balance among the individual
performers so that one does not overpower the others. Instead,
every member of the group plays an essential role in the
presentation and development of musical ideas. Instead of a
conductor, the performers rely on eye contact, careful
listening, and sensitivity to each other which may have
developed over years of rehearsing and playing together. In the
western classical tradition, such small groups are classified as
chamber ensembles and include the string quartet (2 violins,
viola, cello), piano trio (piano, violin, cello), and wind quintet
34 | CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES
(flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn). A comparable
small group in jazz is a jazz combo. Like the jazz big band,
the jazz combo uses a rhythm section, but in place of reed
and brass sections, a handful of additional improvising
instruments. One preferred combination is the jazz quintet,
made up of trumpet, saxophone, and a rhythm section of
piano, bass, and drums. Miles Davis’s famous quintet of the
1960s used this instrumentation. Other examples of small
instrumental groupings include a bluegrass band, Klezmer
band, rock band, and trio of players of Indian ragas.
Media Attributions
• Instruments on display © Wikipedia is licensed under a
CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license
• Joel Cruz Castellanos tocando el violin tuxteco ©
CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES | 35
Wikipedia is licensed under a CC0 (Creative Commons
Zero) license
• Painting of a triple reedpipe
• String instrument collection © Wikipedia is licensed
under a CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license
• Orchestra of Chicago Timpani
• Gamelan Player © Wikipedia
• Electric piano © Wikipedia is licensed under a CC0
(Creative Commons Zero) license
• Choir ensemble © Wikipedia is licensed under a CC0
(Creative Commons Zero) license
• Violin © Wikipedia is licensed under a CC0 (Creative
Commons Zero) license
• Bratsche © Wikipedia is licensed under a CC0 (Creative
Commons Zero) license
• Cello © Wikipedia is licensed under a CC0 (Creative
Commons Zero) license
• Bass © Wikipedia is licensed under a CC0 (Creative
Commons Zero) license
• Harp © Wikipedia is licensed under a CC0 (Creative
Commons Zero) license
• Koto © Wikipedia is licensed under a CC0 (Creative
Commons Zero) license
• Shofar © Wikipedia is licensed under a CC0 (Creative
Commons Zero) license
• Tam Tam © Wikipedia is licensed under a CC0 (Creative
Commons Zero) license
36 | CHAPTER 1: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ENSEMBLES
• Fisk Jubilee Singers © Wikipedia is licensed under a CC0
(Creative Commons Zero) license
• Tehran Symphony Orchestra © Wikipedia is licensed
under a CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license
• The Ebony Big Band © Wikipedia is licensed under a
CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license
• Gamelan instruments © Wikipedia is licensed under a
CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license
• Kronos Quartet © Wikipedia is licensed under a CC0
(Creative Commons Zero) license
CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF MUSIC | 37
CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS
OF MUSIC
This fundamental material established core vocabulary and
concepts that will be used through the course. These six
groups below will help students be able to understand how
music works, breaking the music down in the sonic elements.
Each group—Timbre, Dynamics, Pitch, Melody & Harmony,
Time & Form, and Texture.
Timbre: the way a sound sounds to distinguish one sound
from another.
The word timbre (pronounced: tam-ber) can be highly
subjective. Timbre is the way something sounds, e.g., the
singer sounds nasal. Synonyms for timbre often include “tone
color,” “sound quality,” or “character of sound.” This concept
is not meant to be a judgment statement, but a description that
helps to identify similarities and differences between sounds
and music.
Imagine trying to describe two instruments of the same
type, a guitar, and a ‘ukulele, for example. Describing the way
these two instruments sound similar and different helps to
distinguish them sonically, see Examples 1.1 (guitar) and 1.2
(‘ukulele).
38 | CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF MUSIC
Example 1.1 (Guitar) O’Carolan: Si Bheag, Si Mhor, artist:
Jack Isidore
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Example 1.2 (Ukulele) “Hawaiian Waltz” artists: Kamiki
Ukulele
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Describing two or more unrelated instruments/sounds can be
easier. However, if the instruments are playing at the same
time, it can still be difficult to distinguish them. Listen to
the example below played on traditional Chinese instruments.
CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF MUSIC | 39
Use the listening guide to help you distinguish between the
different timbres.
Example 1.3 “Etenraku” artists: Tokyo Gagaku
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Video
Description
Location
Each instrument is playing the same melody so
distinguishing each instrument’s sound is important
Overview to understand how the music is working. The
differences between the instruments, the way they
sound, is the timbre.
0:06-0:18 Solo flute (ryuteki) part establishing the melody
0:19
Mouth organs (sho) play note cluster of melodic line
0:21
Ensemble joins flute and organs in playing melody,
each line has their own established embellishments
but each is playing the same melody.
The examples thus far demonstrate different types of timbral
descriptions, but there are numerous descriptors to use. Listen
to each example and describe what you hear.
Other ways to describe timbre are to point out features used
40 | CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF MUSIC
by the voices/instruments. Listen to the singer in Example
1.4, below. They are using a strong vibrato but the melody in
Example 1.3 above uses a straight tone.
Example 1.4 “La Charreada” artist: Sandra Gonzalez y el
Mariachi Alas de Mexico de Guadalajara Jalisco
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Video
Location
Description
Overview
Example 1.4 “La Charreada” artist: Sandra Gonzalez y
el Mariachi Alas de Mexico de Guadalajara Jalisco
0:00-0:23
Instrumental and vocal intro
0:24-0:28
Vocal vibrato on sustained opening note
Example 1.5 Beijing Opera DADENGDIAN Artist: Shengsu
Li
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This Chinese jingju is known for its nasal qualities (Example
1.5) while the singer in Example 1.4 has a full round sound.
There are numerous descriptor words that will be addressed
in this class, some may include: rough/smooth, falsetto/chest
voice, airy/full, etc.
Definitions:
• Vibrato: a pitch fluctuation added to a sustained note
for a richer sound
• Straight Tone: lack of pitch fluctuation on a sustained
note
• Nasal: closed off timbre that sounds like it is produced
from the nasal cavity
• Round: open timbre with full resonance
• Dynamics: relative loudness/softness of sound; volume
While this element seems easier than others, the real key is to
pinpoint which sounds are louder, and softer, than others in
42 | CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF MUSIC
music. This will help describe that sound more clearly. Many
students with previous music experience will know standard
musical terms, often from Italian, French, and German (e.g.,
crescendo, pianissimo, forte, etc.). While these words are
useful, for the purposes of this class, it is easier to avoid such
terms. Describing music as having an increase in volume from
a quiet section to a louder section is just as effective.
Example 2.1 “Drive” Artist: Hilton College Marimba
Ensemble
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Pitch: frequency of a sound; highness or lowness of a sound
For this text, “pitch” is used as both a specific term, as
defined above, and a grouping of concepts that encompass
many ideas related to that specific term. Two common
synonyms for “pitch” include tone and note, all may be used
throughout the text.
Music is made of many sounds. Pitches are distinguished
from other sounds as they have measurable frequencies. Each
pitch has a specific wavelength, known as a frequency and
CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF MUSIC | 43
measured in hertz. The frequency is an indication of how fast
or slow the wavelength moves. This measurement is, of course,
culturally derived and not universally recognized around the
world or throughout history.
Many concepts are brought together in the grouped idea of
“pitch.”
Definitions:
• Fundamental: the “base note” that the melody is based
(synonym: tonic)
• Interval: the distance between two pitches
• Range: the distance between the highest
pitch and lowest pitch in a melody
• Octave: a doubling of a frequency but the same pitch set.
For example pitches may have the same name in western
music, but a double or halved frequency. Low A vs High
A
• Scale/Mode: culturally prescribed arrangements of
intervals and pitches
Example 3.1 “I’ll Fly Away” Artist- David Durrence
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This example uses a fundamental tone that is continuously
played on the lower string as the melody is played on a higher
string as the performer moves his fingers on the board. The
pitch range is somewhat narrow with the use of only 4-6 notes
in a medium to low range of the instrument.
Melody & Harmony
Definitions:
• Melody: a sequence of pitches perceived as a unit
(synonym: tune)
Like pitch, “melody” is both a specific term, as defined
above, and a grouping of related concepts. The melody is
the main line of interest, the tune you are left with after
hearing a piece of music. Think of pop music and the
tunes that get stuck in your head. It is the melody that
stays with you, not the background sounds and rhythms.
CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF MUSIC | 45
Melodies can be described with many characteristics
from the way the melody line moves to the way other
sounds harmonize with or support the melody.
• Conjunct Motion: stepwise (small intervals) melodic
motion
Example 4.1 “Aloha Oe” Artist: Luanna Farden McKenney
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This is an example of stepwise motion. There are few jumps in
the melody even though the range is large.
• Disjunct Motion: Melodic motion by leaps (large
intervals)
Example 4.2 Crossroad Blues by Robert Johnson; Artist:
Edward Phillips
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This early 20th century blues song by Robert Johnson features
a melody with large falling intervals.
• Ornaments: Elaborations (decorations) on the set
melody
Example 4.3 Ornamentation in Indian Music Artist: Anuja
Kamat 2014
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This video goes through several types of ornamentation in
CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF MUSIC | 47
Indian music. Each example includes a non-ornamented
section followed by specific ornamentations.
• Phrases: Sections of the melody and music, often a
“breath’s worth” of music
• Harmony: Perception of the way musical layers sound
together. Harmony is always culturally and time-based.
Like timbre, harmony can be quite subjective. However,
two descriptions of harmony are useful in understanding
the music introduced in this class.
• Consonant harmony (consonance): Relaxed, open
sounding harmony
• Dissonant harmony (dissonance): Tense, closed
sounding harmony
Example 4.4 Jarabi Artist: Sona Jobarteh 2011
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This piece uses consonant harmony that in layman’s terms is
often referred to as “happy” sounding due to the ease in which
48 | CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF MUSIC
it is heard. Often, this music sounds “in tune,” but that is
culturally dependent.
Example 4.5 Song of the Spring Cicada Artist: Dong People
2009
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This highly layered music uses intentionally narrow intervals
to create a dissonant sound. While it may seem “out of tune,”
this is a culturally-based assumption.
Time & Form
Time and Form are somewhat dependent on each other. Time
is an understanding of the sequential framework of how the
music is temporally organized. Form is an understanding of
sections of music, which often can be noticed through changes
in time.
• Pulse “beat”: the background “heartbeat” of a piece of
CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF MUSIC | 49
music
• Rhythm: a pattern of sounds and silences that occur over
time
• Tempo: The rate of speed of the music. The fastness or
slowness.
• Meter: the temporal description of the organization of
pulse
◦ Accent – emphasis on a pulse
◦ Syncopation – destabilizing beat created with
accents
Within the idea of meter, which is an understanding of the
organization of the pulse, there are fixed and free meters. To
determine the meter of music, first find the pulse.
Music with a free meter does not have a discernible and
repeatable pattern in the pulse; the listener would not be able
to find a regular beat, for instance, listen to Example 5.1.
Example 5.1 Honshirabe Artist Bronwyn Kirkpatrick 2012
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The music lacks a formal pulse. Not only is the tempo slow,
but the rhythms are not easily understood as units together,
but rather as independent thoughts.
Music with a fixed meter has a clearly found and repeatable
pattern in the pulse. Most music follows this form of meter.
Fixed meters have two basic categories: duple meter and
triple meter. These meters have clearly defined pulsation and
are organized in repeatable groupings of time. Duple meters
are organized in divisions of 2 that alternate strong and weak
beats. One of the most common duple meters in Western
popular music and art music is a 4 beat meter where beats 1
and 3 are strong. Triple meters are organized in divisions of
3 with one strong beat (beat 1) followed by two weaker ones
(beats 2 and 3). As you listen to Examples 5.2 and 5.3, you will
be able to find the pulse easily. Tap your foot as you listen.
There are also complex meters that combine duple and
triple organization, but the purposes of this class, these
complex meters are rare and will not be discussed in detail.
Example 5.2: Duple Meter Didn’t It Rain Artist: Sister
Rosetta Tharpe, 1964
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Strong duple meter with accents on beats 2 and 4 emphasizing
the repetitive nature of duple structure
Example 5.3 Triple Meter El Son de la Negra Artist:
Mariachi Vargas de Tacalitlan, 2018
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As the music begins at around 0:18, the tempo increases
locking into a strong triple meter. This meter is commonly
heard in waltzes where beat 1 is weighted with beats 2 & 3
sounding a light “oom pas”
Texture
Most of the music you listen to has layers of different sounds,
52 | CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF MUSIC
sometimes that is easier to hear than others. Think about a pop
song and how the main voice stands out from the background
sounds. In simple terms, you are hearing multiple layers of
sound, this is texture in music.
Texture refers to the number of parts and the roles the parts
play. There are four main types of texture: monophonic,
homophonic, polyphonic, and heterophonic.
• Monophonic: a single melody performed by one
performer or a group of performers
MONOPHONIC TEXTURE includes just a single melody
line (Figure 6.1) or a group of instruments/voices performing
the same line in octaves (Figure 6.2). Example 5.1 below has a
single layer of sound, first performed by a flute, then singing,
then the flute again.
Figure 6.1: Single line of sound
CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF MUSIC | 53
Figure 6.2: Same line layered in octaves
Example 6.1: Monophonic texture
Ch’aska: Song for the Stars Artist: Don Pasqual Apaza
Flores, 2015.
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Video Location
Description
0:00-0:38
Single layer of flute playing
0:38-1:13
Single layer of singing
1:13-1:37
Single layer of flute playing
54 | CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF MUSIC
• Homophonic Texture: Homophonic texture includes
two or more layers of sound, typically with one line
sounding the melody. Again, think about pop music.
The lead singer’s voice is the most important line, the
backing vocals, instruments, and drum beats are
secondary as they accompany the main melody coming
from the singer. The second layer can be complex with
textures of its own, but it remains a secondary layer to
the main voice.
Figure 6.3: Melody in green with harmony, drums, and other
sounds in red, blue, and black.
Example 6.2: Homophonic Texture Little Birdie Artist: The
Kossoy Sisters 2013
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Video
Description
Location
0:15-0:35 Instrumental intro
Chorus: Singers sing in tight harmony with banjo and
0:35-0:57 guitar becoming secondary to the vocal line (main
melody)
0:57-1:18
Verse: Voice solo with banjo and guitar playing
secondary line
1:18-1:38
Chorus: Singers sing in harmony with banjo and
guitar in secondary line
1:39-2:21
Verse: Voice solo with banjo and guitar playing
secondary line
2:22-2:42
Chorus: Singers sing in harmony with banjo and
guitar in secondary line
2:42-3:01 Instrumental
3:01-3:22
Verse: Voice solo with banjo and guitar playing
secondary line
3:22-3:45
Chorus: Singers sing in harmony with banjo and
guitar in secondary line
• Polyphonic Texture: includes multiple lines that use
56 | CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF MUSIC
contrary motion with interwoven layers of sound,
resulting in two or more simultaneous independent
melodies. This texture is commonly found in many
choir and band compositions. There are multiple
melody lines and when they are put together the
multiple sounds complete a bigger picture.
Figure 6.4: No one melody throughout, each instrument
group/voice build their individual part to create a more
complex sound.
Example 6.3: Polyphonic texture
Shemokmedura Artist: Erisioni, 2013
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Video
Location
Description
0:00-0:08
1st solo part
0:08-0:17
Harmonic layers added to solo part
0:17-0:23
2nd solo part
0:23-0:32
Harmonic layers added to solo part with contrasting
motion
0:32
3rd solo part with harmonic layers
0:42
Yodel added in contrast to melody
0:50-1:
Set of variations begin with more complex layering
and more singers added
• Heterophonic Texture: includes at least two
performers playing simultaneous variations of the same
melody. Each performer/section embellished the melody
on their own but play in unison for the majority of the
music. The melodic line will move together in time and
melodic shape without contrasting motion.
58 | CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF MUSIC
Figure 6.5: Single melody, duplicated by different
instruments each with their own embellishment of the
melody. Each line follows the basic shape of the melody but
has slight variation from the other lines.
Example 6.4: Heterophonic texture
Etenraku Artist: Tokyo Gagaku, 2014
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CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF MUSIC | 59
Video
Description
Location
0:06-0:18 Solo flute (ryuteki) part establishing the melody
0:19
Mouth organs (sho) play note cluster of melodic line
0:21
Ensemble joins flute and organs in playing melody,
each line has their own established embellishments
but each is playing the same melody.
Licensing & Attributions
This page titled 1.1: Fundamentals of Music is shared under
a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or
curated by Justin Hunter and Matthew Mihalka (University of
Arkansas Libraries) via source content that was edited to the
style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit
history is available upon request.
1.1: Fundamentals by Justin Hunter and Matthew Mihalka
is licensed CC BY-NC 4.0. Original source:
https://uark.pressbooks.pub/musicinworldcultures/.
Media Attributions
• Monophonic © Justin R. Hunter and Matthew Mihalka
is licensed under a CC BY-NC (Attribution
NonCommercial) license
• Monophonic 2 © Justin R. Hunter and Matthew
Mihalka is licensed under a CC BY-NC (Attribution
60 | CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF MUSIC
NonCommercial) license
• Homophonic © Justin R. Hunter and Matthew
Mihalka is licensed under a CC BY-NC (Attribution
NonCommercial) license
• Polyphonic © Justin R. Hunter and Matthew Mihalka is
licensed under a CC BY-NC (Attribution
NonCommercial) license
• Heterophonic © Justin R. Hunter and Matthew
Mihalka is licensed under a CC BY-NC (Attribution
NonCommercial) license
CHAPTER 3: HOW MUSIC MAKES SENSE | 61
CHAPTER 3: HOW
MUSIC MAKES SENSE
In order to more fully appreciate music—any music, familiar
or unfamiliar–let us begin by considering music from the
“ground up,” free from the constraints of a particular era or
style. What is music and how does it make sense to us?
Music is a time-art. It needs time to unfold. It is not possible
to have an instantaneous hearing of an entire piece of music.
We must listen all the way through.
Music is ephemeral. Music does not have a concrete physical
form. But music is a performance art: Each moment is
temporary, washed away by the next. A sound exists in its
precise “now,” and then vanishes. Once the performance is
over, the music is gone.
Music is unstoppable in time. A musical performance is
not meant to be interrupted; the pacing is out of the listener’s
control. During live musical performances there is not an
option to rewind or fast-forward. No such luxury exists at a
concert. You can’t raise your hand during a concert and say,
”Forgive me, Taylor Swift, I became distracted by my phone
and missed the chorus of the last song” and have Taylor Swift
reply,” Yes, you in the tenth row, no problem, I’ll play it over
62 | CHAPTER 3: HOW MUSIC MAKES SENSE
again from the last chorus!” Music rushes by, unimpeded by
the listener’s questions, distractions, or desire to linger.
Finally, musical sounds are abstract and non-verbal. The
meaning of a word may be colored by context; but there is
an enduring, stable meaning, which any of us can look up in
the dictionary. If I use the word “spring” as a metaphor for
renewal, the metaphor only succeeds because you and I share
a common definition. On the other hand, musical sounds do
not have literal or fixed meanings. Musical sounds may evoke
moods or images, may suggest yearnings, loss, or surprise: But
these interpretations are far more subjective and open ended.
Although music is often referred to as a “language,” its sounds
are never anchored to any specific meaning.
Thus, music is an abstract and non-verbal art-form,
unstoppable in time. Under those conditions, how is it
possible for music to be intelligible? When you think about it,
it’s quite a challenge! Music imposes substantial demands on
the listener: It asks them to follow a conversation that is racing
by, made up of impermanent sounds with no fixed meaning.
Something to Think About:
The study of music is the study of human thought,
experience, and history.
What music have you heard that spoke to you or that you
relate to a specific experience in your life?
CHAPTER 3: HOW MUSIC MAKES SENSE | 63
The answer to this question is extraordinarily important,
because it transcends all questions of era or style. We believe
with all of our hearts that music speaks to us. But how? Music
is invisible and insubstantial; it lacks any physical substance.
Theater and ballet are also time-arts: But theater uses words
and physical acting, while ballet has the human body as a frame
of reference. What does music have to direct our attention and
guide us through its narrative?
The answer is that repetition is the key to musical
intelligibility. Repetition creates the enduring presence at the
heart of a work’s fleet, impermanent existence.
The Power Of Consistency
Imagine that you are watching a soccer match. You don’t know
the rules, and are trying to learn the game through observation
alone. You would notice certain consistencies: Each team has
eleven players on the field and are trying to keep control of the
ball in order to gain opportunities to shoot the ball into the
other team’s net. Certain actions provoke certain reactions: If
a player tries to get the ball from the other team but misses and
kicks the player’s leg causing them to fall, the referee blows the
whistle and gives the fallen player a free kick. Through careful
observation, you could rapidly apprehend the rules. Not only
that, you would soon become caught up in the game. You
would never know what would happen next. Each minute that
64 | CHAPTER 3: HOW MUSIC MAKES SENSE
passes provides surprising action and plays, yet everything that
did happen would fall within comprehensible parameters.
Similarly, a music listener relies on consistency to understand
what is happening. Many times, we do not consciously
recognize these consistencies. A key part of appreciating music
is to learn to become conscious of and articulate the most
essential consistencies of a musical work.
Consistency does not imply predictability or monotony. In
any game, the consistencies must be flexible enough to allow
for an endless variety of play. Consider the following example
from baseball. Perhaps the strangest no-hitter of all time
occurred in the 1920’s: The opposing pitcher, the worst hitter
on the team, hit a line drive to the gap and legged out a double.
But, in rounding first base, he missed the bag and was called
out on an appeal play; that erased his hit, turning it into an
out. He and his teammates never mustered another hit. This
no-hitter was so rare, it has only happened once in the history
of baseball. Yet no rules were broken: Instead, the consistencies
of baseball were stretched to allow something exceptional.
Similarly, the consistencies in a piece of music still leave plenty
of room for the unexpected and the unusual. Composers often
strive to see how far they can stretch their consistencies
without breaking them. As an illustration, consider a classical
theme and variations. The composer begins by presenting a
theme. They then repeat the theme over and over, preserving
certain aspects of the theme while varying others. Although
each variation is unique, they share an underlying identity. In
CHAPTER 3: HOW MUSIC MAKES SENSE | 65
general, the variations tend to get farther and farther removed
from the original. The later variations may be so disguised that
the connection to the original is barely recognizable. Yet, like
the rare no-hitter, no “rules” are broken: The marvel of these
late variations is that the composer has managed to stretch the
consistencies so far without actually violating them.
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For instance, listen to the first half of the theme from
Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in C-minor, Opus 111: 8:58 – 9:41
Now listen to an early variation of this theme: 11:38 – 12:36
Finally, listen to how far Beethoven stretches his theme in this
variation: 24:32 – 25:12
Though the theme is still recognizable, its consistencies have
been stretched. It is in a higher register. The texture is more
complex, with a very rapid accompaniment . The melody is
more flowing, with new material filling in the theme’s original
resting points. While staying true to the theme’s identity, this
variation pulls the theme unexpectedly far from its original
starkness. Baseball manager Bill Veeck once said: “I try not to
66 | CHAPTER 3: HOW MUSIC MAKES SENSE
break the rules, but merely to test their elasticity.” The same
may be said of music’s greatest composers.
Take the time to listen to the entire second movement of
Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in C-Minor, Opus 111. Listen for
the opening slow theme and then for the five variations. How
would you describe the character of each variation? 8:58 –
29:00
Each listener’s reaction to the Beethoven variations will be
personal, the words and metaphors to describe it subjective.
But, as subjective as these emotional responses may be, it is
the stretching of the material that has called them forth. The
transformations are readily accessible to the ear and can be
objectively described: The last variation is higher in register
than the theme; it is more active and continuous. Appreciating
music begins with recognizing how much we are already
hearing, and learning the way to articulate what we perceive.
Repetition and Pattern
Repetition and pattern recognition underlies how we
understand almost everything that happens to us. Physics
might be described as an effort to discover the repetition and
consistencies that underlie the universe. One of the powerful
modern theories proposes that the basic element of the
universe is a “string.” The vibrations of these infinitesimally
small strings produces all the known particles and forces. To
CHAPTER 3: HOW MUSIC MAKES SENSE | 67
string theory, the universe is a composition on an enormous
scale, performed by strings. Continuity and coherence are
created through the repetition of basic laws. Miraculously, out
of a few fundamental elements and laws, enormous
complexity, constant variety and an unpredictable future are
created.
We ourselves are pieces of music, our personal identities
created through an intricate maze of repetition. Every time we
eat and breathe, new molecules are absorbed by our bodies,
replenishing our cells and changing our molecular structure.
Yet, though countless millions of molecules are changing
inside us every minute, we feel the continuity of our existence.
This sense of self that we all feel so tangibly is really a dazzling
performance: The new molecules maintain our identity by
constantly repeating our basic structures.
Thus, repetition lies at the heart of how we understand music,
ourselves and our world. We have a great faith in the richness
and significance of repetition. In listening to music, we rely on
repetition as the bearer of meaning.
Repetition of Different Sizes
Repetitions come in different sizes, from small gestures to
entire musical sections.
The repeating element may be as brief as a single sound. For
68 | CHAPTER 3: HOW MUSIC MAKES SENSE
instance, Arnold Schoenberg’s Piano Piece, Opus 19, No. 2,
opens with an “atomic” sound that repeats over and over.
Listen to the entire one-minute work. You will notice that,
as everything changes around it, this repeating sound remains
like a “beacon” of stability.
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More commonly, the repeating element is a short figure, often
called a motive.
Here is the famous motive of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.
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0 – 0:24
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In the opening phrase, this short motive is repeated eleven
times, with greater and greater intensity.
A repeated motive in modern popular music is called a riff.
In jazz or popular music, a motif that continues or appears
regularly in a piece of music while other parts change or are
added is called a riff.
In jazz, blues and popular music, a short melodic ostinato
which may be repeated either intact or varied to accommodate
an underlying harmonic pattern.
In the “Anvil Chorus” of Wagner’s Das Rheingold, the short
figure is a rhythmic pattern. In this brief excerpt, the rhythmic
motive is repeated six times as the orchestra builds in intensity
on top of it. Audio ex. 1.5: Wagner’s “Anvil Chorus” from Das
Rheingold
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But repetition of longer units can occur. A phrase is a
complete musical thought; it is often compared to a sentence.
The opening phrase of Mozart’s Symphony in G-minor has a
lot of internal repetition. But it also creates a longer musical
statement that is repeated, sinking slightly in pitch the second
time. Here is the phrase by itself:
Audio ex. 1.6: Mozart’s Symphony in G-minor
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Here is the phrase with its repetition:
Audio ex. 1.7: Mozart’s Symphony in G-minor
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Frequency of Repetition
Notice that, in the approximately the same amount of time
that Beethoven is able to repeat his motive eleven times, and
Wagner six, Mozart is only able to repeat his longer phrase
twice.
Audio ex. 1.8: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, I
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Audio ex. 1.9: Wagner’s “Anvil Chorus” from Das Rheingold:
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Audio ex. 1.10: Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G-minor, I
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Here is a similar example from Igor Stravinsky’s ballet
Pétrouchka. Similar to the Mozart, notice that the phrase is
repeated in a slightly new form.
Audio ex. 1.11: Igor Stravinsky’s ballet Pétrouchka
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Even longer units of repetition can occur. A group of phrases
can be joined together to create a theme; this might be
compared to a paragraph. In the following example from
Beethoven’s Piano Sonata, Opus 53, “Waldstein,” the theme
again contains a lot of internal repetition. But the theme itself
72 | CHAPTER 3: HOW MUSIC MAKES SENSE
is repeated in its entirety, with a more animated
accompaniment.
Audio ex. 1.12: Beethoven’s Piano Sonata, Opus 53,
“Waldstein,”
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In this excerpt from Bela Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, the
theme is repeated with a more elaborate instrumental
accompaniment.
Audio ex. 1.13: Bela Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra
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Finally, even a complete section of music can be repeated–a
scale that might be likened to a chapter. This is what happens
in Luciano Berio’s brief folk song, Ballo.
Audio ex. 1.14: Luciano Berio’s Ballo.
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Thus, repetition can occur in a variety of
sizes, from “atomic” elements to longer timespans. Local and Large-scale Repetition
CHAPTER 3: HOW MUSIC MAKES SENSE | 73
Repetition is often local and immediate. But repetition,
especially of larger units, can occur after intervening music has
taken place.
For instance, in Beethoven’s Bagatelle,
Opus 126, no. 4, the following section
occurs:
Audio ex. 1.15: Beethoven’s Bagatelle,
Opus 126, no. 4
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After intervening music, the entire section is repeated exactly
and in its entirety. The excerpt picks up at the transition to the
return:
Audio ex. 1.16: Beethoven’s Bagatelle, Opus 126, no. 4
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When a repetition occurs after intervening music, we will call
it a recurrence.
Thus far, we have seen that musical repetition can occur in
different sizes and over different time-spans, from local to
large-scale. We have also seen that smaller repetitions can be
“nested” inside of larger ones: Notice, for instance, how the
section from Beethoven’s Bagatelle has internal repetition of
74 | CHAPTER 3: HOW MUSIC MAKES SENSE
short patterns and longer phrases, and also eventually recurs
in its entirety.
Maximizing the Minimum
In popular music–as well as children’s songs–repetition is
often literal and direct. This makes the music more readily
accessible and immediately intelligible.
For instance, in this folk song sung by Pete Seeger, a short
musical idea is repeated over and over exactly the same, sixteen
times in a mere thirty seconds. On top of the quickly cycling
music, Seeger presents a rapid fire list of animal names.
Audio ex. 1.17: Pete Seeger’s “Alligator, Hedgehog”
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What distinguishes classical music from most pop music is
that, in classical music, the repetition is more frequently varied
and transformed. This makes the repetition flexible, capable of
assuming of many forms and moods. When Elizabeth Barrett
Browning writes “How do I love thee–let me count the ways/I
love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can
reach…I love thee to the level of every day’s most quiet need….I
love thee freely, I love thee purely,” she is using varied repetition
to make her point. Similarly, one of the guiding principles of
CHAPTER 3: HOW MUSIC MAKES SENSE | 75
art-music is repetition without redundancy. The music will
repeat its main ideas, but constantly in new ways.
In the popular South Beach Diet, dieters are at a first restricted
to a very limited regimen of foods: no bread, fruit, alcohol or
sugar. The challenge of the diet is to create a varied menu from
such a circumscribed list of ingredients. Otherwise, the dieter
will begin to stray. So, a lot of effort and inventiveness goes into
designing recipes that makes the daily staples lively and tasty.
In classical music, the goal is similarly to maximize the
minimum. That is, the goal is to take a limited number of
ingredients and create the greatest possible variety. A
composer such as Beethoven or Bartok can take just a few basic
elements and create the musical equivalent of a complete meal
of soup, main course, salad and dessert–all with distinctive
flavors, so that you sometimes can’t even recognize the
presence of the same ingredients in every recipe.
Let us study the concept of varied repetition in several works.
The basic pattern of Bach’s C-Major Invention is the
following:
Audio ex. 1.18: Bach’s C-Major Invention
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This basic pattern is repeated over and over again
throughout the piece, but in constantly new forms.
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For instance, Bach plays the basic pattern in different
registers:
Audio ex. 1.19: Bach’s C-Major Invention
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Bach begins the basic pattern on different pitches:
Audio ex. 1.20: Bach’s C-Major Invention
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Bach turns the pattern upside down:
Audio ex. 1.21: Bach’s C-Major Invention
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Bach fragments the theme, dwelling on different segments of
it.
In the next sample, he takes the first four notes and plays them
at half-speed
Audio ex. 1.22: Bach’s C-Major Invention
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Here, he takes the last four notes, and extends them into an
exciting rising figure
Audio ex. 1.23: Bach’s C-Major Invention
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He changes the groupings of the basic pattern, sometimes
having several versions of the entire pattern in succession:
Audio ex. 1.24: Bach’s C-Major Invention
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Finally, he changes how the pattern is echoed
between the hands. Sometimes, the left hand
leads:
Audio ex. 1.25: Bach’s C-Major Invention
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Sometimes, the right hand leads. Notice, in this example, that
Bach flips the basic pattern upside down and right side up in
alternation.
78 | CHAPTER 3: HOW MUSIC MAKES SENSE
Audio ex. 1.26: Bach’s C-Major Invention
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Now, please listen to the Bach: Invention in C-Major in its
entirety.
Audio ex. 1.27: Bach’s C-Major Invention
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All of these flexible repetitions are beautifully coordinated,
so that the piece creates a clear opening, middle, climax and
ending. The fact that the basic pattern occurs in every
measure creates consistency. The fact that it rarely occurs the
same way twice contributes to the music’s momentum and
dynamism. The C-Major Invention is thus a case study in
repetition without redundancy.
In Frederic Chopin’s Prelude in A-Major, the basic pattern is
a rhythm:
Audio ex. 1.28: Frederic Chopin’s Prelude in A-Major
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That rhythm occurs identically eight times. Here is the first
time it is played.
Audio ex. 1.29: Frederic Chopin’s Prelude in A-Major
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The stability of its rhythmic pattern gives the work
consistency. At the same time, the music moves and progresses
thanks to the variety of melody and harmony. Listen to how
the pattern underlies the following examples:
Audio ex. 1.30: Frederic Chopin’s Prelude in A-Major
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Audio ex. 1.31: Frederic Chopin’s Prelude in A-Major
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Now, listen to the Chopin Prelude in its entirety.
Audio ex. 1.32: Frederic Chopin’s Prelude in A-Major
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Out of the eight times the rhythmic pattern is played, it only
occurs the same way twice. As in the Bach, varied repetition
helps to make the music both intelligible and dynamic.
The following pattern accompanies the voice in
Stravinsky’s “Akahito” from his Three Haiku Settings:
Audio ex. 1.33: Stravinsky’s “Akahito” from Three
Haiku Settings
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In the Chopin, the rhythm was repeated exactly, but the
pitches changed. In the Stravinsky, both the rhythm and the
pitches are repeated: thirteen times in all in this short piece!
So how is variety created? In this case, as the pattern is repeated
over and over, an ever changing layer is superimposed upon it.
It is as if the basic pattern is “bombarded” in different ways,
disguising its reappearance.
The first four times the pattern is played, it alone accompanies
the voice.
Audio ex. 1.34: Stravinsky’s “Akahito” from Three Haiku
Settings
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But the fifth time, the new layer is added:
CHAPTER 3: HOW MUSIC MAKES SENSE | 81
Audio ex. 1.35: Stravinsky’s “Akahito” from Three Haiku
Settings
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From then on, the added layer is constantly evolving. You will
be able to recognize the presence of the underlying constant
pattern, but its reappearance is camouflaged by the changing
layer on top of it. Now, listen to “Akahito” in its entirety:
Audio ex. 1.36: Stravinsky’s “Akahito” from Three Haiku
Settings
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In the Bach and Chopin examples, the basic pattern is treated
dynamically: Almost every reappearance is new in some way.
In the Stravinsky example, the basic pattern itself is much
more static. Yet the music never sounds the same because of
the music superimposed on top of it is always changing. Thus,
the goal of “repetition without redundancy” is accomplished
in a new way.
In his work Piano Phase, Steve Reich takes Stravinsky’s
procedure and goes one step further. Just like Stravinsky, he
holds his basic pattern completely static. Just like Stravinsky,
82 | CHAPTER 3: HOW MUSIC MAKES SENSE
he superimposes an added layer. But, this time, the added layer
is the basic pattern itself!
The musical material of Steve Reich’s Piano Phase for
two pianos consists of the following pattern.
Audio ex. 1.37: Steve Reich’s Piano Phase
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In Piano Phase, the first player remains absolutely fixed,
repeating the basic pattern over and over again. The second
player plays exactly the same pattern, but gradually shifts its
alignment so that it falls more and more out-of-phase with
the first player. As the second player shifts alignment, new
resultant patterns are created.
As an analogy, imagine that you had two identical panels, each
made of strips of colored glass. At first, you line up the panels
perfectly and shine a light through them. The sequence of
colors in the panels would be projected on the wall: Let us
say it is blue, yellow, red, yellow, blue. Then, you keep one
panel fixed and the slide the panel slightly over: In the new
alignment, the red in the first panel is aligned with the blue
of the second, the blue with the yellow, etc. When you shine
a light through the panels, you get a new sequence of colors
on the wall: purple, green, etc. Colors you’ve never seen before
suddenly appear! As you can imagine, every time you shift
one strip over, the resultant colors change. With startling
CHAPTER 3: HOW MUSIC MAKES SENSE | 83
efficiency, you can create constantly new patterns on the wall
just by changing how the panels are aligned.
Here is how the music sounds when the two pianos begin in
alignment.
Audio ex. 1.38: Steve Reich’s Piano Phase
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A little while later, the second pianist
shifts the basic pattern slightly out of
alignment.
Audio ex. 1.39: Steve Reich’s Piano
Phase
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Later still, the second pianist shifts
the pattern further and further out
of alignment.
Audio ex. 1.40: Steve Reich’s Piano
Phase
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The farther out of alignment the two pianos get, the harder
it is to recognize the underlying pattern. But ask yourself the
following: Did the pianos change speed? Did the length of the
pattern cycle change? Did the pianos play in a new register or
at a different volume? When you think about it, you will be
able to sense the steadfastness of the basic pattern.
Here is one more example of the pianos out of alignment.
Audio ex. 1.41: Steve Reich’s Piano Phase
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Now, listen to this extended excerpt from Piano Phase. When
you listen to the excerpt, you will notice that, when the second
pianist shifts alignment, there is a brief “blurry” transition
passage; then, the new alignment is established. The 3-minute
excerpt will take you through the first three changes of
alignment.
Audio ex. 1.42: Steve Reich’s Piano Phase
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Reich’s method uses very minimal means to achieve the goal
of varied repetition. He manages to create gradual variety
without changing the register, loudness or density of the
pattern. Furthermore, unlike the other examples, Reich is very
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patient in his presentation: He allows each stage of the process
to persist, repeating over and over again, before shifting to
the next. As a result, Reich’s piece is more meditative and
hypnotic than the other works; it has more in common with
the stable repetition of pop music. However, Reich is still
stretching his material by maximizing the minimum:
Eventually, the work explores every possible superposition of
the basic pattern with itself.
Composers are often divided up by era and style. Bach,
Chopin, Stravinsky and Reich would rarely be grouped
together. However, beneath their unique personalities and
styles, these composers are all striving to create musical
intelligibility through varied repetition. In the examples above,
each has found a different way to achieve this underlying goal.
Varied repetition is not only a guiding principle in Western artmusic. In a jazz work, a pattern such as the famous “twelvebar blues,” will provide an underlying consistency on top of
which the band will create ever-changing, spontaneous
improvisations. In an Indian raga, an underlying rhythmic
pattern, called a tala, creates the framework for elaborate
improvisations. Music sustains itself, evolves and spans the
globe because of the richness of possibilities created by varied
repetition.
Repetition and Recognition
Listening to explicit, literal repetition is like eating a simple
carbohydrate: It is easily digested and quickly absorbed. That
is why popular music has so much literal repetition: Its success
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depends on making an immediate impact. On the other hand,
listening to transformed repetition is like eating a complex
carbohydrate: It takes longer to digest. More of our attention
is engaged: What changed? By how much? How fast did it
happen? How long will it persist in the new form?
Observations lead to interpretation: Why did it change? What
are the consequences of what happened?
More and more, nutritionists are emphasizing that complex
carbohydrates are healthier for our bodies. Similarly,
transformed repetition may be healthier for our musical
minds: It demands greater concentration, more astute
observations and more careful reasoning–in short, more active
listening. Learning to recognize and evaluate transformed
repetition is a crucial aspect of music appreciation.
Chapter Summary
Because music is an abstract, non-verbal time-art, repetition
lies at the heart of how music makes sense. In pop music, the
repetition tends to be more literal, while in classical music, it is
often varied and transformed. As much as composers are often
searching for new sounds and instrumental combinations,
they are also inventing new means of building repetition.
Musical repetition offers powerful and suggestive models for
how we understand the world and ourselves.
The composer Mario Davidovsky, one of America’s great
CHAPTER 3: HOW MUSIC MAKES SENSE | 87
living composers, has said that he listens to music not with
knowledge but rather for knowledge, for guidance in
understanding and grappling with life. Through its
imaginative and ever-changing use of repetition, music
constantly presents us with new ways to recognize the unities
and consistencies underlying our experience.
Test Your
Understan
ding:
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Licensing & Attributions
Source: Brandt, Anthony. “How Music Makes Sense,” Sound
Reasoning, OpenStax CNX. Sep 17, 2019. CC BY 3.0
Download for free at:
88 | CHAPTER 3: HOW MUSIC MAKES SENSE
http://cnx.org/contents/
476d4614-1623-4dca-8907-cf81ec889efd@21.3
From Sound Reasoning by Anthony Brandt
Adapted and edited by Bonnie Le
CHAPTER 4: HOW TO LISTEN | 89
CHAPTER 4: HOW TO
LISTEN
Before you begin to listen, set yourself up for success by
obtaining a quality pair of headphones, speakers, or related
amplification devices. Laptop speakers are not made for a
quality music listening experience, so carefully consider what
equipment you will use throughout this course.
There is a difference between hearing and listening. Hearing
means that sound enters the ear, but the brain does not
necessarily process its meaning. When the brain is engaged,
noticing, and attending to the sound, critical listening can
happen. The best way to listen to music throughout this
course is to use your growing skills to identify specific music
elements and follow these throughout a listening selection.
Each week, specific listening goals will be presented along
with music terms and a listening map. Review the terms listed
and use the listening map as a tool to meet listening goals.
What are listening maps? Listening maps are written tools
used to explain the form of a piece of music so that listeners
understand what they are hearing in a given piece. As you
listen to music examples, follow the listening maps illustrated
throughout the text. Some listening maps are simple charts to
help guide listening,
90 | CHAPTER 4: HOW TO LISTEN
Each time you learn a new musical concept in this course,
practice listening for that concept in one of the assigned
listening examples. Then, try listening for the same concept
in a modern or popular piece of music during the week. For
example, after you listen to identify the sounds of specific
instruments during our course, see how many instruments you
can identify in your favorite rock, country, hip-hop, rap, or
other musical selection. By applying music listening skills to
your favorite music, you will become more comfortable and
adept at using your new skills.
UNIT II: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 91
PART II
UNIT II: MUSIC OF
THE MIDDLE AGES
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CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 93
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF
THE MIDDLE AGES
Introduction and Historical
Context
Musical Timeline
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Introduction to the Middle Ages
and its Music
What do you think of when you hear the term the Middle Ages
(450-1450)? For some, the semi-historical figures of Robin Hood
and Maid Marian come to mind. Others recall Western
94 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Christianity’s Crusades to the Holy Land. Still, others may have
read about the arrival in European lands of the bubonic plague
or Black Death, as it was called. For most twenty-first-century
individuals, the Middle Ages seem far removed. Although life and
music were quite different back then, we hope that you will find
that there are cultural threads that extend from that distant time
to now.
We normally start studies of Western music with the Middle Ages,
but of course, music existed long before then. The term Middle
Ages or medieval period got its name to describe the time in
between (or “in the middle of”) the ancient age of classical Greece
and Rome and the Renaissance of Western Europe, which
roughly began in the fifteenth century. Knowledge of music
before the Middle Ages is limited but what what is known largely
revolves around the Greek mathematician Pythagoras, who died
around 500 B.C.E. (See his profile on a third-century ancient coin
in figure 3.1.)
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 95
Figure 3.1 | Profile of Pythagoras on an
ancient coin
Pythagoras might be thought of as a father of the modern
study of acoustics due to his experimentation with bars of
iron and strings of different lengths. Images of people singing
and playing instruments, such as those found on the Greek
vases, provide evidence that music was used for ancient theater,
dance, and worship. The Greek word musicka referred to not
only music but also referred to poetry and the telling of
history. Writings of Plato and Aristotle referred to music as
a form of ethos (an appeal to ethics). As the Roman Empire
expanded across Western Europe, so too did Christianity (see
Figure 2.2, a map of Western Europe around 1000).
Considering that Biblical texts from ancient Hebrews to those
of early Christians, provided numerous records of music used
as a form of worship, the Empire used music to help unify its
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people: the theory was that if people worshipped together in a
similar way, then they might also stick together during political
struggles.
Figure 2.2 | Map of Western Europe
Later, starting around 800 CE, Western music is recorded in a
notation that we can still decipher today. This brief overview
of these five hundred years of the Roman Empire will help us
better understand the music of the Middle Ages.
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 97
Historical Context for Music of
the Middle Ages (800-1400)
During the Middle Ages, as during other periods of Western
history, sacred and secular worlds were both separate and
integrated. However, during this time, the Catholic Church
was the most widespread and influential institution and
leader in all things sacred. The Catholic Church’s head, the
Pope, maintained political and spiritual power and influence
among the noble classes and their geographic territories; the
life of a high church official was not completely different from
that of a noble counterpart, and many younger sons and
daughters of the aristocracy found vocations in the church.
Towns large and small had churches, spaces open to all:
commoners, clergy, and nobles. The Catholic Church also
developed a system of monasteries, where monks studied and
prayed, often in solitude, even while making cultural and
scientific discoveries that would eventually shape human life
more broadly. In civic and secular life, kings, dukes, and lords
wielded power over their lands and the commoners living
therein. Kings and dukes had courts, gatherings of fellow
nobles, where they forged political alliances, threw lavish
parties, and celebrated both love and war in song and dance.
98 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Figure 3.3 | Notre-Dame de Paris
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 99
Figure 3.4 | The ambulatory of Notre Dame
Many of the important historical developments of the Middle
Ages arose from either the church or the court. One such
important development stemming from the Catholic Church
would be the developments of architecture. During this
period, architects built increasingly tall and imposing
cathedrals for worship through the technological innovations
of pointed arches, flying buttresses, and large cut glass
windows. This new architectural style was referred to as
“gothic,” which vastly contrasts with the Romanesque style,
with its rounded arches and smaller windows. Another
important development stemming from the courts occurred
100 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
in the arts. Poets and musicians, attached to the courts, wrote
poetry, literature, and music, less and less in Latin—still the
common language of the church—and increasingly in their
own vernacular languages (the predecessors of today’s French,
Italian, Spanish, German, and English). However, one major
development of the Middle Ages spanned sacred and secular
worlds: universities shot up in locales from Bologna, Italy, and
Paris, France, to Oxford, England (the University of Bologna
being the first). At university, a young man could pursue a
degree in theology, law, or medicine. Music of a sort was
studied as one of the seven liberal arts and sciences, specifically
as the science of proportions. (Look for musical instruments
[representing the delight of music] in this twelfth-century
image of the seven liberal arts from the Hortus deliciarum
(Garden of Delights) of the Herrad of Landsberg (Figure 3.5).
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 101
Figure 3.5 | Hortus deliciarum (Garden of Delights) of the
Herrad of Landsberg
Music in the Middle Ages: An
Overview
Not surprisingly, given their importance during the Middle
102 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Ages, both the Catholic Church and the network of
aristocratic courts left a significant mark on music of the time.
Much of the music from that era that was written down in
notation and still exists comes from Christian worship or court
entertainment. Churches and courts employed scribes and
artists to write down their music in beautifully illuminated
manuscripts such as this one that features Guillaume
Machaut’s “Dame, a vous sans retollir,” discussed later.
Churchmen such as the monk Guido of Arezzo devised
musical systems such as “solfège” still used today.
As we study a few compositions from the Middle Ages, we will
see the following musical developments at play:
1. the development of musical texture from monophony to
polyphony, and
2. the shift from music whose rhythm is hinted at by its
words, to music that has what we refer to today as meter.
Although we know that instrumental music existed in the
Middle Ages, most of the music that has survived is vocal.
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 103
Figure 3.6 | Group of people dancing depicted in Machaut’s
manuscript
Music for Medieval Christian Worship
The earliest music of Catholic Christianity was chant, that is,
monophonic a cappella music, most often sung in worship.
104 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
As you learned in the first chapter of this book, monophony
refers to music with one melodic line that may be performed
by one or many individuals at the same time. Largely due to
the belief of some Catholics that instruments were too closely
associated with secular music, instruments were rarely used in
medieval worship; therefore, most chant was sung a cappella,
or without instruments. As musical notation for rhythm had
not yet developed, the exact development of rhythm in chant
is uncertain. However, based on church tradition (some of
which still exists), it is believed that the rhythms of medieval
chants were guided by the natural rhythms provided by the
words.
Medieval Catholic worship included services throughout the
day. The most important of these services was the Mass, at
which the Eucharist, (also known as communion), was
celebrated (this celebration includes the consumption of
bread and wine representing the flesh and blood of Jesus
Christ). The five chants of the mass (the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo,
Sanctus, and Agnus Dei) were typically included in every
Mass, no matter what date in the church calendar. Catholics,
as well as some Protestants, still use this liturgy in worship
today.
In the evening, one might attend a Vespers service, at which
chants called hymns were sung. Hymns, like most of the rest
of the Catholic liturgy, were sung in Latin. Hymns most often
featured four-line strophes in which the lines were generally
the same length and often rhymed. Each strophe of a given
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 105
hymn was sung to the same music, and for that reason, we
say that hymns are in strophic form. Hymns, like most chants,
generally had a range of about an octave, which made them
easy to sing.
Throughout the Middle Ages, Mary, the mother of Jesus,
referred to as the Virgin Mary, was a central figure in Catholic
devotion and worship. Under Catholic belief, she is upheld
as the perfect woman, having been chosen by God to
miraculously give birth to the Christ while still a virgin. She
was given the role of intercessor, a mediator for the Christian
believer with a petition for God, and as such appeared in many
medieval chants.
106 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Figure 3.7 | The Virgin Mary featured in a
panel from an altarpiece painted by Cimabue
around 1280
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 107
Focus On Composition
Ave Generosa by Hildegard of Bingen
(Twelfth Century)
Many composers of the Middle Ages will forever remain
anonymous. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) from the
German Rhineland is a notable exception. At the age of
fourteen, Hildegard’s family gave her to the Catholic Church
where she studied Latin and theology at the local monastery.
Known for her religious visions, Hildegard eventually became
an influential religious leader, artist, poet, scientist, and
musician. She would go on to found three convents and
become an abbess, the chief administrator of an abbey.
108 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Figure 3.8 | Depiction of Hildegard of Bingen
in the Rupertsberg Codex of her Liber Scivias
Writing poetry and music for her fellow nuns to use in worship
was one of many of Hildegard’s activities, and the hymn “Ave
Generosa” is just one of her many compositions. This hymn
has multiple strophes in Latin that praise Mary and her role as
the bearer of the Son of God. The manuscript contains one
melodic line that is sung for each of the strophes, making it a
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 109
strophic monophonic chant. Although some leaps occur, the
melody is conjunct. The range of the melody line, although still
approachable for the amateur singer, is a bit larger than other
church chants of the Middle Ages. The melody also contains
melismas at several places. A melisma is the singing of multiple
pitches on one syllable of text. Overall, the rhythm of the chant
is syllabic, meaning it follows the rhythm of the syllables of the
text.
Chant is by definition monophonic, but scholars suspect that
medieval performers sometimes added musical lines to the
texture, probably starting with drones (a pitch or group of
pitches that were sustained while most of the ensemble sang
together the melodic line). Performances of chant music today
often add embellishments such as occasionally having a fiddle
or small organ play the drone instead of being vocally
incorporated. Performers of the Middle Ages possibly did
likewise, even if prevailing practices called for entirely a cappella
worship.
Listening Guide: Ave Generosa
• Composer: Hildegard of Bingen
• Artist: UCLA Early Music Ensemble;
• Soloist Arreanna Rostosky;
110 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
• Audio & video by Umberto Belfiore;
Listen through 3:17 for the first four strophes.
Other things to listen for:
• Its melodic line is mostly conjunct.
• Its melody contains many melismas.
• It has a Latin text sung in a strophic form.
An interactive H5P element has been
excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rotel.pressbooks.pub/artofmusic/?p=79#h5p-68
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 111
Timing
Performing Forces, Meldoy and
Texture
Text and
From
0:00
Solo vocalist enters with first line
using a monophonic texture. The
melody opens with an upward leap
and then moves mostly by step:
conjunct
Strophe 1:
Ave,
generosa,
“Hail
generous
one”
Group joins with line two, some
singing a drone pitch. The melody
continues mostly conjunctly, with
melismas added. Since the drone is
improvised, this is still monophony.
Strophe 1
continues:
Glorio- sa et
intacta
puella…
“Noble,
glorious,
and whole
woman…”
Repetition of the melody to new
words sung by all with monophonic
texture (the drone continues)
Strophe 2:
Nam hec
superna
infusio in te
fuit…
“The
essences of
heaven
flooded into
you…”
0:10
0:49
112 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Timing
1:37
2:34
Performing Forces, Meldoy and
Texture
Text and
From
Repetition of the melody to new
words sung by all with
monophonic texture (the drone
continues)
Strophe 3:
O
pulsherrima
et
dulcissima…
“O lovely
and tender
one…”
Repetition of the melody to new
words sung by all with monophonic
texture (the drone continues)
Strophe 4:
Venter enim
tuus
gaudium
havuit…
“Your
womb held
joy…”
The Emergence of
Polyphonic Music for the
Medieval Church
Initial embellishments such as the addition of a musical drone
to a monophonic chant were probably improvised during the
Middle Ages. With the advent of musical notation that could
indicate polyphony, composers began writing polyphonic
compositions for worship, initially intended for select parts of
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 113
the Liturgy to be sung by the most trained and accomplished
of the priests or monks leading the mass. Originally, these
polyphonic compositions featured two musical lines at the
same time; eventually, third and fourth lines were added.
Polyphonic liturgical music, originally called organum,
emerged in Paris around the late twelfth and thirteenth
centuries. In this case, growing musical complexity seems to
parallel growing architectural complexity.
Composers wrote polyphony so that the cadences, or ends
of musical phrases and sections, resolved to simultaneously
sounding perfect intervals. Perfect intervals are the intervals of
fourths, fifths, and octaves. Such intervals are called perfect
because they are the first intervals derived from the overtone
series (see chapter one). As hollow and even disturbing as
perfect intervals can sound to our modern ears, the Middle
Ages used them in church partly because they believed that
what was perfect was more appropriate for the worship of God
than the imperfect.
In Paris, composers also developed an early type of rhythmic
notation, which was important considering that individual
singers would now be singing different musical lines that
needed to stay in sync. By the end of the fourteenth century,
this rhythmic notation began looking a little bit like the
rhythmic notation recognizable today. Beginning a music
composition, a symbol was written indicating something like
our modern meter symbols (see chapter two). This symbol
told the performer whether the composition was in two or in
114 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
three and laid out the note value that provided the basic beat.
Initially almost all metered church music used triple time,
because the number three was associated with perfection and
theological concepts such as the trinity.
Figure 3.9 | Depiction of Guillaume de Machaut
Elsewhere in what is now France, Guillaume de Machaut (c.
1300-13) emerged as the most important poet and composer
of his century. He is the first composer about which we have
much biographical information, due in part to the fact that
Machaut himself, near the end of his life, collected his poetry
into volumes of manuscripts, which include a miniature image
of the composer (see Figure 3.9 of Machaut at work from
a fourteenth century manuscript). We know that he traveled
widely as a cleric and secretary for John, the King of Bohemia.
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 115
Around 1340, he moved to Reims (now in France), where
he served as a church official at the cathedral. There he had
more time to write poetry and music, which he seems to have
continued doing for some time.
Focus Composition
Agnus Dei from the Nostre Dame Mass
(c. 1364 Ce) by Guillaume de Machaut
It is believed that Machaut wrote his Mass of Nostre Dame
around 1364. This composition is famous because it was one
of the first compositions to set all five movements of the mass
ordinary as a complete composition. These movements are
the pieces of the Catholic liturgy comprising every Mass, no
matter what time of the year. A movement in music refers
to a musical section that sounds complete but that is part of
a larger musical composition. Musical connections between
each movement of this Mass cycle—the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo,
Sanctus, and Agnus Dei—suggest that Machaut intended
them to be performed together. The Agnus Dei was composed
after the death of Machaut’s brother in 1372. This Mass was
likely performed every week in a side chapel of the Reims
Cathedral. Medieval Catholics commonly paid for Masses to
be performed in honor of their deceased loved ones.
As you listen to the Agnus Dei movement from the Nostre
Dame Mass, try imagining that you are sitting in that side
116 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
chapel of the cathedral at Reims, a cathedral that looks not
unlike the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. Its slow tempo
might remind us that this was music that memorialized
Machaut’s dead brother, and its triple meter allegorized
perfection. Remember that although its perfect intervals may
sound disturbing to our ears, for those in the Middle Ages they
symbolized that which was most appropriate and musically
innovative.
Listening Guide: La Messe de Nostre Dame
• Composer: Guillaume de Marchaut
• Composition: Agnus Dei from the Nostre
Dame Mass
• Date: c. 1364 CE
• Genre: Movement from the Ordinary of
the Mass
• Form: A – B – A
Nature of Text: Latin words from the Mass
Ordinary: Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
Miserere nobis” (Lamb of God, who takes away
the sin, have mercy on us)
Performing Forces: small ensemble of vocalists
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 117
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• It is part of the Latin mass.
• It uses four-part polyphony.
• It has a slow tempo.
Other things to listen for:
• Its melodies lines have a lot of melismas
• It is in triple meter, symbolizing perfection
• It uses simultaneous intervals of fourths,
fifths, and octaves, also symbolizing
perfection.
• Its overall form is A-B-A.
An interactive H5P element has been
excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rotel.pressbooks.pub/artofmusic/?p=79#h5p-69
Oxford Camerata directed by Jeremy Summerly
118 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Timing
Performing Forces, Melody, and
Texture
Text & Form
0:00
Small ensemble of men singing in
four-part polyphony; a mostly
conjunct melody with a lot of
melismas in triple meter at a slow
tempo. The section ends with a
cadence on open, hollow-sounding
harmonies such as octaves and
fifths.
A: Agnus Dei,
qui tollis
peccata mundi,
Miserere nobis
1:11
This section begins with faster notes
sung by the alto voice. Note that it
ends with a cadence to hollowingsounding intervals of the fifth and
octave, just like the first section had.
B: Agnus Dei,
qui tollis
peccata mundi,
Miserere nobis
Same music as at the beginning.
A: Agnus Dei,
qui tollis
peccata mundi,
Miserere nobis
2:27
Music in Medieval Courts
Like the Catholic Church, medieval kings, dukes, lords and
other members of the nobility had resources to sponsor
musicians to provide them with music for worship and
entertainment. Individuals roughly comparable to today’s
singer-songwriters served courts throughout Europe. Like
most singer-songwriters, love was a favored topic. These poetcomposers also sang of devotion to the Virgin Mary and of the
current events of the day.
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 119
Many songs that merge these two focus points appear in a late
thirteenth-century manuscript called the Cantigas de Santa
Maria (Songs for the Virgin Mary), a collection sponsored by
King Alfonso the Wise who ruled the northwestern corner
of the Iberian peninsula. Cantigas de Santa Maria also
includes many illustrations of individuals playing instruments.
The musician in Figure 3.10 is playing a rebec and the one to
the right a lute. Elsewhere in the manuscript these drummers
and fifers appear (see Figure 3.11). These depictions suggest
to us that, outside of worship services, much vocal music was
accompanied by instruments. It is believed that such songs
as these were also sung by groups and used as dance music,
especially as early forms of rhythmic notation indicate simple
and catchy patterns that were danceable. Other manuscripts
also show individuals dancing to the songs of composers such
as Machaut.
120 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Figure 3.10 | Rebec and Lute Players depicted in Cantigas de
Santa Maria
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 121
Figure 3.11 | Drummers and fifers depicted in Cantigas de
Santa Maria
One or more interactive elements has been
excluded from this version of the text. You
can view them online here:
https://rotel.pressbooks.pub/
artofmusic/?p=79#oembed-1
122 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Video – Description and demonstration of crumhorns.
Andrew Broadwater and Jacob Lodico, crumhorns; Kevin
Shannon, baroque guitar; Mark Cudek, long drum
Focus Composition
Song of Mary, No. 181: “The virgin will
aid those who most love her”
“The Virgin will aid those who most love her,” is one of over
four hundred songs praising the Virgin Mary in the Cantigas
de Santa Maria described above. “The Virgin will aid those
who most love her” praises Mary for her help during the
crusades in defeating a Moroccan king in the city of
Marrakesh. It uses a verse and refrain structure similar to those
discussed in chapter one. Its two-lined chorus (here called a
refrain) is sung at the beginning of each of the eight fourlined strophes that serve as verses. The two-line melody for
the refrain is repeated for the first two lines of the verse; a
new melody then is used for the last two lines of the verse.
In the recent recording done by Jordi Savall and his ensemble,
a relatively large group of men and women sing the refrains,
and soloists and smaller groups of singers perform the verses.
The ensemble also includes a hand drum that ar- ticulates the
repeating rhythmic motives, a medieval fiddle, and a lute, as
well as medieval flutes and shawms, near the end of the excerpt
below. These parts are not notated in the manuscript, but
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 123
it is likely that similar instruments would have been used to
accompany this monophonic song in the middle ages.
Listening Guide: Song of Mary, No. 181
• Composer: Anonymous
• Composition: Song of Mary, No. 181: “The
Virgin will aid those who most love her”
(Pero que seja a gente d’outra lei
[e]descreuda)
• Date: c. 1275
• Genre: Song
• Form: Refrain [A] & verses [ab] = A-ab
Nature of Text: Refrain and strophes in an
earlier form of Portuguese, praising the Virgin
Mary
Performing Forces: small ensemble of
vocalists, men and women singing together and
separately
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• It is music for entertainment, even though
it has a sacred subject.
124 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
• It is monophonic.
• Its narrow-ranged melody and repetitive
rhythms make it easy for nonprofessionals to sing.
Other Things To Listen For:
• In this recording, the monophonic melody
is sung by men and women and is played
by a medieval fiddle and lute; a drum plays
the beat; near the end of the excerpt, you
can also hear flutes and shawms.
• Its musical form is A-ab; meaning that the
refrain is always sung to the same music.
An interactive H5P element has been
excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rotel.pressbooks.pub/artofmusic/?p=79#h5p-70
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 125
Performing Forces, Texture and Melody
Text
and
Form
0:00
Fiddles and Lute playing melody for refrain;
Drum playing rhythmic motive;
monophonic texture throughout; Mostly
conjunct melody with a narrow range;
Repeated motif shifts back and forth
between twos and threes
A:
Intro
0:12
Sung by men and women
A:
Refrain
0:23
One woman starts and then others join,
singing monophonically the same the same
melodic phrase as the refrain
a: First
two
lines of
the first
verse
0:37
Several women singing a different melodic
phrase in monophonic texture
b:
Second
two
lines of
the first
verse
0:48
Men and Women singing the same melody
as the refrain above
A:
Refrain
Timing
126 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Performing Forces, Texture and Melody
Text
and
Form
One man starts, then others join, singing the
same melody as above.
a: First
two
lines of
the
second
verse
1:14
Several men sing same melody as second half
of the verse above
b:
Second
two
lines of
the first
verse
1:26
Men and Women singing the the refrain
A:
Refrain
1:37
Women; same melody as the other verses;
men join them for the b phrase of the
melodic theme.
ab:
Verse
Three
2:03
Men and Women
A:
Refrain
2:13
Men start and Women sing the b phrase of
the melodic theme.
ab:
Verse
Four
Timing
1:00
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 127
Performing Forces, Texture and Melody
Text
and
Form
Men and Women
A:
Refrain
Played by flutes, medieval fiddle, lutes,
drums, and zither
a: First
two
lines of
the
fifth
verse
3:05
Played by same instruments as above
b:
Second
two
lines of
the
second
verse
3:17
Played by the above instruments plus
shawms
A:
Refrain
Timing
2:40
2:52
Medieval poet composers also wrote a lot of music about more
secular love, a topic that continues to be popular for songs to
the present day. Medieval musicians and composers, as well
as much of European nobility in the Middle Ages, were
particularly invested in what we call courtly love. Courtly love
128 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
is love for a person, without any concern for whether or not
the love will be returned. The speakers within these poems
recounted the virtues of their beloved, acknowledging the
impossibility of ever consummating their love and pledging to
continue loving their beloved to the end of their days.
Guillaume de Machaut, who wrote the famous Mass of Nostre
Dame discussed above, also wrote many love songs, some
polyphonic and others monophonic. In his “Lady, to you
without reserve I give my heart, thought and desire,” a lover
admires his virtuous beloved and pledges undying love, even
while suspecting that they will remain ever apart. Like “The
Virgin will aid,” its words are in the original French. Also like
“The Virgin will aid,” it consists of a refrain that alternates
with verses. Here the refrain and three verses are in a fixed
medieval poetic and musical form that can be notated as AbbaAbba-Abba-Abba. Machaut’s song, written over fifty years
after “The Virgin will aid,” shows medieval rhythms becoming
more complex. The notes are in groups of three, but the
accentuation patterns often change. It is suspected that this
song was also used as dance music, given the illustration of a
group dancing in a circle appearing above its musical notation
in Machaut’s manuscript. Songs like this were most likely sung
with accompaniment, even though this accompaniment
wasn’t notated; the recording excerpt in the link below uses
tambourine to keep the beat.
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 129
Listening Guide: Dame, à vous sans retollir
Performed by Studio der Frühen Musik
• Composer: Guillaume de Machaut
• Composition: “Lady, to you without
reserve I give my heart, thought and
desire” (Dame, à vous sans retollir)
• Date: Fourteenth century
• Genre: song
• Form: Refrain [A] & Verses [bba]
Nature of Text: French poem about courtly love
with a refrain alternating with three verses.
Performing Forces: soloist alternating with
small ensemble of vocalists
What we really want you to remember
about this composition:
• It is a French song about courtly love.
• It is monophonic, here with tambourine
articulating the beats
• Its form consists of an alternation of a
refrain and verses
Other things to listen for:
130 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
• Its melodic line is mostly conjunct, the
range is a little over an octave, and it
contains several short melismas.
• Its specific form is Abba, which repeats
three times
An interactive H5P element has been
excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rotel.pressbooks.pub/artofmusic/?p=79#h5p-71
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 131
Timing
Performing Forces, Melody and Texture
Text
and
Form
0:00
Small group of women singing in
monophonic text with tambourine; Mostly
conjunct melody with a narrow range;
Notes fall in rhythmic groups of three, but
the accent patterns change often
A:
Refrain
0:14
Female soloist still in monophonic texture
without tambourine; the b phrase is mostly
conjunct, starts high and descends, repeats,
then returns to the a phrase as heard in the
refrain
bba:
Verse
0:40
Same music as in the A phrase above with
the words of the refrain
A:
Refrain
0:53
Female soloist as heard above to new words
bba:
Verse
1:18
As heard in the Refrain above, words and
music
A:
Refrain
1:31
As heard above verses, with new words
bba:
Verse
1:37
As heard in the Refrain above, words and
music
A:
Refrain
132 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Figure 3.12 Beatriz de Dia Author: Bibliothèque
Nationale, MS cod. fr. 12473 Source: Wikimedia Commons
License: Public Domain
Focus on Women in Music
Beatriz, Countess of Dia – Men wrote and composed most
of the poetry and music, but among the troubadours were
a few women, who sang of courtly love from a feminine
perspective. One of the most celebrated was the Countess of
Dia, sometimes identified as Beatriz. She was active in
Provence probably around 1175. She was married to a count,
William of Poitiers, though her music often refers to her lover,
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 133
the troubadour Raimbaut d’Orange. Her love song A chantar
m’er is the only poem by a trobairitz (female troubadour) to
survive with music. It reverses the usual gender roles found
in medieval love songs. Instead of the male pining for an
unreachable (and unheard) woman, here the woman is given a
voice. She laments the dismissive treatment she receives from
her knight.
Listening Map
• Title: A chantar m’er (I Must Sing), ca. 1175
by Beatriz, Countess of Dia
• Artist: Iordi Savall
• Genre: Troubadour song
• Texture: Monophonic melody
• Form: ABABCDB
An interactive H5P element has been
excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
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134 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Time
Performing Forces
Form/Text
0:00
Instrumental
Introduction
0:48
Woman’s Voice
A: A chantar m’er de so q’ieu
no volria,I must sing of what
I’d rather not
1:04
Voice Continues with
second half of phrase.
B: Tant me rancor de lui cui
sui amia, So angry I am about
him whose friend I am,
1:17
Text continues, but
with the music from A
A: Car eu l’am mais que
nuila ren que sia, For I love
him more than anything,
1:33
Music from the B
section returns with
new text
B: Vas lui nom val merces ni
cortesia, Kindness and
courtliness do not help with
him
1:48
New Music C
C: Ni ma beltatz ni mos pretz
ni mos sens,Nor do my beauty,
my worth, or my mind,
1:57
New Music D
D: C’atressi’m sui enganada e
trahia; For I am injured and
betrayed
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 135
Time
2:10
Performing Forces
Form/Text
Music from the B
section returns once
again to close out the
song.
B: Com degr’ esser s’ieu fos
desavinens. Just as I would be
if I were ugly.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter, we have studied music that dates back almost
1500 years from today. In some ways, it differs greatly from our
music today, but some continuous threads exist. Individuals in
the Middle Ages used music for worship and entertainment,
just as occurs today. They wrote sacred music for worship and
also used sacred ideas in entertainment music. Music for
entertainment included songs about love, religion, and current
events as well as music that might be danced to. Though the
style and form of their music is quite different from ours in
many ways, some aspects of musical style have not changed.
Conjunct music with a relatively narrow range is still a typical
choice in folk and pop music, owing to the fact that it is easy for
even the amateur to sing. Songs in strophic form and songs with
a refrain and contrasting verses also still appear in today’s pop
music. As we continue on to study music of the Renaissance,
keep in mind these categories of music that remain to the
present day.
136 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Glossary
• A cappella – vocal music without instrumental
accompaniment
• Cadence – the ending of a musical phrase providing a
sense of closure, often through the use of one chord that
resolves to another
• Chant – text set to a melody written in monophonic
texture with un-notated rhythms typically used in
religious worship
• Courtly Love – love for a beloved, without any concern
for whether or not the love will be returned, called
“courtly” because it was praised by those participating in
medieval courts
• Drone – a sustained pitch or pitches often found in
music of the middle ages or earlier and in folk music
• Hymn – religious song most generally having multiple
strophes of the same number and length of lines and
using strophic form
• Mass – Catholic celebration of the Eucharist consisting
of liturgical texts set to music by composers starting in
the middle ages
• Melisma – multiple pitches sung to one syllable of text
• Polyphony – musical texture that simultaneously
features two or more relatively independent and
important melodic lines
• Refrain – a repeating musical section, generally also
CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES | 137
with repeated text; sometimes called a “chorus”
• Rhythm According to the Text – rhythm that follows
the rhythm of the text and is not notated
• Solfège– A method of sight singing that uses the
syllables do (originally ut), re, mi, fa, sol (so), la, and si
(ti) to represent the seven principal pitches of the scale,
most commonly the major scale. The fixed-do system
uses do for C, and the moveable-do system uses do for
whatever key the melody uses (thus B is do if the piece is
in the key of B). The relative natural minor of a scale
may be represented by beginning at la.
https://www.yourdictionary.com/solfege
• Song – a composition sung by voice(s)
• Strophe – section of a poem or lyric text generally of a
set number of lines and line length; a text may have
multiple strophes
• Strophic – musical form in which all verses or strophes
of a song are sung to the same music
• Syllabic – music in which each syllable of a text is set to
one musical note
• Verse and Refrain Form – a musical form (sometimes
referred to as verse and chorus) in which one section of
music is sung to all the verses and a different section of
music is sung to the repeating refrain or chorus
138 | CHAPTER 5: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Media Attributions
• Pythagoras coin © Wikipedia is licensed under a Public
Domain license
• Map of Europe 1000 AD © Wikipedia is licensed under
a Public Domain license
• Notre Dame © Wikipedia is licensed under a CC0
(Creative Commons Zero) license
• A Map of Europe and the Byzantine Empire about
1000AD © Wikipedia is licensed under a Public Domain
license
• Hortus Deliciarum © Wikipedia is licensed under a
Public Domain license
• Guillaume de Machaut © Wikipedia is licensed under a
Public Domain license
• The Virgin Mary © Wikipedia is licensed under a Public
Domain license
• Depiction of Hildegard of Bingen © Wikipedia is
licensed under a Public Domain license
• Depiction of Guillaume de Machaut © Wikipedia is
licensed under a Public Domain license
• Rebec and Lute Players © Wikipedia is licensed under a
Public Domain license
• Drummers and fifers © Wikipedia is licensed under a
Public Domain license
• Beatriz de Dia © Wikipedia is licensed under a Public
Domain license
UNIT III: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 139
PART III
UNIT III: MUSIC OF
THE RENAISSANCE
140 | UNIT III: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 141
CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF
THE RENAISSANCE
Objectives
1. Demonstrate knowledge of historical and
cultural contexts of the Renaissance
2. Recognize musical styles of the Renaissance
3. Identify important genres and uses of music
of the Renaissance
4. Identify selected music of the Renaissance
aurally and critically evaluate its style and uses
5. Compare and contrast music of the
Renaissance with their own contemporary
music
Key Terms and individuals
• Anthem
• Chanson
142 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
• Chapel Master
• Consort
• Counter-Reformation
• Galliard
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
• Jig
• Josquin des Prez
• Madrigal
• Martin Luther
• Motet
• Pavanne
• Reformation
• Renaissance
• Thomas Weelkes
• William Byrd
• William Kemp
• Word painting
CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 143
Introduction and Historical
Context
What is the Renaissance?
The term Renaissance literally means “rebirth.” As a
historical and artistic era in Western Europe, the Renaissance
spanned from the late 1400s to the early 1600s. The
Renaissance was a time of waning political power in the
church, somewhat as a result of the Protestant Reformation.
Also during this period, the feudal system slowly gave way to
developing nation-states with centralized power in the courts.
This period was one of intense creativity and exploration. It
included such luminaries as Leonardo da Vinci, Christopher
Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Nicolaus Copernicus, and
William Shakespeare. The previous medieval period was
suppressive, firmly established, and pious. The Renaissance,
however, provided the thinkers and scholars of the day with a
revival of Classical (Greek and Roman) wisdom and learning
after a time of papal restraint. This “rebirth” laid the
foundation for much of today’s modern society, where
humans and nature rather than religion become the standard
for art, science, and philosophy.
144 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
Figure 3.1 | The School of Athens
The School of Athens (1505), Figure 3.1, by Raphael,
demonstrates the strong admiration, influence, and interest in
previous Greek and Roman culture. The painting depicts the
Greek philosophers Aristotle and Plato (center), with Plato
depicted in the likeness of Leonardo da Vinci.
Renaissance Timeline
An interactive H5P element has been
CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 145
excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
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Occurrences at the end of the Middle Ages accelerated a series
of intellectual, social, artistic, and political changes and
transformations that resulted in the Renaissance. By the
1500s, Catholic liturgical music had become extremely
complex and ornate. Composers such as Josquin des Prez and
Palestrina were composing layered Masses that utilized musical
textures such as polyphony and imitative counterpoint (more
on these techniques later). The mass is a sacred choral
composition historically composed as worship liturgy.
The complexity of the music in the Catholic Mass garnered
criticism from Martin Luther, a Roman Catholic priest and
the eventual father of the Protestant Reformation, who
complained that the meaning of the words of the mass formal
worship and liturgy were lost in the beautiful polyphony of the
music. Also, Catholic Masses were always performed in Latin,
a language seldom used outside the church. Early Protestant
hymns stripped away contrapuntal textures, utilized regular
beat patterns, and set biblical texts in German. Martin Luther
himself penned a few hymns, many of which the great classic
composer Johann Sebastian Bach would revisit about 125
years later.
146 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
Renaissance Humanism
The Humanism movement was one which expressed the spirit
of the Renaissance era that took root in Italy after Eastern
European scholars fled from Constantinople to the region
bringing with them books, manuscripts, and the traditions
of Greek scholarship. Humanism is a major paradigm shift
from the ways of thought during the medieval era where a
life of penance in a feudal system was considered the accepted
standard of life.
As a part of this ideological change, there was a major
intellectual shift from the dominance of scholars/clerics of the
medieval period (who developed and controlled the scholastic
institutions) to the secular men of letters. Men of letters were
scholars of the liberal arts who turned to the classics and
philosophy to understand the meaning of life.Humanism has
several distinct attributes as it focuses on human nature, its
diverse spectrum, and all its accomplishments. Humanism
combines all the truths found in different philosophical and
theological schools. It emphasizes and focuses on the dignity of
man, and studies mankind’s struggles over nature.
Medieval vs. Renaissance
CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 147
Figure 3.2 | (above) Rendition
of David Fighting Goliath
found on a Medieval Cast
plate; 613-630
148 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
Figure 3.3 | (right)
Michelangelo’s rendition of
David preparing to fight
Goliath, stone in hand and
sling over his shoulder;
1501-1504
Rebirth of Ancient
Civilizations
Predecessors to the Renaissance and the Humanist movement
include Dante and Petrarch. In 1452, after the fall of
Constantinople, there was a considerable boost in the
Humanist movement. Humanism was accelerated by the
invention of the printing press, which permitted mass
CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 149
reproduction of the classical text—once only found in handwritten manuscripts—and the availability of literature
improved immensely. Thus, literacy among the common
people increased dramatically. The scholastic and intellectual
stimulation of the general public facilitated by Humanism
initiated a power and knowledge shift from the land-owning
upper class and the church to the individual. This shift
facilitated and contributed to the beginning of the
Reformation. As mentioned above, Martin Luther was a
leading religious reformer who challenged the authority of the
central Catholic Church and its role in governance, education,
and religious practices. Like most other European groups of
the era, the Humanists at the time were divided in their
support of the reformation and counter-reformation
movements.
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Symmetry and Perspective in
Art
figure 3.4 | Cimabue’s
Madonna; 1280
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figure 3.5 | Giotto’s Madonna;
1310
152 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
The shift away from the
power and authority of the
church
between
the
figure 3.6 | Raphael’s
Medieval period and the
Madonna; 1504
Renaissance period is not
only evident in music but is also found in the visual arts.
Artists and authors of the Renaissance became interested in
classical mythology and literature. Artists created sculptures of
the entire human body, demonstrating a direct lineage from
ancient Greek culture to the Renaissance. In the Middle Ages,
such depictions of the nude body were thought to be objects
of shame or in need of cover. Artists of the Middle Ages were
more focused on religious symbolism than the lifelike
representation created in the Renaissance era. Medieval artists
perceived the canvas as a flat medium/surface on which
subjects are shown very two-dimensionally. Painters of the
Renaissance were more interested in portraying real-life
CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 153
imagery in three dimensions on their canvas. See the evolution
of the Virgin Mary from the Medieval period to the
Renaissance period in Figures 3.4, 3.5, and 3.6 above. You
can see the shift from the religious symbolism to the realistic
depiction of the features of the human bodies.
Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci focused on portraying
realism, utilizing linear perspective and creating illusions of
space in their works. A geometric system was effectively used to
create space and the illusion of depth. This shift from religious
symbolism to the real portrayal of the human is representative
of the decline of the church in the arts as well as music. Music
outside of the church, secular music, increased in importance.
The Protestant Reformation
In the Middle Ages, people were thought to be parts of a
greater whole: members of a family, trade guild, nation, and
church. At the beginning of the Renaissance, a shift in
thought led people to think of themselves as individuals,
sparked by Martin Luther’s dissent against several areas and
practices within the Catholic Church. On October 31, 1517,
Luther challenged the Catholic Church by posting The
Ninety-Five Theses on the doors of the Castle Church in
Wittenberg, Germany. The post stated Luther’s various beliefs
and interpretations of Biblical doctrine, which challenged the
many practices of the Catholic Church in the early 1500s.
154 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
Luther felt that educated/literate believers should be able to
read the scriptures and become individual church entities
themselves. With the invention of the Gutenberg Press, copies
of the scriptures and hymns became available to the masses,
which helped spread the Reformation. The empowerment of
the common worshiper or middle class continued to fuel the
loss of authority of the church and upper class.
figure 3.7 | Wittenberg Church
Gutenberg Press
Few inventions have had the significance of modernization as
the Gutenberg Press. Up until the invention of the press, the
earliest forms of books with edge binding, similar to the type
CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 155
we have today, called codex books, were hand-produced by
monks. This process was quite slow, costly, and laborious,
often taking months to produce smaller volumes and years to
produce a copy of the Bible and hymn books of worship.
Gutenberg’s invention of a much more efficient printing
method made it possible to distribute a large amount of
printed information at a much accelerated and labor-efficient
pace. The printing press enabled the printing of hymn books
for the middle class and further expanded the involvement of
the middle class in their worship service, a key component in
the Reformation. Gutenberg’s press served as a major engine
for the distribution of knowledge and contributed to the
Renaissance, Scientific Revolution, and Protestant
Reformation.
Columbus’s Voyage
Columbus’s discovery of the New World in 1492 also
contributed to the spirit and spread of the Humanist
movement. The discovery of new land and the potential for
colonization of new territory added to the sense of infallibility
and ego of the Europeans. The human spirit of all social classes
was invigorated. The invigoration of the middle class
influenced the arts and the public’s hunger for art and music
for the vast middle-class population.
156 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
Music of The Renaissance
Characteristics of Renaissance Music include steady beat,
balanced phrases (the same length), polyphony (often
imitative), increasing interest in text-music relationships, the
printing of music using movable type by Ottaviano Petrucci,
and a growing merchant class singing/playing music at home.
Word painting was utilized by Renaissance composers to
represent poetic images musically. For example, an ascending
melodic line would portray the text “ascension to heaven.” Or
a series of rapid notes would represent running.
Art music in the Renaissance served three basic purposes:
• Worship in both the Catholic and burgeoning Protestant
Churches.
• Music for the entertainment and edification of the courts
and courtly life.
• Music for dance.
Playing musical instruments became a form of leisure and a
significant, valued pastime for every educated person. Guests
at social functions were expected to contribute to the evening’s
festivities through instrumental performances.
Much of the secular music in the Renaissance was centered
on courtly life. Vocal music ranged from chansons (or songs)
about love and courtly intrigue to madrigals about nymphs,
fairies, and, well, you name it. Both chansons and madrigals
CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 157
were often set for one or more voices with plucked-string
accompaniment, such as by the lute, a gourd-shaped
instrument with frets and a raised strip on the fingerboard,
somewhat similar to the modern guitar.
Madrigals, musical pieces for several solo voices set to a
short poem, originated in Italy around 1520. Most madrigals
were about love and were published by the thousands and
learned and performed by cultured aristocrats. Similar to the
motet, a madrigal combines both homophonic and
polyphonic textures. Unlike the motet, the madrigal is secular
and utilizes unusual harmonies and word painting more often.
Many of the refrains of these madrigals utilized the text “Fa
La” to fill the gaps in the melody or to possibly cover risqué
or illicit connotations. Sometimes madrigals are referred to as
Renaissance Fa La songs.
A volume of translated Italian madrigals was published in
London during the year 1588, the year of the defeat of the
Spanish Armada. This sudden public interest facilitated a
surge of English madrigal writing as well as a spurt of other
secular music writing and publication. This music boom
lasted for thirty years and was as much a golden age of music
as British literature was with Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth
I. The rebirth in both literature and music originated in Italy
and migrated to England; the English madrigal became more
humorous and lighter in England as compared to that of Italy.
Renaissance music was mostly polyphonic in texture.
Comprehending a wide range of emotions, Renaissance music
158 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
nevertheless portrayed all emotions in a balanced and
moderate fashion. Extreme use of contrasts in dynamics,
rhythm, and tone color does not occur. The rhythms in
Renaissance music tend to have a smooth, soft flow instead of
a sharp, well-defined pulse of accents.
Composers enjoyed imitating sounds of nature and sound
effects in their compositions. The Renaissance period became
known as the golden age of a cappella choral music because
choral music did not require an instrumental accompaniment.
Instrumental music in the Renaissance remained largely
relegated to social purposes such as dancing, but a few notable
virtuosos of the time, including the English lutenist and singer
John Dowland, composed and performed music for Queen
Elizabeth I, among others.
John Dowland was a lutenist in 1598 in the court of
Christian IV and later in 1612 in the court of King James
I. He is known for composing one of the best songs of the
Renaissance period, Flow, my Teares. This imitative piece
demonstrates the melancholy humor of the time period.
For more information on Dowland, and the lyrics to Flow
My Tears.
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CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 159
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The instruments utilized during the Renaissance era were
quite diverse. Local availability of raw materials for the
manufacture of the instrument often determined its assembly
and accessibility to the public. A Renaissance consort is a
group of Renaissance instrumentalists playing together. A
whole consort is an ensemble performing with instruments
from the same family. A broken consort is an ensemble
composed of instruments from more than one family.
Instruments from the Medieval and Renaissance
Style Overview
Medieval Music
• Mainly monophony
• Majority of the music’s rhythm comes from the text
• Use of perfect intervals such as fourths, fifths, and octaves
for cadences
• Most music comes from the courts or church
• Music instruction predominantly restricted to the
160 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
church and patron’s courts
Renaissance Music
• Mainly polyphony (much is imitative polyphony/
overlapped repetition—please see music score below)
• Majority of the music’s rhythms is indicated by musical
notation
• Growing use of thirds and triads
• Music – text relationships increasingly important with
the use of word painting
• Invention of music publishing
• Growing merchant class increasingly acquires musical
skills
Worship Music
During the Renaissance from 1442 to 1483, church choir
membership increased dramatically in size. The incorporation
of entire male ensembles and choirs singing in parts during
the Renaissance is one major difference from the Middle Ages’
polyphonic church music, which was usually sung by soloists.
As the Renaissance progressed, the church remained an
important supporter of music, and musical activity gradually
shifted to secular support. Royalty and the wealthy of the
courts seeking after and competing for the finest composers
CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 161
replaced what was originally church supported. The motet and
the mass are the two main forms of sacred choral music of the
Renaissance.
Motet
The motet, a sacred Latin text polyphonic choral work, is
not taken from the ordinary of the mass. A contemporary
of Leonardo da Vinci and Christopher Columbus, Josquin
des Prez was a master of Renaissance choral music. Originally
from the region that is today’s Belgium, Josquin spent much
of his time serving in chapels throughout Italy and partly in
Rome for the papal choir. Later, he worked for Louis XII
of France and held several church music directorships in his
native land. During his career, he published masses, motets,
and secular vocal pieces, and was highly respected by his
contemporaries.
Josquin’s “Ave Maria …Virgo Serena”(“Hail, Mary … Serene
Virgin”) ca. 1485 is an outstanding Renaissance choral work.
A four-part (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) Latin prayer, the
piece weaves one, two, three, and four voices at different times
in polyphonic texture.
162 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
Figure
3.8 |
Opening
Line of
Ave
Maria
Listening Guide: Ave Maria
To view a full text score of Josquin des Prez “Ave
Maria…Virgo Serena” while listening.
• Composer: Josquin des Prez
• Composition: Ave Maria…Virgo Serena
• Date: c. 1485, possibly Josquin’s earliest
dated work
• Genre: motet
• Form: through-composed in sections
• Performing Forces: four-part choir
Translation: http://unamecclesiam.blogspot.com/2007/10/anotherbeautiful-ave-ma-ria-by-josquin.html
What we want you to remember about this
composition: The piece is revolutionary in how
it presents the imitative weaving of melodic lines
CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 163
in polyphony. Each voice imitates or echoes the
high voice (soprano).
Other things to listen for: After the initial
introduction to Mary, each verse serves as a
tribute to the major events of Mary’s life—her
conception, the nativity, annunciation,
purification, and assumption. See the above
translation and listening guide.
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Spotlight on Women Composers
164 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
Caterina Assandra
A benedictine nun born in Pavia, Italy. Assandra
received musical instruction from Benedetto Re at
Pavia Cathedral. She took vows in an isolated rural
Benedictine monastery, and continued to compose
after becoming a nun.
Her opus 1 (probably before 1608) is lost, but two
motets, Ave verum corpus, and Ego flos campi,
which survive without text in a German organ
tablature, are probably from that volume (D-Rtt; ed.
C. Johnson: Organ music by Women Composers
before 1800, Pullman, WA, 1993).
According to her 1609 dedication to Biglia, she took
vows in an ancient but isolated rural Benedictine
monastery, shortly after the volume’s publication
(taking ‘Agata’ as her religious name).
She seems to have continued to compose after her
profession: an imitative eight-voice Salve Regina
appeared in Re’s Vespers collection of 1611, and a
motet, Audite verbum Dominum, for four voices was
included in his motet book of 1618.
The 18 small-scale motets (plus two works by Re)
include both highly traditional pieces (e.g. O salutaris
hostia, for two voices, and two instruments of a
CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 165
simple double-choir motet) and more innovative
works.
Among the latter is Duo seraphim (ed. B.G. Jackson,
Fayetteville, AK, 1990), in which a change in mode
reflects the Apocalyptic text; some of the features of
this piece anticipate Monteverdi’s setting of the
same text in 1610. A portion of this work can be
heard here: Caterina Assandra : Duo seraphim (Live
in Sablé – I Gemelli)
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Music of
Catholicism—Renaissance
Mass
In the sixteenth century, Italian composers excelled with works
comparable to the mastery of Josquin des Prez and his other
166 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
contemporaries. One of the most important Italian
Renaissance composers was Giovanni Pieruigi da Palestrina (c.
1525-1594). Devoting his career to the music of the Catholic
Church, Palestrina served as music director at St. Peter’s
Cathedral, and composed 450 sacred works and 104 masses.
His influence in music history is best understood with a brief
background of the Counter-Reformation.
Protestant reformists like Martin Luther and others sought
to correct malpractices and abuses within the structure of the
Catholic Church. The Reformation began with Martin
Luther and spread to two more main branches: The Calvinist
and The Church of England. The protestant reformists
challenged many practices that benefited only the church itself
and did not appear to serve the lay members (parishioners).
A movement occurred within the church to counter the
protestant reformation and preserve the original Catholic
Church. The preservation movement or “CounterReformation” against the protestant reform led to the
development of the Jesuit order (1540) and the later
assembling of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) which
considered issues of the church’s authority and organizational
structure. The Council of Trent also demanded simplicity in
music so that the words might be heard clearly.
The Council of Trent discussed and studied the many issues
facing the Catholic Church, including the church’s music.
The papal leadership felt that the music had gotten so
embellished and artistic that it had lost its purity and original
CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 167
meaning. It was neither easily sung nor were its words (still
in Latin) understood. Many accused the types of music in
the church of being theatrical and more entertaining rather
than a way of worship (something that is still debated in many
churches today). The Council of Trent felt melodies were
secular, too ornamental, and even took dance music as their
origin. The advanced weaving of polyphonic lines could not
be understood, thereby detracting from their original intent
of worship with the sacred text. The Council of Trent wanted
a paradigm shift of religious sacred music back toward
monophonic Gregorian chant. The Council of Trent finally
decreed that church music should be composed to inspire
religious contemplation and not just give empty pleasure to
the ear of the worshiper.
Renaissance
composer
Palestrina
heeded
the
recommendations from The Council of Trent and composed
one of the period’s most famous works, “Missa Papae
Marcelli” (Pope Marcellus Mass). Palestrina’s restraint and
serenity reflect the recommendations of The Council of Trent.
The text, though quite polyphonic, is easily understood. The
movement of the voices does not distract from the sacred
meaning of the text. Throughout history, Palestrina’s works
have been the standard for their calmness and quality.
168 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
Listening Guide: Missa Papae Marcelli – I.
Kyrie
• Composer: Giovanni Pierluigi da
Palestrina (1525-1594)
• Composition: “Missa Papae Marcelli”
(Pope Marcellus Mass)- 1. Kyrie
• Date: c. 1562
• Genre: Choral, Kyrie of Mass
• Form: through-composed (without
repetition in the form of verses, stanzas,
or strophes) in sections
• Performing Forces: Unknown vocal
ensemble
Nature of Text:
Greek Text
English Translation
Kyrie eleison
Lord have mercy
Christe eleison
Christ have merce
Kyrie eleison
Lord have mercy
What we want you to remember about this
composition: Listen to the polyphony and how
the voices move predominantly stepwise after a
CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 169
leap upward. After an initial voice begins the
piece, the other voices enter, imitating the initial
melody and then continue to weave the voices
as more enter. Palestrina’s mass would come to
represent proper counterpoint/polyphony and
become the standard for years to come.
Other things to listen for: Even though the
voices overlap in polyphony, the text is easily
understood. The masses were written so as to
bring out the text and make it simple to
understand. The significance of the text is
brought out and easily understood.
Musical Score:
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Music of the Protestant
Reformation
As a result of the Reformation, congregations began singing
strophic hymns in German with stepwise melodies during
their worship services. This practice enabled the full
participation of worshipers. Full participation of the
congregations’ members further empowered the individual
church participant, thus contributing to the Renaissance’s
Humanist movement. Early Protestant hymns stripped away
contrapuntal textures, utilized regular beat patterns, and set
biblical texts in German.
Instead of a worship service being led with a limited number
of clerics at the front of the church, Luther wanted the
congregation to actively and fully participate, including in the
singing of the service. Since these hymns were in German,
members of the parish could sing and understand them.
Luther, himself a composer, composed many hymns and
chorales to be sung by the congregation during worship, many
of which Johann Sebastian Bach would make the melodic
themes of his Chorale Preludes 125 years after the original
hymns were written. These hymns are strophic (repeated verses
as in poetry) with repeated melodies for the different verses.
Many of these chorales utilize syncopated rhythms to clarify
the text and its flow (rhythms). Luther’s hymn “A Mighty
Fortress” is a good example of this practice. The chorales/
172 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
hymns were usually in four parts and moved with homophonic
texture (all parts changing notes in the same rhythm). The
melodies of these four-part hymn/chorales used as the basis for
many chorale preludes performed on organs prior to and after
worship services are still used today.
An example of one such Chorale Prelude based on Luther’s
hymn can be found at:
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Listening Guide: A Mighty Fortress is Our
God
• Composer: Martin Luther
• Composition: “A Mighty Fortress Is Our
God” (also known as the “Battle Hymn of
the Reformation”)
• Date: 1529
CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 173
• Genre: Four-Part homophonic church
anthem. This piece was written to be sung
by the lay church membership instead of
just by the church leaders as was practiced
prior to the Reformation.
• Form: Four-part Chorale, Strophic
• Performing Forces: Congregation-This
recording is the Choir of First Plymouth
Church, Lincoln Nebraska
Things to listen for: stepwise melody and
syncopated rhythms centered around text
Nature of Text: Originally in German so it could
be sung by all church attendees.
Translation:
Translated from original German to English by
Frederic H. Hedge in 1853.
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never
failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills
prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us
woe;
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His craft and power are great, and, armed with
cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving
would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of
God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the
same, And He must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled, should
threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to
triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for
him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers, no thanks
to them, abideth;
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The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him
Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.
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This recording is in English and performed by the Choir of
First Plymouth Church, Lincoln Nebraska.
Secular Music: Entertainment
Music of The Renaissance
Royalty sought the finest of the composers to employ for
entertainment. A single court, or royal family, could employ as
176 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
many as ten to sixty musicians, singers, and instrumentalists.
In Italy, talented women vocalists began to serve as soloists in
the courts.
Secular pieces for the entertainment of nobility and sacred
pieces for the chapel were composed by the court music
directors. Musicians were often transported from one castle
to another to entertain the court’s patron, traveling in their
patron’s entourage.
The Renaissance town musicians performed for civic
functions, weddings, socials, and religious ceremonies/
services. Due to the market, that is, the supply and demand
of the expanding Renaissance society, musicians experienced
higher status and pay unlike ever before. The Flanders, Low
Countries of the Netherlands, Belgium, and northern France
became a source of musicians who filled many important
music positions in Italy. As in the previous era, vocal music
maintained its important status over instrumental music.
Germany, England, and Spain also experienced an energetic
musical expansion. Secular vocal music became increasingly
popular during the Renaissance. In Europe, music was set to
poems from several languages, including English, French,
Dutch, German, and Spanish. The invention of the printing
press led to the publication of thousands of collections of
songs that were never before available. One instrument or
small groups of instruments were used to accompany solo
voices or groups of solo voices.
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Thomas Weelkes
Thomas Weelkes, a church organist and composer, became
one of the finest English madrigal composers. Thomas
Weelkes’ “As Vesta Was Descending” serves as a good example
of word painting with the melodic line following the meaning
of the text in performance.
Listening Guide: As Vesta Was From
Latmos Hill Descending
• Composer: Thomas Weelkes
• Composition: “As Vesta Was From
Latmos Hill Descending”
• Date: 1601
• Genre: Madrigal
• Form: Through-composed
• Performing Forces: Choral ensemble
One thing to remember about this
composition:
This composition is a great example of “word
painting” where the text and melodic line work
together. When the text refers to descending
down a hill, the melody descends also.
178 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
Figure 3.12 | Examples of “word painting” in Weelkes’s
“As Vesta Was From Latmos Hill Descending”
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Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
Descending melodic/scales on “descending”
Ascending melodic/scales on “ascending”
Melody gently undulates, neither ascending nor descending
Rapid imitative descending figures on running down
Two voices, three voices, and then all voices
solo voice or unison
All voices in delicate polyphony
Timing
0:00
0:14
0:31
0:45
1:05
1:12
1:24
and mingling with the shepherds of her
train with mirthful tunes her presence
entertains
leaving their goddess all alone, hasted
thither
First two by two, then three by three
together,
to whom Diana’s darlings came running
down.
attended on by all the shepherds swain,
she spied a maiden queen the same
ascending
As Vesta was from Latmos hill descending
Text and Form
Then sang the shepherds and nymphs of
Diana,
Long live fair Oriana!
All voices unite to introduce the final proclamation
Brief, joyful phrase imitated among voices is repeated over
and over
1:40
1:52
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Renaissance Dance Music
With the rebirth of the Renaissance came a resurgence of the
popularity of dance. This resurgence led to instrumental dance
music becoming the most widespread genre for instrumental
music. Detailed instruction books for dance also included step
orders and sequences that followed the music accompaniment.
The first dances started similar to today’s square dances,
but soon evolved into more elaborate and unique forms of
expression. Examples of three types of Renaissance dances
include the pavanne, galliard, and jig. Video examples of each
type of dance are linked with their definitions.
The pavanne is a more solemn stately dance in a duple meter
(in twos). Its participants dance and move around with
prearranged stopping and starting places with the music.
Pavannes are more formal and used in such settings.
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The galliard is usually paired with a pavanne. The galliard is
182 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
in triple meter (in threes) and provides an alternative to the
rhythms of the pavanne.
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The jig is a folk dance or its tune in an animated meter. It
was originally developed in the 1500s in England. The
instrumental jig was a popular dance number. Jigs were
regularly performed in Elizabethan theaters after the main
play.
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William Kemp actor, song-and-dance performer, and
comedian is immortalized for having created comic roles in
CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 183
Shakespeare. He accompanied his jig performances with pipe,
tabor, and snare drum. Kemp’s jig started a unique phrasing/
cadence system that carried well past the Renaissance period.
Listening Guide
• Composer: Composer unknown but was
performed by William Kemp. The piece
became known as Kemp’s Jig
• Composition: “Kemp’s Jig”
• Date: late 1500s
• Genre: Jig (Dance Piece instrumental)
• Form: abb (repeated in this recording)
• Performing Forces: Lute solo
instrumental piece
Most dances of the period had a rhythmic and
harmony pause or repose (cadence) every four
or eight measures to mark a musical or dancing
phrase.
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
A jig is a light folk dance. It is a dance piece of
music that can stand alone when played as an
instrumental player. This new shift in
184 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
instrumental music from strictly accompaniment
to stand alone music performances begins a
major advance for instrumental music.
Will Kemp was a dancer and actor. He won a bet
that he could dance from London to Norwich (80
miles). “Kemps Jig” was written to celebrate the
event.
One thing to remember about this
composition:
This piece of dance music is evolving from just a
predictable dance accompaniment to a central
piece of instrumental music. Such alterations of
dance music for the sake of the music itself are
referred to as the stylization of dance music that
has carried on through the centuries.
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CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 185
To view an informative Renaissance Music Timeline.
Chapter Summary
The Renaissance period was truly a time of great discovery in
science, music, society, and the visual arts. The re-emergence
and renewed interest in Greek and Roman history/culture is
still current in today’s modern society. Performing music
outside of the church in courts and the public really began
to thrive in the Renaissance and continues today in the music
industry. Many of the masterworks, both sacred and secular,
from the Renaissance are still appreciated and continue to be
the standard for today’s music industry. Songs of love, similar
to Renaissance chansons, are still composed and performed
today. The beauty of Renaissance music, as well as the other
arts, is reintroduced and appreciated in modern-day theater
performances and visually in museums. The results of the
Protestant Reformation are still felt today, and the struggles
between contemporary and traditional church worship
continues very much as it did during the Renaissance. As we
continue our reading and study of music through the Baroque
period, try to recall the changes and trends of the Medieval
and Renaissance eras and how they thread their way through
history to today. Music and the Arts do not just occur; they
evolve and also remain the same.
186 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
Glossary
• Anthem – a musical composition of celebration, usually
used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the
national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music
theory and religious contexts, it also refers more
particularly to short sacred choral work and still more
particularly to a specific form of Anglican choral music.
• Church Music – Sacred music written for performance
in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy,
or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred
nature, such as a hymn. Church Music Director is a
position responsible for the musical aspects of the
church’s activities.
• Chanson – is in general any lyric-driven French song,
usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specializing in
chansons is known as a “chanteur” (male) or “chanteuse”
(female); a collection of chansons, especially from the
late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a
chansonnier.
• Chapel Master – Director of music, secular and sacred,
for the courts’ official functions and entertainment.
• Consort – A renaissance consort is a group of
renaissance instrumentalists playing together. A whole
consort is an ensemble performing with instruments
from the same family. A broken consort is an ensemble
composed of instruments from more than one family.
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• Counter-Reformation – The preservation movement
or “Counter-Reformation” against the Protestant
reform led to the development of the Jesuit order (1540)
and the later calling of the Council of Trent
(1545-1563), which considered issues of the church’s
authority and organizational structure.
• Dance Music [WM1] – is music composed specifically
to facilitate or accompany dancing
• Frets – is a raised strip on the neck of a stringed
instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of
the neck and divide the string into half steps for most
Western musical instruments. Most guitars have frets.
• Galliard – was a form of Renaissance dance and music
popular all over Europe in the 16th century.
• Jig – is the accompanying dance tune for an energetic
folk dance usually in a compound meter.
• Madrigal – a musical piece for several solo voices set to
a short poem. They originated in Italy around 1520.
Most madrigals were about love.
• Motet – is a highly varied sacred choral musical
composition. The motet was one of the pre-eminent
polyphonic forms of Renaissance music.
• Pavanne – is a slow processional dance common in
Europe during the 16th century Renaissance.
• Reformation – was a secession and division from the
practices of the Roman Catholic Church initiated by
Martin Luther. Led to the development of Protestant
188 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
churches.
• Word painting – was utilized by Renaissance
composers to represent poetic images musically. For
example, an ascending melodic line would portray the
text “ascension to heaven.” Or a series of rapid notes
would represent running.
This chapter adapted from Understanding Music Past and
Present By Jeff Kluball; edited and adapted by Amy
McGlothlin
Media Attributions
• The School of Athens © Raphael via. Wikipedia is
licensed under a Public Domain license
• David Fighting Goliath © Met Museum is licensed
under a Public Domain license
• Michelangelo’s rendition of David © Wikipedia is
licensed under a Public Domain license
• Madonna (1280) © Wikipedia is licensed under a Public
Domain license
• Giotto’s Madonna (1310) © Wikipedia is licensed under
a Public Domain license
• Raphael’s Madonna (1504) © Wikipedia is licensed
under a Public Domain license
• Wittenberg Church © User “Fewskulcho” via.
Wikipedia is licensed under a Public Domain license
CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE | 189
• Opening Line of Ave Maria © Josquin Des Prez via.
Wikipedia is licensed under a Public Domain license
• Musical score of “Kyrie” opening © Micah Walter via.
Wikipedia is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution
ShareAlike) license
• Examples of “word painting” in Weelkes’s “As Vesta Was
From Latmos Hill Descending” © ChoralWiki is
licensed under a CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license
190 | CHAPTER 6: MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE
UNIT IV: MUSIC OF THE BAROQUE | 191
PART IV
UNIT IV: MUSIC OF
THE BAROQUE
192 | UNIT IV: MUSIC OF THE BAROQUE
CHAPTER 7: ELEMENTS OF BAROQUE MUSIC | 193
CHAPTER 7: ELEMENTS
OF BAROQUE MUSIC
Music of the Baroque Period
This is a brief introduction to the Baroque period which lasted
from about 1600-1750. This period includes several
composers that we now hear on “classical” music stations. You
are probably familiar with such names as Bach, Handel, and
Pachelbel, whose Canon is used in many modern weddings.
You have almost certainly heard snippets of these composers
on TV shows, commercials, or movies. In this section, we will
add some context and history to these and many other
personalities from the Baroque Era.
It’s appropriate that we hear Handel and his
contemporaries in commercials today considering the Baroque
era was essentially the first age in which music became a
commercial commodity. Opera in the seventeenth century was
the entertainment equivalent of movies today. The biggest
opera stars in 1720 were followed around by paparazzi and
gossiped about just as are, say, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
You’ll encounter more on that when you get to the opera
portion of this learning chapter.
194 | CHAPTER 7: ELEMENTS OF BAROQUE MUSIC
The term “Baroque” has an interesting and disputed past.
The term “Baroque” is thought to have derived from the
Italian word barocco. Philosophers during the Middle Ages
used this term to describe an obstacle or veerings from
schematic logic. Later the term came to denote or bring
attention to any contorted idea, obscure thought, or anything
different, out of the ordinary, or strange. Another possible
origin is from the Portuguese term barrocco, in Spanish
barrueco. Jewelers use this term even today to describe
irregular or imperfectly shaped pearls: a baroque pearl. The
Baroque period is a time of extremes resulting from events
stemming back to the Renaissance. The conflict between the
reformation and counter-reformation, and the influence of
Greek/Roman culture as opposed to medieval roots are
present throughout the Baroque era.
In art circles, the term baroque came to be used to describe
the bizarre, irregular, grotesque, or anything that departs from
the regular or expected. This definition was adhered to until
1888 when Heinrich Woolfflin coined the word as a stylistic
title or designation. The baroque title was then used to
describe the style of the era. The term “rococo” is sometimes
used to describe art from the end of the Baroque period, from
the mid to late eighteenth century. The rococo took the
extremes of baroque architecture and design to new heights
with ornate design work and gold gilding (see figure of a
rococo church). Historical events and advances in science
influenced music and the other arts tremendously. It is not
CHAPTER 7: ELEMENTS OF BAROQUE MUSIC | 195
possible to isolate the trends of music during this period
without briefly looking into what was happening at the time in
society.
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Music Comparison Overview
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General Trends of Baroque
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Music
The characteristics highlighted in the chart above give Baroque
music its unique sound and appear in the music of
Monteverdi, Pachelbel, Bach, and others. To elaborate:
1. Definite and regular rhythms in the form of meter and
“motor rhythm” (the constant subdivision of the beat)
appear in most music. Bar lines become more
prominent.
2. The use of polyphony continues with more elaborate
techniques of imitative polyphony used in the music of
Handel and Bach.
3. Homophonic textures, (melody plus accompaniment),
emerge including the use of basso continuo (a
continuous bass line over which chords were built used
to accompany a melodic line).
4. Homophonic textures lead to increased use of major and
minor keys and chord progressions.
5. The accompaniment of melodic lines in homophonic
textures is provided by the continuo section: a sort of
improvised “rhythm section” that features lutes, viola da
gambas, cellos, and harpsichords.
6. Continuo sections provide the basso continuo
(continuous bass line) and are used in Baroque opera,
concerti, and chamber music.
7. Instrumental music featuring the violin family—such as
CHAPTER 7: ELEMENTS OF BAROQUE MUSIC | 197
suites, sonatas, and concertos emerge and grow
prominent. These compositions are longer, often with
multiple movements that use defined forms having
multiple sections, such as ritornello form and binary
form.
8. Composers start to notate dynamics and often write
abrupt changes between loud and softs, which are called
terraced dynamics.
Jeff Kluball and Elizabeth Kramer from “Understanding
Music, Past and Present,” Remixed and Adapted by Amy
McGlothlin
198 | CHAPTER 8: GENRES OF THE BAROQUE PERIOD
CHAPTER 8: GENRES OF
THE BAROQUE PERIOD
Genres of the Baroque Period
Much great music was composed during the Baroque period,
and many of the most famous composers of the day were
extremely prolific. To approach this music, we’ll break the
historical era into the early period (the first seventy-five years
or so) and the late period (from roughly 1675 to 1750). Both
periods contain vocal music and instrumental music.
Baroque Vocal Genres
The main genres of the early Baroque vocal music are:
madrigal, motet, and opera. The main genres of late Baroque
vocal music are: Italian opera seria, oratorio, and the church
cantata (which was rooted in the Lutheran chorale, already
discussed in chapter three). Many of these genres will be
discussed later in the chapter.
The two large vocal/choral genres of the Baroque period
were sacred works and opera. Two forms of sacred choral
works include the oratorio and the Mass.
CHAPTER 8: GENRES OF THE BAROQUE PERIOD | 199
The oratorio is an opera without all the acting. Oratorios
tell a story using a cast of characters who speak parts and may
include recitative (speak singing) and arias (sung solos). The
production is performed to the audience without the
performers interacting. The Mass served as the core of the
Catholic religious service and commemorates the Last Supper.
Opera synthesizes theatrical performance and music, much
like today’s musical theatre. Opera cast members act and
interact with each other. Types of vocal selections utilized in
an opera include recitative and aria. Smaller ensembles (duets,
trios etc.) and choruses are used in opera productions.
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The Birth of Opera
The beginning of the Baroque Period is in many ways
synonymous with the birth of opera. Music drama had existed
200 | CHAPTER 8: GENRES OF THE BAROQUE PERIOD
since the Middle Ages (and perhaps even earlier), but around
1600, noblemen increasingly sponsored experiments that
combined singing, instrumental music, and drama in new
ways. Renaissance Humanism led to new interest in ancient
Greece and Rome. Scholars as well as educated noblemen read
descriptions of the emotional power of ancient dramas, such
as those by Sophocles, which began and ended with choruses.
One particularly active group of scholars and aristocrats
interested in the ancient world was the Florentine Camerata,
so called because they met in the rooms (or camerata) of a
nobleman in Florence, Italy. This group, which included
Vicenzo Galilei, father of Galileo Galilei, speculated that the
reason for ancient drama’s being so moving was its having been
entirely sung to a sort of declamatory style that was midway
between speech and song. Although today we believe that
actually only the choruses of ancient drama were sung, these
circa 1600 beliefs led to collaborations with musicians and the
development of opera.
Less than impressed by the emotional impact of the ruledriven polyphonic church music of the Renaissance, members
of the Florentine Camerata argued that a simple melody
supported by sparse accompaniment would be more moving.
They identified a style that they called recitative, in which a
single individual would sing a melody line that follows the
inflections and rhythms of speech (see figure one with an
excerpt of basso continuo). This individual would be
accompanied by just one or two instruments: a keyboard
CHAPTER 8: GENRES OF THE BAROQUE PERIOD | 201
instrument, such as a harpsichord or small organ, or a plucked
string instrument, such as the lute. The accompaniment was
called the basso continuo.
Baroque Instrumental Genres
The main genres of early Baroque instrumental music include
the canzona (also known as the sonata) and suite. The main
genres of the late Baroque instrumental music are the
concerto, fugue, and suite.
Solo music of the Baroque era was composed for all the
different types of instruments but with a major emphasis on
violin and keyboard. The common term for a solo
instrumental work is sonata. Please note that the nonkeyboard solo instrument is usually accompanied by a
keyboard, such as an organ, harpsichord or clavichord.
Small ensembles are basically named in regard to the
number of performers in each (trio = three performers, etc.).
The most common and popular small ensemble during the
Baroque period was the trio sonata. These trios feature two
melody instruments (usually violins) accompanied by basso
continuo (considered the third single member of the trio).
The large ensembles genre can be divided into two
subcategories, orchestral and vocal. The concerto was the
leading form of large ensemble orchestral music. Concerto
featured two voices, that of the orchestra and that of either a
solo instrument or small ensemble. Throughout the piece, the
202 | CHAPTER 8: GENRES OF THE BAROQUE PERIOD
two voices would play together and independently, through
conversation, imitation, and in contrast with one another. A
concerto that pairs the orchestra with a small ensemble is called
a concerto grosso and a concert that pairs the orchestra with a
solo instrument is called a solo concerto.
The two large vocal/choral genres for the Baroque period
were sacred works and opera. Two forms of the sacred choral
works include the oratorio and the mass. The oratorio is an
opera without all the acting. Oratorios tell a story using a cast
of characters who speak parts and may include recitative (speak
singing) and arias (sung solos). The production is performed
to the audience without the performers interacting. The Mass
served as the core of the Catholic religious service and
commemorates the Last Supper. Opera synthesizes theatrical
performance and music. Opera cast members act and interact
with each other. Types of vocal selections utilized in an opera
include recitative and aria. Smaller ensembles (duets, trios etc.)
and choruses are used in opera productions.
CHAPTER 9: THE BIRTH OF OPERA | 203
CHAPTER 9: THE BIRTH
OF OPERA
The Birth of Opera
The beginning of the Baroque Period is in many ways
synonymous with the birth of opera. Music drama had existed
since the Middle Ages (and perhaps even earlier), but around
1600, noblemen increasingly sponsored experiments that
combined singing, instrumental music, and drama in new
ways. As we have seen in previous chapters, Renaissance
Humanism led to new interest in ancient Greece and Rome.
Scholars as well as educated noblemen read descriptions of
the emotional power of ancient dramas, such as those by
Sophocles, which began and ended with choruses.
One particularly active group of scholars and aristocrats
interested in the ancient world was the Florentine Camerata,
so called because they met in the rooms (or camerata) of a
nobleman in Florence, Italy. This group, which included
Vicenzo Galilei, father of Galileo Galilei, speculated that the
reason for ancient drama’s being so moving was its having been
entirely sung to a sort of declamatory style that was midway
between speech and song. Although today we believe that
204 | CHAPTER 9: THE BIRTH OF OPERA
actually only the choruses of ancient drama were sung, these
circa 1600 beliefs led to collaborations with musicians and the
development of opera.
Less than impressed by the emotional impact of the ruledriven polyphonic church music of the Renaissance, members
of the Florentine Camerata argued that a simple melody
supported by sparse accompaniment would be more moving.
They identified a style that they called recitative, in which
a single individual would sing a melody line that follows the
inflections and rhythms of speech (see figure one with an
excerpt of basso continuo). This individual would be
accompanied by just one or two instruments: a keyboard
instrument, such as a harpsichord or small organ, or a plucked
string instrument, such as the lute. The accompaniment was
called the basso continuo.
Basso continuo is a continuous bass line over which the
harpsichord, organ, or lute added chords based on numbers
or figures that appeared under the melody that functioned
as the bass line, would become a defining feature of Baroque
music. This system of indicating chords by numbers was called
figured bass, and allowed the instrumentalist more freedom
in forming the chords than had every note of the chord been
notated. The flexible nature of basso continuo also underlined
its supporting nature. The singer of the recitative was given
license to speed up and slow down as the words and emotions
of the text might direct, with the instrumental accompaniment
CHAPTER 9: THE BIRTH OF OPERA | 205
following along. This method created a homophonic texture,
which consists of one melody line with accompaniment.
Composers of early opera combined recitatives with other
musical numbers such as choruses, dances, arias, instrumental
interludes, and the overture. The choruses in opera were not
unlike the late Renaissance madrigals that we studied in
chapter three. Operatic dance numbers used the most popular
dances of the day, such as pavanes and galliards. Instrumental
interludes tended to be sectional, that is, having different
sections that sometimes repeated, as we find in other
instrumental music of the time. Operas began with an
instrumental piece called the Overture. Like recitatives, arias
were homophonic compositions featuring a solo singer over
accompaniment. Arias, however, were less improvisatory. The
melodies sung in arias almost always conformed to a musical
meter, such as duple or triple, and unfolded in phrases of
similar lengths. As the century progressed, these melodies
became increasingly difficult or virtuosic. If the purpose of the
recitative was to convey emotions through a simple melodic
line, then the purpose of the aria was increasingly to impress
the audience with the skills of the singer.
Opera was initially commissioned by Italian noblemen,
often for important occasions such as marriages or births, and
performed in the halls of their castles and palaces. By the mid
to late seventeenth century, opera had spread not only to the
courts of France, Germany, and England, but also to the
general public, with performances in public opera houses first
206 | CHAPTER 9: THE BIRTH OF OPERA
in Italy and later elsewhere on the continent and in the British
Isles. By the eighteenth century, opera would become almost
as ubiquitous as movies are for us today. Most Baroque operas
featured topics from the ancient world or mythology, in which
humans struggled with fate and in which the heroic actions
of nobles and mythological heroes were supplemented by the
righteous judgments of the gods. Perhaps because of the
cosmic reaches of its narratives, opera came to be called opera
seria, or serious opera. Librettos, or the words of the opera,
were to be of the highest literary quality and designed to be
set to music. Italian remained the most common language of
opera, and Italian opera was popular in England and Germany;
the French were the first to perform operas in their native
tongue.
Focus On Composition: “Tu se morta” (“You are dead”)
from Monteverdi’s Orfeo (1607)
CHAPTER 9: THE BIRTH OF OPERA | 207
Figure 4.4 | Claudio Monteverdi
One of the very first operas was written by an Italian composer
named Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643). For many years,
Monteverdi worked for the Duke of Mantua in central Italy.
There, he wrote Orfeo (1607), an opera based on the
mythological character of Orpheus from Ovid’s
Metamorphoses. In many ways, Orpheus was an ideal
character for early opera (and indeed many early opera
composers set his story): he was a musician who could charm
with the playing of his harp not only forest animals but also
208 | CHAPTER 9: THE BIRTH OF OPERA
figures from the underworld, from the river keeper Charon to
the god of the underworld Pluto. Orpheus’s story is a tragedy.
He and Eurydice have fallen in love and will be married.
To celebrate, Eurydice and her female friends head to the
countryside where she is bitten by a snake and dies. Grieving
but determined, Orpheus travels to the underworld to bring
her back to the land of the living. Pluto grants his permission
on one condition: Orpheus shall lead Eurydice out of the
underworld without looking back. He is not able to do this
(different versions give various causes), and the two are
separated for all eternity. One of the most famous recitatives
of Monteverdi’s opera is sung by Orpheus after he has just
learned of the death of his beloved Eurydice. The words of his
recitative move from expressing astonishment that his beloved
Eurydice is dead to expressing his determination to retrieve her
from the underworld. He uses poetic images, referring to the
stars and the great abyss, before, in the end, bidding farewell to
the earth, the sky, and the sun, in preparation for his journey.
As recitative, Orpheus’s musical line is flexible in its rhythms.
Orpheus sings to the accompaniment of the basso continuo,
here just a small organ and a long-necked Baroque lute called
the theorbo, which follows his melodic line, pausing where
he pauses and moving on where he does. Most of the chords
played by the basso continuo are minor chords, emphasizing
Orpheus’s sadness. There are also incidents of word painting,
the depiction of specific images from the text by the music.
Whether you end up liking “Tu se morta” or not, we hope
CHAPTER 9: THE BIRTH OF OPERA | 209
that you can hear it as dramatic, as attempting to convey as
vividly as possible Orpheus’s deep sorrow. Not all the music
of Orfeo is slow and sad like “Tu se morta.” In this recitative,
the new Baroque emphasis on music as expressive of emotions,
especially tragic emotions such as sorrow on the death of a
loved one, is very clear.
Listening Guide: Tu se morta
Features Jordi Savall and Le Concert des Nations,
La Capella Reial de Catalunya,
Furio Zanasi singing the role of Orfeo
• Composer: Claudio Monteverdi
• Composition: “Tu Se Morta” (“You are
dead”) from Orfeo
• Date: 1607
• Genre: Recitative followed by a short
chorus
• Form: Through-composed
• Nature of Text: Lyrics in Italian
• Performing Forces: solo vocalist and
basso continuo (here organ and theorbo),
followed by chorus accompanied by a
small orchestra
210 | CHAPTER 9: THE BIRTH OF OPERA
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• It is one of the first operas.
• It is homophonic, accompanied by basso
continuo
• It uses word painting to emphasize Orfeo’s
sorrow
Other things to listen for:
• Its melodic line is mostly conjunct and the
range is about an octave in range.
• Most of its chords are minor and there are
some dissonances
• Its notated rhythms follow the rhythms of
the text and are sung flexibly within a
basic duple meter
• It is sung in Italian like much Baroque
opera
CHAPTER 9: THE BIRTH OF OPERA | 211
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212 | CHAPTER 9: THE BIRTH OF OPERA
Time
Timing
Performing
Forces, Melody,
and Texture
Text and Form
0:00
Solo vocalist and
basso continuo in
homophonic
texture; Singer
registers sadness and
surprise through
pauses and
repetition of words
such as “never to
return”
“Tu se morta, se morta mia
vita, e io respiro” And I
breathe, you have left me./
“se’ da me par tita per mai
piu,”You have left me
forevermore,/ “mai piu’ non
tornare,” Never to return,
0:52
“No, No”
(declaration to rescue
Eurydice) intensified
by being sung to high
notes; melody
descends to its lowest
pitch on the word
“abyss”
“ed io rimango-“ and I
remain- / “no, no, che se i
versi alcuna cosa ponno,”
No, no, if my verses have
any power,/ “n’andra sicuro
a’ piu profondi abissi,” I will
go confidently to the
deepest abysses,
1:11
Descending pitches
accompanied by
dissonant chords
when referring to the
king of the shadows;
Melody ascends to
high pitch for the
word “stars”
“e, intenerito il cor del re de
l’ombre,” And, having
melted the heart of the king
of shadows,/ “meco trarotti
a riverder le stelle,” Will
bring you back to me to see
the stars again,
CHAPTER 9: THE BIRTH OF OPERA | 213
Timing
Performing
Forces, Melody,
and Texture
Text and Form
1:30
Melody
descends for
the word
“death”
“o se cia negherammi
empio destino,” Or, if
pitiless fate denies me
this,/ “rimarro teco in
compagnia di morta.” I
will remain with you in
the company of death.
1:53
“Earth,” “sky,”
and “sun” are
set on ever
higher pitches
suggesting their
experienced
position from a
human
perspective
“Addio terra, addio cielo, e
sole, addio;” Farewell earth,
farewell sky, and sun,
farewell.
2:28
Chorus &
small orchestra
responds;
Mostly
homophonic
texture, with
some
polyphony;
Dissonance on
the word
“cruel.”
Oh cruel destiny, oh
despicable stars, oh
inexorable skies
Time
214 | CHAPTER 9: THE BIRTH OF OPERA
Media Attributions
• Claudio Monteverdi © Wikipedia is licensed under a
Public Domain license
CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS | 215
CHAPTER 10: NEW
MUSIC FOR
INSTRUMENTS
The Baroque period saw an explosion in music written for
instruments. Had you lived in the Middle Ages or
Renaissance, you would have likely heard instrumental music,
but much of it would have been either dance music or vocal
music played by instruments. Around 1600, composers started
writing more music specifically for musical instruments that
might be played on a variety of occasions. One of the first
composers to write for brass instruments was Giovanni
Gabrieli (1554- 1612). His compositions were played by
ensembles having trumpets and sackbuts (the trombones of
their day) as well as violins and an instrument called the cornet
(which was something like a recorder with a brass
mouthpiece). The early brass instruments, such as the trumpet
and sackbut, as well as the early French horn, did not have any
valves and were extremely difficult to play. Extreme mastery
of the air column and embouchure (musculature around the
mouth used to buzz the lips) were required to control the pitch
of the instruments. Good Baroque trumpeters were highly
sought after and in short supply. Often they were considered
216 | CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS
the aristocrats in the orchestra. Even in the wartime skirmishes
of the Baroque era, trumpeters were treated as officers and
given officer status when they became prisoners of war.
Composers such as Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, and others
selectively and carefully chose their desired instrumentation in
order to achieve the exact tone colors, blend, and effects for
each piece.
Giovanni Gabrieli was an innovative composer of the late
Renaissance Venetian School. His masterful compositional
technique carried over and established technique utilized
during the Baroque era. Giovanni succeeded Andrea Gabrieli,
his uncle, at Venice’s St. Mark’s Basilica as the organist
following his uncle’s death in 1586. Giovanni held the position
until his death in 1612. Giovanni’s works represent the peak of
musical achievement for Venetian music.
Gabrieli continued and perfected the masterful traditional
compositional technique known as cori spezzati (literally,
“split choirs”). This technique was developed in the sixteenth
century at St. Mark’s where composers would contrast
different instrumentalists and groups of singers utilizing the
effects of space in the performance venue, that is, the church.
Different sub-ensembles would be placed in different areas of
the sanctuary. One sub-ensemble would play the “call” and
another would give the “response.” This musical back and
forth is called antiphonal performance and creates a
stereophonic sound between the two ensembles. In deed, this
placement of performers and the specific writing of the parts
CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS | 217
created the first type of stereo sound and three-dimensional
listening experiences for parishioners.
Figure 4.5 | Interior of St.
Mark’s congregation.
Many of Gabrieli’s works were written for double choirs and
double brass ensembles to perform simultaneously. See the
interior image of St. Mark’s Basilica with its chamber on the
left and right that are used for opposing brass ensembles
(Figure 4.5). An example of one such piece with an eightpart setting is Gabrieli’s Jubilate. The interior of the Basilica
had multiple coves and lofts where musicians could be placed
for performing Gabrieli’s stereophonic works. In later years,
Giovanni became known as a famous music teacher. His most
recognized student was Heinrich Schütz of Germany.
Focus On Composition
Gabrieli, “Sonata pian’e forte” from Sacrae Symphoniae
218 | CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS
(1597) Another famous composition by Gabrieli in eight
parts, consisting of two four- part groups, is the Sonata pian’e
forte which is included in the Sacrea Symphoniae composed
in 1597. This collection includes several instrumental canzoni
for six- to eight-part ensembles. These, in addition to several
Toccatas and Ricer cars, have provided a great deal of
interesting repertoire for brass players. Many of the original
works by Gabrieli were written for sackbuts (early versions
of the modern trombone) and cornetti (cupped shape mouth
pieces on a curved wooden instrument) but have since been
transcribed for various brass ensembles.Let’s listen to and
study the Sonata pian’e forte from Gabrieli’s Sacrae
Symphoniae. This collection is pioneering in musical scoring
in that Gabrieli wrote specific louds and softs (volume) into
the individual parts for the performers to observe. Through
the use of its two keyboards played simultaneously, the pian’e
forte could achieve two relative dynamic (volume) levels, soft
and loud. The introduction of writing in dynamics (volume psoft to f-loud) into music by composers is a major step toward
notating expression into the music score. Gabrieli also
incorporated imitative polyphony and the use of polychoral
techniques.
Listening Guide
CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS | 219
• Composer: Giovanni Gabrieli
• Composition: Sonata pian’e forte for 8
parts, C. 176 from Sacrea Symphoniae
• Date: 1597
• Genre: Sonata
• Form: through-composed in sections
• Nature of Text: Antiphonal instrumental
work in eight parts
• Performing Forces: Two “choirs”
(Double instrumental quartet—8 parts) of
traditional instruments—sackbuts (early
trombones) and wooden cornets
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• Antiphonal call and response;
◦ the use of musical dynamics (louds
and softs written in the individual
parts);
• and contrapuntal imitation
Other things to listen for:
• listen to the noted balance so the melody is
220 | CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS
heard throughout and how the instruments
sound very “vocal” as from earlier time periods
(the Renaissance)
• The piece’s texture is the division of the forces
into two alternating groups in polychoral style.
An interactive H5P element has been
excluded from this version of the text. You
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As performed on instruments from the Renaissance/Baroque
transition era, directed by Bernard Fabre-Garrus at the Festival
des Cathedrales in Picardie (timings below correspond to this
version).
CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS | 221
Timing
Performing Forces, Melody, and
Texture
Text and
Form
0:00
Choir 1 introduces the first theme in
a piano dynamic in a slow tempo and
duple meter. Like many early sonatas
and canzonas, the composition starts
with a repeated-note motive. The
notes and harmonies come from the
Dorian mode, a predecessor to the
minor scale. The composition starts
in the key of G.
Strophe 1:
Ave, generosa,
“Hail generous
one”
0:29
Strophe 1
continues:
As the first choir cadences, the second
Glorio sa et
choir begins, playing a new theme
intacta
still at a piano dynamic and slow
puella…
tempo. Later in the theme the
repeated note motive (first heard in
“Noble,
the first theme of the composition)
glorious, and
returns.
whole
woman…”
0:52
Choirs 1 and 2 play together in a tutti
section at a forte dynamic. The new
theme features faster notes than the
first two themes. (The key moves to
the Mixolydian mode, a predecessor
to the major scale, and the key moves
to C.)
Strophe 2:
Nam hec
superna
infusio in te
fuit…
“The
essences of
heaven flooded
into you…”
222 | CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS
Timing
Performing Forces, Melody, and
Texture
1:02
Central antiphonal section. Choir 1
opens with a short phrase using a
piano dynamics and answered by
choir 2 with a different short phrase,
also with a piano dynamics. This call
and response continues. Sometimes,
the phrases last for only two
measures; other times they are as long
as four measures. After each passage
of antiphonal exchanges, there is
music of three to four measures in
length where the whole ensemble
joins together, usually with different
melodic material (e.g. 40-43). The
tonal or key center shifts during this
section. There is a new theme that
uses dotted rhythms that starts in
measure 60 (approximately 2:07 in
the recording).
2:34
Repetition of the melody to new
words sung by all with monophonic
texture (the drone continues)
Text and
Form
Strophe 3: O
pulcherrima et
dulcissima…
“O lovely
and tender
one…”
Strophe 4:
Venter enim
tuus gaudium
havuit…
“Your
womb held
joy…”
Rise of the Orchestra and the
Concerto
The Baroque period also saw the birth of the orchestra, which
CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS | 223
was initially used to accompany court spectacle and opera. In
addition to providing accompaniment to the singers, the
orchestra provided instrumental only selections during such
events. These selections came to include the overture at the
beginning, the interludes between scenes and during scenery
changes, and accompaniments for dance sequences. Other
predecessors of the orchestra included the string bands
employed by absolute monarchs in France and England and
the town collegium musicum of some German municipalities.
By the end of the Baroque period, composers were writing
compositions that might be played by orchestras in concerts,
such as concertos and orchestral suites.
The makeup of the Baroque orchestra varied in number
and quality much more than the orchestra has varied since
the nineteenth century; in general, it was a smaller ensemble
than the later orchestra. At its core was the violin family, with
woodwind instruments such as the flute, recorder, and oboe,
and brass instruments, such as the trumpet or horn, and the
timpani for percussion filling out the texture. The Baroque
orchestra was almost always accompanied by harpsichord,
which together with the one or more of the cellos or a
bassoonist, provided a basso continuo.
The new instruments of the violin family provided the
backbone for the Baroque orchestra (see Figures 4.6, 4.7, 4.8,
and 4.9). The violin family—the violin, viola, cello (long form
violoncello) and bass violin—were not the first bowed string
instruments in Western classical music. The Middle Ages had
224 | CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS
its fiddle (see Figure 4.10), and the Renaissance had the viola
da gamba (see Figure 4.11).
Figure 4.6 (farleft)Violin, Figure 4.7 | (second from left)
Viola, Figure 4.8 | (second from right) Cello, Figure 4.9 |
(far right) Double Bass
Bowed strings attained a new prominence in the seventeenth
century with the widespread and increased manufacturing of
violins, violas, cellos, and basses. Some of these instruments,
such as those made by Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737), are
still sought after.
CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS | 225
Figure 4.10 | Vielle player
One of the first important forms of this instrumental music
was the concerto.. A concerto is a composition for an
instrumental soloist or soloists and orchestra; in a sense, it
brings together these two forces in concert; in another sense,
these two forces compete for the attention of the audience.
Concertos are most often in three movements that follow a
tempo pattern of fast – slow – fast. Most first movements of
concertos are in what has come to be called ritornello form. As
its name suggests, a ritornello is a returning or refrain, played
by the full orchestral ensemble. In a concerto, the ritornello
alternates with the solo sections that are played by the soloist or
soloists. One of the most important composers of the Baroque
concerto was the Italian Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741). His
father taught him to play at a young age and he probably began
lessons in music composition as a young teen.
226 | CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS
Vivaldi began studying for the priesthood at age fifteen and,
once ordained at age twenty-five, received the nickname of
“The Red Priest” because of his hair color. He worked in a
variety of locations around Europe, including at a prominent
Venetian orphanage called the Opsedale della Pietà.
Figure 4.11 | Regola
Rubertina Titelbild
There he taught music to girls, some of whom were
illegitimate daughters of prominent noblemen of whom were
illegitimate daughters of prominent noblemen and church
officials from Venice. This orphanage became famous for the
quality of music performed by its inhabitants. Northern
Europeans, who would travel to Italy during the winter
months on what they called “The Italian Tour”—to avoid the
cold and rainy weather of cities such as Paris, Berlin, and
London—wrote home about the fine performances put on
by these orphans in Sunday afternoon concerts. These girls
performed concertos such as Vivaldi’s well known Four
Seasons. The Four Seasons refers to a set of four concertos,
each of which is named after one of the seasons. As such, it
CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS | 227
is an example of program music, a type of music that would
become more prominent in the Baroque period.
Program Music is instrumental music that represents
something extra-musical, such as the words of a poem or
narrative or the sense of a painting or idea. A composer might
ask orchestral instruments to imitate the sounds of natural
phenomenon, such as a babbling brook or the cries of birds.
Most program music carries a descriptive title that suggests
what an audience member might listen for. In the case of the
Four Seasons, Vivaldi connected each concerto to an Italian
sonnet, that is, to a poem that was descriptive of the season to
which the concerto referred. Thus in the case of Spring, the
first concerto of the series, you can listen for the “festive song”
of birds, “murmuring streams,” “breezes,” and “lightning and
thunder.” Each of the concertos in the Four Seasons has three
movements, organized in a fast – slow – fast succession. We’ll
listen to the first fast movement of Spring. Its “Allegro”
subtitle is an Italian tempo marking that indicates music that
is fast. As a first movement, it is in ritornello form. The
movement opens with the ritornello, in which the orchestra
presents the opening theme. This theme consists of motives,
which are small groupings of notes and rhythms that are often
repeated in sequence. This ritornello might be thought to
reflect the opening line from the sonnet.
After the ritornello, the soloist plays with the
accompaniment of only a few instruments, which are known
as the basso continuo. The soloist’s music uses some of the
228 | CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS
same motives found in the ritornello but plays them in a more
virtuosic way.
Figure 4.12 | Portrait
of Antonio Vivaldi
As you listen, try to hear the alternation of the ritornellos and
solo sections. Listen also for the motor rhythm, the constant
subdivision of the steady beat, and the melodic themes that
unfold through melodic sequences. Do you hear birds, a
brook, and a thunderstorm? Do you think you would have
associated these musical moments with springtime, if, instead
of being called the Spring Concerto, the piece was simply
called Concerto No. 1?
Listening Guide:The first movement of
Spring from The Four Seasons
CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS | 229
• Composer: Antonio Vivaldi
• Composition: The first movement of
Spring from The Four Seasons
• Date: 1720s
• Genre: solo concerto and program music
• Form: ritornello form
• Nature of Text: the concerto is
accompanied by an Italian sonnet about
springtime. The first five lines are
associated with the first movement:
Springtime is upon us.
The birds celebrate their return with
festive song,
and murmuring streams are softly
caressed by the breezes.
Thunderstorms, those heralds of
Spring, roar, casting their dark mantle
over heaven. Then they die away to
silence, and the birds take up their
charming songs once more.
• Performing Forces: solo violinist and
string orchestra
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
230 | CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS
• It is the first movement of a solo concerto
that uses ritornello form
• This is program music
• It uses terraced dynamics
• It uses a fast allegro tempo
Other things to listen for:
• The orchestral ritornellos alternate with
the sections for solo violin
• Virtuoso solo violin lines
• Motor rhythm
• Melodic themes composed of motives that
spin out in sequences
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Giuliano Carmignola (solo violin); Giorgio Fava (violin I);
Gino Mangiocavallo (violin II); Enrico Parizzi (viola); Walter
CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS | 231
Vestidello (violoncello); Alberto Rasi (violone); Giancarlo
Rado (archlute); Andrea Marcon (harpsichord); I Sonatori de
la Gioiosa Marca / Giuliano Carmignola (conductor)
232 | CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS
Timing
Performing Forces,
Melody, and Texture
0:00
Orchestra plays the
Ritornello. Repetitive
motives played by all the
violins; cellos subdivide the
beat, providing the motor
“Coming of spring”
rhythm; Dy namics terraced
from loud to soft to loud to
soft, every three measures; In
E major
0:36
Solo Section featuring the
solo violin, joined by two
other violins. Solo violin
imitates the birds with
repeated notes that are
ornamented by trills and
then repeated in short er
note values
1:08
Ritornello starts with
opening phrase. Opening
phrase returns and then a
softer new phrase with
oscillating notes to depict
the murmuring brook;
Forte for the return of the
opening phrase; then forte
repeated low notes
foreshadowing the
appearance of lightening.
1:49
Solo section. Solo violinist
playing rapid notes in
groups of three to represent
lightning; answered by low
repeated note in other
strings representing thunder
Text and Form
“Birds celebrate” with
“festive song.”
“Murmuring streams”
“caressed by the
breezes”;
“Thunderstorms…roar”
CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS | 233
Timing
Performing Forces,
Melody, and Texture
Text and Form
2:07
Orchestra plays the
ritornello. Opening theme
(just three measures)
No Data
2:15
Solo section: Solo violin + 2
violins; cello sustains a drone
pitch. More high-pitched,
ornamented and repeated
notes to represent
More chirping birds
2:33
Orchestra. Return of a
motivic fragment from the
opening phrase now more
legato and repeated in a
sequence.
No Data
2:45
Solo violin + basso
continuo. More fast,
repeated and oscillating
notes
Final reference to birds
and streams
2:58
Orchestra: ritornello. Forte
for the first melodic phrase
of the ritornello; last phrase
ends piano
No Data
Media Attributions
• Interior of St. Mark’s congregation © Wikipedia is
licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike)
license
• Violin Family © ROTEL adapted by Wikipedia is
licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike)
234 | CHAPTER 10: NEW MUSIC FOR INSTRUMENTS
license
CHAPTER 11: MUSIC OF GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
(1685-1759) | 235
CHAPTER 11: MUSIC OF
GEORGE FRIDERIC
HANDEL (1685-1759)
Figure 4.13 | Georg Friedrich Händel
236 | CHAPTER 11: MUSIC OF GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
(1685-1759)
George Frideric Handel was one of the superstars of the late
Baroque period. He was born the same year as one of our
other Baroque superstars, Johann Sebastian Bach, not more
than 150 miles away in Halle, Germany. His father was an
attorney and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, but
Handel decided that he wanted to be a musician instead. With
the help of a local nobleman, he persuaded his father to agree.
After learning the basics of composition, Handel journeyed to
Italy to learn to write opera. Italy, after all, was the home of
opera, and opera was the most popular musical entertainment
of the day. After writing a few operas, he took a job in London,
England, where Italian opera was very much the rage,
eventually establishing his own opera company and producing
scores of Italian operas, which were initially very well received
by the English public. After a decade or so, however, Italian
opera in England imploded. Several opera companies there
each competed for the public’s business. The divas who sang
the main roles and whom the public bought their tickets to see
demanded high salaries. In 1728, a librettist named John Gay
and a composer named Johann Pepusch premiered a new sort
of opera in London called ballad opera. It was sung entirely in
English and its music was based on folk tunes known by most
inhabitants of the British Isles. For the English public, the
majority of whom had been attending Italian opera without
understanding the language in which it was sung, English
language opera was a big hit. Both Handel’s opera company
and his competitors fought for financial stability, and Handel
CHAPTER 11: MUSIC OF GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
(1685-1759) | 237
had to find other ways to make a profit. He hit on the idea of
writing English oratorio.
Oratorio is sacred opera that is not staged. Like operas, they
are relatively long works, often spanning over two hours when
performed in entirety. Like opera, oratorios are entirely sung to
orchestral accompaniment. They feature recitatives, arias, and
choruses, just like opera. Most oratorios also tell the story of
an important character from the Christian Bible. But oratorios
are not acted out. Historically-speaking, this is the reason that
they exist. During the Baroque period at sacred times in the
Christian church year such as Lent, stage entertainment was
prohibited. The idea was that during Lent, individuals should
be looking inward and preparing themselves for the death and
resurrection of Christ, and attending plays and operas would
distract from that. Nevertheless, individuals still wanted
entertainment, hence, oratorios. These oratorios would be
performed as concerts not in the church but because they were
not acted out, they were perceived as not having a
“detrimental” effect on the spiritual lives of those in the
audience. The first oratorios were performed in Italy; then they
spread elsewhere on the continent and to England.
Handel realized how powerful ballad opera, sung in English,
had been for the general population and started writing
oratorios but in the English language. He used the same music
styles as he had in his operas, only including more choruses. In
no time at all, his oratorios were being lauded as some of the
most popular performances in London.
238 | CHAPTER 11: MUSIC OF GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
(1685-1759)
His most famous oratorio is entitled Messiah and was first
performed in 1741. About the life of Christ, it was written
for a benefit concert to be held in Dublin, Ireland. Atypically,
his librettist took the words for the oratorio straight from the
King James Version of the Bible instead of putting the story
into his own words.
Once in Ireland, Handel assembled solo singers as well as a
chorus of musical amateurs to sing the many choruses he wrote
for the oratorio. There it was popular, if not controversial. One
of the soloists was a woman who was a famous actress. Some
critics remarked that it was inappropriate for a woman who
normally performed on the stage to be singing words from
sacred scripture. Others objected to sacred scripture being
sung in a concert instead of in church. Perhaps influenced
by these opinions, Messiah was performed only a few times
during the 1740s. Since the end of the eighteenth century,
however, it has been performed more than almost any other
composition of classical music. While these issues may not
seem controversial to us today, they remind us that people
still disagree about how sacred texts should be used and about
what sort of music should be used to set them. We will listen
to the Hallelujah Chorus, the most famous number from the
composition that falls at the end of the second of the three
parts of the oratorio.
CHAPTER 11: MUSIC OF GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
(1685-1759) | 239
Listening Guide: “Hallelujah” from Messiah
• Composer: George Frideric Handel
• Composition: “Hallelujah” from Messiah
• Date: 1741
• Genre: chorus from an oratorio
• Form: sectional; sections delineated by
texture changes
• Nature of Text: English language libretto
quoting the Bible
• Performing Forces: solo tenor and
orchestra
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• It is for a four-part chorus and orchestra
• It uses a sectional form where sections are
delineated by changes in texture
Other things to listen for:
• In a major key, using mostly major chords
• Key motives repeat over and over, often in
sequence
240 | CHAPTER 11: MUSIC OF GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
(1685-1759)
An interactive H5P element has been
excluded from this version of the text. You
can view it online here:
https://rotel.pressbooks.pub/
artofmusic/?p=132#h5p-78
Performed by English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi
Choir, Conducted by John Eliot Gardiner
CHAPTER 11: MUSIC OF GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
(1685-1759) | 241
Timing
Performing Forces, Melody,
and Texture
Text and Form
Orchestra:
0:00
0:09
Introduces main musical motive
in a major key with a homophonic
texture where parts of the
orchestra play the melody and
other voices provide the
accompaniment
Chorus + orchestra:
Here the choir and the
orchestra provide the melody and
accompaniment of the
homophonic texture
No Data
Hallelujah
Chorus + orchestra:
0:26
0:34
0:38
0:45
Dramatic shift to monophonic
with the voices and orchestra
performing the same melodic line
at the same time.
For the Lord God
omnipotent
reigneth
Chorus + orchestra: Homophonic
Hallelujah
texture, as before.
Chorus + orchestra:
Monophonic texture, as before.
Chorus + orchestra:
Homophonic texture, as before.
For the Lord God
omnipotent
reigneth
Hallelujah
242 | CHAPTER 11: MUSIC OF GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
(1685-1759)
Timing
Performing Forces, Melody,
and Texture
Text and Form
Chorus + orchestra:
0:49
1:17
Texture shifts to non-imitative
polyphonic with the initial
entrance of the sopranos, then the
tenors, then the altos.
Chorus + orchestra:
Homophonic texture, as before.
For the Lord God
omnipotent
reigneth
The Kingdom of
this world is
begun
Chorus + orchestra:
1:36
1:57
2:01
2:05
Imitative polyphony starts in
basses, then is passed to tenors,
then to the altos, and then to the
sopranos.
Chorus + orchestra:
Monophonic texture, as before.
Chorus + orchestra:
Homophonic texture, as before.
Chorus + orchestra: Each
entrance is sequenced higher; the
women sing the monophonic
repeated melody motive
Monophony alternating with
homophony
2:36
And he shall reign
for ever and ever
King of Kings
Forever, and ever
hallelujah
hallelujah
And Lord of
Lords…Repeated
alternation of the
monophonic king
of kings and lord
of lords with
homophonic for
ever and ever
Chorus + orchestra: Homophonic King of kings and
texture
lord of lords
CHAPTER 11: MUSIC OF GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
(1685-1759) | 243
Timing
Performing Forces, Melody,
and Texture
Text and Form
2:40
Chorus + orchestra: Polyphonic
texture (with some imitation)
And he shall reign
for ever and ever
2:52
Chorus + orchestra: The
alternation of monophonic and
homophonic textures.
King of kings and
lord of lords
alternating with
“for ever and
ever”
3:01
Chorus + orchestra: Mostly
homophonic
And he shall
reign…Hallelujah
Focus Composition:
Movements from Handel’s Water
Music Suite
Although Handel is perhaps best known today for his operas
and oratorios, he also wrote a lot of instrumental music, from
concertos like Vivaldi wrote to a kind of music called the suite.
Suites were compositions having many contrasting
movements. The idea was to provide diverse music in one
composition that might be interesting for playing and
listening. They could be written for solo instruments such
as the harpsichord or for orchestral forces, in which case we
call them orchestral suites. They often began with movements
called overtures and were modeled after the overtures played
244 | CHAPTER 11: MUSIC OF GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
(1685-1759)
before operas. Then they typically consisted of stylized dance
movements. By stylized dance, we mean a piece of music that
sounds like a dance but that was not designed for dancing. In
other words, a stylized dance uses the distinct characteristics of
a dance and would be recognized as sounding like that dance
but might be too long or too complicated to be danced to.
Dancing was very popular in the Baroque period, as it had
been in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. We have several
dancing text books from the Baroque period that mapped out
the choreography for each dance. Some of the most popular
dances included the saraband, gigue, minuet, and bourée. The
saraband was a slow dance in triple meter, whereas the gigue
(or jig) was a very fast dance with triple subdivisions of the
beats. The minuet was also in triple time but danced at a much
more stately tempo. The bourrée, on the other hand, was
danced at a much faster tempo, and always in duple meter.
CHAPTER 11: MUSIC OF GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
(1685-1759) | 245
Figure 4.14 | An illustration from Kellom
Thomlinson’s Art of Dancing, London,
1735
When King George I asked Handel to compose music for an
evening’s diversion, the suite was the genre to which Handel
turned. This composition was for an event that started at 8pm
on Wednesday the seventeenth of July, 1717. King George I
and his noble guests would launch a barge ride up the Thames
River to Chelsea. After disembarking and spending some time
on shore, they re-boarded at 11pm and returned via the river
to Whitehall Palace, from whence they came. A contemporary
newspaper remarked that the king and his guests occupied one
246 | CHAPTER 11: MUSIC OF GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
(1685-1759)
barge while another held about fifty musicians and reported
that the king liked the music so much that he asked it to be
repeated three times.
Many of the movements that were played for the occasion
were written down and eventually published as three suites
of music, each in a different key. You have two stylized dance
movements from one of these suites here, a bourée and a
minuet. We do not know with any certainty in what order
these movements were played or even exactly who played them
on that evening in 1717, but when the music was published
in the late eighteenth century, it was set for two trumpets,
two horns, two oboes, first violins, second violins, violas, and
a basso continuo, which included a bassoon, cello(s), and
harpsichord.
Figure 4.15 | Westminster Bridge
from the North on Lord Mayor’s
Day
The bourée, as noted above, is fast and in duple time. The
CHAPTER 11: MUSIC OF GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
(1685-1759) | 247
minuet is in a triple meter and taken at a more moderate
tempo. They use repeated strains or sections of melodies based
on repeated motives. As written in the score, as well as
interpreted today in the referenced recording, different
sections of the orchestra—the strings, woodwinds, and
sometimes brass instruments—each get a time to shine,
providing diverse timbres and thus musical interest. Both are
good examples of binary form.
Media Attributions
• Georg Friedrich Händel © Philip Mercier via. Wikipedia
is licensed under a Public Domain license
• English country dance © Wikiwand is licensed under a
Public Domain license
• Lord Mayor’s Day © Wikipedia is licensed under a
Public Domain license
248 | CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC
OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN
BACH
Figure 4.16 | Portrait
of Johann Sebastian
Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (B. 1685-1750) During the
seventeenth century, many families passed their trades down to
the next generation so that future generations might continue
to succeed in a vocation. This practice also held true for Johann
Sebastian Bach. Bach was born into one of the largest musical
families in Eisenach in the central region of Germany known as
Thuringia. He was orphaned at the young age of ten and raised
by an older brother in Ohrdruf, Germany.
CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH | 249
Bach’s older brother was a church organist who prepared
the young Johann for the family vocation. The Bach family,
though great in number, were mostly of the lower musical
stature of town’s musicians and/or Lutheran Church organist.
Only a few of the Bachs had achieved the accomplished stature
of court musicians, but the Bach family members were known
and respected in the region. Bach also in turn taught four
of his sons who later became leading composers for the next
generation.
Bach received his first professional position at the age of
eighteen in Arnstadt, Germany as a church organist. Bach’s
first appointment was not a good philosophical match for the
young aspiring musician. He felt his musical creativity and
growth was being hindered and his innovation and originality
unappreciated. The congregation seemed sometimes confused
and felt the melody lost in Bach’s writings. He met and
married his first wife while in Arnstadt, marrying Maria
Barbara (possibly his cousin) in 1707. They had seven children
together; two of their sons, Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl
Phillipp Emmanuel, as noted above, became major composers
for the next generation. Bach later was offered and accepted
another position in Műhlhausen.
He continued to be offered positions that he accepted, so
he advanced in his professional position/title up to a court
position in Weimar, where he served nine years from
1708-1717. This position had a great number of
responsibilities. Bach was required to write church music for
250 | CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
the ducal church (the church for the duke that hired Bach),
to perform as church organist, and to write organ music and
sacred choral pieces for choir, in addition to writing sonatas
and concertos (instrumental music) for court performance for
his duke’s events. While at this post, Bach’s fame as an organist
and the popularity of his organ works grew significantly. Bach
soon wanted to leave for another offered court musician
position, and his request to be released was not received well.
This difficulty attests to the work relationships between court
musicians and their employers. Dukes expected and demanded
loyalty from their court musician employees. Because
musicians were looked upon somewhat as court property, the
duke of the court often felt betrayed when a court musician
wanted to leave. Upon hearing of Bach’s desire to leave and
work for another court for the prince of Cöthen, the Duke at
Weimar refused to accept Bach’s resignation and threw Bach
into jail for almost a month for submitting his dismissal
request before relenting and letting Bach go to the Cöthen
court. The Prince at Cöthen was very interested in
instrumental music. He was a developing amateur musician
who did not appreciate the elaborate church music of Bach’s
past; instead, the Prince desired instrumental court music, so
Bach focused on composing instrumental music. In his five
year (1717-1723) tenure at Cöthen, Bach produced an
abundance of clavier music, six concerti grossi honoring the
Margrave of Brandenburg, suites, concertos and sonatas.
While at Cöthen (1720), Bach’s first wife Maria Barbara died.
CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH | 251
He later married a young singer, Anna Magdalena, and they
had thirteen children together. Half of these children did not
survive infancy. Two of Bach’s sons birthed by Anna, Johann
Christoph and Johann Christian, also went on to become two
of the next generation’s foremost composers.
At the age of thirty-eight, Bach assumed the position as
cantor of the St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Leipzig,
Germany. Several other candidates were considered for the
Leipzig post, including the famous composer Telemann, who
refused the offer. Some on the town council felt that since
the most qualified candidates did not accept the offer, the less
talented applicant would have to be hired. It was in this
negative working atmosphere that Leipzig hired its greatest
cantor and musician. Bach worked in Leipzig for twenty-seven
years (1723-1750). Leipzig served as a hub of Lutheran church
music for Germany. Not only did Bach have to compose and
perform, he also had to administer and organize music for all
the churches in Leipzig. He was required to teach in choir
school in addition to all of his other responsibilities. Bach
composed, copied needed parts, directed, rehearsed, and
performed a cantata on a near weekly basis. Cantatas are major
church choir works that involve soloist, choir, and orchestra.
They have several movements and last for fifteen to thirty
minutes. Cantatas are still performed today by church choirs,
mostly on special occasions such as Easter, Christmas, and
other festive church events.
Bach felt that the rigors of his Leipzig position were too
252 | CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
bureaucratic and restrictive due to town and church politics.
Neither the town nor the church really ever appreciated Bach.
The church and town council refused to pay Bach for all the
extra demands/responsibilities of his position and thought
basically that they would merely tolerate their irate cantor,
even though Bach was the best organist in Germany. Several
of Bach’s contemporary church musicians felt his music was
not according to style and types considered current, a feeling
which may have resulted from professional jealousy. One
contemporary critic felt Bach was “old fashioned.”
Beyond this professional life, Bach had a personal life
centered on his large family. He had seven children by his first
wife, one by a cousin, and thirteen by his second wife, Anna
Magdalena, who was also a singer. He wrote a little home
school music curriculum entitled The Notebook of Anna
Magdalena Bach. At home, the children were taught the
fundamentals of music, music copying, performance skills,
and other musical content. Bach’s children utilized their
learned music copying skills in writing the parts from the
required weekly cantatas that Sebastian was re quired to
compose. Bach’s deep spirituality is evident and felt in the
meticulous attention to detail of Bach’s sacred works, such as
his cantatas. Indeed, the spirituality of Bach’s Passions and his
Mass are unequaled by other composers.
Bach did not travel much, with the exception of being hired
as a consultant with construction contracts to install organs
in churches. He would be asked to test the organs and to be
CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH | 253
part of their inauguration ceremony and festivities. The fee for
such a service ranged from a cord of wood or possibly to a
barrel of wine. In 1747, Bach went on one of these professional
expeditions to the Court of Frederick the Great in Potsdam,
an expedition that proved most memorable. Bach’s son, Carl
Philipp Emanuel, served as the accompanist for the monarch
of the court who played the flute. Upon Bach’s arrival, the
monarch showed Bach a new collection of pianos—pianos
were beginning to replace harpsichords in the homes of
society. With Bach’s permission, the king presented him with
a theme/melody that Bach based one of his incredible themes
for the evening’s performance on. Upon Bach’s return to
Leipzig, he further developed the king’s theme, adding a trio
sonata, and entitled it The Musical Offering attesting to his
highest respect for the monarch and stating that the King
should be revered.
Bach later became blind but continued composing by
dictating to his children. He had also already begun to organize
his compositions into orderly sets of organ chorale preludes,
preludes and fugues for harpsichord, and organ fugues. He
started to outline and recapitulate his conclusive thoughts
about Baroque music, forms, performance, composition, fugal
techniques, and genres. This knowledge and innovation
appears in such works as The Art of Fugue—a collection of
fugues all utilizing the same subject left incomplete due to his
death—the thirty-three Goldberg Variations for harpsichord,
and the Mass in B minor.
254 | CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Bach was an intrinsically motivated composer who
composed music for himself and a small group of students
and close friends. This type of composition was a break from
the previous norms of composers. Even after his death, Bach’s
music was ignored and not valued by the musical public. It
was, however, appreciated and admired by great composers
such as Mozart and Beethoven.
Over the course of his lifetime, Bach produced major works,
including The Well-Tempered Clavier (forty-eight preludes
and fugues in all major and minor keys), three sets of
harpsichord suites (six movements in each set), the Goldberg
Variations, many organ fugues and chorale preludes, which
are organ solos based upon church hymns—several by Luther,
the Brandenburg Concertos, and composite works such as A
Musical Offering and The Art of Fugue, an excess of 200
secular and sacred cantatas, two Passions from the gospels of
St. Matthew and St. John, a Christmas Oratorio, a Mass in B
minor, and several chorale/hymn harmonizations, concertos,
and other orchestral suites and sonatas.
Focus Composition:
Bach, A Mighty Fortress is Our God
Cantata, BWV 80
Bach’s A Mighty Fortress is Our God cantata, like most of his
CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH | 255
cantatas, has several movements. It opens with a polyphonic
chorus that presents the first verse of the hymn. After several
other movements (including recitatives, arias, and duets), the
cantata closes with the final verse of the hymn arranged for
four parts. For a comparison of cantatas, oratorios and opera,
please see the chart earlier in this chapter. For more
information on cantatas go to:
Cantata
Bach composed some of this music when he was still in
Weimar (BWV 80A) and then revised and expanded the
cantata for performance in Leipzig around 1730 (BWV 80B),
with additional re-workings between 1735 and 1740 (BWVA
80).
Listening Guide: Ein feste Burg ist unser
Gott translated to A Mighty Fortress is Our
God from Bach Cantata 80 (BWV 80)
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
• Composition: Ein feste Burg ist unser
Gott translated to A Mighty Fortress is Our
God from Bach Cantata 80 (BWV 80)
• Date: 1715-1740
• Genre: First-movement polyphonic
256 | CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
chorus and final movement chorale from a
church cantata
• Form: sectional, divided by statements of
Luther’s original melody line in sustained
notes in the trumpets, oboes, and cellos.
• Nature of Text: For a translation from
the original German to Enligsh, go to:
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/
BWV80.htm
• Performing Forces: choir and orchestra
(vocal soloists appear elsewhere in the
cantata)
What we want you to remember about this
composition: This is representative of Bach’s
mastery of taking a Martin Luther hymn and
arranging it in imitative polyphony for all four
voice parts and instrumental parts
Other things to listen for:
• them to the first verse or strophe of the
hymn. He weaves these new melody lines
into a beautiful polyphonic choral work.
• Most of the time the instruments double
(or play the same music as) the four voice
CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH | 257
parts.
• He also has the trumpets, oboes, and
cellos divide up Luther’s exact melody into
nine phrases. They present the first phrase
after the first section of the chorus and
then subsequent phrases throughout the
chorus. When they play the original
melody, they do so in canon: the trumpets
and oboes begin and then the cellos enter
after about a measure.
• Also listen to see if you can hear the
augmentation in the work. The original
tune is performed in this order of the
voices: Tenors, Sopranos, Tenors,
Sopranos, Basses, Altos, Tenors, Sopranos,
and then the Tenors.
258 | CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Figure 4.17 | Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott Sheet Music.
Bach was born into a century that saw great advancements
in keyboard instruments and keyboard music. The keyboard
instruments included harpsichord, clavichord, and organ.
The harpsichord is a keyboard instrument whose strings
are put into motion by pressing a key that facilitates a plucking
of a string by quills of feathers (instead of being struck by
hammers like the piano). The tone produced on the
harpsichord is bright but cannot be sustained without re-
CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH | 259
striking the key. Dynamics are very limited on the harpsichord.
In order for the tone to continue on the harpsichord, keys
are replayed, trills are utilized, embellishments are added, and
chords are broken into arpeggios. Harpsichords are used a
great deal for counterpoint in the middle voices.
Figure 4.18 |
Harpsichord
During the early Baroque era, the clavichord remained the
instrument of choice for the home; indeed, it is said that Bach
preferred it to the harpsichord. It produced its tone by a means
of keys attached to metal blades that strike the strings. As we
will see in the next chapter, by the end of the 1700s, the piano
would replace the harpsichord and clavichord as the
instrument of choice for residences.
Bach was best known as a virtuoso organist, and he had the
opportunity to play on some of the most advanced pipe organs
of his day. Sound is produced on the organ with the depression
260 | CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
of one or more of the keys which activates a mechanism that
opens pipes of a certain length and pitch through which wind
from a wind chest rushes. The length and material of the pipe
determines the tones produced. Levers called stops provide
further options for different timbres. The Baroque pipe organ
operated on relatively low air pressure as compared to today’s
organs, resulting in a relatively thin transparent tone and
volume.
Most Baroque organs had at least two keyboards, called
manuals (after the Latin word for hand), and a pedal board,
played by the two feet. The presence of multiple key boards
and a pedal board made the organ an ideal instrument for
polyphony. Each of the keyboards and the pedal board could
be assigned different stops and thus could produce different
timbres and even dynamics.
Focus Composition:
Bach, “Little” Fugue in G Minor
(BWV 578)
The fugue is one of the most spectacular and magnificent
achievements of the Baroque period. During this era of fine
arts innovation, scientific research, natural laws, and
systematic approaches to imitative polyphony were further
developed and standardized. Polyphony first emerged in the
CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH | 261
late Middle Ages. Independent melodic lines overlapped and
were woven. In the Renaissance, the polyphony was further
developed by a greater weaving of the independent melodic
lines. The Baroque composers, under the influence of science,
further organized it into a sys tem—more on this later. The
term fugue comes from the Latin word “fuga” that means
running away or to take flight. The fugue is a contrapuntal
(polyphonic) piece for a set number of musicians, usually three
of four. The musical theme of a fugue is called the subject.
You may think of a fugue as a gossip party. The subject
(of gossip) is intro duced in one corner of the room between
to people. Another person in the room then begins repeating
the gossip while the original conversation continues. Then
another person picks up on the story and begins repeating the
now third-hand news and it then continues a fourth time. A
new observer walking into the room will hear bits and pieces
from four conversations at one time—each repeating the
original subject (gossip). This is how a fugue works. Fugues
begin with an expo sition. This is when the subject is
introduced until the original subject has been played or sung
in all the voices or parts. Most fugues are in the four standard
voices: soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. We will refer to the parts
in these voices for both voices and instruments.
At the beginning of the fugue, any of the four voices can
begin with the sub ject. Then another voice starts with the
subject at a time dictated in the mu sic while the first voice
continues to more material. The imitation is continued
262 | CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
through all the voices. The exposition of the fugue is over
when all the voices complete the initial subject.
Voice 1 Soprano Subject-continues in a counter
subject
Voice 2 Alto Subject-continues in a counter subject
Voice 3 Tenor Subject-continues in a counter subject
Voice 4 Bass Subject-continues in a counter subject
After the exposition is completed, it may be repeated in a
different order of voices or it may continue with less weighted
entrances at varying lengths known as episodes. This variation
provides a little relaxation or relief from the early regiment
systematic polyphony of the exposition. In longer fugues, the
episodes are followed by a section in another key with
continued overlapping of the subject. This episode and
modulation can continue to repeat until they return to the
original key. Fugues are performed as a prelude to traditional
worship on the pipe organ and are quite challenging to
perform by the organist. Hands, fingers, and feet must all be
controlled independently by the single organist and all at the
same time. Often in non-fugal music, this type of polyphony
is briefly written into a piece of music as an insert, called a
fugato or fugato section. When voices overlap in a fugue, it
is called stretto (similar to strata). When the original voice
contin ues after the second voice jumps in, the first voice is
said to be singing the countersubject. The development of
musical themes or subjects by lengthening or multiplying the
durations of the notes or pitches is called augmentation. The
CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH | 263
shortening or dividing the note and pitch durations is called
diminution. Both augmentation and diminution are utilized
in the development of the musical sub jects in fugues and
in theme development in other genres. The “turning up-side
down” of a musical line from an ascending passage to a
descending passage is called inversion.
Let’s listen to one of Bach’s most famous fugues. You may
immediately recognize the piece from your past. The Little
Fugue in G Minor is Bach’s most famous organ piece.
Listening Guide: Organ Fugue in G Minor
(BWR 578)
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
• Composition: Organ Fugue in G Minor
(BWR 578)
• Date: circa 1709
• Genre: Organ Fugue
• Form: Fugue
• Nature of Text: Bach was able to take
the earlier vocal polyphony of the
renaissance period and apply it to the
organ fugue. This is regarded as one of
Bach’s great achievements.
264 | CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
• Performing Forces: Organ
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• Listen to how Bach weaves and overlaps
the subject throughout the piece.
Other things to listen for:
• The subject (tune) is introduced in the
highest voices and then is imitated in each
lower voice in order: soprano, alto, tenor
and then bass in the pedals. After the
exposition is completed in the bass pedals,
the subject is introduced in the first voice.
Upon the entrance of the second layer, the
first voice goes into a counter subject. Just
before the subject is introduced five more
times, it is preceded by a brief episode. In
each episode the subject is not played in
its entirety.
• Even though the fugue is in G minor, the
piece ends with a major chord, a practice
utilized during the Baroque period. Major
chords were thought more conclusive
CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH | 265
than minor chords.
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Timing
Min Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
00:00
Subject in soprano voice alone, minor key
00:18
Subject in alto, countersubject in running notes in
soprano
00:42
Subject in tenor, countersubject above it; brief
episode follows
01:01
Subject in bass (pedals), countersubject in tenor
01:17
Brief episode
01:28
Subject begins in tenor, continues in soprano
01:48
Brief episode, running notes in a downward
sequence
01:56
Subject in alto, major key; countersubject in soprano
02:13
Episode in major, upward leaps and running notes
02:25
Subject in bass (pedals), major key,
countersubject and long trill above it
02:42
Longer episode
CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH | 267
Timing
Min Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
03:00
Subject in soprano, minor key, countersubject below
it
03:16
Extended episode
03:47
Subject in bass (pedals), countersubject in
soprano; fugue ends with major chord
04:12
End
(Source: http://www.austincc.edu/mwoodruf/
music/Bach.htm)
Media Attributions
• Johann Sebastian Bach © World History Encyclopedia is
licensed under a Public Domain license
• Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott Sheet Music © Wikipedia
is licensed under a Public Domain license
• Harpsichord © Wikipedia is licensed under a Public
Domain license
268 | CHAPTER 12: THE MUSIC OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
UNIT V: MUSIC OF THE CLASSICAL ERA | 269
PART V
UNIT V: MUSIC OF
THE CLASSICAL
ERA
270 | UNIT V: MUSIC OF THE CLASSICAL ERA
CHAPTER 13: INTRO AND CHARACTERISTICS | 271
CHAPTER 13: INTRO AND
CHARACTERISTICS
Well before J. S. Bach’s death in 1750, musical tastes were
changing. Two of Bach’s sons were very successful composers
in this newer “Gallant” style that had taken hold in the final
decades of what we still consider the Baroque. This preference
for simplicity and homophonic texture over the complex
counterpoint of Bach and Handel paved the way for a new
musical era that we label as classical.
Introduction
The dates of the Classical period in Western music are
generally accepted as being between about 1750 and 1820.
However, the term is used in a colloquial sense as a synonym
for Western art music, which describes a variety of Western
musical styles from the ninth century to the present, and
especially from the sixteenth or seventeenth to the nineteenth.
The Classical period falls between the Baroque and the
Romantic periods. The best-known composers from this
period are Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and
Ludwig van Beethoven; other notable names include Luigi
272 | CHAPTER 13: INTRO AND CHARACTERISTICS
Boccherini, Muzio Clementi, Antonio Soler, Antonio Salieri,
François Joseph Gossec, Johann Stamitz, Carl Friedrich Abel,
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and Christoph Willibald Gluck.
Ludwig van Beethoven is also regarded either as a Romantic
composer or a composer who was part of the transition to the
Romantic.
Franz Schubert is also something of a transitional figure,
as are Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Mauro Giuliani, Friedrich
Kuhlau, Fernando Sor, Luigi Cherubini, Jan Ladislav Dussek,
and Carl Maria von Weber. The period is sometimes referred
to as the era of Viennese Classic or Classicism (German: Wiener
Klassik), since Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn,
Antonio Salieri, and Ludwig van Beethoven all worked at some
time in Vienna, and Franz Schubert was born there.
Classicism
In the middle of the 18th century, Europe began to move
toward a new style in architecture, literature, and the arts,
generally known as Classicism. This style sought to emulate
the ideals of Classical antiquity, especially those of Classical
Greece. While still tightly linked to Court culture and
absolutism, with its formality and emphasis on order and
hierarchy, the new style was also cleaner, that is to say, more
orderly. Classicism in music favored clearer divisions between
parts, brighter contrasts and colors, and simplicity rather than
CHAPTER 13: INTRO AND CHARACTERISTICS | 273
complexity. In addition, the typical size of orchestras began to
increase.
The remarkable development of ideas in “natural
philosophy” had already established itself in the public
consciousness. In particular, Newton’s physics was taken as a
paradigm: structures should be well-founded in axioms and
be both well-articulated and orderly. This taste for structural
clarity began to affect music, which moved away from the
layered polyphony of the Baroque period toward a style known
as homophony, in which the melody is played over a
subordinate harmony. This move meant that chords became
a much more prevalent feature of music, even if they
interrupted the melodic smoothness of a single part. As a
result, the tonal structure of a piece of music became more
audible.
The new style was also encouraged by changes in the
economic order and social structure. As the 18th century
progressed, the nobility became the primary patrons of
instrumental music, while public taste increasingly preferred
comic opera. This led to changes in the way music was
performed, the most crucial of which was the move to
standard instrumental groups and the reduction in the
importance of the continuo—the rhythmic and harmonic
ground of a piece of music, typically played by a keyboard
(harpsichord or organ) and potentially by several other
instruments. One way to trace the decline of the continuo
and its figured chords is to examine the disappearance of the
274 | CHAPTER 13: INTRO AND CHARACTERISTICS
term obbligato, meaning a mandatory instrumental part in a
work of chamber music. In Baroque compositions, additional
instruments could be added to the continuo according to
preference; in Classical compositions, all parts were specifically
noted, though not always noted, so the term “obbligato”
became redundant. By 1800, it was practically extinct.
Economic changes also had the effect of altering the balance
of availability and quality of musicians. While in the late
Baroque a major composer would have the entire musical
resources of a town to draw on, the forces available at a hunting
lodge were smaller and more fixed in their level of ability. This
was a spur to having primarily simple parts to play, and in the
case of a resident virtuoso group, a spur to writing spectacular,
idiomatic parts for certain instruments, as in the case of the
Mannheim orchestra. In addition, the appetite for a continual
supply of new music carried over from the Baroque, meant
that works had to be performable with, at best, one rehearsal.
Indeed, even after 1790 Mozart wrote about “the rehearsal,”
with the implication that his concerts would have only one.
Since polyphonic texture was no longer the main focus of
music (excluding the development section) but rather a single
melodic line with accompaniment, there was a greater
emphasis on notating that line for dynamics and phrasing. The
simplification of texture made such instrumental detail more
important, and also made the use of characteristic rhythms,
such as attention-getting opening fanfares, the funeral march
CHAPTER 13: INTRO AND CHARACTERISTICS | 275
rhythm, or the minuet genre, more important in establishing
and unifying the tone of a single movement.
Forms such as the concerto and sonata were more heavily
defined and given more specific rules, whereas the symphony
was created in this period (this is popularly attributed to
Joseph Haydn). The concerto grosso (a concerto for more than
one musician) began to be replaced by the solo concerto (a
concerto featuring only one soloist) and therefore began to
place more importance on the particular soloist’s ability to
show off.
Main Characteristics
Classical music has a lighter, clearer texture than Baroque
music and is less complex. It is mainly homophonic—melody
above chordal accompaniment (but counterpoint by no means
is forgotten, especially later in the period). It also makes use
of style galant in the classical period which was drawn in
opposition to the strictures of the Baroque style, emphasizing
light elegance in place of the Baroque’s dignified seriousness
and impressive grandeur.
Variety and contrast within a piece became more
pronounced than before. A variety of keys, melodies, rhythms,
and dynamics (using crescendo, diminuendo, and
sforzando), along with frequent changes of mood and timbre
were more commonplace in the Classical period than they had
276 | CHAPTER 13: INTRO AND CHARACTERISTICS
been in the Baroque. Melodies tended to be shorter than those
of Baroque music, with clear-cut phrases and clearly marked
cadences. The orchestra increased in size and range; the
harpsichord continuo fell out of use, and the woodwinds
became a self-contained section. As a solo instrument, the
harpsichord was replaced by the piano (or fortepiano). Early
piano music was light in texture, often with Alberti bass
accompaniment, but it later became richer, more sonorous,
and more powerful.
Importance was given to instrumental music—the main
kinds were sonata, trio, string quartet, symphony, concerto,
serenade and divertimento. The sonata form developed and
became the most important form. It was used to build up
the first movement of most large-scale works, but also other
movements and single pieces (such as overtures).
Defining Characteristics of
Classicism in Music
Although Baroque music was evenly divided between vocal
and instrumental music genres and secular and sacred music,
composers began to move toward specific trends in the
Classical period that followed. Instrumental music grew in
popularity during the Classical period because instruments,
tonal systems, and orchestral writing in the Baroque period
had become more standardized. The harpsichord declined in
popularity as the pianoforte became prominent. Composers
CHAPTER 13: INTRO AND CHARACTERISTICS | 277
concentrated on creating new music with larger forms,
including sonatas, symphonies, and string quartets, that
allowed audiences to be continually entertained over a longer
period of time. Vocal music also continued to develop in the
Classical period, taking opera to a new level where composers
integrated recitative and aria forms to move the drama of opera
forward.
In contrast to the Baroque period ornamentation and
decoration, Classical music focused on clarity, precision, and
formal structure. The melody in a musical work was the most
important component. An emphasis on melody meant that
the harmony in most works was homophonic. Instead of
several competing melodies, as was the case in the polyphonic
textures of the Renaissance and Baroque eras, background
materials supported the main melody as much as possible.
Tonality and tonal centers were very clearly defined, with
chord progressions helping to define major sections of the
music.
Wolfgang Amadeu Mozart – Ave Verum Corpus
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Key Music Terms
Instrumentation became more standardized during the
Classical period. For example, the symphony orchestra was
organized into a format with specific instruments and sections,
as we recognize orchestras today. During the Classical period,
the harpsichord was no longer a prominent instrument, but
the pianoforte—a forerunner of the modern piano—became
very popular.
Introducing Mozart’s Fortepiano
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Mozart: Rondo in D-Dur KV 485 (Fortepiano, 430 Hz)
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Timbre, or tone quality, describes the quality of a musical
sound. Timbre is generally discussed using adjectives, like
bright, dark, buzzy, airy, thin, and smooth. Many different
adjectives can be effectively used to describe timbre, based on
your perceptions and opinions about what you hear in the
sound. Classical composers used instruments for their
traditional sounds. Performers sometimes became virtuosos,
extremely skilled at demonstrating advanced performing
abilities.
Beethoven Violin Concerto – 1st Cadenza
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Texture is a term that describes what is going on in the music
at any moment. Musical texture is the way that melody,
280 | CHAPTER 13: INTRO AND CHARACTERISTICS
harmony, and rhythm combine. Texture can be described in
musical terms like monophonic, homophonic, and
polyphonic or with adjectives like thin, thick, and rich. A lot of
Classical period music was homophonic and revolved around
melody or melodic statements. Some Classical music included
the fugue, which was polyphonic.
Mozart: Laudate Dominum
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Haydn: String Quartet Op. 20 no. 2 in C major
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Harmony is created when at least two voices perform together.
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Two different types of textures exist in music that may create
harmony: homophony and polyphony. One additional
musical texture, monophony, does not include any harmony.
Monophony was not as common during the Classical period
as it was in earlier years.
When considering musical texture, ask yourself these
questions:
• What instruments or voices am I hearing?
• Do I hear one melody or more than one?
• Are the extra voices or instruments changing together or
at different times?
• Is it difficult to identify the melody, perhaps because
several melodies are happening at once?
Tempo is the speed of the music. Tempo may also be called
time. The tempo can change during a piece to add expression
or emotional communication. Speeding up the tempo is called
an accelerando, and slowing down gradually is called
ritardando. Classical period music began to explore tempo
changes.
Rhythm became an important area of focus in Classical
music. Although during the Baroque period rhythms were
constant and repetitive, Classical music rebelled against this
uniformity. Rhythm was used as a tool to drive audience
interest during the late 1700s and became flexible. Rhythm
became one of several ways composers provided variety in their
282 | CHAPTER 13: INTRO AND CHARACTERISTICS
works while still maintaining enough cohesiveness to keep
listeners interested.
Dynamics are changing the volume levels of musical
sounds. Dynamics can range from softer than soft or quiet
(piano) to very loud (forte). Dynamics can also change,
getting louder (crescendo) and getting softer (diminuendo).
Dynamics and changing dynamics give the music expression,
make it interesting, and add variety.
Haydn, Symphony No. 94 in G Major
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Form is the organization and structure of a musical selection.
In the Classical period, new and precise forms were created
to help composers produce large quantities of quality music
on demand. Some of these forms included the sonata, rondo,
theme and variations, and minuet and trio. The
multimovement symphony was developed to provide extended
performances that entertained audiences for greater lengths
of time, as concert halls were built and concert attendance
became a public pastime.
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Instrumental Music Forms
Instrumental music from this period mostly fit into the
multimovement format. Movements are complete sections of
a work with their own form, often a binary (aab) or ternary
(aba) form. In binary form, the music consists of two distinct
sections without a return of the first section. In ternary form,
the first section presents the theme or main ideas, the next
section develops these ideas in a new key using other musical
ideas, and the final section returns to the familiar material from
the first section either in part or whole.
A typical four-movement work was organized in the
following manner:
1. A fast movement in sonata (aba) form
2. A slower movement in theme and variation form or some
kind of ternary (aba) form
3. A dance movement, often a minuet and trio (aab) or
scherzo and trio
4. A fast movement, often a rondo (abacada) or sonata (aba)
form
When a musical work consisted of only three movements, the
third dance movement was left out—a choice commonly made
by Mozart.
The term sonata refers to both a multimovement piece of
music performed by a single instrument (usually the piano)
or a small group (violin and piano, flute and piano, etc.), and
284 | CHAPTER 13: INTRO AND CHARACTERISTICS
also to the first movement in a large, multimovement work
(referred to as sonata form).
Listen to Mozart’s Piano Sonata no. 11 in A Major, Rondo
Alla Turca, K. 331. This particular Mozart sonata includes
a first movement in theme and variations form, a second
movement in minuet and trio form (binary form), and a final
movement in rondo form. Mozart left out the typical firstmovement sonata form altogether.
W.A. Mozart: Piano Sonata No 11 in A – Major,
K.331
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A Complete Introduction to Musical Form
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Licensing & Attributions
“The Classical Era” from Introduction to Music Appreciation
Hansen, Bethanie; Whitehouse, David; and Silverman,
Cathy, “Introduction to Music Appreciation” (2014).ePress
Course Materials. Book 3. http://digitalcommons.apus.edu/
epresscoursematerials/3
Edited and additional material by Jennifer Bill
286 | CHAPTER 14: PERFORMING FORCES AND GENRES
CHAPTER 14:
PERFORMING FORCES
AND GENRES
Performing Forces
The Classical period saw new performing forces such as the
piano and the string quartet and an expansion of the orchestra.
Initially called the fortepiano, then the pianoforte, and now
the piano, this new keyboard instrument was capable of
dynamics from soft to loud; the player needed only to adjust
the weight applied when depressing a key. This feature was
not available in the Baroque harpsichord. Although the first
pianos were developed in the first half of the eighteenth
century, most of the technological advancements that led the
piano to overtake all other keyboard instruments in popularity
occurred in the late eighteenth century.
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Besides the keyboard instruments, the string quartet was the
most popular new chamber music ensemble of the Classical
period and comprised two violins, a viola, and a cello. In
addition to string quartets, composers wrote duets, trios,
quintets, and even sextets, septets, and octets. Whether
performed in a palace or a more modest middle-class home,
chamber music, as the name implies, was generally performed
in a chamber or smaller room.
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In the Classical period, the orchestra expanded into an
ensemble that might include as many as thirty to sixty
musicians distributed into four sections. The sections include
the strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. Classical
288 | CHAPTER 14: PERFORMING FORCES AND GENRES
composers explored the individual unique tone colors of the
instruments and they did not treat the instrumental sections
interchangeably. A classical orchestral piece utilizes a much
larger tonal palette and more rapid changes in the ensemble’s
timbre through a variety of orchestration techniques. Each
section in the classical orchestra has a unique musical purpose
as penned by the composer. The string section still holds its
prominence as the centerpiece of the orchestra. Composers
continue to predominantly assign the first violins the melody
and the accompaniment to the lower strings. The woodwinds
are orchestrated to provide diverse tone colors and are often
assigned melodic solo passages. By the beginning of the
nineteenth century, clarinets were added to the flutes and
oboes to complete the woodwind section. To add volume and
to emphasize louder dynamics, the brass section (horns and
trumpets) was used. The horns and trumpets also filled out
the harmonies. The brass usually were not assigned the melody
or solos. Percussion (kettle drums or timpani) was used for
volume highlights and for a rhythmic pulse. Overall, the
Classical orchestra matured into a multifaceted tone color
ensemble that composers could utilize to produce their most
demanding musical thoughts acoustically through an extensive
tonal palette. General differences between the Baroque and
Classical (1750-1815) orchestras are summarized in the
following chart.
CHAPTER 14: PERFORMING FORCES AND GENRES | 289
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Emergence of New Musical
Venues
The Classical period saw performing ensembles such as the
orchestra appearing at an increasing number of concerts.
These concerts were typically held in theaters or in the large
halls of palaces and attended by anyone who could afford the
ticket price, which was reasonable for a substantial portion
of the growing middle class. For this reason, the birth of the
public concert is often traced to the late eighteenth century. At
the same time, more music was incorporated into a growing
number of middle-class households.
The redistribution of wealth and power of this era affected
the performing forces and musical venues in two ways. First,
although the aristocracy still employed musicians, professional
290 | CHAPTER 14: PERFORMING FORCES AND GENRES
composers were no longer exclusively employed by the wealthy.
This meant that not all musicians were bound to a particular
person or family as their patron/sponsor. Therefore, public
concerts shifted from performances in the homes and halls
of the rich to performances for the masses which evolved the
symphony into a genre for the public concert, as they were
eventually written for larger and larger ensembles. Second,
middle-class families incorporated more music into their
households for personal entertainment. For example, middleclass households would have their children take music lessons
and participate in chamber music or small musical ensembles.
Musicians could now support themselves through teaching
lessons, composing and publishing music, and performing in
public venues in public concerts. Other opportunities
included the public opera house, which was the center for
vocal music experimentation during the Classical era.
Composers also continued to write music for the church.
Genres
We normally classify musical compositions into genres by
considering their performing forces, function, the presence
and quality of any text, and their musical style and form.
Changes in any of these factors can lead to changes in genres.
The two most important new genres of the Classical period
CHAPTER 14: PERFORMING FORCES AND GENRES | 291
were the symphony and the string quartet; instrumental genres
that continued from the Baroque period include the concerto.
Although one might trace its origins to the opera overture,
the symphony developed as an orchestral composition for the
public concert. By the end of the Classical period, it typically
had four movements. The first movement was generally fast in
tempo and in sonata form. The final movement was normally
fast in tempo and used sonata, rondo, or theme and variations
form. The interior movements consisted of a slow and lyrical
movement and a moderate-tempo dance-like movement
generally using the style of the minuet, a popular eighteenthcentury dance.
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The concerto is a genre we’ve already encountered, though
it continues to evolve as we move into the Classical period.
The concerto grosso falls out of fashion and is rarely composed
after the Baroque. From this point forward in history, the term
concerto refers to a solo concerto. Though the basic principle
of contrasting a soloist with a full orchestra remains, changes
292 | CHAPTER 14: PERFORMING FORCES AND GENRES
are made to the form of the movements and the most
commonly used solo instruments. While violin concertos
remain popular, the advent of the piano and its rise in
popularity make it the dominant solo instrument in concerto
compositions.
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The string quartet became one of the most popular genres
of Classical chamber music. Its overall structure and form were
exactly like the symphony. However, it was always performed
by two violins, one viola, and one cello (thus its name) and was
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commonly used as entertainment in the home, although on
occasion string quartets were performed in public concerts.
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Also popular for personal diversion was the piano sonata,
which normally had only three movements (generally lacking
the minuet movement found in the string quartet and the
symphony). In the Classical era, a sonata is a piece for a solo
instrument, almost always a solo piano, or a duet between
piano and solo instrument, usually a violin or cello.
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The most pronounced change in the Classical period vocal
music was the growing popularity of opera buffa, or comic
opera, over the more serious plot and aristocratic characters of
Baroque opera seria. Opera buffa portrayed the lives of middleclass characters and often mixed tragedy with comedy; as we
will see, Mozart produced some of the most famous opera
buffas of all time. (As a side note, Mozart also transformed the
opera overture into a preview of the musical themes to follow
in the opera proper.) Composers Haydn and Beethoven also
continued to write oratorios.
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CHAPTER 14: PERFORMING FORCES AND GENRES | 295
Opera
OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (August 3 version)
Edited by Jennifer Bill
Opera is a dramatic story told through song. It is considered
by many to be the most complete art form, combining all
of the elements of art, words, music, drama, and dance. The
Classical period ushered in a renewed sense of clarity, balance,
and artistic refinement. Central to this era’s musical landscape
was the opera, a genre that encapsulated the ideals of the time
while offering a captivating synthesis of music, drama, and
visual spectacle. Opera during the Classical period emerged
as a potent form of entertainment and artistic expression,
reflecting the intellectual and social currents of the age.
Rooted in the lavish courts of Europe and drawing
inspiration from the dramatic traditions of Ancient Greece,
opera flourished as an amalgamation of vocal prowess,
instrumental virtuosity, and theatrical storytelling. Composers
such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Christoph Willibald
Gluck, and Christoph Martin Wieland redefined opera,
moving away from the ornate excesses of the Baroque era and
embracing a more naturalistic approach. This shift was
characterized by a focus on clear vocal lines, balanced
orchestration, and an emphasis on conveying genuine human
emotions.
At the heart of Classical opera was the idea of “opera seria”
and “opera buffa.” Opera seria, or serious opera, was
296 | CHAPTER 14: PERFORMING FORCES AND GENRES
characterized by its noble subjects, often drawn from
mythological or historical sources. It featured elaborate arias
showcasing the vocal prowess of the soloists. In contrast, opera
buffa, or comic opera, explored relatable, everyday scenarios
with a touch of humor and wit. This lighter form allowed for
a more direct connection with the audience, often featuring
ensembles and duets that captured the nuances of human
interaction.
The librettos, or texts, of Classical operas, played a crucial
role in conveying the ideals of the Enlightenment. Themes of
reason, virtue, and humanism were interwoven with dramatic
narratives, highlighting the power of music and drama to
provoke thought and emotion. The rise of public opera
houses democratized the genre, making it accessible to a
broader audience beyond the aristocracy, and fostering a sense
of shared cultural experience.
Adapted fromThe Atlanta Opera: Opera101
Elements of Opera
Music
Music moves the action of a story, expresses emotions and
moods, and deepens our understanding of the characters.
Orchestra: In most cases, operas are accompanied by a
group of musicians. Led by a conductor, an orchestra is an
CHAPTER 14: PERFORMING FORCES AND GENRES | 297
ensemble that is comprised of string, woodwind, brass, and
percussion instruments.
Score: Musicians read from a score which is a notated piece
of music showing each voice or instrumental part on its own
staff.
Overture: An overture is an orchestral piece that may be
played at the very beginning of the opera before any action
takes place on stage (not all operas have overtures).
Musical themes (motives): Musical themes are complete
ideas that are crafted to be memorable to the listener. They are
heard throughout operas and are associated with a particular
character or characters, a situation, an idea, an object, or an
emotion.
Vocal Forms
Below are four types of musical forms composers use to help
them describe how characters are feeling during the course of
an opera.
Recitative: Composed to sound like natural patterns of
speech, a recitative is singing that has the rhythm of talking. It
is used for conversation between characters or to move the plot
of the story.
Aria: A vocal solo expressing personal emotion or
reflection.
Ensemble: A piece that is sung by two or more characters
at the same time (duet for two characters, trio for three
298 | CHAPTER 14: PERFORMING FORCES AND GENRES
characters, quartet for four characters, etc.). Different
melodies are sung simultaneously by each character involved in
the ensemble.
Chorus: Often providing background music for the above,
a chorus is a group of people singing together in parts or in
unison.
Each scene is further divided into numbers, each
representing a different musical form (i.e. aria, recitative,
chorus number, or ensemble). In contrast to plays, the text is
written with the intention of being accompanied by music.
Libretto: The text of an opera.
Librettist: The artist who arranges the text of a story to fit
the accompanying music.
Visual
The spectacle of an opera encompasses sets, costumes, special
effects, props, and staging. These elements are combined to tell
the story in a multi-dimensional manner.
Set: The place where the action will occur on stage. Operas
often have large, spectacular sets that reflect the time and place
of the story being told.
Costumes: The outfits worn by each actor to reflect the
time and place of an opera as well as the personality of each
character.
Props: Items that may be carried onstage in an actor’s hands
CHAPTER 14: PERFORMING FORCES AND GENRES | 299
or that “dress” the set (such as furniture or decorative
accessories).
Mozart, a towering figure of the Classical era, left an
indelible mark on opera with works like The Marriage of
Figaro, Don Giovanni, and The Magic Flute. His compositions
exemplified the Classical principles of balance, elegance, and
emotional depth, showcasing the potential of opera as a vehicle
for exploring the complexities of the human psyche. Mozart’s
operas, spanning a range of styles and themes, epitomize the
quintessence of his creative brilliance and emotional depth.
With a unique ability to blend exquisite melodies, intricate
vocal writing, and profound human insight, Mozart’s operatic
works stand as timeless gems within the classical music canon.
Mozart’s operas are marked by their intricate ensembles,
breathtaking arias, and duets that capture the myriad nuances
of human interaction. Through these compositions, he wove
tales of love, deception, morality, and the eternal struggle
between good and evil. Perhaps it is the universality of
Mozart’s operatic themes – his exploration of human desires,
flaws, aspirations, and triumphs – that keeps his works relevant
across centuries and cultures.
English National Opera: Discover Don Giovanni
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English National Opera: The Magic Flute (Synopsis)
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English National Opera: The Marriage of Figaro (Synopsis)
CHAPTER 14: PERFORMING FORCES AND GENRES | 301
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Licensing & Attributions
“Music of the Classical Period” from Understanding Music:
Past and Present by Jeff Kluball and Elizabeth Kramer.
Understanding Music: Past and Present is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
License.
Edited and additional material by Jennifer Bill
302 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
CHAPTER 15:
COMPOSERS
Haydn, Mozart, and
Beethoven
Music of Joseph Haydn
(1732-1809)
Born in 1732, Joseph Haydn grew up in a small village that
was located about a six-hour coach ride east of Vienna (today
the two are about an hour apart by car). His family loved
to sing together, and perceiving that their son had musical
talent, apprenticed six-year-old Joseph Haydn to a relative who
was a schoolmaster and choirmaster. As an apprentice, Haydn
learned harpsichord and violin and sang in the church. So
distinct was Haydn’s voice that he was recommended to
Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral’s music director. In 1740
Haydn became a student of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. He sang
with the St. Stephen’s Cathedral boys’ choir for almost ten
years, until his voice broke (changed). After searching, he
found a job as valet to the Italian opera composer Nicola
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 303
Porpora and most likely started studying music theory and
music composition in a systematic way at that time. He
composed a comic musical and eventually became a chapel
master for a Czech nobleman. When this noble family fell into
hard times, they released Haydn. In 1761, he became a ViceChapel Master for an even wealthier nobleman, the Hungarian
Prince Esterházy. Haydn spent almost thirty years working for
their family. He was considered a skilled servant, who soon
became their head Chapel Master and was highly prized,
especially by the second and most musical of the Esterházy
princes for whom Haydn worked.
The Esterházys kept Haydn very busy: he wrote music,
which he played both for and with his patrons, ran the
orchestra, and staged operas. In 1779, Haydn’s contract was
renegotiated, allowing him to write and sell music outside of
the Esterházy family. Within a decade, he was the most famous
composer in Europe. In 1790, the musical Prince Nikolaus
Esterházy died and his son Anton downsized the family’s
musical activities. This shift allowed Haydn to accept an offer
to give a concert in London, England, where his music was
very popular. Haydn left Vienna for London in December. For
the concerts there, he composed an opera, symphonies, and
chamber music, all of which were extremely popular. Haydn
revisited London twice in the following years, 1791 to 1795,
earning—after expenses—as much as he had in twenty years
of employment with the Esterházys. Nonetheless, a new
Esterházy prince decided to reestablish the family’s musical
304 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
foothold, so Haydn returned to their service in 1796. In the
last years of his life, he wrote two important oratorios (he had
been much impressed by performances of Handel’s oratorios
while in London) as well as more chamber music.
Overview of Haydn’s Music
Like his younger contemporaries Mozart and Beethoven,
Joseph Haydn composed in all the genres of his day. From a
historical perspective, his contributions to the string quartet
and the symphony are particularly significant: in fact, he is
often called the Father of the Symphony. His music is also
known for its motivic construction, use of folk tunes, and
musical wit. Central to Haydn’s compositional process was his
ability to take small numbers of short musical motives and
vary them in enough ways to provide interesting music for
movements that were several minutes long. Folk-like as well
as popular tunes of the day can be heard in many of his
compositions for piano, string quartet, and orchestra.
Contemporary audiences and critics seemed to appreciate this
mixing of musical complexity and the familiar. Ernst Ludwig
Gerber (1790-92), an important eighteenth-century musical
connoisseur, wrote that Haydn “possessed the great art of
appearing familiar in his themes” (Historisch-biographisches
Lexikon der Tonkünstler of 1790-1792). Additionally, many
of his contemporaries remarked on Haydn’s musical wit or
humor. Several of his music compositions play on the listeners’
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 305
expectations, especially through the use of surprise rests, heldout notes, and sudden dynamic changes.
Why is it called the Surprise Symphony? The secret of
Haydn’s success
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Focus Composition:
Haydn, String Quartet in D Major, Op. 20, no. 4 (1772)
The string quartet was one of the important performing
forces and genres of the Classical period, and Haydn was one
of its most important composers. Over the course of his life,
Haydn wrote sixty-eight quartets, many of which were played
both by Haydn’s aristocratic patrons and published and
available for the amateur musician to purchase and play. In
fact, many late eighteenth-century writers (including the
famous German poet Goethe) referred to the string quartet as
“a conversation between four intelligent people,” in this case,
the four people being the first and second violinist, violist, and
cellist.
306 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
The string quartet by Haydn which we will study is one
of six quartets that he wrote in 1772 and published as opus
twenty quartets in 1774 (roughly speaking, the “twenty”
meant that this was Haydn’s twentieth publication to date). In
many ways, this follows the norms of other string quartets of
the day. It is in four movements, with a fast first movement in
sonata form, a slow second movement that uses a theme and
variations form, a moderate-tempo third movement that is like
a minuet, and a fourth fast movement, here in sonata form. As
we will see, the third movement is subtitled “alla Zingarese,”
or “in the style of the Hungarians” (a good example of Haydn
being “folky”). The entire quartet comprises a little over
twenty minutes of music.
First, we will listen to the first movement, which is marked
“allegro di molto,” or very fast, and is in D major, as expected
given the string quartet’s title. It uses sonata form, and as stated
earlier, in the exposition, the home key and musical themes
of the movement are introduced, or “exposed.” In the
development, those themes are broken apart and combined in
new and different ways, or “developed.” In the recapitulation,
the home key and original musical themes return; in other
words, they are “recapitulated” or “recapped.”
The exposition, development, and recapitulation are
further broken into subsections to correspond to modulations
in keys and the presentation of new and different themes. For
the time being, simply listen for the main sections of sonata
form in the first movement of Haydn’s string quartet. You
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 307
might also listen for Haydn’s motivic style. In the first musical
theme, you’ll hear three motives. The first motive, for example,
repeats the same pitch three times. The second motive consists
of an arched musical phrase that ascends and descends and
outlines the pitches of an important chord of the movement.
The final motive that Haydn packs into his opening musical
theme is a musical turn, or a decorative series of notes that
move by step, revolving around a primary note. Each of these
motives is heard repeatedly through the rest of the movement.
Listening Guide: String Quartet in D major,
Op. 20, no. 4 (I: Allegro di molto)
Performed by: New Oxford String Quartet
Violinists: Jonathon Crow and Andrew
Wan, Violist: Eric Nowlin, Cellist: Brian
Manker
• Composer: Haydn
• Composition: String Quartet in D major,
Op. 20, no. 4 (I: Allegro di molto)
• Date: 1772
• Genre: String quartet
• Form: I: Allegro di molto is in sonata form
• Performing Forces: string quartet, i.e.,
308 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
two violins, one viola, one cello
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• It uses sonata form: exposition,
development, and recapitulation
• It is in D major
• Haydn’s style here is very motivic
Other things to listen for:
• The interplay of the two violins, viola, and
cello, in ways that might remind you of a
“conversation between four people.”
• The subsections of the sonata form
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Timing
Performing Forces,
Melody, and Texture
Text and Form
0:00
First theme in D major
consists of three motives,
including a first repeated
note motive; first heard in
the first violin and then
passed to the other
instruments, too.
EXPOSITION: First
theme
0:34
Uses fast triplets (three notes
per beat) in sequences to
modulate to the key of A
major
transition
1:12
New combinations of
motives in themes in A
major: starts with three-note
motive, then a rapidly rising
scale in the first violin, then
more triplets, a more lyrical
leap- ing motive, and ending
with more triplets.
Second theme and
closing theme
2:23
Sequences the repeated note
motive
DEVELOPMENT
2:40
Sounds like the first theme in
the home key, but then shifts
to an- other key. Repeated
note and fast triplet motives No Data
follow in sequences,
modulating to different keys
(major and minor).
310 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
Timing
Performing Forces,
Melody, and Texture
Text and Form
2:50
A pause and the first motive,
but not in the home key of
D major; triplets, the more
lyrical leaping motive and
then a pause and the first
motive, but still not in the
home key.
No Data
3:35
After a pause, the first theme
in D major
RECAPITULATION:
First theme
4:10
Uses fast triplets like the
exposition’s transition
section, followed by more
lyrical motives, but it does
not modulate away from D
major.
Transition-like section
4:30
Return of the three-note
motive followed by a rapidly
rising scale in the first violin,
then more triplets, a more
lyrical leaping motive, and
ending with more triplets
but still in D major (was in A
major in the exposition).
Second theme and
closing theme
The third movement of Haydn’s String Quartet in D major,
Op. 20, no. 4 uses a moderate tempo (it is marked “allegretto,”
in this case, a slow allegro) and the form of a minuet. Keeping
with the popular culture of the day, a great number of Haydn’s
compositions included minuet movements.
Here, however, we see Haydn playing on our expectations
for the minuet and writing a movement that is alla zingarese.
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 311
The minuet was not a Hungarian dance, so the listener’s
experience and expectations are altered when the third
movement sounds more like a lively Hungarian folk dance
than the stately western-European minuet. (For comparison’s
sake, you can listen to the second movement of Haydn’s String
Quartet in E flat, Op. 20, no. 1, which is a much more
traditional-sounding minuet.) Haydn retains the form of the
stylized minuet, which consisted of a minuet and a trio. The
trio consists of musical phrases that contrast with what was
heard in the minuet: the trio got its name from an earlier
practice of assigning this music to a group of three wind
players. Here the entire string quartet plays throughout. After
the trio, the group returns to the minuet, resulting in a minuet
(A)—trio (B)— minuet (A). As was the custom, Haydn did
not write out the minuet music at its return—remember paper
was much more expensive 200 years ago than it is today.
Instead, Haydn wrote two Italian words: “da capo”. As these
words were used by all composers of the day, the players knew
immediately to flip to the beginning of the movement and
repeat the minuet, generally without repeats.
Listening Guide: String Quartet in D major,
op. 20, no. 4 (III. Allegretto alla zingarese)
312 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
Performed by: New Oxford String Quartet
Violinists: Jonathon Crow and Andrew Wan,
Violist: Eric Nowlin, Cellist: Brian Manker
• Composer: Haydn
• Composition: String Quartet in D major,
op. 20, no. 4 (III. Allegretto alla zingarese)
• Date: 1772
• Genre: String quartet
• Form: III. Allegretto alla zingarese uses the
form of a minuet and trio, that is, Minuet
(A) Trio (B) Minuet (A).
• Performing Forces: string quartet, i.e.,
two violins, one viola, one cello
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• It is in triple time and a moderate tempo,
like most minuets
• The music for the repeat of the minuet is
not written out; instead, Haydn writes “da
capo” at the end of the Trio
• Instead of sounding like a stately minuet,
it sounds more like a lively Hungarian
dance
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Other things to listen for:
• It hardly sounds like triple meter, because
Haydn writes accents on beats two and
three instead of mainly on beat one
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Timing
Performing Forces, Melody, and
Texture
Text and
Form
0:00
Lots of unexpected accents on beats two
and three of the triple time me- ter;
homophonic texture: the first violin gets
the solo and the other voices accompany;
in D major
MINUET:
A
0:09
“
a repeats
0:17
Similar to a, but the melody is even more
disjunct, with more leaps.
B
0:27
“
b repeats
0:40
Accents back on the first beat of each
measure (that is, of each measure of the
triple meter); homophonic texture: the
cello gets the solo and the other voices
accompany; still in D major
TRIO: Cc
0:56
Similar to c; note the drone pitches in the
2nd violin and viola accom- paniment at
the beginning of the phrase
dd
1:13
See above
MINUET:
A
1:20
See above
B
Focus Composition:
Haydn, Symphony No. 94 in G Major, “Surprise”
Haydn is also often called the Father of the Symphony
because he wrote over 100 symphonies, which, like his string
quartets, span most of his compositional career. As already
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 315
noted, the Classical orchestra featured primarily strings, with
flutes and oboes (and, with Haydn’s last symphonies, clarinets)
for woodwinds, trumpets and horns for brass, and timpani
(and occasionally other drums or the cymbals or triangle) for
percussion. The symphony gradually took on the fourmovement form that was a norm for over a century, although
as we will see, composers sometimes relished departing from
the norm.
Haydn wrote some of his most successful symphonies
during his time in London. His Symphony No. 94 in G Major,
which premiered in London in 1792, is a good example of
Haydn’s thwarting musical expectations for witty ends. Like
most symphonies of its day, the first movement is in sonata
form. (Haydn does open the symphony with a brief, slow
introduction before launching into the first movement
proper.)
Haydn’s sense of humor is most evident in the moderately
slow andante second movement which starts like a typical
theme and variations movement consisting of a musical theme
that the composer then varies several times. Each variation
retains enough of the original theme to be recognizable but
adds other elements to provide interest. The themes used for
theme and variations movements tended to be simple, tuneful
melody lines. In this case, the theme consists of an eightmeasure musical phrase that is repeated. This movement, like
many movements of Classical symphonies and string quartets,
ends with a coda.
316 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
Why did Haydn write such a loud chord at the end of the
second statement of the a phrase of the theme? Commentators
have long speculated that Haydn may have noticed that
audience members tended to drift off to sleep in slow and
often quietly lyrical middle movements of symphonies and
decided to give them an abrupt wakeup. Haydn himself said
nothing of the sort, although his letters, as well as his music,
do suggest that he was attentive to his audience’s opinions
and attempted at every juncture to give them music that was
new and interesting: for Haydn, that clearly meant playing
upon his listener’s expectations in ways that might even be
considered humorous.
Why is it called the Surprise Symphony? The secret of
Haydn’s success
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Listening Guide: Symphony No. 94 in G
major, “Surprise” (II. Andante)
Performed by: The Orchestra of the 18th
Century, conducted by Frans Brüggen.
• Composer: Haydn
• Composition: Symphony No. 94 in G
major, “Surprise” (II. Andante)
• Date: 1791
• Genre: Symphony
• Form: II. Andante is in theme and
variations form
• Performing Forces: Classical orchestra
here with 1st violin section, 2nd violin
section, viola section, cellos/bass section, 2
flutes, 2 oboes, 2 trumpets, 2 horns, 2
bassoons, and timpani
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• It is in theme and variations form
• The very loud chord that ends the first
phrase of the theme provides the
“surprise”
318 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
Other things to listen for:
• The different ways that Haydn varies the
theme: texture, register, instrumentation,
key
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Performing
Forces,
Timing Melody,
Text and Form
and
Texture
8:46
Theme: aa
Eight-measure theme with a question
and answer structure. The “question”
ascends and descends and then the
“answer” ascends and descends, and
ends with a very loud chord (the
answer). In C major and most- ly
consonant. In homophonic texture,
with melody in the violins and
accompaniment by the other strings;
soft dynam- ics and then very soft
staccato notes until ending with a very
loud chord played by the full orchestra,
the “surprise.”
9:21
b
Contrasting more legato eight-measure
phrase ends like the staccato motives of
the a phrase without the loud chord;
9:39
b
Repetition of b
Theme in the second violins and violas
under a high- er-pitched 1st violin
counter- melody. Still in C major and
mostly consonant.
9:57
Variation 1:
aa
10:30
bb
Ascending part of the theme is forte
and the descending part of the phrase is
piano; the first-violin countermelody is
an interesting line but the overall
texture is still homophonic.
Similar in texture and harmo-nies;
piano dynamic throughout
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Performing
Forces,
Timing Melody,
Text and Form
and
Texture
11:05
Variation 2:
aa
The first four measures are in unison
monophonic texture and very loud and
the second four measures (the answer)
are in homophonic texture and very
soft; In C minor
11:41
Develops
motives
from A and
B phrases
In C minor with more disso- nance;
very loud in dynamics; The motives are
passed from instrument to instrument
in polyphonic imitation.
Back in C major.
The oboes and flutes get the a phrase
with fast repeated notes in a higher
register; the sec- ond time, the violins
play the
a phrase at original pitch; uses
homophonic texture throughout.
12:20
Variation 3:
aa
12:56
bb
The flutes and oboes play
countermelodies while the strings play
the theme.
13:27
Variation 4:
ab
The winds get the first a phrase and
then it returns to the first violin; very
loud for the first statement of a and very
soft for the second statement of a; homophonic texture throughout.
14:01
bb +
extension
Shifting dynamics
14:50
Coda
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The third movement of Haydn’s “Surprise” Symphony is a
rather traditional minuet and trio movement. The fourth
movement is equally traditional; it uses a light-hearted form
called the rondo. As stated before, in a rondo, a musical refrain,
labeled as “A,” alternates with other sections, alternately called
B, C, D, etc. See if you can hear the recurrence of the refrain as
you listen to this joyful conclusion to the symphony.
Listening Guide: Symphony No. 94 in G
major, “Surprise” (IV. Finale: Allegro Molto)
Performed by: The Orchestra of the 18th
Century, conducted by Frans Brüggen.
• Composer: Haydn
• Composition: Symphony No. 94 in G
major, “Surprise” (IV. Finale: Allegro Molto)
• Date: 1791
• Genre: Symphony
• Form: IV. Finale: Allegro molto is in a
(sonata) rondo form
• Performing Forces: Classical orchestra
here with 1st violin section, 2nd violin
section, viola section, cellos/bass section, 2
flutes, 2 oboes, 2 trumpets, 2 horns, 2
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bassoons, and timpani
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• This movement uses a rondo form
• It is at a very fast tempo
• It uses a full orchestra
Other things to listen for:
• The alternation of the different sections of
the rondo form
• The changes in key and texture
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Timing Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
Text
and
Form
19:17
Fast and tuneful theme in duple time in
homophonic texture; in G major, with more
dissonances as the music modulates to…
A
20:19
D major for a different tuneful theme that
opens descending motion;
B
20:42
Returns to G major and the first theme;
texture becomes more poly- phonic as it…
A’
20:49
modulates through several keys.
C
21:17
Return to the first theme in G major
A
21:26
Opening motive of the first theme in minor
and then sequences on other motives that
modulate
D
through minor keys.
21:47
Back in G major with the first theme and other
music of A that is extended into a coda that
brings
back b momentarily and juxtaposes
forte and piano dynamics before its rousing
close.
A
and
coda
Haydn’s symphonies greatly influenced the musical style of
both Mozart and Beethoven; indeed, these two composers
learned how to develop motives from Haydn’s earlier
symphonies. Works such as the Surprise Symphony were
especially shaping for the young Beethoven, who, as we will
later discuss, was taking music composition lessons from
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Haydn at about the same time that Haydn was composing his
Symphony No. 94 before his trip to London.
Music of Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart (1756-1791)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria. His
father, Leopold Mozart, was an accomplished violinist of the
Archbishop of Salzburg’s court. Additionally, Leopold had
written a respected book on the playing of the violin. At a
very young age, Wolfgang began his career as a composer and
performer. A prodigy, his talent far exceeded any in music, past
his contemporaries. He began writing music prior to the age
of five. At the age of six, Wolfgang performed in the court of
Empress Maria Theresa.
Mozart’s father was quite proud of his children, both being
child prodigies. At age seven, Wolfgang, his father, and his
sister Maria Anna (nicknamed “Nannerl”) embarked on a tour
featuring Wolfgang in London, Munich, and Paris. As was
customary at the time, Wolfgang, the son, was promoted and
pushed ahead with his musical career by his father. While his
sister, the female, grew up traditionally, married, and
eventually took care of her father Leopold in his later years.
However, while the two siblings were still performing, these
tours occurred when Wolfgang was between the ages of six
and seventeen. The tours, though, were quite demeaning for
the young musical genius in that he was often looked upon
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 325
as just a superficial genre of entertainment rather than being
respected as a musical prodigy. He would often be asked to
identify the tonality of a piece while listening to it or asked to
sight read and perform with a cloth over his hands while at
the piano. Still, the tours allowed young Mozart to accumulate
knowledge about musical styles across Europe. As a composer
prior to his teens, the young Mozart had already composed
religious works, symphonies, solo sonatas, an opera buffa, and
Bastien and Bastienne, an operetta; in short, he had quickly
mastered all the forms of music.
Back in Salzburg, Mozart was very unhappy due to being
musically restrained by the restrictions of his patron, the
Archbishop of Salzburg, Hieronymus von Colloredo. At
approximately the age of twenty-five, he moved to Vienna,
became a free artist (agent), and pursued other opportunities.
Another likely reason for Wolfgang’s ultimate departure to
Vienna was to become independent of his father. Though
Leopold was well-meaning and had sacrificed a great deal to
ensure the future and happiness of his son, he was an
overbearing father. Thus at the age of twenty-five, Mozart
married Constance Weber. Mozart’s father did not view the
marriage favorably and this marriage served as a wedge severing
Wolfgang’s close ties to his father.
Wolfgang’s new life in Vienna however was not easy. For
almost ten years, he struggled financially, unable to find the
secure financial environment in which he had grown up. The
music patronage system was still the main way for musicians
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to prosper and thrive: several times, Mozart was considered for
patron employment but was not hired. Having hired several
other musicians ahead of Mozart, Emperor Joseph II hired
Mozart to basically compose dances for the court’s balls. As
the tasks were far beneath his musical genius, Mozart was quite
bitter about this assignment.
While in Vienna, Mozart relied on his teaching to sustain
him and his family. He also relied on the entertainment genre
of the concert. He would write piano concertos for annual
concerts. Their programs would also include some arias, solo
improvisation, and possibly an overture by another composer.
The peak of Mozart’s career success occurred in 1786 with
the writing of The Marriage of Figaro (libretto by Lorenza da
Ponte). The opera was a hit in Prague and Vienna. The city
of Prague, so impressed with the opera, commissioned another
piece by Mozart. Mozart, with da Ponte again as librettist, then
composed Don Giovanni. The second opera left the audience
somewhat confused. Mozart’s luster and appeal seemed to
have passed. As a composer, Mozart was trying to expand the
spectrum, or horizons, of the musical world. Therefore, his
music sometimes had to be viewed more than once by the
audience in order for them to understand and appreciate it.
Mozart was pushing the musical envelope beyond the standard
entertainment expected by his aristocratic audience, and
patrons, in general, did not appreciate it. In a letter to Mozart,
Emperor Joseph II wrote of Don Giovanni that the opera was
perhaps better than The Marriage of Figaro but that it did not
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 327
set well on the palette of the Viennese. Mozart quickly fired
back, responding that the Viennese perhaps needed more time
to understand it.
In the final year of his life, Mozart with librettist (actor/
poet) Emanuel Schikaneder, wrote a very successful opera for
the Viennese English Theatre, The Magic Flute. The newly
acclaimed famous composer was quickly hired to write a piece
(as well as attend) the coronation of the new Emperor,
Leopold II, as King of Bohemia. The festive opera that Mozart
composed for this event was called The Clemency of Titus. Its
audience, overly indulged and exhausted from the coronation,
was not impressed with Mozart’s work. Mozart returned home
depressed and broken and began working on a Requiem,
which, coincidentally, would be his last composition.
The Requiem was commissioned by a count who intended
to pass the work off as his own. Mozart’s health failed shortly
after receiving this commission and the composer died, just
before his thirty-sixth birthday, before completing the piece.
Mozart’s favorite student, Franz Xaver Sűssmayr, completed
the mass from Mozart’s sketch scores, with some insertions
of his own, while rumors spread that Mozart was possibly
poisoned by another contemporary composer. In debt at the
time of his death, Mozart was given a common burial. As one
commentator wrote:
Thus, “without a note of music, forsaken by all he held dear,
the remains of this Prince of Harmony were committed to the
earth, not even in a grave of their own, but in the common
328 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
fosse affected to the indiscriminate sepulture of homeless
mendicants and nameless waifs.” (Crowest, “An Estimate of
Mozart,” The Eclectic Magazine: Foreign Literature Vol. 55;
Vol 118 P. 464)
Overview of Mozart’s Music
From Mozart’s youth, his musical intellect and capability were
unmatched. His contemporaries often noted that Mozart
seemed to have already heard, edited, listened to, and visualized
entire musical works in his mind before raising a pen to
compose them on paper. When he took pen in hand, he would
basically transcribe the work in his head onto the manuscript
paper. Observers also said that Mozart could listen and carry
on conversations with others while transcribing his music to
paper.
Mozart was musically very prolific in his short life. He
composed operas, church music, a Requiem, string quartets,
string quintets, mixed quintets and quartets, concertos, piano
sonatas, and many lighter chamber pieces (such as
divertimentos), including his superb A Little Night Music
(Eine kleine Nachtmusik). His violin and piano sonatas are
among the best ever written both in form and emotional
content. Six of his quartets were dedicated to Haydn, whose
influence Mozart celebrated in their preface.
Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik
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Mozart additionally wrote exceptional keyboard music,
particularly since he was respected as one of the finest pianists
of the Classical period. He loved the instrument dearly and
wrote many solo works, as well as more than twenty piano
concertos for piano and orchestra, thus contributing greatly
to the concerto’s popularity as an acceptable medium. Many
of these concerti were premiered at Mozart’s annual public
fundraising concerts. Of his many piano solo pieces, the
Fantasia in C minor K 475 and the Sonata (in C minor) K 457
are representative of his most famous.
Mozart: Piano Sonata No 14 C minor K 457
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330 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
Mozart composed more than forty symphonies, the writing of
which extended across his entire career. He was known for the
full and rich instrumentation and voicing of his symphonies.
His conveying of emotion and mood are especially portrayed
in these works. His final six symphonies, written in the last
decade of his life, are the most artistically self-motivated
independent of art patronage and supervision that might stifle
creativity. Mozart’s late and great symphonies include the
Haffner in D (1782), the Linz in C (1783), the Prague in
D (1786), and his last three symphonies composed in 1788.
Mozart’s final symphony probably was not performed prior to
his death. In addition to the symphonies and piano concertos,
Mozart composed other major instrumental works for clarinet,
violin, and horn in concertos.
Mozart: Symphony No. 35 “Haffner”
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Focus Composition:
Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466 [1785]
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 331
Classical composers like Mozart took the Baroque concerto
for soloist and orchestra and expanded it into a much larger
form. Like Vivaldi’s concertos, Mozart’s concertos were
generally in three movements, with fast, slow, and fast tempos,
respectively. The first movements of Mozart’s concertos also
featured the alternation of ritornello sections and solo sections.
Mozart, however, also applied the dynamics of sonata form to
the first movements of his concertos, resulting in a form that
we now call double exposition form. In double exposition
form, the first statement of the exposition was assigned to the
orchestra, and the second statement of the exposition was
assigned to the soloist with orchestral accompaniment in the
background. The alternation between orchestra and soloist
sections continues in the development and recapitulation.
Near the end of the recapitulation and during the final
orchestra exposition, the orchestra holds a suspenseful chord,
at which point the soloist enters and the orchestra drops out.
For a minute or longer, the soloist plays a cadenza. A cadenza
is a solo section that sounds improvised, though sometimes
composers or performers wrote these ahead of time, as is the
case with this concerto (the recording cited by the text features
a cadenza that was written by Beethoven). A cadenza normally
ends with the pianist sustaining a chord (often with a trill)
signaling the orchestra’s final entrance in the piece, playing
the last phrase of the ritornello to bring the movement to a
conclusion. You can see an example of how ritornello form and
sonata form were merged in a double exposition form:
332 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
Double Exposition Form
Ritornello Form
Ritornello
Solo Section
Ritornello
Solo Section
Ritornello
Solo Section
Ritornello (including cadenza)
Sonata Form
[Orchestral] EXPOSITION
[Solo] EXPOSITION
DEVELOPMENT
RECAPITULATION
The first movement of Mozart’s Concerto No. 20 in D minor,
K. 466 is a good example of double exposition form.
Listening Guide: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D
minor, K466, First Movement 1. Allegro
(Cadenzas by Beethoven)
Performed by: Martha Argerich, piano, with the
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 333
Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, conducted by
Alexandre Rabinovitch
• Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Composition: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D
minor, K466, First Movement 1. Allegro
(Cadenzas by Beethoven)
• Date: 1785
• Genre: Piano Concerto
• Form: Double Exposition Form
• Performing Forces: Piano soloist and
Classical orchestra
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• It is in double exposition form.
• At the end of the recapitulation, in the
final ritornello, the orchestra drops out and
the soloist plays a cadenza that sounds
improvised.
• The movement (like the concerto as a
whole) starts and ends in D minor and is
one of only two Mozart concertos in a
minor key
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Timing
Performing Forces, Melody, and
Texture
Text and
Form
0:00
Orchestra alone, in a minor key
throughout.
Orchestral
Exposition
2:18
Spotlight on the solo piano, with
some accompaniment from the
orchestra; the key modulates to F
major.
Solo
Exposition
5:05
Focus switches back and forth from
solo piano and the orchestra while
the music develops the themes,
motives, and harmonies from the
exposition.
Development
7:23
Back in D minor with the first
themes from the exposition.
Frequent alternation between the
soloist and orchestra as they share
the themes.
Recapitulation:
Ritornello &
solo sections
10:17
Orchestra begins the final ritornello
and then sustains a suspenseful
chord.
Recapitulation:
Final ritornello
10:35
The pianist plays in a improvisatory
manner, shifting suddenly between
different motives, tempos, and styles.
Listen for many ornaments such as
trills and rapid and virtu- osic scales.
After a final, extended series of trills
(starting at 12:17), the orchestra
returns for…
Recapitulation:
Cadenza
12:30
the final phrase of the ritornello and
movement (which ends in D minor).
Recapitulation:
Ritornello
concludes
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Focus Composition:
Mozart, Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551 (1788)
Like Haydn, Mozart also wrote symphonies. Mozart’s final
symphony, the Symphony No. 41 in major, K. 551 is one of his
greatest compositions. It very quickly acquired the nickname
“Jupiter,” a reference to the Greek god, perhaps because of
its grand scale and use of complex musical techniques. For
example, Mozart introduced more modulations and key
changes in this piece than was typical. The symphony opens
with a first movement in sonata form with an exposition,
development, and recapitulation.
Below you will find an animated listening guide providing
guidance to various sections and identifying the different
musical elements as they are introduced.
Mozart: Symphony No. 41, Allegro vivace
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Also, listen to the first movement with the listening guide
below.
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 337
Listening Guide: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D
minor, K466, First Movement 1. Allegro
(Cadenzas by Beethoven)
Performed by: (Video of live orchestral
performance); The Chamber Orchestra of Europe,
conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt
• Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Composition: Symphony No. 41 in C
Major, K. 551 — 1st Movement, Allegro
Vivace
• Date: 1788
• Genre: Symphony
• Form: Sonata Form
• Performing Forces: Classical orchestra
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• Listen to the different sections identified
in sonata form.
• During the development section you will
feel the instability of the piece induced by
the key changes and ever changing
instrument voicings.
338 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
Other things to listen for:
• Its melodic line is mostly conjunct.
• Its melody contains many melismas.
• It has a Latin text sung in a strophic form.
Note:
• Time index follows the performance below
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CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 339
Timing
Performing Forces, Melody,
and Texture
Full orchestra.
0:00
Stated twice-First loud and then
soft short responses.
The forte dynamic continues,
with emphasis on dotted
rhythms.
0:18
1:30
2:08
Winds perform opening melody
followed by staccato string
answer;
Full bowed motion in strings.
Motive of three notes continues;
Soft lyrical theme with moving
ornamentation in
accompaniment.
Sudden forte dynamic. Energy
increases until sudden softening
to third pause;
Brass fanfares with compliment
of
the tympani.
Theme played in the strings with
grace notes used.
2:41
3:12
Melody builds to a closing;
A light singable melody
derived from Mozart’s aria “Un
baccio di mano”
Text and Form
EXPOSITION:
Opening triplet
motive
First theme in C
major
Pause followed by
second theme of
the exposition
Second Pause
followed by
transition to build
tension
After the third
pause, the third
theme is
introduced
The entire
exposition repeats
itself
340 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
Timing
6:21
Performing Forces, Melody,
and Texture
Transition played by flute, oboe
and bassoon followed by third
theme in strings;
Music.
6:40
7:21
Modulations in this section add
to the instability of the section;
Starts like the exposition but
with repetition in different keys.
Slight introduction of third
theme motif;
Quiet and subdued.
Now started by the oboes and
bassoons;
8:05
9:29
10:39
Now in C minor, not E flat
major, which provides a more
ominous tone.
No Data
After a sudden piano articulation
of the SSSL motive, suddenly
ends in a loud and bombastic
manner: Fate threatens;
Text and Form
DEVELOPMENT
SECTION:
Transition to third
theme
Modulation to the
minor
Implied
recapitulation:
“Transition”
Recapitulation in
original key: First
theme
Pause followed by
second theme
Third theme
Re-emphasizes C minor.
10:53
No Data
Closing material
similar to
exposition
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 341
Timing
Performing Forces, Melody,
and Texture
Text and Form
11:09
Full orchestra at forte dynamic.
Closing cadence
for the movement
It is impossible to know how many more operas and
symphonies Mozart would have written had he lived into his
forties, fifties, or even sixties. Haydn’s music written after the
death of Mozart shows the influence of his younger
contemporary, and Beethoven’s early music was also shaped by
Mozart’s. In fact, in 1792, a twenty-something Beethoven was
sent to Vienna with the expressed purpose of receiving “the
spirit of Mozart from the hands of Haydn.”
Music of Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770-1827)
Beethoven was born in Bonn in December of 1770. Bonn
sat at the Western edge of the Germanic lands, on the Rhine
River. Those in Bonn were well-acquainted with the traditions
of the Netherlands and of the French; they would be some
of the first to hear of the revolutionary ideas coming out of
France in the 1780s. The area was ruled by the Elector of
Cologne. As the Kapellmeister for the Elector, Beethoven’s
grandfather held the most important musical position in
Bonn; he died when Beethoven was three years old.
Beethoven’s father, Johann Beethoven, sang in the Electoral
342 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
Chapel his entire life. While he may have provided his son with
music lessons at an early stage of Ludwig’s life, it appears that
Johann had given into alcoholism and depression, especially
after the death of Maria Magdalena Keverich (Johann’s wife
and Ludwig’s mother) in 1787.
Although hundreds of miles east of Vienna, the Electorate
of Cologne was under the jurisdiction of the Austrian
Habsburg empire that was ruled by this Eastern European city.
The close ties between these lands made it convenient for the
Elector, with the support of the music-loving Count
Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel von Waldstein (1762-1823), to send
Beethoven to Vienna to further his music training. Ferdinand
was the youngest of an aristocratic family in Bonn. He greatly
supported the arts and became a patron of Beethoven.
Beethoven’s first stay in Vienna in 1787 was interrupted by the
death of his mother. In 1792, he returned to Vienna for good.
Perhaps the most universally known fact of Beethoven’s life
is that he went deaf. You can read entire books on the topic;
for our present purposes, the timing of his hearing loss is most
important. It was at the end of the 1790s that Beethoven first
recognized that he was losing his hearing. By 1801, he was
writing about it to his most trusted friends. It is clear that
the loss of his hearing was an existential crisis for Beethoven.
During the fall of 1802, he composed a letter to his brothers
that included his last will and testament, a document that
we’ve come to know as the “Heiligenstadt Testament” named
after the small town of Heiligenstadt, north of the Viennese
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 343
city center, where he was staying. The “Heiligenstadt
Testament” provides us insight to Beethoven’s heart and mind.
Most striking is his statement that his experiences of social
alienation, connected to his hearing loss, “drove me almost
to despair, a little more of that and I have ended my life—it
was only my art that held me back.” The idea that Beethoven
found in art a reason to live suggests both his valuing of art
and a certain self-awareness of what he had to offer music.
Beethoven and his physicians tried various means to counter
the hearing loss and improve his ability to function in society.
By 1818, however, Beethoven was completely deaf.
Beethoven had a complex personality. Although he read the
most profound philosophers of his day and was compelled
by lofty philosophical ideals, his own writing was broken and
his personal accounts show errors in basic math. He craved
close human relationships yet had difficulty sustaining them.
By 1810, he had secured a lifetime annuity from local
noblemen, meaning that Beethoven never lacked for money.
Still, his letters—as well as the accounts of
contemporaries—suggest a man suspicious of others and
preoccupied with the compensation he was receiving.
Overview of Beethoven’s Music
Upon arriving in Vienna in the early 1790s, Beethoven
supported himself by playing piano at salons and by giving
music lessons. Salons were gatherings of literary types, visual
344 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
artists, musicians, and thinkers, often hosted by noblewomen
for their friends. Here Beethoven both played music of his own
composition and improvised upon musical themes given to
him by those in attendance.
In April of 1800, Beethoven gave his first concert for his
own benefit, held at the important Burgtheater. As typical
for the time, the concert included a variety of types of music,
vocal, orchestral, and even, in this case, chamber music. Many
of the selections were by Haydn and Mozart, for Beethoven’s
music from this period was profoundly influenced by these
two composers.
Scholars have traditionally divided Beethoven’s composing
into three chronological periods: early, middle, and late. Like
all efforts to categorize, this one proposes boundaries that are
open to debate. Probably most controversial is the dating of
the end of the middle period and the beginning of the late
period. Beethoven did not compose much music between
1814 and 1818, meaning that any division of those years would
fall more on Beethoven’s life than on his music.
In general, the music of Beethoven’s first period (roughly
until 1803) reflects the influence of Haydn and Mozart.
Beethoven’s second period (1803-1814) is sometimes called
his “heroic” period, based on his recovery from depression
documented in the “Heiligenstadt Testament” mentioned
earlier. This period includes such music compositions as his
Third Symphony, which Beethoven subtitled “Eroica” (that
is, heroic), the Fifth Symphony, and Beethoven’s one opera,
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 345
Fidelio, which took the French Revolution as its inspiration.
Other works composed during this time include Symphonies
No. 3 through No. 8 and famous piano works, such as the
sonatas “Waldstein,” “Appassionata,” and “Lebewohl” and
Concertos No. 4 and No. 5. He continued to write
instrumental chamber music, choral music, and songs into his
heroic middle period. In these works of his middle period,
Beethoven is often regarded as having come into his own
because they display a new and original musical style. In
comparison to the works of Haydn and Mozart and
Beethoven’s earlier music, these longer compositions feature
larger performing forces, thicker polyphonic textures, more
complex motivic relationships, more dissonance and delayed
resolution of dissonance, more syncopation and hemiola
(hemiola is the momentary simultaneous sense of being in two
meters at the same time), and more elaborate forms.
When Beethoven started composing again in 1818, his
music was much more experimental. Some of his
contemporaries believed that he had lost his ability to compose
as he lost his hearing. The late piano sonatas, last five string
quartets, monumental Missa Solemnis, and Symphony No. 9
in D minor (The Choral Symphony) are now perceived to
be some of Beethoven’s most revolutionary compositions,
although they were not uniformly applauded during his
lifetime. Beethoven’s late style was one of contrasts: extremely
slow music next to extremely fast music and extremely
346 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
complex and dissonant music next to extremely simple and
consonant music.
Although this section will not discuss the music of
Beethoven’s early period or late period in any depth, you might
want to explore this music on your own. Beethoven’s first
published piano sonata, the Sonata in F minor, Op. 2, No.
1 (1795), shows the influence of its dedicatee, Joseph Haydn.
One of Beethoven’s last works, his famous Ninth Symphony,
departs from the norms of the day by incorporating vocal
soloists and a choir into a symphony, which was almost always
written only for orchestral instruments. The Ninth Symphony
is Beethoven’s longest; its first three movements, although
innovative in many ways, use the expected forms: a fast sonata
form, a scherzo (which by the early nineteenth century—as
we will see in our discussion of the Fifth Symphony—had
replaced the minuet and trio), and a slow theme and variations
form. The finale, in which the vocalists participate, is truly
revolutionary in terms of its length, the sheer extremes of the
musical styles it uses, and the combination of large orchestra
and choir. The text or words that Beethoven chose for the
vocalists speak of joy and the hope that all humankind might
live together in brotherly love. The “Ode to Joy” melody to
which Beethoven set these words was later used for the hymn
“Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.”
Quick Guide: Beethoven’s 9th – “Ode to Joy”
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 347
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Focus Composition:
Beethoven, Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 (1808)
In this section, we will focus on possibly Beethoven’s most
famous composition, his Fifth Symphony (1808). The
premiere of the Fifth Symphony took place at perhaps the
most infamous of all of Beethoven’s concerts, an event that
lasted for some four hours in an unheated theater on a bitterly
cold Viennese evening. At this time, Beethoven was not on
good terms with the performers, several of whom refused to
rehearse with the composer in the room. In addition, the final
number of the performance was finished too late to be
sufficiently practiced, and in the concert, it had to be stopped
and restarted. Belying its less than auspicious first
performance, once published the Fifth Symphony quickly
gained the critical acclaim it has held ever since.
The most famous part of the Fifth Symphony is its
commanding opening. This opening features the entire
orchestra playing in unison a musical motive that we will call
348 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
the short-short-short-long (SSSL) motive, because of the
rhythm of its four notes. We will also refer to it as the Fate
motive, because at least since the 1830s, music critics have
likened it to fate knocking on the door. The short notes repeat
the same pitch and then the long, held-out note leaps down
a third. After the orchestra releases the held note, it plays the
motive again, now sequenced a step lower, then again at the
original pitches, then at higher pitches. This sequenced phrase,
which has become the first theme of the movement, then
repeats, and the fast sonata-form movement starts to pick up
steam. This is the exposition of the movement.
Opening
of
Symphon
y No. 5,
Op. 67
After a transition, the second theme is heard. It also starts
with the SSSL motive, although the pitches heard are quite
different. The horn presents the question phrase of the second
theme; then, the strings respond with the answer phrase of the
second theme. You should note that the key has changed—the
music is now in E flat major, which has a much more peaceful
feel than C minor—and the answer phrase of the second
theme is much more legato than anything yet heard in the
symphony. This tuneful legato music does not last for long
and the closing section returns to the rapid sequencing of the
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 349
SSSL motive. Then the orchestra returns to the beginning of
the movement for a repeat of the exposition.
The development section of this first movement does
everything we might expect of a development: the SSSL motive
appears in sequence and is altered as the keys change rapidly.
Also, we hear more polyphonic imitative in the development
than elsewhere in the movement. Near the end of the
development, the dynamics alternate between piano and forte,
and, before the listener knows it, the music has returned to
the home key of C minor as well as the opening version of
the SSSL motive: this starts the recapitulation. The music
transitions to the second theme—now still in the home key
of C minor—and the closing section. Then, just when the
listener expects the recapitulation to end, Beethoven extends
the movement in a coda. This coda is much longer than any
coda we have yet listened to in the music of Haydn or Mozart,
although it is not as long as the coda to the final movement
of this symphony. These long codas are also another element
that Beethoven is known for. He often restates the conclusive
cadence many times and in many rhythmic durations.
The second movement is a lyrical theme and variations
movement in a major key, which provides a few minutes of
respite from the menacing C minor; if you listen carefully,
though, you might hear some reference to the SSSL fate
motive. The third movement returns to C minor and is a
scherzo. Scherzos retain the form of the minuet, having a
contrasting trio section that divides the two presentations of
350 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
the scherzo. Like the minuet, scherzos also have a triple feel,
although they tend to be somewhat faster in tempo than the
minuet.
This scherzo third movement opens with a mysterious, even
spooky, opening theme played by the lower strings. The second
theme returns to the SSSL motive, although now with
different pitches. The mood changes with a very imitative and
very polyphonic trio in C major, but the spooky theme
reappears, alongside the fate motive, with the repeat of the
scherzo. Instead of making the scherzo a discrete movement,
Beethoven chose to write a musical transition between the
scherzo and the final movement, so that the music runs
continuously from one movement to another. After suddenly
getting very soft, the music gradually grows in dynamic as
the motive sequences higher and higher until the fourth
movement bursts onto the scene with a triumphant and loud
C major theme. It seems that perhaps our hero, whether we
think of the hero as the music of the symphony or perhaps as
Beethoven himself, has finally triumphed over Fate.
The fourth movement is a rather typical fast sonata form
finale with one exception. The second theme of the scherzo
(b), which contains the SSSL fate motive, appears one final
time at the end of the movement’s development section, as
if to try one more time to derail the hero’s conquest. But,
the movement ultimately ends with a lot of loud cadences
in C major, providing ample support for an interpretation
of the composition as the overcoming of Fate. This is the
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 351
interpretation that most commentators for almost two
hundred years have given the symphony. It is pretty amazing
to think that a musical composition might express so aptly the
human theme of struggle and triumph. Listen to the piece and
see if you hear it the same way.
Before you listen to the entire piece, watch this video which
gives an overview.
The secrets of the world’s most famous symphony –
Hanako Sawada
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Listening Guide: Symphony No. 5 in C
Minor, Op. 67
Performed by: (Video of live orchestral
performance); The Chamber Orchestra of Europe,
conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt
352 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
• Composer: Beethoven
• Composition: Symphony No. 41 in C
Major, K. 551 — 1st Movement, Allegro
Vivace
• Date: 1808
• Genre: Symphony
• Form: The four movements are as follows:
I. Allegro con brio: fast, sonata form,
II. Andante con moto: slow, theme and
variations form,
III. Scherzo. Allegro: scherzo and trio (ABA),
IV. Allegro: fast, sonata form.
• Performing Forces: Piccolo (fourth
movement only), two flutes, two oboes,
two clarinets, two bassoons,
contrabassoon (fourth movement only),
two horns, two trumpets, three
trombones (fourth movement only),
timpani, and strings (first and second
violins, viola, cellos, and double basses)
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 353
• Its fast first movement in sonata form
opens with the short-short-short-long
motive (which pervades much of the
symphony): Fate knocking at the door?
• The symphony starts in C minor but ends
in C major: a triumphant over fate?
First Movement, Allegro con motto
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What we want you to remember about this
movement:
354 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
• Its fast first movement in sonata form
opens with the short-short-short-long
motive (which pervades much of the
symphony): Fate knocking at the door?
• Its C minor key modulates for a while to
other keys but returns at the end of this
movement
• The staccato first theme comprised of
sequencing of the short-short-short-long
motive (SSSL) greatly contrasts the more
lyrical and legato second theme
• The coda at the end of the movement
provides dramatic closure.
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 355
Timing
Performing Forces,
Melody, and Texture
Text and Form
0:00
Full orchestra in a mostly
homophonic texture and
forte dynamic. Melody starts
with the SSSL motive
introduced and then
suspended with a fermata (or
hold). After this happens
twice, the melody continues
with the SSSL motive in
rising sequences.
EXPOSITION: First
theme
0:28
The forte dynamic
continues, with emphasis
from the timpani.
Transition
Falling sequences using the
SSSL rhythm.
After the horn call, the
strings lead this quieter
section.
0:50
1:25
A horn call using the SSSL
motive introduces a more
lyrical theme—now in a
major key.
SSSL rhythms passes
through the full orchestra
that plays at a forte dynamic.
Second theme
Closing
The SSSL rhythm returns in
down-ward sequences.
1:35
No Data
EXPOSITION:
Repeats
356 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
Timing
Performing Forces,
Melody, and Texture
Text and Form
Some polyphonic imitation;
lots of dialogue between the
low and high instruments
and the strings and winds.
3:07
Rapid sequences and
changing of keys,
fragmentation and
alternation of the original
motive.
DEVELOPMENT
3:56
Music moves from louds to
softs
4:33
Starts like the exposition. but
RECAPITULATION:
ends with a short oboe
First theme
cadenza
5:05
Similar to the transition in
the exposition but does not
modulate.
Retransition
“Transition”
Now started by the
bassoons.
5:28
6:07
Now in C minor, not E flat
major, which provides a
more ominous tone.
As above
Second theme
Closing
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 357
Timing
6:15
Performing Forces,
Melody, and Texture
After a sudden piano
articulation of the SSSL
motive, the movement ends
in a loud and bombastic
manner: Fate threatens.
Text and Form
Coda
Re-emphasizes C minor.
Second Movement
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What we want you to remember about this
movement:
• It is a slow theme and variations
movement
358 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
• Its major key provides contrast from the
minor key of the first movement
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 359
Timing
Performing Forces, Melody, and
Texture
Mostly homophonic.
0:00
1:56
Consists of two themes, the first more
lyrical; the second more march-like.
More legato and softer at the beginning,
although growing loud for the final
statement of b in the brass before
decrescendoing to piano again. Violas
subdivide the beat with fast running notes,
while the other in struments play the
theme.
Starts with a softer dynamic and more
legato articulations for the “a” phrase and
staccato and louder march-like texture
when “b” enters, after which the music
decrescendos into the next variation.
3:48
6:23
Even more rapid subdivision of the beat
in the lower strings at the beginning of “a.”
Then the “b” phrase returns at the very end
of the section.
Lighter in texture and more staccato,
starting piano and crescendoing to forte for
the final variation.
The “a” phrase assumes a jaunty rhythm
and then falls apart .
Text
and
Form
Theme:
a and b
Variation
1: a and
b
Variation
2: a and
b
Variation
3: a
360 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
Timing
7:00
7:50
Performing Forces, Melody, and
Texture
The full orchestra plays forte and then
sections of the orchestra trade motives at a
quieter dynamic.
The violins play the first phrase of the
melody and then the winds respond with
its answer.
Full orchestra plays, soft at first, and then
crescendoing, decrescendoing, and
crescendoing a final time to the end of the
movement.
Text
and
Form
Variation
4: A
Coda
Motives are passed through the
orchestra and reemphasized at the very
end of the movement.
Third Movement,Scherzo
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CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 361
What we want you to remember about this
movement:
• It is a scherzo movement that has a
scherzo (A) trio (B) scherzo (A) form
• The short-short-short-long motive returns
in the scherzo sections
• The scherzo section is mostly homophonic,
and the trio section is mostly imitative
polyphony
• It flows directly into the final movement
without a break
362 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
Timing
Performing Forces, Melody, and
Texture
Text and
Form
0:05
Lower strings and at a quiet dynamics.
Rapidly ascending legato melody.
Scherzo
(A): A
0:27
Presented by the brass in a forte
dynamic.
B
Fate motive.
0:55
1:59
No Data
Polyphonic imitation lead by the lower
strings.
Fast melody.
3:39
3:50
Now the repetitious SSSL theme is
played by the bassoons, staccato. Fast
melody.
Strings are playing pizzicato (plucking)
and the whole ensemble playing at a
piano dynamic.
abab
Trio (B): c c
dd
Scherzo
(A): A
B
Fate motive but in the oboes and
strings.
4:44
Very soft dynamic to begin with and
then slowly crescendos to the forte
opening of the fourth movement.
Sequenced motive gradually ascends in
register.
Fourth Movement, Allegro
Transition
to the
fourth
movement
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 363
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What we want you to remember about this
movement:
• It is a fast sonata form movement in C
major: the triumph over Fate?
• The SSSL motive via the scherzo “b” theme
returns one final time at the end of the
development
• The trombones for their first appearance
in a symphony to date
• It has a very long coda
364 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
Timing
5:24
Performing Forces,
Melody, and Texture
Forte and played by the full
orches- tra (including
trombones, contra- bassoon
and piccolo).
Text and Form
EXPOSITION: First
theme
Triumph triadic theme in C
major.
Full orchestra, led by the
brass and then continued by
the strings.
5:58
The opening motive of the
first theme sequenced as the
music modulates to the away
key.
Transition
6:23
Full orchestra and slightly
softer. Triumphant, if more
lyrical, using triplet rhythms
in the melody and in G
Major.
Second theme
6:48
Full orchestra, forte again.
Repetition of a descending
them.
Closing theme
Motives passed through all
sections of the orchestra.
7:20
8:15
Motives from second theme
appear, then motives from
the first theme.
Piano dynamic with the
theme in the winds and
thestrings accompanying.
Using the fate motive
DEVELOPMENT
Return of scherzo
theme
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 365
Timing
Performing Forces,
Melody, and Texture
9:31
Performing forces are as
before. C major.
Text and Form
RECAPITULATION:
First
theme
10:00
Performing forces are as
before. Does not modulate.
“transition”
10:34
As before.
Second theme
11:00
Starts softly with the
woodwinds and then played
forte by the whole orchestra.
Closing theme
Does not modulate.
Notice the dramatic silences,
the alternation of of legato
and stac- cato articulations,
and the sudden increase in
tempo near the coda’s
conclusion: full orchestra.
11:31
Lengthy coda starting with
motive from second theme,
then proceed- ing through
with a lot of repeated
cadences emphasizing C
major and repetition of
other motives until the final
repeated cadences.
CODA
Adapted from:
Briscoe, James R. Historical Anthology of Music by Women.
Indiana University Press, 1986. Project MUSE.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
366 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
International License.
Edited and additional material by Jennifer Bill
Women Composers of the
Classical Era
Maria Theresia von Paradis
(1759-1824)
By KARIN PENDLE
Maria Theresia von Paradis was born in Vienna,
the daughter of Imperial Court Secretary Josef
von Paradis and goddaughter of Empress Maria
Theresa, for whom she was named. Although
she lost her sight at an early age, Paradis
acquired the education necessary for a career in
music, studying with some of the most
prominent musicians of her day. Piano lessons
from Leopold Kozeluch, vocal training with
Vincenzo Righini and Antonio Salieri, and
instruction in theory and composition from
4.0
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 367
Salieri, Abbé Vogler, and Carl Friberth prepared
her for her long career as a virtuoso pianist,
singer, composer, and teacher. After performing
in Vienna at public concerts and private
musicales, in 1783 Paradis began an extended
European tour that took her to such major
musical centers as Paris, London, Hamburg,
Berlin, Prague, and Salzburg. Mozart was so
impressed with her playing that he undertook to
write a piano concerto for one of her Paris
concerts. Unfortunately, the work—the Concerto
in B-flat major, K.456—did not reach her in time,
and Paradis apparently never had the pleasure of
performing it.
Paradis ended her concert tour in 1786 and
returned to Vienna. Although she continued to
perform until she was nearly 50, she never
undertook so long and strenuous a journey
again. Instead, she turned increasingly to
composition, using a pegboard system invented
for her by her friend and librettist Johann
Riedinger. In addition to the songs she began
producing during the years of her grand tour,
Paradis wrote operas, cantatas, choral pieces,
piano concertos, and chamber and keyboard
368 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
works. (Two piano sonatas, labeled Opus 1 and 2
and mistakenly ascribed to her, are actually by
Pietro Domenico Paradisi, an older
contemporary.) Paradis’s works were performed
publicly in Vienna and elsewhere, but only some
of her songs and a fantasy for piano were
published during her lifetime. Manuscripts of
several unpublished works, including two of her
theater pieces and the piano concertos, are no
longer extant.
In 1808 Paradis founded a music school for girls,
whose Sunday concerts drew many members of
Viennese society. Though she continued to
compose until at least 1813, teaching had become
her primary musical activity. Intelligent, welleducated, and fluent in several languages, Maria
Theresia von Paradis well represents the culture
of eighteenth-century Vienna.
Sicilienne
The many minor triads and melodic ornaments in
Paradis’s popular “Sicilienne” lend it a sweetly
sentimental flavor. Since neither the original
manuscript nor any eighteenth-century editions
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 369
of this work exist, a modern editor, Samuel
Dushkin, relying on a manuscript copy of the
piece found in the library of a German publishing
firm, arranged the “Sicilienne” for violin or cello
and piano, and for piano alone.
The charm of Paradis’s “Sicilienne” lies in its
melody, particularly in the unexpected chromatic
inflections and in the irregular extensions of
phrases that lend a spun-out quality not often
found in music of this time. The simple chordal
accompaniment of the “Sicilienne” merely
establishes an atmosphere in which this melodic
gem can work its touching magic.
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370 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
Marianne von Martinez
(1744-1812)
By KARIN PENDLE
Vienna-born Marianne von Martinez was only
nine years old when the poet and librettist Pietro
Metastasio discovered her great musical talents
and undertook to supervise her training. To this
end he called on Niccolò Porpora and the thenunknown Franz Joseph Haydn to give the young
girl lessons in singing, playing keyboard
instruments, and composition, while Metastasio
himself provided her general education. In
addition, Martinez studied counterpoint with
Giuseppe Bonno and probably received informal
suggestions and guidance from Johann Adolph
Hasse.
Marianne was quick to attract the attention of
the Viennese court because of her abilities as a
performer, and she was only in her teens when
an early Mass of her own composition was
performed at St. Michael’s, the court chapel.
Other works soon followed—oratorios, cantatas,
CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS | 371
sacred choral compositions, arias, piano
concertos, piano sonatas, and a symphony
among them. Though her music was performed
and much admired, most of Martinez’s
compositions remained unpublished; they exist
only in the manuscript copies owned by the
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna.
Charles Burney’s account of the time he spent
with Marianne von Martinez during his visit to
Vienna in 1772 remains the most extended and
enthusiastic appreciation of her skills as a singer,
keyboard artist, and composer. It is also a
testimony to her intelligence and refinement.
Mozart sought Martinez out to perform with him
in his piano duets, and singer Michael Kelly paid
tribute to her in his memoirs. In 1773 she was
made an honorary member of Bologna’s
Accademia Filarmonica, which cited the nobility
of expression and the amazing precision
exhibited in her works. About the same time, she
may also have received an honorary doctorate
from the University of Pavia.
Though Marianne von Martinez was never a
professional musician in the technical sense of
372 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
the term, she devoted her life to music and the
arts. After the death of Metastasio, who left her
and her siblings large sums of money, Martinez’s
home became a center of artistic life during a
truly Golden Age of Viennese music. During the
1790s, when Martinez had apparently ceased to
be an active composer, she turned to teaching,
and the singing school she opened in her home
turned out many fine pupils.
The Sonata in A is one of two piano sonatas by
Marianne von Martinez published in 1765 by
Johann Ulrich Haffner of Nürnberg. She was only
21 at the time the sonata was printed, but she
had learned her lessons well. The threemovement work is written with a sure hand in a
style that reveals Martinez’s own facility at the
keyboard and the influence of her teacher
Haydn.
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Licensing & Attributions
“Classical Genres” from Music 101
CC licensed content,
Original • Authored by Elliott Jones. Provided by: Santa
Ana College. Located at: http://www.sac.edu
License: CC BY: Attribution
“Music of the Classical Period” from Understanding Music:
Past and Present by Jeff Kluball and Elizabeth Kramer.
Understanding Music: Past and Present is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
License.
Edited and additional material by Jennifer Bill
374 | CHAPTER 15: COMPOSERS
Media Attributions
• Symphony No 5 © Jennifer Bill is licensed under a CC
BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license
UNIT VI: MUSIC OF THE 19TH CENTURY | 375
PART VI
UNIT VI: MUSIC OF
THE 19TH
CENTURY
376 | UNIT VI: MUSIC OF THE 19TH CENTURY
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 377
CHAPTER 16: INTRO,
ART SONG, PIANO
CHARACTER PIECES
Early Romantic Era
Introduction
Romantic music is a term denoting an era of Western classical
music that began in the late 18th or early 19th century. It
was related to Romanticism, the European artistic and literary
movement that arose in the second half of the 18th century,
and Romantic music in particular dominated the Romantic
movement in Germany.
Background: Romanticism
The Romantic movement was an artistic, literary, and
intellectual movement that originated in the second half of
the 18th century in Europe and strengthened in reaction to
the Industrial Revolution. In part, it was a revolt against the
social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and
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a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature. It
was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and
literature, but had a major impact on historiography,
education, and natural history.
One of the first significant applications of the term to music
was in 1789, in the Mémoires by the Frenchman André Grétry,
but it was E.T.A. Hoffmann who established the principles
of musical romanticism, in a lengthy review of Ludwig van
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony published in 1810, and in an
1813 article on Beethoven’s instrumental music. In the first
of these essays, Hoffmann traced the beginnings of musical
Romanticism to the later works of Haydn and Mozart. It was
Hoffmann’s fusion of ideas already associated with the term
“Romantic,” used in opposition to the restraint and formality
of Classical models, that elevated music, and especially
instrumental music, to a position of pre-eminence in
Romanticism as the art most suited to the expression of
emotions. It was also through the writings of Hoffmann and
other German authors that brought German music to the
center of musical Romanticism.
Traits
Characteristics often attributed to Romanticism, including
musical Romanticism, are:
• a new preoccupation with and surrender to Nature
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 379
• a fascination with the past, particularly the Middle Ages
and legends of medieval chivalry
• a turn towards the mystic and supernatural, both
religious and merely spooky
• a longing for the infinite
• mysterious connotations of remoteness, the unusual and
fabulous, the strange and surprising
• a focus on the nocturnal, the ghostly, the frightful, and
terrifying
• fantastic seeing and spiritual experiences
• a new attention given to national identity
• emphasis on extreme subjectivism
• interest in the autobiographical
• discontent with musical formulas and conventions
Such lists, however, proliferated over time, resulting in a “chaos
of antithetical phenomena,” criticized for their superficiality
and for signifying so many different things that there came to
be no central meaning. The attributes have also been criticized
for being too vague. For example, features of the “ghostly and
supernatural” could apply equally to Mozart’s Don Giovanni
from 1787 and Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress from 1951.
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Trends of the 19th Century
Non-Musical Influences
Events and changes that happen in society such as ideas,
attitudes, discoveries, inventions, and historical events always
affect music. For example, the Industrial Revolution was in full
effect by the late 18th century and early 19th century. This
event had a very profound effect on music: There were major
improvements in the mechanical valves and keys that most
woodwinds and brass instruments depend on. The new and
innovative instruments could be played with more ease and
they were more reliable.
Another development that affected music was the rise of
the middle class. Composers before this period lived on the
patronage of the aristocracy. Many times their audience was
small, composed mostly of the upper class and individuals who
were knowledgeable about music. The Romantic composers,
on the other hand, often wrote for public concerts and
festivals, with large audiences of paying customers, who had
not necessarily had any music lessons. Composers of the
Romantic Era, like Elgar, showed the world that there should
be “no segregation of musical tastes” and that the “purpose
was to write music that was to be heard.”
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 381
Nationalism
During the Romantic period, music often took on a much
more nationalistic purpose. For example, Jean Sibelius’
Finlandia has been interpreted to represent the rising nation
of Finland, which would someday gain independence from
Russian control. Frédéric Chopin was one of the first
composers to incorporate nationalistic elements into his
compositions. Joseph Machlis states, “Poland’s struggle for
freedom from tsarist rule aroused the national poet in Poland.
. . . Examples of musical nationalism abound in the output of
the romantic era. The folk idiom is prominent in the Mazurkas
of Chopin.” His mazurkas and polonaises are particularly
notable for their use of nationalistic rhythms. Moreover,
“During World War II the Nazis forbade the playing of . .
. Chopin’s Polonaises in Warsaw because of the powerful
symbolism residing in these works.” Other composers, such as
Bedřich Smetana, wrote pieces that musically described their
homelands; in particular, Smetana’s Vltava is a symphonic
poem about the Moldau River in the modern-day Czech
Republic and the second in a cycle of six nationalistic
symphonic poems collectively titled Má vlast (My
Homeland). Smetana also composed eight nationalist operas,
all of which remain in the repertory. They established him
as the first Czech nationalist composer as well as the most
important Czech opera composer of the generation who came
to prominence in the 1860s.
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Sibelius Finlandia
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Martha Argerich – Chopin – Mazurka
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Smetana the moldau
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Romantic Era Explored
Introduction
When people talk about “Classical” music, they usually mean
Western art music of any time period. But the Classical period
was actually a very short era, basically the second half of the
eighteenth century. Only two Classical-period composers are
widely known: Mozart and Haydn.
The Romantic era produced many more composers whose
names and music are still familiar and popular today: Brahms,
Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Schubert, Chopin, and Wagner are
perhaps the most well-known, but there are plenty of others
who may also be familiar, including Strauss, Verdi, Liszt,
Mendelssohn, Puccini, and Mahler. Ludwig van Beethoven,
possibly the most famous composer of all, is harder to place.
His early works are from the Classical period and are Classical
in style. But his later music, including the majority of his most
famous music, is just as clearly Romantic.
The term Romantic covers most of the music (and art and
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literature) of Western civilization from the nineteenth century
(the 1800s). But there have been plenty of music written in
the Romantic style in the twentieth century (including many
popular movie scores), and music isn’t considered Romantic
just because it was written in the nineteenth century. The
beginning of that century found plenty of composers (Rossini,
for example) who were still writing Classical-sounding music.
By the end of the century, composers were turning away from
Romanticism and searching for new idioms, including postRomanticism, Impressionism, and early experiments in
Modern music.
Background, Development, and
Influence
Classical Roots
Sometimes a new style of music happens when composers
forcefully reject the old style. Early Classical composers, for
example, were determined to get away from what they
considered the excesses of the Baroque style. Modern
composers also were consciously trying to invent something
new and very different.
However, the composers of the Romantic era did not reject
Classical music. In fact, they were consciously emulating the
composers they considered to be the great classicists: Haydn,
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 385
Mozart, and particularly Beethoven. They continued to write
symphonies, concertos, sonatas, and operas, forms that were
all popular with classical composers. They also kept the basic
rules for these forms, as well as the rules of rhythm, melody,
harmony, harmonic progression, tuning, and performance
practice that were established in (or before) the Classical
period.
The main difference between Classical and Romantic music
came from attitudes toward these “rules”. In the eighteenth
century, composers were primarily interested in forms,
melodies, and harmonies that provided an easily audible
structure for the music. In the first movement of a sonata,
for example, each prescribed section would likely be where it
belonged, the appropriate length, and in the proper key. In
the nineteenth century, the “rules” that provided this structure
were more likely to be seen as boundaries and limits that
needed to be explored, tested, and even defied. For example,
the first movement of a Romantic sonata may contain all the
expected sections as the music develops, but the composer
might feel free to expand or contract some sections or to add
unexpected interruptions between them. The harmonies in
the movement might lead away from and back to the tonic just
as expected, but they might wander much further afield than a
Classical sonata would, before they make their final return.
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Different Approaches to Romanticism
One could divide the main part of the Romantic era into two
schools of composers. Some took a more conservative
approach. Their music is Romantic in style and feeling, but
it also still clearly does not want to stray too far from the
Classical rules. Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, and
Brahms are in this category.
Other composers felt more comfortable with pushing the
boundaries of the acceptable. Berlioz, Strauss, and Wagner
were all progressives whose music challenged the audiences of
their day.
Where to Go After Romanticism?
Perhaps it was inevitable, after decades of pushing at all limits
to see what was musically acceptable, that the Romantic era
would leave later composers with the question of what to
explore or challenge next. Perhaps because there was no clear
answer to this question (or several possible answers), many
things were happening in music by the end of the Romantic
era.
The period that includes the final decades of the nineteenth
century and the first decades of the twentieth is sometimes
called the post-Romantic era. This is the period when many
composers, such as Jean Sibelius, Bela Bartok, and Ralph
Vaughan-Williams, concentrated on the traditions of their
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 387
own countries, producing strongly nationalistic music.
Others, such as Mahler and Strauss, were taking Romantic
musical techniques to their utmost reasonable limits. In
France, Debussy and Ravel were composing pieces that some
listeners felt were the musical equivalent of impressionistic
paintings. Impressionism and some other -isms such as
Stravinsky’s primitivism still had some basis in tonality; but
others, such as serialism, rejected tonality and the ClassicalRomantic tradition completely, believing that it had produced
all that it could. In the early twentieth century, these
Modernists eventually came to dominate the art music
tradition. Though the sounds and ideals of Romanticism
continued to inspire some composers, the Romantic period
was essentially over by the beginning of the twentieth century.
Historical Background
Music doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It is affected by other
things that are going on in society; ideas, attitudes, discoveries,
inventions, and historical events may affect the music of the
times.
For example, the “Industrial Revolution” was gaining steam
throughout the nineteenth century. This had a very practical
effect on music: there were major improvements in the
mechanical valves and keys that most woodwinds and brass
instruments depended on. The new, improved instruments
could be played more easily and reliably, and often had a
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bigger, fuller, better-tuned sound. Strings and keyboard
instruments dominated the music of the Baroque and
Classical periods, with small groups of winds added for color.
As the nineteenth century progressed and wind instruments
improved, more and more winds were added to the orchestra,
and their parts became more and more difficult, interesting,
and important. Improvements in the mechanics of the piano
also helped it usurp the position of the harpsichord to become
the instrument that to many people is the symbol of Romantic
music.
Another social development that affected music was the rise
of the middle class. Classical composers lived on the patronage
of the aristocracy; their audience was generally small, upperclass, and knowledgeable about music. The Romantic
composer, on the other hand, was often writing for public
concerts and festivals, with large audiences of paying
customers who had not necessarily had any music lessons. In
fact, the nineteenth century saw the first “pop star”-type stage
personalities. Performers like Paganini and Liszt were the
Taylor Swift of their day.
Romantic Music as an Idea
But perhaps the greatest effect that society can have on an art
form is in the realm of ideas.
The music of the Classical period reflected the artistic and
intellectual ideals of its time. The form was important,
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 389
providing order and boundaries. Music was seen as an abstract
art, universal in its beauty and appeal, above the pettinesses
and imperfections of everyday life. It reflected, in many ways,
the attitudes of the educated and the aristocrats of the
“Enlightenment” era. Classical music may sound happy or sad,
but even the emotions stay within acceptable boundaries.
Romantic-era composers kept the forms of Classical music,
but the Romantic composer did not feel constrained by form.
Breaking through boundaries was now an honorable goal
shared by the scientist, the inventor, and the political liberator.
Music was no longer universal; it was deeply personal and
sometimes nationalistic. The personal sufferings and triumphs
of the composer could be reflected in stormy music that might
even place a higher value on emotion than on beauty. Music
was not just happy or sad; it could be wildly joyous, terrified,
despairing, or filled with deep longings.
It was also more acceptable for music to clearly be from
a particular place. Audiences of many eras enjoyed an opera
set in a distant country, complete with the composer’s version
of exotic-sounding music. But many nineteenth-century
composers (including Weber, Wagner, Verdi, Mussorgsky,
Rimsky-Korsakov, Grieg, Dvorak, Sibelius, and Albeniz) used
folk tunes and other aspects of the musical traditions of their
own countries to appeal to their public. Much of this
nationalistic music was produced in the post-Romantic
period, in the late nineteenth century; in fact, the composers
best known for folk-inspired classical music in England (Holst
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and Vaughan Williams) and the U. S. (Ives, Copland, and
Gershwin) were twentieth-century composers who composed
in Romantic, post-Romantic, or Neoclassical styles instead of
embracing the more severe Modernist styles.
Music can also be specific by having a “program”. Program
music is music that, without words, tells a story or describes
a scene. Richard Strauss’s tone poems are perhaps the bestknown works in this category, but program music has
remained popular with many composers throughout the
twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Again unlike the abstract,
universal music of the Classical composers, Romantic-era
program music tried to use music to describe or evoke specific
places, people, and ideas. And again, with program music,
those Classical rules became less important. The form of the
music was chosen to fit with the program (the story or idea),
and if it was necessary at some point to choose to stick more
closely to the form or the program, the program usually won.
As mentioned above, post-Romantic composers felt ever
freer to experiment and break the established rules for form,
melody, and harmony. Many modern composers have gone so
far that the average listener again finds it difficult to follow.
Romantic-style music, on the other hand, with its emphasis on
emotions and its balance of following and breaking the musical
“rules”, still finds a wide audience.
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 391
Art Song
Art songs are not new to the Romantic era. Many composers
of earlier historical periods composed songs that would fit the
definition of art song as listed on this page. We study art songs
now because they were such an integral part of the Romantic
repertoire, particularly that of Schubert, Schumann, and
Brahms. Because so many art songs in a Romantic style were
composed by German composers, we often use the German
word for songs, “lieder,” when studying this genre.
Introduction
An art song is a vocal music composition, usually written
for one voice with piano accompaniment, and usually in the
classical tradition. By extension, the term “art song” is used to
refer to the genre of such songs. An art song is most often a
musical setting of an independent poem or text, “intended for
the concert repertory” “as part of a recital or other relatively
formal social occasion.”
Art Song Characteristics
While many pieces of vocal music are easily recognized as art
songs, others are more difficult to categorize. For example, a
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wordless vocalise written by a classical composer is sometimes
considered an art song and sometimes not.
Other factors help define art songs:
• Songs that are part of a staged work (such as an opera or
a musical) are not usually considered art songs.
However, some Baroque arias that “appear with great
frequency in recital performance” are now included in
the art song repertoire.
• Songs with instruments besides piano and/or other
singers are referred to as “vocal chamber music”, and are
usually not considered art songs.
• Songs originally written for voice and orchestra are called
“orchestral songs” and are not usually considered art
songs unless their original version was for solo voice and
piano.
• Folksongs are generally not considered art songs unless
they are concert arrangements with piano
accompaniment written by a specific composer. Several
examples of these songs include Aaron Copland’s two
volumes of Old American Songs, the Folksong
arrangements by Benjamin Britten, and the Siete
canciones populares españolas (Seven Spanish
Folksongs) by Manuel de Falla.
• There is no agreement regarding sacred songs. Many
song settings of biblical or sacred texts were composed
for the concert stage and not for religious services; these
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are widely known as art songs (for example, the Vier
ernste Gesänge by Johannes Brahms). Other sacred songs
may or may not be considered art songs.
• A group of art songs composed to be performed in a
group to form a narrative or dramatic whole is called a
song cycle.
Languages and Nationalities
Art songs have been composed in many languages, and are
known by several names. The German tradition of art song
composition is perhaps the most prominent one; it is known
as Lieder. In France, the term Mélodie distinguishes art songs
from other French vocal pieces referred to as chansons. The
Spanish Canción and the Italian Canzone refer to songs
generally and not specifically to art songs.
Art Song Formal Design
The composer’s musical language and interpretation of the
text often dictate the formal design of an art song. If all of the
poem’s verses are sung to the same music, the song is strophic.
Arrangements of folk songs are often strophic, and “there are
exceptional cases in which the musical repetition provides
dramatic irony for the changing text, or where an almost
hypnotic monotony is desired.” Several of the songs in
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Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin are good examples of this. If
the vocal melody remains the same but the accompaniment
changes under it for each verse, the piece is called a “modified
strophic” song.
Schubert “An die Musik”
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Schubert “Die Forelle”
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In contrast, songs in which “each section of the text receives
fresh music” are called through-composed. Some through-
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composed works have some repetition of musical material in
them.
Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin, D.795 – 3. Halt!
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Many art songs use some version of the ABA form (also known
as “song form”), with a beginning musical section, a
contrasting middle section, and a return to the first section’s
music.
Art Song Performance and Performers
Performance of art songs in a recital requires some special
skills for both the singer and pianist. The degree of intimacy
“seldom equaled in other kinds of music” requires that the
two performers “communicate to the audience the most subtle
and evanescent emotions as expressed in the poem and music.”
The two performers must agree on all aspects of the
performance to create a unified partnership, making art song
performance one of the “most sensitive type(s) of
collaboration.”
Even though classical vocalists generally embark on
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successful performing careers as soloists by seeking out opera
engagements, a number of today’s most prominent singers
have built their careers primarily by singing art songs,
including Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Thomas Quasthoff, Ian
Bostridge, Matthias Goerne, Susan Graham, and Elly
Ameling.
Pianists, too, have specialized in playing art songs with great
singers. Gerald Moore, Graham Johnson, and Martin Katz are
three such pianists who have specialized in accompanying art
song performances.
Two audio of art songs
Thomas Quasthoff, bass-baritone and Daniel
Barenboim, piano
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Jessye Norman, soprano and Geoffrey Parson, piano
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Prominent Composers of Art
Songs
British
• John Dowland
• Thomas Campion
• Hubert Parry
• Henry Purcell
• Frederick Delius
• Ralph Vaughan Williams
• Roger Quilter
• John Ireland
• Ivor Gurney
• Peter Warlock
• Michael Head
• Gerald Finzi
• Benjamin Britten
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• Morfydd Llwyn Owen
• Michael Tippett
• Ian Venables
• Judith Weir
• George Butterworth
• Francis George Scott
American
• Amy Beach
• Arthur Farwell
• Charles Ives
• Charles Griffes
• Ernst Bacon
• John Jacob Niles
• John Woods Duke
• Ned Rorem
• Richard Faith
• Samuel Barber
• Aaron Copland
• Lee Hoiby
• William Bolcom
• Daron Hagen
• Richard Hundley
• Emma Lou Diemer
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 399
Austrian and German
• Joseph Haydn
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Franz Schubert
• Hugo Wolf
• Gustav Mahler
• Alban Berg
• Arnold Schoenberg
• Erich Wolfgang Korngold
• Viktor Ullmann
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
• Ludwig van Beethoven
• Johann Carl Gottfried Loewe
• Fanny Mendelssohn
• Felix Mendelssohn
• Robert Schumann
• Clara Schumann
• Johannes Brahms
• Richard Strauss
• Hanns Eisler
• Kurt Weill
French
• Hector Berlioz
• Charles Gounod
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• Pauline Viardot
• César Franck
• Camille Saint-Saëns
• Georges Bizet
• Emmanuel Chabrier
• Henri Duparc
• Jules Massenet
• Gabriel Fauré
• Claude Debussy
• Erik Satie
• Albert Roussel
• Maurice Ravel
• Jules Massenet
• Darius Milhaud
• Reynaldo Hahn
• Francis Poulenc
• Olivier Messiaen
Spanish
• Francisco Asenjo Barbieri
• Ramón Carnicer y Batlle
• Ruperto Chapí
• Antonio de la Cruz
• Manuel Fernández Caballero
• Manuel García
• Sebastián de Iradier
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• José León
• Cristóbal Oudrid
• Antonio Reparaz
• Emilio Serrano y Ruiz
• Fernando Sor
• Joaquín Valverde
• Amadeo Vives
• Enrique Granados
• Manuel de Falla
• Joaquín Rodrigo
• Joaquín Turina
Italian
• Claudio Monteverdi
• Gioachino Rossini
• Gaetano Donizetti
• Vincenzo Bellini
• Giuseppe Verdi
• Amilcare Ponchielli
• Paolo Tosti
• Ottorino Respighi
• Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
• Luciano Berio
• Lorenzo Ferrero
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Eastern European
• Franz Liszt—Hungary (nearly all his art song settings are
of texts in non-Hungarian European languages, such as
French and German)
• Antonín Dvořák—Bohemia
• Leoš Janáček—Bohemia (Czechoslovakia)
• Béla Bartók—Hungary
• Zoltán Kodály—Hungary
• Frédéric Chopin—Poland
• Stanisław Moniuszko—Poland
Nordic
• Edvard Grieg—Norway (set German as well as Norse
and Danish poetry)
• Jean Sibelius—Finland (set both Finnish and Swedish)
• Yrjö Kilpinen—Finland
• Wilhelm Stenhammar—Sweden
• Hugo Alfvén—Sweden
• Carl Nielsen—Denmark
Russian
• Mikhail Glinka
• Alexander Borodin
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• César Cui
• Nikolai Medtner
• Modest Mussorgsky
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
• Alexander Glazunov
• Sergei Rachmaninoff
• Sergei Prokofiev
• Igor Stravinsky
• Dmitri Shostakovich
Ukrainian
• Vasyl Barvinsky
• Stanyslav Lyudkevych
• Mykola Lysenko
• Nestor Nyzhankivsky
• Ostap Nyzhankivsky
• Denys Sichynsky
• Myroslav Skoryk
• Ihor Sonevytsky
• Yakiv Stepovy
• Kyrylo Stetsenko
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Filipino
• Marco Cahulogan
• Carlo Roberto Quijano
• Nicanor Abelardo
• Juan de la Cruz
Afrikaans
• Jellmar Ponticha
• Stephanus Le Roux Marais
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Schubert’s life seems to follow, tragically, the cliché of the
Romantic artist: a suffering composer who languishes in
obscurity, his genius only appreciated after his untimely death.
While Schubert did enjoy the respect of a close circle of
friends, his music was not widely received during his lifetime.
Though we study him in our Romantic module, Schubert
does not fit neatly into the Romantic period. Like Beethoven,
Schubert is a transitional figure. Some of his
music—particularly
his
earlier
instrumental
compositions—tends toward a more classical approach.
However, the melodic and harmonic innovation in his art
songs and later instrumental works sit more firmly in the
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 405
Romantic tradition. Because his art songs are so clearly
Romantic in their inception, and because art songs make up
the majority of his compositions, we study him as part of the
Romantic era.
Figure 16.1 | Franz Schubert by Wilhelm August
Rieder (1875)
Schubert died at 31 but was extremely prolific during his
lifetime. His output consists of over six hundred secular vocal
works (mainly Lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred
music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of chamber
406 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
and piano music. Appreciation of his music, while he was
alive, was limited to a relatively small circle of admirers in
Vienna, but interest in his work increased significantly in the
decades following his death. Felix Mendelssohn, Robert
Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, and other 19thcentury composers discovered and championed his works.
Today, Schubert is ranked among the greatest composers of
the late Classical era and early Romantic era and is one of the
most frequently performed composers of the early nineteenth
century.
Music
Schubert was remarkably prolific, writing over 1,500 works in
his short career. The largest number of these are songs for solo
voice and piano (over 600). He also composed a considerable
number of secular works for two or more voices, namely part
songs, choruses, and cantatas. He completed eight orchestral
overtures and seven complete symphonies, in addition to
fragments of six others. There is a large body of music for
solo piano, including fourteen complete sonatas, numerous
miscellaneous works, and many short dances. There is also a
relatively large set of works for piano duet. There are over
fifty chamber works, including some fragmentary works. His
sacred output includes seven masses, one oratorio, and one
requiem, among other mass movements and numerous smaller
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 407
compositions. He completed only eleven of his twenty stage
works.
It was in the genre of the Lied that Schubert made his most
indelible mark. Leon Plantinga remarks, “In his more than six
hundred Lieder he explored and expanded the potentialities
of the genre as no composer before him.” Prior to Schubert’s
influence, Lieder tended toward a strophic, syllabic treatment
of the text, evoking the folksong qualities engendered by the
stirrings of Romantic nationalism. Among Schubert’s
treatments of the poetry of Goethe, his settings of “Gretchen
am Spinnrade” (D 118) and “Der Erlkönig” (D 328) are
particularly striking for their dramatic content, forwardlooking uses of harmony, and their use of eloquent pictorial
keyboard figurations, such as the depiction of the spinning
wheel and treadle in the piano in “Gretchen” and the furious
and ceaseless gallop in “Erlkönig.”
Gretchen am Spinnrade
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He composed music using the poems of a myriad of poets,
408 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Mayrhofer, and
Friedrich Schiller being the top three most frequent, and
others like Heinrich Heine, Friedrich Rückert, and Joseph
Freiherr von Eichendorff among many others. Also of
particular note are his two song cycles on the poems of
Wilhelm Müller, “Die schöne Müllerin” and “Winterreise,”
which helped to establish the genre and its potential for
musical, poetic, and almost operatic dramatic narrative. His
last song cycle published in 1828 after his death,
“Schwanengesang,” is also an innovative contribution to
German lieder, as it features poems by different poets, namely
Ludwig Rellstab, Heine, and Johann Gabriel Seidl. The
Wiener Theaterzeitung (Vienna Theater Journal), writing
about “Winterreise” at the time, commented that it was a work
that “none can sing or hear without being deeply moved.”
Antonín Dvořák wrote in 1894 that Schubert, whom he
considered one of the truly great composers, was clearly
influential on shorter works, especially Lieder and shorter
piano works: “The tendency of the romantic school has been
toward short forms, and although Weber helped to show the
way, to Schubert belongs the chief credit of originating the
short models of pianoforte pieces which the romantic school
has preferably cultivated. […] Schubert created a new epoch
with the Lied. […] All other songwriters have followed in his
footsteps.”
Der Erlkönig
Poem Summary
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 409
“Erlkönig” (also called “Der Erlkönig“) is a poem by Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe. It was originally composed by Goethe
as part of a 1782 Singspiel entitled Die Fischerin.
An anxious young boy is being carried home at night by
his father on horseback. As the poem unfolds, the son seems
to see and hear beings his father does not; the reader cannot
know if the father is indeed aware of the presence, but he
chooses to comfort his son, asserting reassuringly naturalistic
explanations for what the child sees—a wisp of fog, rustling
leaves, shimmering willows. Finally, the child shrieks that he
has been attacked. The father makes faster for their home.
There he recognizes that the boy is dead.
Schubert’s Lied
Franz Schubert composed his Lied, “Der Erlkönig,” for solo
voice and piano in 1815, setting text from Goethe’s poem.
Schubert revised the song three times before publishing his
fourth version in 1821 as his Opus 1. The song was first
performed in concert on 1 December 1820 at a private
gathering in Vienna and received its public premiere on 7
March 1821 at Vienna’s Theater am Kärntnertor.
The four characters in the song—narrator, father, son, and
the Erlking—are all sung by a single vocalist. Schubert placed
each character largely in a different vocal range, and each has
its own rhythmic nuances; in addition, most singers endeavor
to use a different vocal coloration for each part. The piece
modulates frequently, although each character changes
410 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
between minor or major modes depending on how each
character intends to interact with the other characters.
The Narrator lies in the middle range and begins in
the minor mode.
The Father lies in the lower range and sings in both
minor and major modes.
The Son lies in a higher range, also in the minor
mode.
The Erlking’s vocal line, in a variety of major keys,
undulates up and down to arpeggiated accompaniment,
providing the only break from the ostinato bass triplets
in the accompaniment until the boy’s death. When the
Erlking first tries to take the Son with him he sings in C
major. When it transitions from the Erlking to the Son
the modulation occurs and the Son sings in g minor.
The Erlking’s lines are typically sung in a softer dynamic
in order to contribute to a different color of sound than
that which is used previously. Schubert marked it
pianissimo in the manuscript to show that the color
needed to change.
A fifth character, the horse, is implied in rapid triplet
figures played by the pianist throughout the work,
mimicking hoof beats.
“Der Erlkönig” starts with the piano rapidly playing triplets
to create a sense of urgency and simulate the horse’s galloping.
The left hand of the piano part introduces a low-register
leitmotif composed of successive triplets. The right hand
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 411
consists of triplets throughout the whole piece, up until the
last three bars. The constant triplets drive forward the frequent
modulations of the peace as it switches between the characters.
This leitmotif, dark and ominous, is directly associated with
the Erlkönig and recurs throughout the piece.
As the piece continues, each of the son’s pleas becomes
louder and higher in pitch than the last.
Near the end of the piece the music quickens and then
slows as the father spurs his horse to go faster and then arrives
at his destination. The absence of the piano creates multiple
effects on the text and music. The silence draws attention to
the dramatic text and amplifies the immense loss and sorrow
caused by the son’s death. This silence from the piano also
delivers shock experienced by the father upon the realization
that he had just lost his son to the elf king, despite desperately
fighting to save the son from the elf king’s grasp.
The piece is regarded as extremely challenging to perform
due to the multiple characters the vocalist is required to
portray, as well as its difficult accompaniment, involving
rapidly repeated chords and octaves which contribute to the
drama and urgency of the piece.
Der Erlkönig is a through-composed piece, meaning that
with each line of text, there is new music. Although the
melodic motives recur, the harmonic structure is constantly
changing and the piece modulates within characters.
The elf king character remains mainly in the major mode
because he is trying to seduce the son into giving up on life.
412 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
Using a major mode creates an effect where the elf king can
portray a warm and inviting aura to convince the son that the
afterlife promises great pleasures and fortunes.
The son always starts singing in the minor mode and usually
stays in it for his whole line. This is used to represent his fear of
the elf king. Every time he sings the famous line “Mein Vater”
he sings it one step higher in each verse, starting first at a D and
going up to an F on his final line. This indicates his urgency in
trying to get his father to believe him as the elf king gets closer.
Most of the Father’s lines begin in minor and end in major
as he tries to reassure his son by providing rational explanations
for his son’s “hallucinations” and dismissing the Elf-king. The
constant in major and minor for the father may also represent
the constant struggle and loss of control as he tries to save his
son from the elf king’s persuasion.
The rhythm of the piano accompaniment also changes
within the characters. The first time the Elf-king sings, the
galloping motive disappears. However, when the Elf-king sings
again, the piano accompaniment is arpeggiating rather than
playing chords. The disappearance of the galloping motive is
also symbolic of the son’s hallucinatory state.
Focus Composition
Schubert, The Erlking (1815)
The Erlking tells the story of a father who is rushing on
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 413
horseback with his ailing son to the doctor. Delirious from
fever, the son hears the voice of the Erlking, a grim reaper sort
of king of the fairies, who appears to young children when
they are about to die, luring them into the world beyond. The
father tries to reassure his son that his fear is imagined, but
when the father and son reach the courtyard of the doctor’s
house, the child is found to be dead.
As you listen to the song, follow along with its words. You
may have to listen several times in order to hear the multiple
connections between the music and the text. Are the ways in
which you hear the music and text interacting beyond those
pointed out in the listening guide?
Listening Guide: Der Erlkönig (in English,
The Erlking)
Performed by: Philippe Sly, bass-baritone and
Maria Fuller, piano
• Composer: Franz Schubert
• Composition: Der Erlkönig (in English,
The Erlking)
• Date: 1815
• Genre: Art song
• Form: Through-composed
414 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
• Performing Forces: Solo voice and piano
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• It is an art song that sets a poem for solo
voice and piano
• The poem tells the story of three
characters, who are depicted in the music
through changes in melody, harmony, and
range.
• The piano sets the general mood and
supports the singer by depicting images
from the text.
Other things to listen for:
• Piano accompaniment at the beginning
that outlines a minor scale (perhaps the
wind)
• Repeated fast triplet pattern in the piano,
suggesting urgency and the running horse
• Shifts of the melody line from high to low
range, depending on the character
“speaking”
• Change of key from minor to major when
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 415
the Erlking sings
• The slowing note values at the end of the
song and the very dissonant chords
Original Text
Wer reitet so spät dur ch Nacht und Wind?
Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind.
Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm,
Er faßt ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm.
Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht?
Siehst Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht!
Den Erlenkönig mit Kron’ und Schweif?
Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif.
Du liebes Kind, komm geh’ mit mir!
Gar schöne Spiele, spiel ich mit dir,
Manch bunte Blumen sind an dem Strand,
Meine Mutter hat manch gülden Gewand.
416 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
Mein Vater, mein Vater, und hörest du nicht,
Was Erlenkönig mir leise verspricht?
Sei ruhig, bleibe ruhig, mein Kind,
In dürren Blättern säuselt der Wind.
Willst feiner Knabe du mit mir geh’n?
Meine Töchter sollen dich warten schön,
Meine Töchter führen den nächtlichen Reihn
Und wiegen und tanzen und singen dich ein.
Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst du nicht dort
Erlkönigs Töchter am düsteren Ort?
Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh’es genau:
Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau.
Ich lieb dich, mich reizt deine schöne Gestalt, Und
bist du nicht willig, so brauch ich Gewalt!
Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt faßt er mich an,
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 417
Erlkönig hat mir ein Leids getan.
Dem Vater grauset’s, er reitet geschwind,
Er hält in den Armen das ächzende Kind,
Erreicht den Hof mit Mühe und Not,
In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.
Translation
Who rides there so late through the night and
wind? The father it is, with his infant so dear;
He holds the boy tightly clasped in his arm,
He holds him safely, he keeps him warm.
“My son, why do you anxiously hide your face?”
“Look, father, is it not the Erlking!
The Erlking with crown and with train?”
“My son, it is the mist over the clouds.”
“Oh, come, dear child! oh, come with me!
So many games I will play there with thee;
418 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
On my shoreline, lovely flowers their blossoms
unfold,
My mother has many a gold garment.”
“My father, my father, and do you not hear
The words that the Erlking softly promises me?”
“Be calm, stay calm, my child,
The wind sighs through the dry leaves.”
“Will you come with me, my child?
My daughters shall wait on you;
My daughters dance each night,
And will cradle you and dance and sing to you.”
“My father, my father, and do you not see,
The Erl-King’s daughters in this dreary place?”
“My son, my son, I see it aright,
The old fields appear so gray.”
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 419
“I love you, I’m charmed by your lovely form!
And if you’re unwilling, then force I’ll employ.”
“My father, my father, he seizes me fast,
Full sorely the Erl-King has hurt me at last.”
The father, horrified, rides quickly,
He holds in his arms the groaning child:
He reaches his courtyard with toil and trouble,—
In his arms, the child was dead.
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Timing
Performing Forces, Melody, and
Texture
Form and
Text
0:00
Piano introduction Opens with a fast
tempo melody that begins low in the
register, ascends through the minor scale,
and then falls. Accompanied by repeated
triplet octaves. The ascending/
descending melody may represent the
wind. The minor key suggests a serious
tone. The repeated octaves using fast
triplets may suggest the running horse
and the urgency of the situation.
0:23
Voice and piano from here to the end;
Performing forces are voice and piano in
homophonic texture from here to the
end. Melody falls in the middle of the
singer’s range and is accompanied by the
repeated octave triplets.
0:55
Father: My
son, why
Melody drops lower in the singer’s range.
are you
frightened?
1:03
Melody shifts to a higher range
Son: Do
you see the
Erlking,
father?
1:19
Melody lower in range.
Father: It is
the fog.
1:27
The key switches to major, perhaps to
suggest the friendly guise assumed by the
Erlking. Note also the softer dynamics
and lighter arpeggios in the piano
accompaniment
The
Erlking:
Lovely
child, come
with me…
Narrator:
Who rides
so late
through
night and
wind?
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 421
Timing
Performing Forces, Melody, and
Texture
Form and
Text
1:50
Back in minor the melody hovers around
one note high in the singer’s register; the
minor mode reflects the son’s fear, as
does the melody, which repeats the same
note, almost as if the son is unable to
sing another
Son: My
father,
father, do
you not
hear it…
Melody lower in range
Father: Be
calm, my
child, the
wind blows
the dry
leaves…
2:13
Back to a major key and piano dynamics
for more from the Erlking
The
Erlking:
My darling
boy, won’t
you come
with me…
2:30
Back to a minor key and the
higher-ranged melody that hovers
around one pitch for the son’s retort.
Son: My
father, can
you not see
him there?
Melody lower in range and return of the
louder repeated triplets
Father: My
son, I see
well the
moonlight
on the grey
meadows….
2:03
2:43
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Performing Forces, Melody, and
Texture
Form and
Text
3:00
Momentarily in major and then back to
minor as the Erlking threatens the boy
The
Erlking: I
love you…if
you do not
freely
come, I will
use force…
3:11
Back to a minor key and the
higher-ranged melody that hovers
around one pitch.
Son: My
father, he
has seized
me…
3:26
Back to a mid-range melody; the notes in
the piano get faster and louder.
Narrator:
The father,
filled with
horror,
rides fast
3:40
Piano accompaniment slows down;
dissonant and minor chords pervasive;
song ends with a strong cadence in the
minor key; Slowing down of the piano
accompaniment may echo the slowing
down of the horse. The truncated
chords and strong final minor chords
buttress the announcement that the
child is dead.
Narrator:
They arrive
at the
courtyard.
In his
father’s
arms, the
child was
dead.
Timing
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 423
Josephine Lang
(1815-1880)
By MARCIA J. CITRON
Josephine Lang came from a musical home in
Munich, where her father was a court musician
and her mother, Regina Hitzelberger, was a court
opera singer. Although the young Josephine
started out on the piano, she soon immersed
herself in song, as both interpreter and creator.
Her earliest lieder dates from her thirteenth year,
and this genre was to occupy her compositional
talents almost exclusively.
424 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
Figure 16.2 | Josephine Caroline Lang
Momentous in Lang’s life were her encounters
with Felix Mendelssohn, in 1830 and again in
1831, when he visited Munich on his extended
tour of Europe. Here was a gifted fifteen-yearold, almost entirely self-taught, whose lieder,
singing, and angelic presence evoked an
enraptured response from the sensitive young
musician. His sisters Fanny and Rebecka must
have been surprised by the intensity of his
enthusiasm— they knew him as a cool, levelheaded judge of the contemporary scene. In any
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 425
case, such encouragement undoubtedly spurred
on Lang in her compositional endeavors. From
the mid-i830S to the early 1840s she was
extremely prolific, producing approximately onethird of her total output of lieder. She tended to
select texts that mirrored the feelings and events
of her own life: “They are my diary,” she wrote in
1835.
It was in this period that her music began to be
published, eliciting generally favorable reviews.
An assessment by Robert Schumann of “Das
Traumbild,” which he saw well before its
publication, appeared in his journal Neue
Zeitschrift für Musik in 1837. In 1840 Lang met
her future husband, the Swabian poet Reinhard
Kostlin, whose poems she would set in
numerous lieder. After their marriage in 1842,
they moved to Tubingen. There Lang devoted
herself mainly to domestic activities, and her
creative pursuits decreased markedly. Kostlin’s
death in 1856 left her with the heavy burden of
caring and providing for their six children, and
she turned to composing and publication for
financial reasons. But now Lang’s style was
somewhat out of step with contemporary
426 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
currents, and as a result, she had considerable
difficulty getting her music published. Through
the assistance of a friend of Mendelssohn’s, the
influential Ferdinand Hiller, she managed to
secure the publication of some lieder and
thereby support her family. Her death
occasioned a retrospective collection of 40
songs, many of them hitherto unpublished, by
Breitkopf & Härtel in 1882.
Traumbild, Op. 28, No. 1
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CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 427
Robert Schumann
(1810–1856)
Robert Schumann was a German composer and influential
music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest
composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of
law, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. He had
been assured by his teacher Friedrich Wieck that he could
become the finest pianist in Europe, but a hand injury ended
this dream. Schumann then focused his musical energies on
composing.
428 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
Figure 16.3 | Robert schumann
Schumann’s published compositions were written exclusively
for the piano until 1840; he later composed works for piano
and orchestra; many Lieder; four symphonies; an opera; and
other orchestral, choral, and chamber works. Works such as
Kinderszenen, Album für die Jugend, Blumenstück, the Piano
Sonatas, and Albumblätter are among his most famous. His
writings about music appeared mostly in the Neue Zeitschrift
für Musik (New Journal for Music), a Leipzig-based
publication which he jointly founded.
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 429
In 1840, against the wishes of her father, Schumann married
Friedrich Wieck’s daughter Clara, following a long and
acrimonious legal battle, which found in favor of Clara and
Robert. Clara Schumann was as formidable a musician as her
husband. She composed music and had a considerable concert
career as a pianist, the earnings from which formed a
substantial part of her father’s fortune.
Schumann suffered from a lifelong mental disorder, first
manifesting itself in 1833 as a severe melancholic depressive
episode, which recurred several times alternating with phases
of ‘exaltation’ and increasingly also delusional ideas of being
poisoned or threatened with metallic items. After a suicide
attempt in 1854, Schumann was admitted to a mental asylum,
at his own request. Diagnosed with “psychotic melancholia”,
Schumann died two years later in 1856 without having
recovered from his mental illness.
Frauenliebe und leben
Frauenliebe und leben (A Woman’s Love and Life) is a cycle
of poems by Adelbert von Chamisso, written in 1830. They
describe the course of a woman’s love for her man, from her
point of view, from first meeting through marriage to his
death, and after. Selections were set to music as a song cycle
by masters of German Lied, namely Carl Loewe, Franz Paul
Lachner, and Robert Schumann. The setting by Schumann
(his opus 42) is now the most widely known.
Schumann wrote his setting in 1840, a year in which he
wrote so many lieder (including two other song cycles:
430 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
Liederkreis Op. 24 and Op. 39, Dichterliebe), that it is known
as his “year of song”. There are eight poems in his cycle,
together telling a story from the protagonist first meeting her
love, through their marriage, to his death. They are:
“Seit ich ihn gesehen” (“Since I Saw Him”)
“Er, der Herrlichste von allen” (“He, the Noblest
of All”)
“Ich kann’s nicht fassen, nicht glauben” (“I
Cannot Grasp or Believe It”)
“Du Ring an meinem Finger” (“You Ring Upon
My Finger”)
“Helft mir, ihr Schwestern” (“Help Me, Sisters”)
“Süßer Freund, du blickest mich verwundert an”
(“Sweet Friend, You Gaze”)
“An meinem Herzen, an meiner Brust” (“At My
Heart, At My Breast”)
“Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz getan”
(“Now You Have Caused Me Pain for the First Time”)
Schumann’s choice of text was probably inspired in part by
events in his personal life. He had been courting Clara Wieck
but had failed to get her father’s permission to marry her. In
1840, after a legal battle to make such permission unnecessary,
he finally married her.
The songs in this cycle are notable for the fact that the
piano has a remarkable independence from the voice. Breaking
away from the Schubertian ideal, Schumann has the piano
contain the mood of the song in its totality. Another notable
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 431
characteristic is the cycle’s cyclic structure, in which the last
movement repeats the theme of the first.
Schumann: Frauenliebe und leben (A Woman’s Love
and Life)
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The Piano and Its Character
Pieces of the 19th Century
The Piano
The invention of the piano is credited to Bartolomeo
Cristofori (1655–1731) of Padua, Italy, who was an expert
harpsichord maker and was well acquainted with the body
of knowledge on stringed keyboard instruments. The piano
was probably formed as an attempt to combine loudness with
control, avoiding the trade-offs of available instruments.
Technical innovations continued to be added to the piano
as various instrument makers experimented with ways to
432 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
improve the instrument’s mechanical function and tonal
expression in the 18th century. By the late 19th century the
piano had evolved into the powerful 88-key instrument we
recognize today. It is important to remember that much of
the music of the Classical era was composed for a type of
instrument (the fortepiano) that is rather different from the
instrument on which it is now played. Even the music of the
Romantic period, including that of Chopin, Schumann, and
Brahms, was written for pianos substantially different from
modern pianos.
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Character Pieces
Character pieces for the piano emerged in the 19th century as a
significant genre within Romantic music. These compositions
aimed to capture specific moods, emotions, or scenes, often
drawing inspiration from literature, nature, or personal
experiences. Characterized by their brevity and expressive
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 433
depth, these pieces allowed composers to convey intricate
emotions through the piano’s versatile voice.
Composers such as Robert Schumann, Frédéric Chopin,
Felix Mendelssohn, and Edvard Grieg were prominent
contributors to this genre. Each composer infused their
unique style and cultural influences into their character pieces,
resulting in a rich diversity of musical expressions.
Schumann’s “Carnaval” depicted masked revelry and
introspection through a series of contrasting miniatures, while
Chopin’s nocturnes and preludes conveyed an array of
sentiments, from melancholy to exuberance. Mendelssohn’s
“Songs Without Words” were lyrical, song-like pieces that
conveyed a sense of intimacy and introspection, and Grieg’s
“Lyric Pieces” drew inspiration from Norwegian folk
traditions and landscapes.
Mendelssohn: Song without words
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Grieg: Lyric Pieces Op. 12, No.5
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Clara Schumann (1819-1896)
Clara Schumann was a German pianist, composer, and piano
teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of
the Romantic era, she exerted her influence over the course of
a 61-year concert career, changing the format and repertoire
of the piano recital by lessening the importance of purely
virtuosic works. She also composed solo piano pieces, a piano
concerto (her Op. 7), chamber music, choral pieces, and songs.
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 435
Figure 16.4 | Clara Schumann by Andreas Staub
(1839)
She grew up in Leipzig, where both her father Friedrich Wieck,
and her mother Mariane were pianists and piano teachers. In
addition, her mother was a singer. Clara was a child prodigy
and was trained by her father. She began touring at age eleven,
and was successful in Paris and Vienna, among other cities. She
436 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
married the composer Robert Schumann at age 20, and While
Robert was gaining recognition as a composer and conductor,
Clara’s composition and performance activities were restricted
by her giving birth to eight children. Together, they
encouraged Johannes Brahms and maintained a close
relationship with him. She gave the public premieres of many
works by her husband and by Brahms.
After Robert Schumann’s early death, she continued her
concert tours in Europe for decades, frequently with the
violinist Joseph Joachim and other chamber musicians.
Beginning in 1878, she was an influential piano educator at
Dr. Hoch’s Konservatorium in Frankfurt, where she attracted
international students. She also edited the publication of her
husband’s work. After Robert’s death, Clara spent the rest of
her life supporting her children and grandchildren through
her public appearances and teaching. Her busy calendar may
have been one of the reasons why she did not compose after her
husband’s death. Clara Schumann died in Frankfurt but was
buried in Bonn beside her husband.
Focus Composition:
Clara Schumann, Ballade in D minor
This character piece is one written by Clara Schumann
between 1834 and 1836 and published as one piece in the
collection Soirées Musicales in 1836 (a soirée was an event
generally held in the home of a well-to-do lover of the arts
where musicians and other artists were invited for
entertainment and conversation). Clara called this
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 437
composition Ballade in D minor. The meaning of the title
seems to have been vague almost by design, but, most broadly
considered, a ballade referred to a composition thought of as a
narrative. As a character piece, it tells its narrative completely
through music. Several contemporary composers wrote
ballades of different moods and styles; Clara’s “Ballade” shows
some influence of Chopin.
Clara’s Ballade has a homophonic texture and starts in a
minor key. Its themes/phrases start multiple times, each time
slightly varied. You may hear what we call musical
embellishments. These are notes the composer adds to a
melody to provide variations. You might think of them like
jewelry on a dress or ornaments on a Christmas tree. One
of the most famous sorts of ornaments is the trill, in which
the performer rapidly and repeatedly alternates between two
pitches. We also talk of turns, in which the performer traces a
rapid stepwise ascent and descent (or descent and ascent) for
effect. You should also note that as the pianist in this recording
plays, they seem to hold back notes at some moments and rush
ahead at others: this is called rubato, that is, the robbing of
time from one note to give it to another. We will see the use of
rubato even more prominently in the music of Chopin.
438 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
Listening Guide: Ballade in D minor, Op. 6,
no. 4
Performed by: Hye-seon Lim, piano
• Composer: Clara Wieck Schumann
• Composition: Ballade in D minor, Op. 6,
no. 4
• Date: 1836
• Genre: Piano character piece
• Form: ABA
• Nature of Text: This is a ballade, that is, a
composition with narrative premises
• Performing Forces: Solo piano
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• A lyrical melody over chordal
accompaniment making this homophonic
texture
• A moderate to slow tempo
• In duple time (in this case, four beats for
each measure)
Other things to listen for:
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 439
• Musical themes that develop and repeat
but are always varied
• Musical embellishments in the form of
trills and turns
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440 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
Timing Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
Text
and
Form
0:00
Theme starts three times before taking off;
melody ascends and uses ornaments for
variations; in D minor. Piano dynamics, slow
tempo, duple time.
A
0:55
0:55 Transitional idea using trills (extended
ornaments).
No
Data
1:26
New musical idea repeated a couple of times
with variation. Ascending phrases crescendo
and descending phrases decrescendo.
No
Data
2:09
Transitional idea returns. Slightly louder.
No
Data
2:22
Repeated note theme. More passionate and
louder then subsiding in dynamics.
No
Data
2:48
First theme returns in D minor and then is
varied. Piano with a crescendo to fortissimo
and then a return to piano.
B
4:15
Piano dynamics quickly altered by crescendos
and decrescendos.
A’
4:32
Return of rhythmic motive from opening. A
section and then varied Dynamics move from
soft to loud to soft.
Coda
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 441
Maria Agata Szymanowska
(1789-1831)
By NANCY FIERRO, CSJ
Maria Agata Szymanowska, a contemporary of
Beethoven and Schubert, was the first Polish
pianist of stature. Her playing won the title
“Royal Pianist of the Court of Russia” and the
admiration of both Liszt and Chopin in their
younger years. Her many piano compositions,
published during her lifetime, are significant in
the history of Polish music before Chopin.
442 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
Figure 16.5 | Maria Agata Szymanowska around 1830
The daughter of Barbara Lanckoronska and
middle-class merchant Franciscek Wolowski,
Maria exhibited a precocious talent. With only
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 443
scant keyboard instruction, the young girl seated
at the spinet would entertain family guests with
improvisations on her own themes. Between
1789 and 1802, the obscure composers Antoni
Lisowski and Tomasz Gremm taught her piano;
and Josef Eisner, Franciszek Lessel, John Field,
and Johann Nepomuk Hummel occasionally
provided her with advice about performance or
prompted revisions of her compositions.
Otherwise, it appears that Maria was largely self
taught.
In 1810, the young pianist made her debut in
Warsaw. In the same year,, she married a
wealthy landowner, Josef Szymanowski. By 1815,
she was in great demand for public concerts, but
her frequent appearances were offensive to her
husband. His continued disapproval caused
Maria to separate from him in 1820 and take her
three children with her. She earned her living
through concerts and lectures on piano
technique. With many performances behind her
and some of her works published, she began
regular appearances throughout both Eastern
and Western Europe, returning intermittently to
her beloved Warsaw.
444 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
During her successful concert career from 1810 to
1828, Szymanowska included many of her own
works in her programs. She wrote more than 100
compositions: vocal music, chamber music, and a
large body of piano music. In an era when society
placed little value on compositions by women, it
is remarkable that Szymanowska’s works found
immediate publication—by Breitkopf and Hartel
in Leipzig and by publishers in Paris, Warsaw, St.
Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, and Odessa.
Between the years 1828 and 1831 Szymanowska
had more time to devote to personal activities.
Until then, responsibility for her children, the
demands of an active social life, and the
exigencies of a professional career demanded
most of her attention. But in her permanent
home in St. Petersburg, she was free to pursue
some long-delayed projects. One of these
activities was collecting her compositions and
copying them into one album. It is possible that
for the first time, she had sufficient leisure to
compose more-sophisticated pieces.
On the afternoon of July 23, 1831, Maria Agata
Szymanowska suddenly fell ill with cholera. She
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 445
died the following morning and was buried in
what is now Leningrad.
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Frédéric Chopin (1810 – 1849)
Frédéric François Chopin, born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin,
was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic
era, who wrote primarily for the solo piano. He gained and has
maintained renown worldwide as one of the leading musicians
of his era, whose “poetic genius was based on a professional
technique that was without equal in his generation.” A child
prodigy, he completed his musical education and composed
many of his works in Warsaw before leaving Poland at the age
of 20, less than a month before the outbreak of the November
1830 Uprising.
446 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
Figure 16.6 | Frederic Chopin (1849)
At the age of 21, he settled in Paris. Thereafter, during the last
18 years of his life, he gave only some 30 public performances,
preferring the more intimate atmosphere of the salon. He
supported himself by selling his compositions and teaching
piano, for which he was in high demand. Chopin formed a
friendship with Franz Liszt and was admired by many of his
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 447
musical contemporaries, including Robert Schumann. In
1835 he obtained French citizenship. In his last years, he was
financially supported by his admirer Jane Stirling, who also
arranged for him to visit Scotland in 1848. Throughout most
of his life, Chopin suffered from poor health. He died in Paris
in 1849, probably of tuberculosis.
All of Chopin’s compositions include the piano. Most are
for solo piano, though he also wrote two piano concertos, a
few chamber pieces, and some songs with Polish lyrics. His
keyboard style is highly individual and often technically
demanding; his own performances were noted for their nuance
and sensitivity. Chopin invented the concept of an
instrumental ballade. His major piano works include sonatas,
mazurkas, waltzes, nocturnes, polonaises, études,
impromptus, scherzos, and preludes, some published only
after his death. Many contain elements of both Polish folk
music and of the classical tradition of J. S. Bach, Mozart, and
Schubert, the music of all of whom he admired. His
innovations in style, musical form, and harmony, and his
association of music with nationalism, were influential
throughout and after the late Romantic period.
Both in his native Poland and beyond, Chopin’s music, his
status as one of music’s earliest superstars, his association (if
only indirect) with political insurrection, his love life, and his
early death have made him, in the public consciousness, a
leading symbol of the Romantic era. His works remain a staple
in the solo piano repertoire.
448 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
Focus composition:
Chopin, Mazurka in F Minor, Op. 7, no. 1 (1832)
The composition on which we will focus is the Mazurka
in F minor, Op. 7, no. 1, which was published in Leipzig in
1832 and then in Paris and London in 1833. The mazurka is
a Polish dance, and mazurkas were rather popular in Western
Europe as exotic stylized dances. Mazurkas are marked by their
triple meter in which beat two rather than beat one gets the
stress. They are typically composed in strains and are
homophonic in texture. Chopin sometimes incorporated folklike sounds in his mazurkas, sounds such as drones and
augmented seconds. A drone is a sustained pitch or pitches.
The augmented second is an interval that was commonly used
in Eastern European folk music but very rarely in the tonal
music of Western European composers.
All of these characteristics can be heard in the Mazurka in F
minor, Op. 7, no. 1, together with the employment of rubato.
Chopin was the first composer to widely request that pianists
use rubato when playing his music. Rubato is a musical term
used to describe a flexible and expressive alteration of tempo
within a musical phrase or passage. It involves a slight pushing
and pulling of the rhythm, allowing for temporary deviations
from the strict and metronomic pulse. In essence, rubato
grants the performer the freedom to speed up or slow down
the tempo for expressive purposes, while maintaining the
overall sense of the piece.
CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 449
Listening Guide: Mazurka in F minor, Op. 7,
no. 1
Performed by: Arthur Rubinstein on piano
• Composer: Fryderyk Chopin
• Composition: Mazurka in F minor, Op. 7,
no. 1
• Date: 1836
• Genre: Piano character piece
• Form: aaba’ba’ca’ca’
• Nature of Text: The title indicates a
stylized dance based on the Polish
mazurka
• Performing Forces: Solo piano
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• This mazurka is in triple time with
emphasis on beat two
• The texture is homophonic
• Chopin asks the performer to use rubato
Other things to listen for:
• Its “c” strain uses a drone and augmented
450 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
seconds
• Its form is aaba’ba’ca’ca’
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CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES | 451
Timing
Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
Text
and
Form
0:00
Triple-meter theme ascends up the scale and
then descends and then repeats; brief
ornaments on beat two of the measure. In F
minor, with homophonic boom-chuck
texture.
aa
0:33
After a contrasting theme that oscillates, part
of the first theme returns in a’.
ba’
1:01
No Data
ba’
1:30
Folk-like melody using augmented seconds.
Listen for the drone as well as rubato (which
Chopin asks for here).
c
1:44
No data
a
2:01
C returns, then a.
ca
Licensing & Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
Authored by: Elliott Jones. Provided by: Santa Ana College.
Located at: http://www.sac.edu
License: CC BY: Attribution
Adapted from “Early Romantic Era” from Music 101 by
Elliott Jones
Edited and additional material by Jennifer Bill
Focus Compositions were Adapted from “Nineteenth-
452 | CHAPTER 16: INTRO, ART SONG, PIANO CHARACTER PIECES
Century Music and Romanticism” by Jeff Kluball and
Elizabeth Kramer from Understanding Music Past and Present
Josephine Lang and Maria Agata Szymanowska taken from
Briscoe, James R. Historical Anthology of Music by Women.
Indiana University Press, 1986. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/
book/84778.
Media Attributions
• Franz Schubert_by_Wilhelm_August_Rieder_1875 ©
Wilhelm August Rieder via. Wikipedia is licensed under
a Public Domain license
• Josephine Caroline Lang © Wikipedia is licensed under a
Public Domain license
• Robert schumann © Wikipedia is licensed under a
Public Domain license
• Clara Schumann © Andreas Staub via. Wikipedia is
licensed under a Public Domain license
• Maria Szymanowska © Wikipedia is licensed under a
Public Domain license
• Frederic Chopin 1849 © Wikipedia is licensed under a
Public Domain license
CHAPTER 17: CHAMBER MUSIC | 453
CHAPTER 17: CHAMBER
MUSIC
Introduction
By Jennifer Bill
In the rich tapestry of musical history, the 19th century
stands as a period of remarkable artistic transformation and
innovation. Amidst the sweeping changes brought about by
social, political, and technological developments, chamber
music emerged as a captivating and intimate form of musical
expression. Nestled between the grandeur of orchestral
compositions and the solo virtuosity of instrumental
concertos, chamber music offered a unique platform for
composers and performers to craft intricate, nuanced works
meant for a more intimate setting.
The term “chamber music” itself evokes a sense of intimacy
and refinement, reflecting the music’s original purpose – to be
performed in private chambers or salons, often in the homes of
aristocrats or well-to-do individuals. This setting encouraged
a close connection between performers and their audiences,
fostering a sense of shared emotion and artistic dialogue. The
19th century witnessed a flourishing of chamber music
454 | CHAPTER 17: CHAMBER MUSIC
compositions, ranging from duos to larger ensembles,
encompassing strings, wind instruments, and piano.
Composers of this era found in chamber music an avenue
for experimentation, allowing them to explore intricate
counterpoint, thematic development, and emotional depth in
ways that larger orchestral works often couldn’t.
As the century progressed, chamber music became a canvas
for the exploration of both traditional forms and bold
innovations. The Classical structures of sonata-allegro,
ternary, and rondo forms were infused with Romantic ideals,
giving rise to more emotionally charged and dynamically
diverse compositions. Composers such as Ludwig van
Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, and Felix
Mendelssohn embraced chamber music as a means to express
their personal and artistic journeys. Beethoven, in particular,
stands as a towering figure in the evolution of chamber music,
with his late string quartets transcending mere entertainment
to become profound meditations on the human experience.
Beethoven: string quartet no. 15
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CHAPTER 17: CHAMBER MUSIC | 455
The societal shifts of the 19th century, including the rise of the
middle class and advancements in instrument craftsmanship,
contributed to the increased popularity of chamber music. As
public concert halls became more prevalent, chamber music
found a new platform for dissemination, reaching wider
audiences while still preserving its inherent intimacy. The rise
of nationalism also left its mark on chamber music, as
composers drew inspiration from their own cultural heritages,
infusing their compositions with folk melodies and
nationalistic fervor.
In the 19th century chamber thrived as a testament to the
transformative power of music. Its delicate interplay of
instruments, its emotional depth, and its fusion of Classical
forms with Romantic expression make it a treasure trove for
those seeking to understand the nuanced evolution of musical
composition during this captivating era.
Historical Anthology of
Music by Women
Louise Farrenc (1804-1875)
By BEA FRIEDLAND
456 | CHAPTER 17: CHAMBER MUSIC
Louise Dumont Farrenc was an unusual figure in
the musical life of France during the nineteenth
century: an accomplished pianist, composer of
distinction, professor at the Conservatoire, and
editor of early music. The quality and diversity of
this achievement are best understood and
evaluated when viewed not as an isolated
phenomena but in relation to the milieu in which
she lived and worked.
CHAPTER 17: CHAMBER MUSIC | 457
Figure 17.1 | Louise Farrenc by Luigi Rubio
In many important ways, Farrenc functioned
outside the cultural mainstream of mid-century
Paris, her native city and lifelong home. It was
the age of the virtuoso, with superficial display
pieces providing the main concert fare,- she
preferred to investigate and perform the little-
458 | CHAPTER 17: CHAMBER MUSIC
known late sonatas of Beethoven. La vie
mondaine revolved around the Opéra; her own
predilection was for the instrumental genres.
French musical aesthetics traditionally focused
on the pictorial aspects of music; her creative
bent favored the abstract forms of the sonata
and the symphony. French women of musical
ability typically sought fame and fortune on the
opera stage or as composers of sentimental
romances; Louise Farrenc quietly pursued her
career as an effective teacher, composer of
(mainly) chamber music, and—in the end—as a
performer, editor, and champion of the largely
unexplored harpsichord repertoire.
A descendant of a long line of royal artists
(including several women painters) and a sister
of the laureate sculptor Auguste Dumont, Louise
showed artistic and musical talent of a high
order at an early age. By mid-adolescence, she
had developed into a pianist of professional
calibre as well as an exceptional theory student
and a promising composer. Her studies in
composition and orchestration with Anton
Reicha were interrupted for a few years
following her marriage in 1821 to Aristide
CHAPTER 17: CHAMBER MUSIC | 459
Farrenc, a flutist and music publisher. With the
resumption of work with Reicha in the
mid-1820s, Louise Farrenc began to publish her
compositions for piano, most notable of which is
the Air russe varié, Opus 17 (1835), which was
favorably reviewed by Schumann in Neue
Zeitschrift für Musik a year after publication, and
the Thirty Etudes in all the major and minor keys
(1839 or 1840).
Farrenc’s orchestral works comprise two
overtures (1834) and three symphonies
(completed in the 1840s). None are published,
although each had more than one Paris
performance, and some were heard in other
major European capitals as well. Her outstanding
contribution is the body of chamber music she
produced between 1840 and 1860: two quintets,
four trios, two violin sonatas, a cello sonata, and
two unpublished pieces—a sextet and a nonet.
All these works were performed many times
over, and most of them were published within a
few years of completion. The Institut de France
twice honored Louise Farrenc for her chamber
music compositions, awarding her the Prix
Chartier in 1861 and 1869.
460 | CHAPTER 17: CHAMBER MUSIC
In 1842 Auber, the director of the Conservatoire,
appointed Farrenc professor of piano, a post she
retained until her retirement in 1873. The only
woman musician at the Conservatoire in the
nineteenth century to hold a permanent chair of
this rank and importance, she distinguished
herself by the excellence of her teaching, which
has been demonstrated by the high proportion
of her pupils who won competitions and went
on to professional careers.
Perhaps most memorable among Louise
Farrenc’s musical achievements is her
contribution to the 23-volume collection of early
keyboard music, Le trésor des pianistes (1861-75).
Sharing her husband’s ideal of reviving the
harpsichord and virginal repertory of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Louise
Farrenc collaborated with him (and continued
alone, after his death in 1865) in preparing
modern editions of old manuscripts and prints
collected from France, England, Italy, and
Germany. Supplementing her work as editor and
publisher, she brought the music alive in a series
of séances historiques, in which she and her
pupils performed selections from Le trésor des
CHAPTER 17: CHAMBER MUSIC | 461
pianistes. Her own compositions continued to be
heard in Paris up to the time of her death in
1875—the last performance during her lifetime,
appropriately enough, being the Adagio
cantabile of her Third Symphony conducted by
Edouard Colonne at the Concert du Chatelet,
February 14, 1875.
The Trio, Opus 45, composed in 1857 and
published in 1862, is the last of Louise Farrenc’s
compositions for three instruments. Scored for
flute (or violin), cello, and piano, it is an engaging,
carefully constructed piece reminiscent of
Mendelssohn’s Classical form and Romantic aura.
Trio
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462 | CHAPTER 17: CHAMBER MUSIC
Music of the Mendelssohns
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
(1809-1847)
In terms of musical craft, few nineteenth-century composers
were more accomplished than Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.
Growing up in an artistically rich, upper-middle-class
household in Berlin, Germany, Felix Mendelssohn received a
fine private education in the arts and sciences and proved
himself to be precociously talented from a very young age. He
would go on to write chamber music for piano and strings, art
songs, church music, four symphonies, and oratorios as well
as conduct many of Beethoven’s works as principal director of
the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. All of his music emulates
the motivic and organic styles of Beethoven’s compositions,
from his chamber music to his more monumental
compositions. Felix was also well-versed in the musical styles of
Mozart, Handel, and Bach.
CHAPTER 17: CHAMBER MUSIC | 463
Figure 17.2 | Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1846)
Felix descended from a family of prominent Jewish
intellectuals; his grandfather Moses Mendelssohn was one of
the leaders of the eighteenth-century German Enlightenment.
His parents, however, seeking to break from this religious
tradition, had their children baptized as Reformed Christians
in 1816. Anti-Semitism was a fact of life in nineteenth-century
Germany, and such a baptism opened some, if not all, doors
for the family. Most agree that in 1832, the failure of Felix’s
464 | CHAPTER 17: CHAMBER MUSIC
application for the position as head of the Berlin Singakadmie
was partly due to his Jewish ethnicity. This failure was a blow
to the young musician, who had performed frequently with
this civic choral society, most importantly in 1829, when he
had led a revival of the St. Matthew Passion by Johann
Sebastian Bach. Although today we think of Bach as a pivotal
figure of the Baroque period, his music went through a period
of neglect until this revival.
Initially, Felix’s father was reluctant to see his son become
a professional musician; like many upper-middle-class
businessmen, he would have preferred his son enjoy music as
an amateur. Felix, however, was both determined and talented,
and eventually secured employment as a choral and orchestral
conductor, first in Düsseldorf, and then in Leipzig, Germany,
where he lived from 1835 until his death. In Leipzig, Felix
conducted the orchestra and founded the town’s first music
conservatory.
Felix’s music was steeped in the styles of his predecessors.
Although he remained on good terms with more experimental
composers of his day, including Hector Berlioz and Franz
Liszt, he was not fond of their music. It is not surprising, then,
that he composed in genres passed down to him, including the
symphony, string quartet, and oratorio.
String quartet in F minor
CHAPTER 17: CHAMBER MUSIC | 465
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Historical Anthology of
Music by Women
Edited by James R. Briscoe
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847)
By MARCIA J. CITRON
Fanny Hensel was a prolific composer, a skilled
pianist, and a respected leader of a flourishing
Berlin salon. The elder sister of Felix
Mendelssohn, Hensel grew up in a culturally
sophisticated home, where from an early age she
was exposed to the leading artistic and
intellectual figures of the day. These formative
466 | CHAPTER 17: CHAMBER MUSIC
contacts helped instill in her a keen
discriminating mind and a knowledge and love of
poetry. Heinrich Heine, the author of the text of
Hensel’s song “Schwanenlied,” was a frequent
visitor to the Mendelssohn household, and
Fanny may have heard some of his poems even
before they were published.
CHAPTER 17: CHAMBER MUSIC | 467
Figure 17.3 | Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1842)
Fanny and Felix shared a common music
education and developed an unusually close
sibling relationship. But largely because of her
sex, Fanny was not encouraged to become a
professional musician. Nonetheless, a prolific
outpouring of pieces continued unabated
468 | CHAPTER 17: CHAMBER MUSIC
throughout her life. Her husband, the Prussian
court painter Wilhelm Hensel, was very
supportive; and her brother, on whose good
opinion she strongly depended, encouraged her
composing but was opposed to her pieces being
published. Largely because of Felix’s negative
attitude, only a very small percentage of her
compositions—which number well over
400—were published.
Hensel composed almost exclusively in the
genres long associated with women and their
domestic environment: lieder and piano pieces.
Many of these pieces, as well as her few forays
into orchestral and choral works, were presented
at her lively Sunday musical gatherings, or
Sonntagsmusiken. Hensel herself was a leading
participant, playing the piano as a soloist or as
part of the ensemble. Except for a large charity
concert in 1838, Hensel did not perform in public,
in accordance with her family’s attitudes about
women’s proper roles. Thus her celebrated
private gatherings provided her with a needed
forum for her various musical activities.
Trio in D minor, op. 11
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Hensel’s first published compositions, three
lieder, appeared under her brother’s authorship
in his Opus 8 (1827); three more followed in his
Opus 9 (1830). Unfortunately, we do not know
the reason for this camouflage, although it was
not an uncommon practice among women
composers. The first piece issued under Hensel’s
own name was a lied in an anthology that
appeared in 1837. With the exception of an
isolated lied published two years later, it was not
until the last year of Hensel’s life that her pieces
reached the public in printed form, and this time
in a spate of seven publications rather than as
isolated works. “Schwanenlied” is the first song
in Opus 1, Sechs Lieder für eine Stimme mit
Begleitung des Pianoforte (Six Songs for One
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Voice with Piano Accompaniment). The collection
appeared in the summer of 1846 and provided
Hensel with the great satisfaction of finally
seeing an entire volume published under her
own name. She died of a stroke in 1847, aged 41.
Schwanenlied
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Licensing & Attributions
Edited by James R. Briscoe. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
PRESS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
4.0
International License.
“Nineteenth-Century Music and Romanticism” from
Understanding Music Past and Present by Jeff Kluball and
Elizabeth Kramer.
CHAPTER 17: CHAMBER MUSIC | 471
Understanding Music: Past and Present is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
License.
Edited and additional material by Jennifer Bill
Media Attributions
• Louise Farrenc © Luigi Rubio via. Wikipedia is licensed
under a Public Domain license
• Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
• Fanny Hensel © Wikipedia is licensed under a Public
Domain license
472 | CHAPTER 18: PROGRAM MUSIC & THE PROGRAM
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CHAPTER 18: PROGRAM
MUSIC & THE PROGRAM
SYMPHONY
Program Music
Program music is music that attempts to depict in music an
extra-musical scene or narrative. The narrative itself might be
offered to the audience in the form of program notes inviting
imaginative correlations with the music. A well-known
example is Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, which
relates a drug-induced series of morbid fantasies concerning
the unrequited love of a sensitive poet involving murder,
execution, and the torments of Hell. The genre culminates
in the symphonic works of Richard Strauss that include
narrations of the adventures of Don Quixote, Till Eulenspiegel,
the composer’s domestic life, and an interpretation of
Nietzsche’s philosophy of the Superman. Following Strauss,
the genre declined and new works with explicitly narrative
content are rare. Nevertheless, the genre continues to exert an
influence on film music, especially where this draws upon the
techniques of late romantic music.
Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra
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The term is almost exclusively applied to works in the
European classical music tradition, particularly those from the
Romantic music period of the 19th century, during which
the concept was popular, but programmatic pieces have long
been a part of music. The term is usually reserved for purely
instrumental works (pieces without singers and lyrics), and
not used, for example for Opera or Lieder. Single-movement
orchestral pieces of program music are called symphonic
poems.
Absolute music, in contrast, is to be appreciated without
any particular reference to anything outside the music itself.
Program Symphony
Any instrumental genre could be composed in such a way as to
tell a story or paint a picture in the mind’s eye of the listener. A
program symphony is the result of a composer applying the
principle of program music to the genre of the symphony. A
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program symphony, like any other work of that genre, would
consist of multiple movements, usually four or five, and would
likely follow to some extent the standard characteristics of
symphonic construction. For example, the second movement
would likely be slower than the first, and the third movement
would be based on a dance. The fifth movement would serve
as a kind of grand finale. Traditional forms would be of less
concern to a composer of programmatic music, as the form of
a movement would likely be influenced by the subject matter
being depicted. Hector Berlioz’s Symphony fantastique is one
of the best-known examples of a program symphony.
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
Louis-Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer and
conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the
Symphonie fantastique and Harold in Italy, choral pieces
including the Requiem and L’Enfance du Christ, his three
operas Benvenuto Cellini, Les Troyens, and Béatrice et Bénédict,
and works of hybrid genres such as the “dramatic symphony”
Roméo et Juliette and the “dramatic legend” La Damnation de
Faust.
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Figure 18.1 | Hector Berlioz (1845)
The elder son of a provincial doctor, Berlioz was expected to
follow his father into medicine, and he attended a Parisian
medical college before defying his family by taking up music as
a profession. His independence of mind and refusal to follow
traditional rules and formulas put him at odds with the
conservative musical establishment of Paris. He briefly
moderated his style sufficiently to win France’s premier music
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prize – the Prix de Rome – in 1830, but he learned little from
the academics of the Paris Conservatoire. Opinion was divided
for many years between those who thought him an original
genius and those who viewed his music as lacking in form and
coherence.
Meeting only occasional success in France as a composer,
Berlioz increasingly turned to conducting, in which he gained
an international reputation. He was highly regarded in
Germany, Britain, and Russia both as a composer and as a
conductor. To supplement his earnings, he wrote musical
journalism throughout much of his career; some of it has been
preserved in book form, including his Treatise on
Instrumentation (1844), which was influential in the 19th and
20th centuries. He is still studied today as a master
orchestrator. Berlioz died in Paris at the age of 65.
Symphonie fantastique
Symphonie fantastique: Épisode de la vie d’un artiste . . . en
cinq parties (Fantastical Symphony: An Episode in the Life
of an Artist, in Five Parts) Op. 14 is a program symphony
written by Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is an important piece
of the early Romantic period and is still popular with concert
audiences worldwide. The first performance was at the Paris
Conservatoire in December 1830. The work was repeatedly
revived after 1831 and subsequently became a favorite in Paris.
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Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique is important for several
reasons: it is a program symphony, it incorporates an idée fixe
(a recurring theme representing an ideology or person that
provides continuity through a musical work), and it contains
five movements rather than the four of most symphonies.
Leonard Bernstein described the symphony as the first
musical expedition into psychedelia because of its
hallucinatory and dream-like nature, and because history
suggests Berlioz composed at least a portion of it under the
influence of opium. According to Bernstein, “Berlioz tells it
like it is. You take a trip, you wind up screaming at your own
funeral.”
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The symphony is a piece of program music that tells the story
of an artist gifted with a lively imagination who has poisoned
himself with opium in the depths of despair because of
hopeless love. Berlioz provided his own program notes for each
movement of the work (see below). He prefaces his notes with
the following instructions:
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The composer’s intention has been to develop various
episodes in the life of an artist, in so far as they lend
themselves to musical treatment. As the work cannot
rely on the assistance of speech, the plan of the
instrumental drama needs to be set out in advance.
The following programme must therefore be
considered as the spoken text of an opera, which serves
to introduce musical movements and to motivate their
character and expression.
There are five movements, instead of the four movements
that were conventional for symphonies at the time:
• Rêveries—Passions (Reveries—Passions)
• Un bal (A Ball)
• Scène aux champs (Scene in the Fields)
• Marche au supplice (March to the Scaffold)
• Songe d’une nuit du sabbat (Dream of the Night of the
Sabbath)
Movement 1: Rêveries—Passions
(Reveries—Passions)
In Berlioz’s own program notes from 1845, he writes:
The author imagines that a young musician, afflicted
by the sickness of spirit which a famous writer has
called the vagueness of passions [le vague des passions],
sees for the first time a woman who unites all the
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charms of the ideal person his imagination was
dreaming of, and falls desperately in love with her. By
a strange anomaly, the beloved image never presents
itself to the artist’s mind without being associated with
a musical idea, in which he recognizes a certain quality
of passion, but endowed with the nobility and shyness
which he credits to the object of his love.
This melodic image and its model keep haunting him
ceaselessly like a double idée fixe. This explains the
constant recurrence in all the movements of the
symphony of the melody which launches the first
allegro. The transitions from this state of dreamy
melancholy, interrupted by occasional upsurges of
aimless joy, to delirious passion, with its outbursts of
fury and jealousy, its returns of tenderness, its tears, its
religious consolations—all this forms the subject of the
first movement.
It is here that the listener is introduced to the theme of the
artist’s beloved, or the idée fixe.
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Movement 2: Un bal (A Ball)
Again, quoting from Berlioz’s program notes:
The artist finds himself in the most diverse situations
in life, in the tumult of a festive party, in the peaceful
contemplation of the beautiful sights of nature, yet
everywhere, whether in town or in the countryside,
the beloved image keeps haunting him and throws his
spirit into confusion.
The second movement has a mysterious-sounding
introduction that creates an atmosphere of impending
excitement, followed by a passage dominated by two harps;
then the flowing waltz theme appears, derived from the idée
fixe at first, then transforming it. More formal statements of
the idée fixe twice interrupt the waltz.
The movement is the only one to feature the two harps,
providing the glamour and sensual richness of the ball, and
may also symbolize the object of the young man’s affection.
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Movement 3: Scène aux champs
(Scene in the Fields)
From Berlioz’s program notes:
One evening in the countryside he hears two
shepherds in the distance dialoguing with their “ranz
des vaches”; this pastoral duet, the setting, the gentle
rustling of the trees in the wind, some causes for hope
that he has recently conceived, all conspire to restore
to his heart an unaccustomed feeling of calm and to
give to his thoughts a happier coloring. He broods on
his loneliness and hopes that soon he will no longer
be on his own . . . But what if she betrayed him! . . .
This mingled hope and fear, these ideas of happiness,
disturbed by dark premonitions, form the subject of
the adagio. At the end, one of the shepherds resumes
his ‘ranz des vaches’; the other one no longer answers.
Distant sound of thunder . . . solitude . . . silence.
The two “shepherds” Berlioz mentions in the notes are
depicted with a cor anglais(English horn) and an offstage oboe
tossing an evocative melody back and forth. After the cor
anglais–oboe conversation, the principal theme of the
movement appears on solo flute and violins. The idée fixe
returns in the middle of the movement, played by oboe and
flute. The sound of distant thunder at the end of the
movement is a striking passage for four timpani.
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Movement 4: Marche au supplice
(March to the Scaffold)
From Berlioz’s program notes:
Convinced that his love is unappreciated, the artist
poisons himself with opium. The dose of narcotic,
while too weak to cause his death, plunges him into
a heavy sleep accompanied by the strangest of visions.
He dreams that he has killed his beloved, that he is
condemned, led to the scaffold and is witnessing his
own execution. As he cries for forgiveness, the effects
of the narcotic set in. He wants to hide, but he cannot,
so he watches as an onlooker as he dies. The procession
advances to the sound of a march that is sometimes
sombre and wild, and sometimes brilliant and solemn,
in which a dull sound of heavy footsteps follows
without transition the loudest outbursts. At the end of
the march, the first four bars of the idée fixe reappear
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like a final thought of love interrupted by the fatal
blow when his head bounced down the steps.
Berlioz claimed to have written the fourth movement in a
single night. The movement begins with timpani sextuplets
in thirds and the movement proceeds as a march filled with
blaring horns and rushing passages, and scurrying figures that
later show up in the last movement. Before the musical
depiction of his execution, there is a brief, nostalgic
recollection of the idée fixe in a solo clarinet, as though
representing the last conscious thought of the soon-to-beexecuted man. Immediately following this is a single, short
fortissimo G minor chord—the fatal blow of the guillotine
blade, followed by a series of pizzicato notes representing the
rolling of the severed head into the basket. After his death, the
final nine bars of the movement contain a victorious series of G
major brass chords, along with rolls of the snare drums within
the entire orchestra, seemingly intended to convey the cheering
of the onlooking throng.
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Movement 5: Songe d’une nuit du
sabbat (Dream of the Night of the
Sabbath)
From Berlioz’s program notes:
He sees himself at a witches’ sabbath, in the midst of
a hideous gathering of shades, sorcerers, and monsters
of every kind who have come together for his funeral.
Strange sounds, groans, outbursts of laughter; distant
shouts which seem to be answered by more shouts.
The beloved melody appears once more, but has now
lost its noble and shy character; it is now no more than
a vulgar dance tune, trivial and grotesque: it is she who
is coming to the sabbath. . . . Roar of delight at her
arrival. . . . She joins the diabolical orgy . . . The funeral
knell tolls, burlesque parody of the Dies irae, the dance
of the witches. The dance of the witches combined
with the Dies irae.
This movement can be divided into sections according to
tempo changes:
The introduction is Largo, creating an ominous
quality through dynamic variations and instrumental
effects, particularly in the strings (tremolos, pizz, sf).
At bar 21 the tempo changes to Allegro. The return
of the idée fixe as a “vulgar dance tune” is depicted by
the clarinet. This is interrupted by an Allegro Assai
section at bar 29.
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The idée fixe then returns as a prominent E-flat
clarinet solo at bar 40.
At bar 80, there is one bar of alla breve, with a
descending line in unison through the entire orchestra.
This section sees the introduction of tubular bells and
fragments of the “witches’ round dance”.
The “Dies irae” begins at bar 127, the motif derived
from the 13th-century Latin sequence. It is initially
stated in unison between the unusual combination of
four bassoons and two tubas.
At bar 222, the “witches’ round dance” motif is
repeatedly stated in the strings, to be interrupted by
three syncopated notes in the brass. This leads into the
Ronde du Sabbat (Sabbath Round) at bar 241, where
the motif is finally expressed in full.
The Dies irae et Ronde du Sabbat Ensemble section
is at bar 414.
There are a host of effects, including the eerie col legno in
the strings (an instruction to strike the string with the stick
of the bow across the strings)—the bubbling of the witches’
cauldron to the blasts of wind. The climactic finale combines
the somber Dies Irae melody with the wild fugue of the Ronde
du Sabbat.
The continual interruption of the Dies irae motif by the
strings symbolizes this continual fight of death until the
movement and piece eventually, as we all do give in to the Dies
irae theme and our eventual but necessary deaths.
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Symphonic Poem (Tone
Poem)
By Jennifer Bill
A symphonic poem, also known as a tone poem, is a type
of orchestral composition that tells a story, depicts a scene,
or conveys a specific mood or emotion. Unlike traditional
symphonies with multiple movements, a symphonic poem is
typically a single-movement work. It was pioneered by the
composer Franz Liszt in the 19th century and became popular
during the Romantic era.
Symphonic poems are characterized by their freedom of
form and use of rich orchestration to paint vivid musical
pictures. They often incorporate elements of programmatic
music, where the composer provides a narrative or description
to guide the listener’s interpretation. Through various musical
techniques, such as thematic transformation, mood shifts, and
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contrasting sections, symphonic poems create a dynamic and
evocative listening experience.
Prominent examples of symphonic poems include Richard
Strauss’s “Also sprach Zarathustra,” based on Nietzsche’s
philosophical work, and Bedřich Smetana’s “Má vlast,” a set
of six pieces celebrating Czech history and landscapes. These
compositions offer a unique and expressive approach to
orchestral music, allowing composers to explore a wide range
of subjects and emotions in a single cohesive piece.
Smetana “The Moldau” with explanations
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“Nineteenth-Century Music and Romanticism” from
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and Elizabeth Kramer.
Understanding Music: Past and Present is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
License.
Edited with additional material by Jennifer Bill
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Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Franz Liszt was born in Doborján, Hungary (now Raiding,
Austria). His father, employed as a steward for a wealthy
family, was an amateur musician who recognized his son’s
talent. A group of Hungarian noblemen sponsored him with
a stipend that enabled Franz to pursue his musical interest
in Paris. There, he became the friend of Mendelssohn, Hugo,
Chopin, Delacroix, George Sand, and Berlioz; these friends
influenced him to become part of the French Romanticism
movement.
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Figure 18.2 | Franz Liszt (1858)
Also in Paris in 1831, Liszt attended a performance of virtuoso
violinist Paganini, who was touring. Paganini’s style and
success helped make Liszt aware of the demand for a solo artist
who performed with showmanship. The ever-growing mass
public audience desired gifted virtuoso soloists performers at
the time. Liszt, one of the best pianists of his time, became a
great showman who knew how to energize an audience. Up
until Liszt, the standard practice of performing piano solos
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was with the solo artist’s back to the audience. This
limited—and actually blocked—the audience from viewing
the artist’s hands, facial expressions, and musical nuance. Liszt
changed the entire presentation by turning the piano sideways
so the audience could view his facial expressions and the
manner in which his fingers interacted with the keys, from
playing loud and thunderously to gracefully light and legato.
Liszts’s Hungarian Rhapsody No2
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While at the height of his performance career, Liszt retreated
from his piano soloist career to devote all his energy to
composition. He moved to Weimer in 1948 and assumed the
post of court musician for the Grand Duke, remaining in
Weimer until 1861. There, he produced his greatest orchestral
works. His position in Weimer included the responsibility as
director to the Grand Duke’s opera house. In this position,
Liszt could influence the public’s taste in music and construct
musical expectations for future compositions. And he used his
influential position to program what Wagner called “Music of
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the Future.” Liszt and Wagner both advocated and promoted
highly dramatic music in Weimer, with Liszt conducting the
first performances of Wagner’s Lohengrin, Belioz’s Benevenuto
Cellini, as well as many other contemporary compositions.
Still active at the age of seventy-five, he earned respect from
England as a composer and was awarded an honor in person
by Queen Victoria. Returning from this celebration, he met
Claude Debussy in Paris then journeyed to visit his widowed
daughter Cosima in Bayreuth and attended a Wagnerian
Festival. He died during that festival, and even on his death
bed, dying of pneumonia, Liszt named one of the “Music of
the Future” masterpieces: Wagner’s Tristan.
Liszt’s primary goal in music composition was pure
expression through the idiom of tone. His freedom of
expression necessitated his creation of the symphonic poem,
sometimes called a tone poem–a one-movement program
piece written for orchestra that portrays images of a place,
story, novel, landscape, or non-musical source or image. This
form utilizes transformations of a few themes throughout the
entire work for continuity. The themes are varied by adjusting
the rhythm, harmony, dynamics, tempos, instrumental
registers, instrumentation in the orchestra, timbre, and
melodic outline, or shape. By making these slight-to-major
adjustments, Liszt found it possible to convey the extremes
of emotion—from love to hate, war to peace, triumph to
defeat—within a thematic piece. His thirteen symphonic
poems greatly influenced the nineteenth century, an influence
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that continues today. Liszt’s most famous piece for orchestra
is the three portrait work Symphony after Goethe’s Faust (the
portraits include Faust, Gretchen, and Mephistopheles). A
similar work, his Symphony of Dante’s Divine Comedy, has
three movements: Inferno, Purgatory, and Vision of Paradise.
His most famous symphonic poem is Les Preludes (The
Preludes) written in 1854.
With the first performance of the work in February 1854, a
new genre was introduced. Les préludes is the earliest example
of an orchestral work that was performed as a “symphonic
poem”.
The 1856 published score includes a text preface
What else is our life but a series of preludes to that
unknown Hymn, the first and solemn note of which is
intoned by Death?—Love is the glowing dawn of all
existence; but what is the fate where the first delights of
happiness are not interrupted by some storm, the mortal
blast of which dissipates its fine illusions, the fatal lightning
of which consumes its altar; and where is the cruelly
wounded soul which, on issuing from one of these
tempests, does not endeavor to rest his recollection in the
calm serenity of life in the fields? Nevertheless, man hardly
gives himself up for long to the enjoyment of the
beneficent stillness which at first he has shared in Nature’s
bosom, and when “the trumpet sounds the alarm”, he
hastens, to the dangerous post, whatever the war may be,
which calls him to its ranks, in order, at last, to recover
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in the combat full consciousness of himself and entire
possession of his energy.
Les Préludes is divided into five episodes within one
movement.
1. Dawn of Existence
2. Love
3. Storms of Life
4. Refuge and consolation of nature
5. Strife and conquest
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Licensing & Attributions
Authored by: Elliott Jones. Provided by: Santa Ana College.
Located at: http://www.sac.edu
License: CC BY: Attribution
Adapted from “Early Romantic Era” from Music 101 by
Elliott Jones
Edited and additional material by Jennifer Bill
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Media Attributions
• Hector Berlioz © August Prinzhofer via. Wikipedia is
licensed under a Public Domain license
• Franz Liszt 1858 © Wikipedia is licensed under a Public
Domain license
CHAPTER 19: OPERA | 495
CHAPTER 19: OPERA
Introduction
by Jennifer Bill
The 19th century witnessed a remarkable evolution in the
world of opera, a period of artistic innovation and cultural
transformation that would shape the course of this timeless
art form. This era, marked by sweeping societal changes,
technological advancements, and a fervent exploration of
human emotions, saw opera undergo a profound
metamorphosis, reflecting the dynamic spirit of the times.
As the echoes of the classical opera lingered, the 19th
century unfolded as a canvas upon which composers and
librettists would paint vivid tales of love, heroism, passion,
and the human condition. Building upon the foundations laid
by their predecessors, composers like Giuseppe Verdi, Richard
Wagner, and Giacomo Puccini embarked on a quest to push
the boundaries of musical expression and dramatic
storytelling. Through their innovative use of orchestration,
harmony, and vocal technique, they created operas that
resonated with the fervor of the Romantic movement, inviting
audiences to explore the depths of emotion and the
complexities of the human psyche.
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The 19th century also witnessed the rise of nationalistic
sentiments, as composers sought to infuse their operas with
distinctive cultural identities. This era saw the birth of grand
opera, with its opulent staging, intricate plots, and
monumental choruses, as well as the emergence of realism in
opera, which brought everyday life and relatable characters to
the forefront of the operatic stage.
Technological advancements, such as gas lighting and more
elaborate stage machinery, facilitated the creation of
increasingly spectacular productions, enabling operatic stories
to be told with unprecedented visual and emotional impact.
Opera houses became cultural hubs where society’s elite
gathered to witness these grand spectacles, while also offering a
space for ordinary citizens to partake in the enchanting world
of music and drama.
Throughout the 19th century, opera’s ability to encapsulate
the full spectrum of human experience—from the sublime
to the mundane—remained unchallenged. As composers
grappled with themes of love, destiny, tragedy, and triumph,
they created works that continue to resonate with audiences to
this day.
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19th Century French Opera
Grand Opera
19th-century French grand opera emerged as a grandiose and
opulent genre that captivated audiences with its lavish staging,
intricate narratives, and sumptuous music. This distinctive
operatic style, often associated with composers like Giacomo
Meyerbeer and Hector Berlioz, epitomized the era’s penchant
for spectacle and drama.
Characterized by its larger-than-life themes and ornate
productions, French grand opera showcased historical or
mythological subjects, frequently set in distant lands and eras.
These epic narratives often explored themes of love, power,
political intrigue, and the clash between personal desires and
societal expectations. The genre’s librettos were carefully
crafted to include grand set pieces, ballet sequences, and
impressive chorus scenes, all designed to showcase the splendor
of the opera house and engage the audience’s senses.
The music of 19th-century French grand opera was equally
extravagant, featuring elaborate arias, duets, and ensembles
that showcased the singers’ vocal prowess. The composers of
this genre were skilled at creating lush orchestral textures,
utilizing grand orchestration to evoke a range of emotions and
enhance the dramatic impact of the story. These operas often
featured extended ballet sequences, reflecting the importance
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of dance in French culture and adding an extra layer of visual
and artistic spectacle.
One of the most renowned examples of 19th-century
French grand opera is Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, which
delves into the religious conflicts of 16th-century France.
Berlioz’s Les Troyens, based on the story of the fall of Troy
from Virgil’s Aeneid, is another notable work within the genre.
These operas were not only artistic feats but also cultural
touchstones, reflecting the societal values and aspirations of
the time.
Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots
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Berlioz: Les Troyens
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“Je vais mourir… Adieu fière cité”
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Opera Comique
19th-century French opéra comique represents a charming
and distinct facet of the operatic world, marked by its blend of
light-hearted storytelling, spoken dialogue, and melodic grace.
Rooted in the tradition of 18th-century opéra comique, this
genre evolved and thrived during the 19th century, capturing
the essence of French culture and society.
Opéra comique often featured relatable, everyday characters
and relished in the comedic and romantic aspects of human
relationships. The genre’s librettos created an intimate and
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accessible form of entertainment. These operas explored
themes of love, mistaken identities, societal class differences,
and the humorous trials and tribulations of everyday life.
While opéra comique maintained its lighthearted spirit, it
also delved into deeper emotions and social commentary,
reflecting the evolving tastes of the time. Composers like
Adolphe Adam, Daniel-François-Esprit Auber, and Jacques
Offenbach crafted melodies that were both catchy and
emotionally resonant, further enhancing the genre’s appeal.
Offenbach: Orphée aux enfers
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19th Century German Opera
German Romantic Opera
19th-century German romantic opera emerged as a profound
and transformative artistic movement, deeply intertwined
with the ideals of the Romantic era. Led by visionary
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composers like Carl Maria von Weber and Richard Wagner,
this genre embraced a fusion of music, drama, and philosophy
to create immersive and emotionally charged theatrical
experiences.
At the heart of 19th-century German romantic opera was a
departure from traditional operatic norms. Composers sought
to create a seamless integration between music and drama,
often composing their own librettos to ensure a harmonious
union between text and melody. The operas featured intricate
character development, complex psychological portrayals, and
narratives that explored themes of fate, love, myth, and the
sublime.
One of the defining features of German romantic opera was
its use of leitmotifs, recurring musical themes associated with
specific characters, emotions, or concepts. This technique,
popularized by Wagner, added depth and layers of meaning
to the music, allowing for a more nuanced and immersive
storytelling experience.
Wagner’s monumental four-opera cycle, Der Ring des
Nibelungen, exemplifies the grandeur and innovation of
German romantic opera. Through its epic narrative inspired
by Norse mythology, intricate character interactions, and
profound philosophical themes, the cycle redefined the
boundaries of operatic expression.
Weber’s Der Freischütz and Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde are
also notable examples of this genre. Der Freischütz masterfully
blends folkloric elements with supernatural intrigue, while
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Tristan und Isolde delves into the depths of human passion
and transcendent love. Other examples include Marschner’s
Der Vampyr and Hans Heiling along with Lortzing’s Undine.
Weber: Der Freischütz
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19th Century Italian Opera
Opera seria
19th-century Italian opera seria represents a continuation and
evolution of the earlier operatic tradition that emerged in the
18th century. Rooted in the bel canto style, this genre retained
its focus on virtuosic singing and showcased the technical
prowess of its singers, while also incorporating elements of
romanticism and heightened emotion. Bel Canto is a style of
operatic singing where florid melodic lines are delivered by
voices of great agility and purity of tone.
Italian opera seria of the 19th century often featured
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historical or mythological subjects, drawing inspiration from
classical literature and ancient tales. While the emphasis on
vocal display remained prominent, composers like Vincenzo
Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Gioachino Rossini added
deeper emotional layers to their works, creating characters that
expressed a broader range of feelings and vulnerabilities.
The librettos of 19th-century Italian opera seria continued
to revolve around themes of love, honor, and destiny, but they
also delved into the complexities of human relationships and
the inner struggles of the characters. The arias and ensembles
were designed to highlight the singers’ ability to convey both
technical brilliance and emotional depth.
Operas like Bellini’s Norma, Donizetti’s Lucia di
Lammermoor, and Rossini’s Semiramide exemplify the 19thcentury Italian opera seria style. These works combine
exquisite vocal writing with rich orchestration, creating a
synthesis of lyrical beauty and dramatic intensity.
While the genre retained its affinity for vocal ornamentation
and expressive melodies, it adapted to the changing artistic
currents of the 19th century. The legacy of 19th-century
Italian opera seria lies in its ability to bridge the gap between
the traditions of the past and the evolving tastes of the present,
captivating audiences with its captivating vocal artistry and
emotional resonance.
Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor
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Bellini: Norma
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Verdi: La Traviata
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Opera buffa
Italian opera buffa of the 19th century preserved the essence
of comedy and satire while embracing the changing cultural
landscape. Through its wit, lively music, and relatable
characters, it provided audiences with an opportunity to
laugh, reflect, and connect with the delightful absurdities of
human existence. This genre, characterized by its humorous
and satirical plots, witty dialogue, and catchy melodies,
remained a beloved form of entertainment that offered social
commentary and comedic relief to audiences.
Italian opera buffa of the 19th century often featured
relatable characters from everyday life, portraying the antics,
misunderstandings, and romantic escapades of ordinary
people. The librettos combined spoken dialogue with musical
numbers, creating a dynamic interplay between spoken humor
and melodic expression. This genre’s enduring appeal lay in its
ability to entertain and amuse while subtly addressing societal
norms and human weakness.
Composers such as Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti,
and Giuseppe Verdi excelled in crafting memorable and
vivacious melodies that perfectly complemented the comedic
spirit of the plots. These operas featured ensembles, duets, and
arias that showcased the singers’ vocal dexterity and comedic
timing, adding layers of amusement to the storytelling.
Notable examples of 19th-century Italian opera buffa
include Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville),
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Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love), and Verdi’s
Falstaff. These works exemplify the genre’s ability to weave
humor, romance, and social commentary into engaging and
enjoyable narratives.
Rossini: Barber of Seville
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Verdi: Falstaff
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Trends in German and Italian
Opera
Adapted from “Romantic Opera” from Music 101 by Elliott
Jones
Edited and additional material by Jennifer Bill
Bel canto, Verdi, and Verismo
The bel canto opera movement flourished in the early 19th
century and is exemplified by the operas of Rossini, Bellini,
Donizetti, Pacini, Mercadante, and many others. Literally
“beautiful singing,” bel canto opera derives from the Italian
stylistic singing school of the same name. Bel canto lines are
typically florid and intricate, requiring supreme agility and
pitch control. Examples of famous operas in the bel canto style
include Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and La Cenerentola, as
well as Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.
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Following the bel canto era, a more direct, forceful style was
rapidly popularized by Giuseppe Verdi, beginning with his
biblical opera Nabucco. Verdi’s operas resonated with the
growing spirit of Italian nationalism in the post-Napoleonic
era, and he quickly became an icon of the patriotic movement
(although his own politics were perhaps not quite so radical).
In the early 1850s, Verdi produced his three most popular
operas: Rigoletto, Il trovatore, and La traviata. But he
continued to develop his style, composing perhaps the greatest
French Grand Opera, Don Carlos, and ending his career with
two Shakespeare-inspired works, Otello and Falstaff, which
reveal how far Italian opera had grown in sophistication since
the early 19th century.
Rigoletto
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Otello
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After Verdi, the sentimental “realistic” melodrama of verismo
(operatic realism) appeared in Italy. This was a style introduced
by Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Ruggero
Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci that came virtually to dominate the
world’s opera stages with such popular works as Giacomo
Puccini’s La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot.
La Boheme
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Madame Butterfly
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German-Language Operas
Italian opera held great sway over German-speaking countries
until the late 18th century. It was not until the arrival of
Mozart that German opera was able to match its Italian
counterpart in musical sophistication. Mozart’s singspiel
(comic opera) Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782) and Die
Zauberflöte (1791) were important breakthroughs in
achieving international recognition for German opera.
The tradition was developed in the 19th century by
Beethoven with his Fidelio, inspired by the climate of the
French Revolution. Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
established German Romantic opera in opposition to the
dominance of Italian bel canto. His Der Freischütz (1821)
shows his genius for creating a supernatural atmosphere.
Other opera composers of the time include Marschner,
Schubert, and Lortzing, but the most significant figure was
undoubtedly Wagner.
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Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was one of the most
revolutionary and controversial composers in musical history.
Starting under the influence of Weber and Meyerbeer, he
gradually evolved a new concept of opera as a
Gesamtkunstwerk (a “complete work of art”), a fusion of
music, poetry, and painting. He greatly increased the role and
power of the orchestra, creating scores with a complex web
of leitmotifs, recurring themes often associated with the
characters and concepts of the drama, of which prototypes can
be heard in his earlier operas such as Der fliegende Holländer,
Tannhäuser, and Lohengrin; and he was prepared to violate
accepted musical conventions, such as tonality, in his quest
for greater expressivity. In his mature music dramas, Tristan
und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Der Ring des
Nibelungen, and Parsifal, he abolished the distinction between
aria and recitative in favor of a seamless flow of “endless
melody.” Wagner also brought a new philosophical dimension
to opera in his works, which were usually based on stories
from Germanic or Arthurian legends. Finally, Wagner built his
own opera house at Bayreuth with part of the patronage from
Ludwig II of Bavaria, exclusively dedicated to performing his
own works in the style he wanted.
Bayreuth behind the scenes
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Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries
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Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
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Opera would never be the same after Wagner and for many
composers, his legacy proved a heavy burden. On the other
hand, Richard Strauss (1864-1949) accepted Wagnerian ideas
but took them in wholly new directions. He first won fame
with the scandalous Salome and the dark tragedy Elektra, in
which tonality was pushed to the limits. Then Strauss changed
tack in his greatest success, Der Rosenkavalier, where Mozart
and Viennese waltzes became as important an influence as
Wagner. Strauss continued to produce a highly varied body
of operatic works, often with libretti by the poet Hugo von
Hofmannsthal.
Richard Strauss: Salome
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During the late 19th century, the Austrian composer Johann
Strauss II (1825-1899), an admirer of the French-language
operettas composed by Jacques Offenbach, composed several
German-language operettas (light opera), the most famous of
which was Die Fledermaus, which is still regularly performed
today. Nevertheless, rather than copying the style of
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Offenbach, the operettas of Strauss II had distinctly Viennese
flavor to them, which cemented Strauss II’s place as one of the
most renowned operetta composers of all time.
Johann Strauss II: Die Fledermaus
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Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic
composer primarily known for his operas. He is considered,
with Richard Wagner, the preeminent opera composer of the
19th century. Verdi dominated the Italian opera scene after
the eras of Bellini, Donizetti, and Rossini. His works are
frequently performed in opera houses throughout the world
and, transcending the boundaries of the genre, some of his
themes have long since taken root in popular culture, examples
being “La donna è mobile” from Rigoletto, “Libiamo ne’ lieti
calici” (The Drinking Song) from La traviata, “Va, pensiero”
(The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves) from Nabucco, the “Coro
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di zingari” (Anvil Chorus) from Il trovatore and the “Grand
March” from Aida.
Figure 19.1 | Giuseppe Verdi by Giovanni Boldini
(1886)
Verdi: ‘Anvil Chorus’
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Focus Composition: Verdi,
Excerpt from La Traviata (1853)
A good example of his operatic realism can be found in La
Traviata, or The Fallen Woman (1853). This opera was based
on a play by Alexandre Dumas. Verdi wanted it to be set in
the present, but the censors at La Fenice, the opera house in
Venice that would premiere the opera, insisted on setting it
in the 1700s instead. Of issue was the heroine, Violetta—a
companion prostitute for the elite aristocrats of Parisian
society—with whom Alfredo, a young noble, falls in love.
After wavering over giving up her independence, Violetta
commits herself to Alfredo, and they live a blissful few months
together before Alfredo’s father arrives and convinces Violetta
that she is destroying their family and the marriage prospects
of Alfredo’s younger sister. In response, Violetta leaves Alfredo
without telling him why and goes back to her old life. Alfredo
is angry and hurt and the two live unhappily apart. A
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consumptive, that is, one suffering from tuberculosis, Violetta
declines and her health disintegrates. Alfredo’s father has a
crisis of conscience and confesses to his son what he has done.
Alfredo rushes to Paris to reunite with Violetta. The two sing a
love duet, but it is soon clear that Violetta is very ill, and in fact,
she dies in Alfredo’s arms, before they can go to the church
to be married. In ending tragically, this opera ends like many
other nineteenth-century tales.
Verdi wrote this opera mid-century with full knowledge of
the Italian opera before him. Like his contemporary, Richard
Wagner, Verdi wanted opera to be a strong bond of music and
drama. He carefully observed how German opera composers
such as Carl Maria von Weber and French Grand Opera
composers such as Giacomo Meyerbeer had used much larger
orchestras than previous opera composers, and Verdi himself
also employed a comparably large ensemble for La Traviata.
Verdi also believed in flexibly using the operatic forms he had
inherited, and so although La Traviata does have arias and
recitatives, the recitatives are more varied and lyrical than
before and the alternation between the recitatives, arias, and
other ensembles, are guided by the drama, instead of the drama
having to fit within the structure of recitative-aria pairs.
A good example is “La follie…Sempre libera” from the end
of Act I in which Violetta debates whether she is ready to give
up her independence for Alfredo. Although at the end of the
aria it seems that she has decided to remain free, Act II begins
with the two lovers living happily together, and we know that
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the vocal injections sung by Alfredo as part of Violetta’s
recitative and aria of Act I have prevailed. This piece is also a
good example of how virtuosic opera had gotten by the end of
the nineteenth century. Earlier Italian opera had been virtuosic
in its use of ornamentation. Verdi, however, required a much
wider range of his singers, and this wider range is showcased
in the scene below. Violetta has a huge vocal range and
performers must have great agility to sing the melismas in her
part. As an audience, we are awed by her vocal prowess, a fitting
response, given her character in the opera.
Listening Guide: “Follie” and “Sempre
libera” from La Traviata
Performed by:
Diana Damrau as Violetta
Juan Diego Flórez as Alfredo
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor of the
MET Opera Orchestra
• Composer: Verdi
• Composition: “Follie” and “Sempre libera”
from La Traviata
• Date: 1853
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• Genre: Recitatives and aria from an opera
• Form: Alternates between singing styles
of accompanied recitative, with some
repetition of sections.
• Text: Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave;
Translation available at the following link:
http://www.murashev.com/opera/
La_traviata_libretto_English_Italian
• Performing Forces: Soprano (Violetta),
tenor (Alfredo), and orchestra
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• The virtuoso nature of Violetta’s singing
• The subtle shifts between recitative and
aria, now less pronounced than in earlier
opera
• A large orchestra that stays in the
background
Other things to listen for:
• Alfredo’s more lyrical melody in distinction
to Violetta’s virtuosity
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Timing
Performing Forces,
Melody, and Texture
Text
Accompanied
recitative:
0:00
Violetta sings a very
melismatic and wide-ranged
melody with flexible rhythm;
the orchestra provides sparse
accompaniment
0:44
Violetta sings wide leaps,
long melismas, and high
pitches to emphasize these
words
Follie! follie! Delirio
vano è questo!
Povera donna, sola,
abbandonata in questo
popoloso deserto che
appellano Parigi.
Che spero or più?
Che far degg’io?
Gioire, di voluttà ne’
vortici perir.
Accompanied
recitative: Gioir!
(Pleasure!)
Aria:
1:29
Sempre libera degg’io
folleggiare di gioia in
Stronger orchestral
gioia, vo’ che scorra il
accompaniment as Violetta
viver mio pei sentieri
sings a more tuneful melody
del piacer.
in a lilting meter with a triple
Nasca il giorno, o il
feel
giorno muoia, sempre
lieta ne’ ritrovi, a diletti
sempre nuovi dee
volare il mio pensier.
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Timing
Performing Forces,
Melody, and Texture
Text
Alfredo’s melody:
2:24
Alfredo sings a more legato
and lyrical melody in a high
tenor range (this melody
comes from earlier in the
opera)
3:09
Violetta sings her virtuoso
recitative and then
transitions into her aria style
4:32
Alfredo sings his lyrical
melody and Violetta
responds after each phrase
with a fast and virtuosic
melisma
Amore, amor è palpito
. . . dell’universo intero
–
Misterioso,
misterioso, altero,
croce, croce e delizia,
croce e delizia, delizia al
cor.
Accompanied recitative
and then aria:
Follie . . . Sempre libera
Alfredo and Violetta
sing:
Repetition of text
above
Verdi’s Requiem
Although in this module we are focusing on opera, Verdi’s
Requiem shows that our operatic composers wrote in other
genres as well. The Romantic tendency toward grand gestures
and the operatic composer’s tendency toward dramatic
expression impacted other genres.
Moved by the death of compatriot Alessandro Manzoni,
Verdi wrote Messa da Requiem in 1874 in Manzoni’s honor,
a work now regarded as a masterpiece of the oratorio tradition
and a testimony to his capacity outside the field of opera.
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Visionary and politically engaged, he remains—alongside
Garibaldi and Cavour—an emblematic figure of the
reunification process (the Risorgimento) of the Italian
Peninsula.
Verdi: ‘Dies irae’ from Requiem
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Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, theatre
director, polemicist, and conductor who is primarily known
for his operas (or, as some of his later works were later known,
“music dramas”). Unlike most opera composers, Wagner
wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage
works. Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of
works in the romantic vein of Weber and Meyerbeer, Wagner
revolutionized opera through his concept of the
Gesamtkunstwerk (“total work of art”), by which he sought
to synthesize the poetic, visual, musical, and dramatic arts,
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with music subsidiary to drama, and which was announced in
a series of essays between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realized these
ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle Der
Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).
Figure 19.2 | Richard Wagner (1871)
His compositions, particularly those of his later period, are
notable for their complex textures, rich harmonies and
orchestration, and the elaborate use of leitmotifs—musical
CHAPTER 19: OPERA | 525
phrases associated with individual characters, places, ideas, or
plot elements. His advances in musical language, such as
extreme chromaticism and quickly shifting tonal centers,
greatly influenced the development of classical music. His
Tristan und Isolde is sometimes described as marking the start
of modern music.
Wagner had his own opera house built, the Bayreuth
Festspielhaus, which embodied many novel design features. It
was here that the Ring and Parsifal received their premieres
and where his most important stage works continue to be
performed in an annual festival run by his descendants. His
thoughts on the relative contributions of music and drama
in opera were to change again, and he reintroduced some
traditional forms into his last few stage works, including Die
Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of
Nuremberg).
Until his final years, Wagner’s life was characterized by
political exile, turbulent love affairs, poverty, and repeated
flight from his creditors. His controversial writings on music,
drama, and politics have attracted extensive comment in recent
decades.
Wagner’s later musical style introduced new ideas in
harmony, melodic process (leitmotif), and operatic structure.
Notably from Tristan und Isolde onwards, he explored the
limits of the traditional tonal system, which gave keys and
chords their identity, pointing the way to atonality in the 20th
century. Some music historians date the beginning of modern
526 | CHAPTER 19: OPERA
classical music to the first notes of Tristan, which include the
so-called “Tristan chord.”
The Tristan Chord
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Focus Composition:
Conclusion to The Valkyrie (1876)
In the excerpt we’ll watch from the end of The Valkyrie,
the second of the four music dramas in the Ring, Brünnhilde
has gone against her father, and, because Wotan cannot bring
himself to kill her, he puts her to sleep before encircling her
with flames, a fiery ring that both imprisons and protects his
daughter.
This excerpt provides several examples of the Leitmotivs
for which Wagner is so famous. Their presence, often subtle,
is designed to guide the audience through the drama. They
include melodies, harmonies, and textures that represent
Wotan’s spear, the god Loge—a shape-shifting life force that
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here takes the form of fire—sleep, the magic sword, and fate.
The sounds of these motives are discussed briefly below.
The first motive heard in the video you will watch is
Wotan’s Spear. The spear represents Wotan’s power. In this
scene, Wotan is pointing it toward his daughter Brünnhilde,
ready to conjure the ring of fire that will both imprison and
protect her. Representing a symbol of power, the spear motive
is played at a forte dynamic by the lower brass. Here it descends
in a minor scale that reinforces the seriousness of Wotan’s
actions.
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Wotan commands Loge to appear and suddenly the music
breaks out in a completely different style. Loge’s
music—sometimes also referred to as the magic fire music—is
in a major key and appears in upper woodwinds such as the
flutes. Its notes move quickly with staccato articulations
suggesting Loge’s free spirit and shifting shapes.
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Depicting Brünnhilde’s descent into sleep, Wagner wrote a
chromatic musical line that starts high and slowly moves
downward. We call this phrase the Sleep motive.
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After casting his spell, Wotan warns anyone who is listening
that whoever would dare to trespass the ring of fire will have
to face his spear. As the drama unfolds in the next opera of
the tetralogy, one character will do just that: Siegfried, Wotan’s
own grandson. He will release Brünnhilde using a magic
sword. The melody to which Wotan sings his warning with its
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wide leaps and overall disjunct motion sounds a little bit like
the motive representing Siegfried’s sword.
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One final motive is prominent at the end of The Valkyrie, a
motive which is referred to as Fate. It appears in the horns
and features three notes: a sustained pitch that slips down just
one step and then rises the small interval of a minor third to
another sustained pitch.
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Now that you’ve been introduced to all of the leitmotivs in the
excerpt, follow along with the listening guide. As you listen,
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notice how prominent the huge orchestra is throughout the
scene, how it provides the melodies, and how the strong and
large voice of the bass-baritone singing Wotan soars over the
top of the orchestra (Wagner’s music required larger voices
than earlier opera as well as new singing techniques). See if
you can hear the Leitmotivs, there to absorb you in the drama.
Remember that this is just one short scene from the midpoint
of the approximately fifteen-hour-long tetralogy.
Listening Guide: The Valkyries, Final scene:
Wotan’s Farewell
Performed by: Donald McIntyre (Wotan) and
Gwyneth Jones (Brünnhilde), accompanied by
the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, conducted by
Pierre Boulez
• Composer: Richard Wagner
• Composition: The Valkyries, Final scene:
Wotan’s Farewel
• Date: 1870
• Genre: Music drama (or nineteenthcentury German opera)
• Form: Through-composed, using
Leitmotivs
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• Performing Forces: Bass-baritone
(Wotan), large orchestra
Nature of Text
(He looks upon her and closes her helmet: his
eyes then rest on the form of the sleeper, which
he now completely covers with the great steel
shield of the Valkyrie. He turns slowly away,
then again turns around with a sorrowful look.)
(He strides with solemn decision to the middle of
the stage and directs the point of his spear
toward a large rock.)
Loge, hear! List to my word!
As I found thee of old, a glimmering flame,
as from me thou didst vanish,
in wandering fire;
as once I stayed thee, stir I thee now!
Appear! come, waving fire,
and wind thee in flames round the fell!
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(During the following he strikes the rock thrice
with his spear.)
Loge! Loge! appear!
(A flash of flame issues from the rock, which
swells to an ever-brightening f iery glow.)
(Flickering flames break forth.)
(Bright shooting flames surround Wotan. With
his spear he directs the sea of fire to encircle the
rocks; it presently spreads toward the
background, where it encloses the mountain in
flames.)
He who my spearpoint’s sharpness feareth shall
cross not the flaming fire!
(He stretches out the spear as a spell. He gazes
sorrowfully back on Brünnhilde. Slowly he turns
to depart. He turns his head again and looks
back. He diasappears through the fire.)
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(The curtain falls.)
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• It uses Leitmotivs
• The orchestra provides an “unending
melody” over which the characters sing
• Listen for the specific Leitmotives that
have been discussed
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Timing
Performing Forces,
Melody, and Texture
13:53
Descending melodic line
played in octaves by the
lower brass
14:06
Wotan sings a motivic
phrase that ascends; the
orchestra ascends, too,
supporting his melodic
line
14:29
Appears as Wotan
transitions to new words
still in the lower brass
14:34
Trills in the strings and a
rising chromatic scale
introduce Wotan’s
striking of his spear and
producing fire
introducing the . . .
14:58
Fire music played by the
upper woodwinds (flutes,
oboes, and clarinets).
15:40
Slower, descending
chromatic scale in the
winds represents
Brünnhilde’s descent into
sleep
Leitmotiv and Text
Wotan’s spear:
Just the orchestra
Löge, hör! Lausche
hieher! Wie zuerst ich
dich fand, als feurige Glut,
wie dann einst du mir
schwandest, als
schweifende Lohe; wie ich
dich band
Spear again:
Bann ich dich heut’!
Fire music:
Herauf, wabernde Loge,
umlodre mir feurig den
Fels! Loge! Loge! Hieher!
Fire music:
Just the orchestra
Sleep:
Just the orchestra
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Timing
Performing Forces,
Melody, and Texture
16:04
As Wotan sings again, his
melodic line seems to
allude to the sword
motive, doubled by the
horns and supported by a
full orchestra.
16:31
Lower brass prominently
play the sword motive
while the strings and
upper woodwinds play
motives from the fire
music; a gradual
decrescendo
17:42
Leitmotiv and Text
Sword motive:
Wer meines Speeres Spitze
fürchtet, durchschreite
das Feuer nie!
Sword motive; fire music
continues:
Just the orchestra
The horns and trombones
Fate motive:
play the narrow-raged fate
melody as the curtain
Just the orchestra
closes
Verismo
Verismo, which in this context means “realism,” is the name
for a movement that arose in opera near the end of the 19th
century. Composers of verismo operas chose realistic settings,
often depicting the struggles and drama of common people.
In this, they were reacting against the grandiosity and
mythological focus of Romanticism. Verismo, like
Impressionism, is part of the transition from the Romantic
536 | CHAPTER 19: OPERA
to the Modern era and could justifiably be studied as part of
either period.
In terms of subject matter, verismo operas focused not on
gods, mythological figures, or kings and queens, but on the
average contemporary man and woman and their problems,
generally of a romantic, or violent nature. Musically, verismo
composers consciously strove for the integration of the opera’s
underlying drama with its music. These composers abandoned
the “recitative and set-piece structure” of earlier Italian opera.
Instead, the operas were through-composed, with few breaks
in a seamlessly integrated sung text. While verismo operas may
contain arias that can be sung as stand-alone pieces, they are
generally written to arise naturally from their dramatic
surroundings, and their structure is variable, being based on
text that usually does not follow a regular strophic format.
The most famous composers who created works in the
verismo style were Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni,
Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, and Francesco
Cilea.
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) was an Italian composer, one
of the greatest exponents of Verismo (operatic realism,) who
virtually brought the history of Italian opera to an end.
Puccini’s mature operas focus on tragic love stories; his use
of the orchestra was refined, and he established a dramatic
structure that balanced action and conflict with moments of
repose, contemplation, and lyricism. Puccini’s operas remain
exceedingly popular into the 21st century. He was the most
CHAPTER 19: OPERA | 537
popular opera composer in the world at the time of his death.
His notable opera include Manon Lescaut (1893), La Bohème
(1896), Tosca (1900), Madama Butterfly (1904), The Girl of
the Golden West (1910).
Madame Butterfly
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La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts, composed by Giacomo
Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe
Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger.
The world premiere performance of La bohème was in Turin
on 1 February 1896 at the Teatro Regio, conducted by the
young Arturo Toscanini. Since then, La bohème has become
part of the standard Italian opera repertory and is one of the
most frequently performed operas worldwide.
Synopsis
Place: Paris
Time: Around 1830
Act 1
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In the four bohemians’ garret
Marcello is painting while Rodolfo gazes out of the window.
They complain of the cold. In order to keep warm, they burn
the manuscript of Rodolfo’s drama. Colline, the philosopher,
enters shivering and disgruntled at not having been able to
pawn some books. Schaunard, the musician of the group,
arrives with food, wine, and cigars. He explains the source
of his riches: a job with an eccentric English gentleman, who
ordered him to play his violin to a parrot until it died. The
others hardly listen to his tale as they set up the table to eat and
drink. Schaunard interrupts, telling them that they must save
the food for the days ahead: tonight they will all celebrate his
good fortune by dining at Cafe Momus, and he will pay.
The friends are interrupted by Benoît, the landlord, who
arrives to collect the rent. They flatter him and ply him with
wine. In his drunkenness, he begins to boast of his amorous
adventures, but when he also reveals that he is married, they
thrust him from the room—without the rent payment—in
comic moral indignation. The rent money is divided for their
evening out in the Quartier Latin.
Marcello, Schaunard, and Colline go out, but Rodolfo
remains alone for a moment in order to finish an article he is
writing, promising to join his friends soon. There is a knock at
the door. It is a girl who lives in another room in the building.
Her candle has blown out, and she has no matches; she asks
Rodolfo to light it. She is briefly overcome with faintness, and
Rodolfo helps her to a chair and offers her a glass of wine. She
CHAPTER 19: OPERA | 539
thanks him. After a few minutes, she says that she is better and
must go. But as she turns to leave, she realizes that she has lost
her key.
Her candle goes out in the draught and Rodolfo’s candle
goes out too; the pair stumble in the dark. Rodolfo, eager
to spend time with the girl, to whom he is already attracted,
finds the key and pockets it, feigning innocence. He takes her
cold hand (Che gelida manina – “What a cold little hand”)
and tells her of his life as a poet, then asks her to tell him
more about her life. The girl says her name is Mimì (Sì, mi
chiamano Mimì – “Yes, they call me Mimì”), and describes her
simple life as an embroiderer. Impatiently, the waiting friends
call Rodolfo. He answers and turns to see Mimì bathed in
moonlight (duet, Rodolfo and Mimì: O soave fanciulla – “Oh
lovely girl”). They realize that they have fallen in love. Rodolfo
suggests remaining at home with Mimì, but she decides to
accompany him to the Cafe Momus. As they leave, they sing of
their newfound love.
Act 1
Please use this link to go to YouTube to watch Act 1 of La
Bohème.
Licensing & Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
Authored by: Elliott Jones. Provided by: Santa Ana College.
Located at: http://www.sac.edu
540 | CHAPTER 19: OPERA
License: CC BY: Attribution
Adapted from “Romantic Opera” from Music 101 by
Elliott Jones
Edited and additional material by Jennifer Bill
Focus Compositions were Adapted from “NineteenthCentury Music and Romanticism” by Jeff Kluball and
Elizabeth Kramer from Understanding Music Past and Present
Media Attributions
• Giuseppe Verdi © Giovanni Boldini via. Wikipedia is
licensed under a Public Domain license
• Richard Wagner © Wikipedia is licensed under a Public
Domain license
CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM | 541
CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE
SYMPHONY AND
NATIONALISM
Throughout the 19th century, the symphony genre gained
weight and importance. Composers found the symphony
suitable for their lyrical themes, experiments in harmony, and
individual expressions.
The orchestra itself had increased in size, and the structure
of the symphony grew longer and more expansive. Because
of its increasing length and complexity, composers did not
write a large number of symphonies. Typically between 7 and
9 symphonies were written by a composer over their lifetime
(not over 100 like Haydn).
Symphonies without a program were written throughout
the Romantic era and are known as absolute music. Absolute
music refers to instrumental music that is composed solely for
its own intrinsic qualities and without any specific association
with a text, story, program, or extramusical narrative. In other
words, it is music that is intended to be appreciated and
understood purely on its musical merits, without relying on
external references or meanings.
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Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky all
wrote this type of symphony.
Music of Johannes Brahms
(1833-1897)
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist known
for his significant contributions to the Romantic era of
classical music. Born in Hamburg, he displayed musical talent
from an early age and received early training in music. Brahms’
compositions spanned various genres, including symphonies,
chamber music, piano works, and choral pieces.
CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM | 543
Figure 20.1 | Johannes Brahms (1889)
Brahms gained recognition as a pianist and composer in his
early years, and he was often compared to his predecessors,
such as Beethoven. Throughout his life, Brahms had close
friendships with notable figures like Robert and Clara
Schumann. Brahms was known for his perfectionism and selfcriticism, which led to a relatively smaller output of
compositions compared to some of his contemporaries. His
compositions are characterized by their intricate structures,
544 | CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM
emotional depth, and meticulous craftsmanship. Brahms’
symphonies, particularly his First Symphony, are considered
among the pinnacles of Romantic orchestral writing.
Symphony 1
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Key works in his repertoire include his four symphonies,
German Requiem, Violin Concerto, Piano Concertos, Piano
Quintet in F minor, and a significant collection of solo piano
pieces. Brahms’ music blends both classical and Romantic
elements, often characterized by rich harmonies, profound
melodies, and a balance between formal structure and
emotional expression.
German Requiem
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The music of Johannes Brahms is often thought of as
breathing new life into classical forms. For centuries, musical
performances were of compositions by composers who were
still alive and working. In the nineteenth century that trend
changed. By the time Johannes Brahms was twenty, over half
of all music performed in concerts was by composers who
were no longer living; by the time he was forty, that amount
increased to over two-thirds. Brahms knew and loved the
music of forebears such as Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart,
Beethoven, Schubert, and Schumann. He wrote in the genres
they had developed, including symphonies, concertos, string
quartets, sonatas, and songs. To these traditional genres and
forms, he brought sweeping nineteenth-century melodies,
much more chromatic harmonies, and the forces of the
modern symphony orchestra. He did not, however, compose
symphonic poems or program music as did Hector Berlioz and
Franz Liszt.
Brahms himself was keenly aware of walking in Beethoven’s
shadow. In the early 1870s, he wrote to conductor friend
Hermann Levi, “I shall never compose a symphony.”
Continuing, he reflected, “You have no idea how someone
546 | CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM
like me feels when he hears such a giant marching behind
him all of the time.” Nevertheless, some six years later, after
a twenty-year period of germination, he premiered his first
symphony. Brahms’s music engages Romantic lyricism, rich
chromaticism, thick orchestration, and rhythmic dislocation
in a way that clearly goes beyond what Beethoven had done.
Still, his intensely motivic and organic style, and his use of
a four movement symphonic model that features sonata,
variations, and ABA forms is indebted to Beethoven.
Focus Composition:
Brahms Symphony No. 1
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The third movement of Brahms’s First Symphony is a case
in point. It follows the ABA form, as had most moderatetempo, dance-like third movements since the minuets of the
eighteenth-century symphonies and scherzos of the early
nineteenth-century symphonies. This movement uses more
CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM | 547
instruments and grants more solos to the woodwind
instruments than earlier symphonies did (listen especially for
the clarinet solos). The musical texture is thicker as well, even
though the melody always soars above the other instruments.
Finally, this movement is more graceful and songlike than any
minuet or scherzo that preceded it. In this regard, it is more
like the lyrical character pieces of Chopin, Mendelssohn, and
the Schumanns than most movements of Beethoven’s
symphonies. But, it does not have an extra-musical referent;
in fact, Brahms’ music is often called “absolute” music, that
is, music for the sake of music. The music might call to a
listener’s mind any number of pictures or ideas, but they are
of the listener’s imagination, from the listener’s interpretation
of the melodies, harmonies, rhythms, and textures written by
Brahms. In this way, such a movement is very different than
a movement from a program symphony such as Berlioz’s
Symphonie fantastique.
Listening Guide: Symphony No. 1 in C minor,
Op. 68, III. Un poco allegretto e grazioso [a
little allegretto and graceful]
Performed by: The Metroplitan Orchestra
(Sydney, Australia) with Sarah-Grace Williams,
conductor
548 | CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM
• Composer: Johannes Brahms
• Composition: Symphony No. 1 in C minor,
Op. 68, III. Un poco allegretto e grazioso [a
little allegretto and graceful]
• Date: 1876
• Genre: Symphony
• Form: ABA moderate-tempoed, dancelike
movement from a symphony
• Performing Forces: Performing Forces:
symphony orchestra, including two flutes,
two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons,
one contrabassoon, four horns, two
trumpets, three trombones, timpani,
violins (first and second), violas, cellos, and
double basses
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• Its lilting tuneful melodies transform the
scherzo mood into something more
romantic
• It is in ABA form
• It is in A-flat major (providing respite from
the C minor pervading the rest of the
CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM | 549
symphony)
Other things to listen for:
• The winds as well as the strings get the
melodic themes from the beginning
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Timing Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
Form
0:00
Clarinet solo with descending question
phrases answer phrase in the f lutes. (sparse
string accompaniment)
A
0:29
Strings get the melodic theme with answer in
the winds
No
Data
1:06
Second theme: starts with a clarinet solo and
then with the whole woodwind section. Faster
note values in the strings provide increased
musical tension
No
Data
1:32
Return of opening theme (clarinet solo)
No
Data
1:45
New theme introduced and repeated by
different groups in the orchestra. Gradually
building dynamic and layers of the texture
(more brass); phrase ends with hemiola.
Climaxes to a forte dynamic
B
3:42
First theme returns answer theme in the strings
(varied form). Sparser accompaniment again
Softer dynamic
A’
4:00
Second theme: This time it is extended using
sequences
No
Data
4:27
Ascending sequential treatment of motives
from the movement
Coda
Music of Nationalism
Political and cultural nationalism strongly influenced many
creative works of the nineteenth century. We have already
observed aspects of nationalism in the piano music of Chopin.
CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM | 551
Later nineteenth-century composers invested even more
heavily in nationalist themes.
Nationalism, found in many genres, is marked by the use
of folk songs or nationalist themes in operas or instrumental
music. Nationalist composers of different countries include
Russian composers such as Modest Mussorgsky, Alexander
Borodin, and Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (members of the
“Kuchka”); Bohemian composers such as Antonin Dvorak
and Bedřich Smetana; Hungarian composers such as Liszt;
Scandinavian composers such as Edvard Grieg and Jean
Sibelius; Spanish composers such as Enrique Granados,
Joaquin Turina, and Manuel de Falla; and British composers
such as Ralph Vaughn Williams.
Nationalism was expressed in several ways:
• songs and dances of native people
• mythology: dramatic works based on the folklore of
peasant life (Tchaikovsky’s Russian fairy-tale operas and
ballets)
• celebration of a national hero, historic event, or scenic
beauty of the country
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Music of Bedřich Smetana
Oil Portrait by Geskel Saloman (1854)
Bedřich Smetana (b. 1824-1884) was born in Litomsyl,
Bohemia while under Austrian rule (now the Czech
Republic). Smetana was the son of a brewer and violinist and
his father’s third wife. Smetana was a talented pianist who
gave public performances from the age of six. Bohemia under
Austrian rule was politically very volatile. In 1848 Smetana
aligned himself with those seeking independent statehood
from Austria. After that revolution was crushed, Prague and
CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM | 553
the surrounding areas were brutally suppressed—especially
those areas and people suspected of being sympathetic to
Bohemian nationalism. In 1856, Smetana left for Sweden to
accept a conductorship post. He hoped to follow in the
footsteps of such music predecessors as Liszt. He thus
expresses his admiration, “By the grace of God and with His
help, I shall one day be a Liszt in technique and a Mozart in
composition.”
As a composer, Smetana began incorporating nationalist
themes, plots, and dances in his operas and symphonic poems.
He founded the Czech National School after he left Sweden
and was a pioneer in incorporating Czech folk tunes, rhythms,
and dances into his major works. Smetana returned to
Bohemia in 1861 and assumed his role as national composer.
He worked to open and establish a theatre venue in Prague
where performances would be performed in their native
tongue. Of his eight original operas, seven are still performed
in his native tongue today. One of these operas, The Bartered
Bride, was and is still acclaimed. He composed several folk
dances, including polkas for orchestra. These polkas
incorporated the style and levity of his Bohemian culture.
Smetana – Našim děvám
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Smetana also is known for composing the cycle of six
symphonic poems entitled My Country. These tone poems
are program music, representing the beautiful Bohemian
countryside, Bohemian folk dance and song rhythms, and the
pageantry of Bohemian legends. The first of these symphonic
poems is called Má vlast (My Fatherland) and is symbolic
program music representing his birthplace.
The second of these, Vltava, (The Moldau) is recognized as
Smetana’s greatest orchestral work. Notes in the conductor’s
score state:
The Moldau ”represents an exceptional expression of
patriotic or nationalistic music. The musical poem
reflects the pride, oppression, and hope of the
Bohemian people. . . . Two springs pour forth in the
shade of the Bohemian Forest, one warm and gushing,
the other cold and peaceful. Their waves, gaily flowing
over rocky beds, join and glisten in the rays of the
morning sun. The forest brook, hastening on,
becomes the river Vltava (Moldau.) Coursing through
Bohemia’s valleys, it grows into a mighty stream.
Through thick woods it flows, as the gay sounds of
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the hunt and the notes of the hunter’s horn are heard
ever nearer. It flows through grass-grown pastures and
lowlands where a wedding feast is being celebrated
with song and dance. At night wood and water
nymphs revel in its sparkling waves. Reflected on its
surface are fortresses and castles—witnesses of bygone
days of knightly splendor and the vanished glory of
fighting times. At the St. John Rapids the stream races
ahead, winding through the cataracts, heaving on a
path with its foaming waves through the rocky chasm
into the broad river bed— finally. Flowing on in
majestic peace toward Prague—finally. Flowing on in
majestic peace toward Prague and welcomed by timehonored Vysehrad (castle.) Then it vanishes far beyond
the poet’s gaze.”
Smetana’s The Moldau with explanations
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Smetana: Vltava (The Moldau) from Má vlast
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Music of Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Dvořák Portrait
Dvořák’s compositions received favorable recognition abroad
and reluctant recognition at home. From 1892 to 1895,
Dvořák served as director of the National Conservatory in the
United States. During this time his compositions added
American influences to the Bohemian. He fused “old world”
harmonic theory with “new world” style. Very interested in
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American folk music, Dvořák took as one of his pupils an
African-American baritone singer named Henry T. Burleigh
who was an arranger and singer of spirituals.
Harry T. Burleigh sing the spiritual “Go Down Moses,”
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Dvořák’s admiration and enthusiasm for the AfricanAmerican spiritual is conveyed as he stated:
“I am convinced that the future music of this country
must be founded on what are called Negro melodies.
These can be the foundation of a serious and original
school of composition, to be developed in the United
States. These beautiful and varied themes are the
product of the soil. They are the folk songs of America
and your composers must turn to them.”
The spirituals, along with Native American and cowboy songs,
interested Dvořák and influenced his compositions for years to
come. His love for this American folk music was contagious
and soon spread to other American composers. Up until this
point, American composers were under the heavy influence of
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their European counterparts. Dvořák’s influence and legacy as
an educator and composer can be traced to the music of Aaron
Copland and George Gershwin. Although he gained much
from his time in America, Dvořák yearned for his homeland to
which he returned after three years away, resisting invitations
from Brahms to relocate to Vienna. Dvořák desired the more
simple life of his homeland where he died in 1904, shortly after
his last opera, Armida, was first performed.
During his lifetime, Dvořák wrote in various music forms,
including the symphony. He composed nine symphonies in all,
with his most famous being the ninth, From the New World
(1893). This symphony was commissioned by the New York
Philharmonic which premiered the work in New York on
December 16, 1893, the same year as its completion. The
symphony was partially inspired by a Czech translation of
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem Hiawatha.
Listening Guide: “From the New World”,
Symphony 9, movement 2 Largo
Performed by: Berlin Philharmonic with
Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
• Composer: Antonin Dvořák
• Composition: “From the New World”,
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Symphony 9, movement 2 Largo
• Date: 1893
• Genre: Symphony
• Performing Forces: Orchestra
What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• The theme. The “coming home theme” is
said to possibly be from a negro spiritual
or Czech folk tune. It is introduced in what
some call the most famous English horn
solo.
Other things to listen for:
• The weaving of these very beautiful but
simple melodies. Listen to how “western
American” the piece sounds at times. The
influence of American (western, spirituals,
and folk) had a profound influence on
Dvorak’ compositions.
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Timing Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
0:00
Brass choral with string chord transition
0:50
English horn solo (theme 1) then woodwind transition
to brass chords.
3:00
Theme is passed around then returns to English horn
5:04
Flute and oboe perform theme 2 over string tremolo,
then clarinet duet above pizzicato strings. String then
perform theme 2 to a transition
7:21
Theme/melody 3 played by violins-very smooth and
connected
8:24
Oboe, clarinet , then the flute perform yet another
theme, violins, cellos and basses-Light folk dance style
in nature
8:47
Trombones enter with the first theme from the first
movement-then trumpets and strings overlap with
other earlier themes from the work. These style and
compositional techniques create a very “western”
sounding work.
9:20
English horn solo reintroduced followed by imitations
in the strings (two silences) then scored reduction to a
trio
9:47
Violin, viola, and cello trio. Transition in winds and
strings
11:36
Opening chords without trumpets it is much darker
sounding
11:59
Winds and strings pass the melodies around with
ascension
12:18
Final three part chord in the double basses
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Music of Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Pyotr (Peter) Ilyich Tchaikovsky (18401893) was born in
Votinsk, a small mining town in Russia. He was the son of
a government official and started taking piano at the age of
five, though his family intended for him to have a career as
a government official. His mother died of cholera when he
was fourteen, a tragedy that had a profound and lasting effect
on him. He attended the aristocratic school in St. Petersburg
called the School of Jurisprudence and, upon completion,
obtained a minor government post in the Ministry of Justice.
Nevertheless, Pyotr always had a strong interest in music and
yearned to study it.
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Pyotr Tchaikovsky Portrait By Émile Reutlinger
At the age of twenty-three, he resigned his government post
and entered the newly created Conservatory of St. Petersburg
to study music. From the age of twenty-three to twenty-six,
he studied intently and completed his study in three years. His
primary teachers at the conservatory were Anton Rubinstein
and Konstantin Zarembe, but he himself taught lessons while
he studied. Upon completion, Tchaikovsky was recommended
by Rubinstein, director of the school as well as teacher, to a
teaching post at the new conservatory of Moscow. The young
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professor of harmony had full teaching responsibilities with
long hours and a large class. Despite his heavy workload, his
twelve years at the conservatory saw the composing of some
of his most famous works, including his first symphony. At
the age of twenty-nine, he completed his first opera Voyevoda,
and composed the Romeo and Juliet overture. At the age of
thirty-three, he started supplementing his income by writing
as a music critic and also composed his second symphony, first
piano concerto, and his first ballet, Swan Lake.
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The reception of his music sometimes included criticism, and
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Tchaikovsky took criticism very personally, being prone as he
was to (attacks of) depression. These bouts of depression were
exacerbated by an impaired personal social life. In an effort to
calm and smooth that personal life, Tchaikovsky entered into a
relationship and marriage with a conservatory student named
Antonina Ivanovna Miliukova in 1877. She was star-struck
and had fallen immediately and rather despairingly in love with
him. His pity for her soon turned into unmanageable dislike
to the point that he avoided her at all costs. Once in a fit of
depression and aversion, he even strolled into the icy waters of
the Moscow River to avoid her. Many contemporaries believe
the effort was a suicide attempt. A few days later, nearly
approaching a complete mental breakdown, he sought refuge
and solace fleeing to his brothers in St. Petersburg. The
marriage lasted less than a month.
At this darkest hour for Tchaikovsky, a kind, wealthy
benefactress who admired his music became his sponsor. Her
financial support helped restore Tchaikovsky to health, freed
him from his burdensome teaching responsibilities, and
permitted him to focus on his compositions. His benefactor
was a widowed industrialist, Nadezhda von Meck, who was
dominating and emotional and who loved his music. From her
secluded estate, she raised her eleven children and managed
her estate and railroads. Due to the social norms of the era,
she had to be very careful to make sure that her intentions
in supporting the composer went towards his music and not
towards the composer as a man; consequently, they never met
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one another other than possibly through the undirected
mutual glances at a crowded concert hall or theater. They
communicated through a series of letters to one another, and
this distance letter-friendship soon became one of fervent
attachment.
In his letters to Meck, Tchaikovsky would explain how he
envisioned and wrote his music, describing it as a holistic
compositional process, with his envisioning the thematic
development to the instrumentation being all one thought.
The secure environment she afforded Tchaikovsky enabled
him to compose unrestrainedly and very creatively. In
appreciation and respect for his patron, Tchaikovsky dedicated
his fourth symphony to Meck. He composed that work in his
mid-thirties, a decade when he premiered his opera Eugene
Onegin and composed the 1812 Overture and Serenade for
Strings.
Tchaikovsky’s music ultimately earned him international
acclaim, leading to his receiving a lifelong subsidy from the
Tsar in 1885. He overcame his shyness and started conducting
appearances in concert halls throughout Europe, making his
music the first of any Russian composer to be accepted and
appreciated by Western music consumers. At the age of fifty,
he premiered Sleeping Beauty and The Queen of Spades in St.
Petersburg. A year later, in 1891, he was invited to the United
States to participate in the opening ceremonies for Carnegie
Hall. He also toured the United States, where he was afforded
impressive hospitality. He grew to admire the American spirit,
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feeling awed by New York’s skyline and Broadway. He wrote
that he felt more appreciated in America than in Europe.
While his composition career sometimes left him feeling dry of
musical ideas, Tchaikovsky’s musical output was astonishing
and included at this later stage of his life two of his greatest
works: The Nutcracker and Iolanta, both of which premiered
in St. Petersburg. He conducted the premiere of his sixth
symphony, Pathétique, in St. Petersburg as well, but received
only a lukewarm reception, partially due to his shy, lackluster
personality. The persona carried over into his conducting
technique that was rather reserved and subdued, leading to a
less than emotion-packed performance by his orchestra. A few
days after the premiere, while he was still in St. Petersburg,
Tchaikovsky ignored warnings against drinking unboiled
water, warnings due to the current prevalence of cholera there.
He contracted the disease and died within a week at the age
of fifty-three years old. Immediately upon his tragic death, the
Symphonie Pathétique earned great acclaim that it has held ever
since.
In the nineteenth century and still today, Tchaikovsky is
among the most highly esteemed of composers. Russians have
the highest regard for Tchaikovsky as a national artist.
Tchaikovsky incorporated the national emotional feelings and
culture—from its simple countryside to its busy cities—into
his music. Along with his nationalist influences, such as
Russian folk songs, Tchaikovsky enjoyed studying and
incorporating German symphony, Italian opera, and French
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Ballet. He was comfortable with all of these disparate sources
and gave all his music lavish melodies flooding with emotion.
Tchaikovsky composed a tremendously wide spectrum of
music, with ten operas including Eugene Onegin, The Maid
of Orleans, Queen of Spades, and Iolanthe; internationallyacclaimed ballets, including Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty,
The Nutcracker, Snow Maiden, and Hamlet; six symphonies,
three piano concertos, various overtures, chamber music,
piano solos, songs, and choral works.
Listening Guide: 1812 Overture
Performed by: Cincinnatti Pops Orchestra with
Damon Gupton, conductor
• Composer: Pyotr (Peter) Ilyich
Tchaikovsky (b. 1840-1893)
• Composition: 1812 Overture
• Date: 1882
• Genre: Symphonic Overture
• Form: Two-part overture; Choral and
Finale
• Performing Forces: Large orchestra,
including a percussion section with large
bells and a battery of cannons
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What we want you to remember about this
composition:
• The piece depicts preparation for war, the
actual conflict, and victory after the war is
ended. It is quite descriptive in nature.
• Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture is one of the
most famous and forceful pieces of
classical music. The 1812 Overture is
particularly famous for its epic finale.
• It was made famous and mainstream to
the public in the United States through
public concerts on July 4th by city
orchestras such as the Boston Pops.
• Though the piece was written to celebrate
the anniversary of Russia’s victory over
France in 1812, the piece’s finale is very
often used for the 4th of July during
fireworks displays.
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Timing Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
0:00
The Russian hymn “Spasi, Gospodi, Iyudi Tvoya” (“O
Lord, Save Thy People”) is performed in the strings.
2:20
The music morphs into a more suspenseful style
creating tension of possible upcoming conflict.
4:04
Snare drums set a military tone as the overtures theme
is introduced. Listen how the rhythms line up clear and
precise.
5:00
An energetic disjunctive style portray an attack from
the French. Brief motives of La Marseillaise, the French
national anthem are heard. The energy continues to
build. The tension diminishes.
7:01
A reference to a lyrical section is heard contrasting the
previous war scene.
8:39
A traditional folkdance -tune “U vorot” (“At the
gate”) from Russia is introduced into the work.
9:20
The energetic conflicting melodies are reintroduced
depicting conflict.
10:55
The lyrical peaceful tune is reintroduced.
11:42
The folk dance is reintroduced.
12:03
The French Marseillaise motive appears again in the
horns.The tension and energy again build.
12:30
Percussion and even real cannons are used to depict the
climax of the war conflict. This followed by a musical
loss of tension through descending and broadening
lines in the strings.
13:24
The Russian Hymn is heard again in victory with the
accompaniment of all the church bells in celebration
commemorating victory throughout Russia.
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Timing Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
14:30
The music excels portraying a hasty French retreat
14:40
The Russian anthem with cannons/percussion
overpowers the French theme, The church bells join in
again symbolic of the Russian victory.
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Music of John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa Portrait By Elmer Chickering
John Philip Sousa, (b. Nov. 6, 1854-1939) was born in
Washington, D.C. to a father, John Antonio Sousa, who
played trombone in the U.S. Marine band, and a mother,
Maria Elisabeth Trinkaus, of Bavarian descent. The young
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Sousa was raised in a very musical environment and began
studying voice, violin, piano, flute, baritone, trombone, and
alto horn when his peers were just beginning first grade. Sousa
was an adventurous young man. At the young age of thirteen,
he unsuccessfully tried to run away to join a circus band.
Immediately after this episode, his father enlisted him in the
Marines as a band apprentice in the Marine Band. There he
remained until he reached the age of twenty, complementing
his Marine Band training in music by studying composition
and music theory with the locally highly acclaimed orchestra
leader, George Felix Benkert. During these early years with the
Marine Band and under the music mentorship of Benkert,
Sousa composed his first piece, Moonlight on the Potomac
Waltzes.
Upon his honorable discharge from the Marines in 1875, the
twenty-one-year-old Sousa began performing on violin and
touring. While playing violin, Sousa performed under the
baton of Jacques Offenbach at the Centenary Exhibition in
Philadelphia and Sousa’s music later showed Offenbach’s
influence. While playing the violin in various theater
orchestras, Sousa learned to conduct, a skill he would use for
the remainder of his career. This period of Sousa’s career
eventually led to his conducting Gilbert and Sullivan’s H. M.
S. Pinafore on Broadway in New York. In 1879, while
conducting in Broadway, Sousa met Jane van Middlesworth
whom he married in December of that year. About a year
later, Sousa assumed the leadership post of the Marine Band
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with the couple moving to Washington, D.C. Sousa conducted
the Marine Band for the following twelve years, under the
presidential administrations of Rutherford Hayes, James
Garfield, Grover Cleveland, Chester Arthur, and Benjamin
Harrison. Sousa composed and performed repertoire at the
request of these presidents and their respective first families.
In 1886, The Gladiator, using his most recognizable music
form of the march, received national recognition from military
bandleaders. Two years later, he dedicated his newly composed
march Semper Fidelis to the officers and men of the Marne
Corps; that piece now is traditionally known as the “official”
march of the Marine Corps.
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The Marine Band made its first recordings under Sousa’s
leadership. The phonograph had just recently been invented,
and the Columbia Phonograph Company, seeking a military
band to record, selected the Marine Band. They first released
sixty recording cylinders and, within the decade, recorded and
released for sale more than 400 different titles. These
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recordings made Sousa’s marches and their performance by the
Marine Band among the most popular to be recorded.
Having achieved stardom, the Marine Band went on two
limited but successful tours in 1891-92. After completing
these tours, promoter David Blakely convinced Sousa to resign
his post to organize a civilian concert band. Sousa did so,
forming the New Marine Band which was a concert rather
than a marching band. After receiving criticism from
Washington for using the word “Marine” in the title of his
civilian band, Sousa eventually dropped it from its name. The
new band’s first performance was on September 26, 1892, in
Stillman Music Hall in Plainfield, New Jersey. Two days prior
to the concert, acclaimed bandmaster, Patrick Gilmore, died
in St. Louis. Eventually, nineteen former musicians from
Gilmore’s band joined Sousa’s band. The names of many of
these nineteen musicians are still recognized today, including
Herbert L. Clark on cornet and E. A. Lefebre on saxophone.
While conducting this new band, Sousa also continued to
compose music. When vacationing in Europe with his wife
in 1896, he received news that David Blakely had died. The
couple immediately departed for home. During this time
traveling back to the United States, Sousa wrote his most
famous composition, The Stars and Stripes Forever.
From 1900 to 1910, the Sousa band toured extensively. Tours
included performances in the United States, Great Britain,
Europe, South Africa, Australia, Canada, New Zealand,
Hawaii, and the South Pacific in the Canary Islands. These
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performances and tours contributed to Sousa’s band’s
reputation as the most admired American band of its time.
After WWI, Sousa continued to tour with his band and
became a champion and advocate for music education for all
children; he also testified for composer’s rights before
Congress in 1927 and 1928. His success won him many titles
and honorary degrees. Other successes included his serving
as guest speaker and conductor for the Marine Band in
Washington, D.C. in 1932, performing The Stars and Stripes
Forever. Later that same year, following a rehearsal of the
Ringgold Band in Reading, Pennsylvania, the seventy-sevenyear-old Sousa passed away.
Sousa had composed 136 marches, many on the fly in
preparation for a performance in the next town. Sousa’s bestknown marches include The Stars and Stripes Forever,
Washington Post, The Liberty Bell, Daughters of Texas, The
Thunderer, King Cotton, and Manhattan Beach. Sousa also
wrote ten operas, including El Capitan, The Queen of Hearts,
The Smugglers, and Desiree, as well as a series of music suites
and seventy songs.
In 1987, The Stars and Stripes Forever march was designated as
the national march of the United States. Sousa became known
as the “March King.”
Sousa: The Stars and Stripes Forever
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Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (7 July 1860–18 May 1911) was an Austrian
late-Romantic composer and one of the leading conductors of
his generation. As a composer, he acted as a bridge between the
19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of
the early 20th century. While in his lifetime his status as a
conductor was established beyond question, his own music
gained wide popularity only after periods of relative neglect
which included a ban on its performance in much of Europe
during the Nazi era. After 1945 the music was discovered and
championed by a new generation of listeners; Mahler then
became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of
all composers, a position he has sustained into the 21st century.
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Gustav Mahler Portrait By Moritz Nähr
Born in humble circumstances, Mahler displayed his musical
gifts at an early age. After graduating from the Vienna
Conservatory in 1878, he held a succession of conducting
posts of rising importance in the opera houses of Europe,
culminating in his appointment in 1897 as director of the
Vienna Court Opera (Hofoper). During his ten years in
Vienna, Mahler—who had converted to Catholicism to secure
the post—experienced regular opposition and hostility from
the anti-Semitic press. Nevertheless, his innovative
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productions and insistence on the highest performance
standards ensured his reputation as one of the greatest opera
conductors, particularly as an interpreter of the stage works
of Wagner and Mozart. Late in his life, he was briefly director
of New York’s Metropolitan Opera and the New York
Philharmonic.
Mahler’s œuvre is relatively small; for much of his life
composing was necessarily a part-time activity while he earned
his living as a conductor. Aside from early works such as a
movement from a piano quartet composed when he was a
student in Vienna, Mahler’s works are designed for large
orchestral forces, symphonic choruses, and operatic soloists.
Most of his twelve symphonic scores are very large-scale works,
often employing vocal soloists and choruses in addition to
augmented orchestral forces. These works were often
controversial when first performed, and several were slow to
receive critical and popular approval; exceptions included his
Symphony No. 2, Symphony No. 3, and the triumphant
premiere of his Eighth Symphony in 1910. Some of Mahler’s
immediate musical successors included the composers of the
Second Viennese School, notably Arnold Schoenberg, Alban
Berg, and Anton Webern. Shostakovich and Benjamin Britten
are among 20th-century composers who admired and were
influenced by Mahler. The International Gustav Mahler
Institute was established in 1955 to honor the composer’s life
and work.
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Antecedents and Influences
Mahler was a “late Romantic,” part of an ideal that placed
Austro-German classical music on a higher plane than other
types, through its supposed possession of particular spiritual
and philosophical significance. He was one of the last major
composers of a line that includes, among others, Beethoven,
Schubert, Liszt, Wagner, Bruckner, and Brahms. From these
antecedents, Mahler drew many of the features that were to
characterize his music. Thus, from Beethoven’s Ninth
Symphony came the idea of using soloists and a choir within
the symphonic genre. From Beethoven, Liszt, and (from a
different musical tradition) Berlioz came the concept of
writing music with an inherent narrative or “program,” and of
breaking away from the traditional four-movement symphony
format. The examples of Wagner and Bruckner encouraged
Mahler to extend the scale of his symphonic works well beyond
the previously accepted standards, to embrace an entire world
of feeling.
Early critics maintained that Mahler’s adoption of many
different styles to suit different expressions of feeling meant
that he lacked a style of his own; Cooke on the other hand
asserts that Mahler “redeemed any borrowings by imprinting
his [own] personality on practically every note” to produce
music of “outstanding originality.” Music critic Harold
Schonberg sees the essence of Mahler’s music in the theme of
struggle, in the tradition of Beethoven. However, according
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to Schonberg, Beethoven’s struggles were those of “an
indomitable and triumphant hero,” whereas Mahler’s are
those of “a psychic weakling, a complaining adolescent who . . .
enjoyed his misery, wanting the whole world to see how he was
suffering.” Yet, Schonberg concedes, most of the symphonies
contain sections in which Mahler the “deep thinker” is
transcended by the splendor of Mahler the musician.
Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand
Mahler’s Eighth Symphony is a symphony in only the
loosest sense. One of his best-known works, it follows almost
none of the standard conventions for a symphony. For
example, it has only two movements, and it calls for multiple
choirs in addition to an enormous orchestra.
Introduction
The Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major by Gustav Mahler is
one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert
repertoire. Because it requires huge instrumental and vocal
forces it is frequently called the “Symphony of a Thousand,”
although the work is often performed with fewer than a
thousand, and Mahler himself did not sanction the name. The
work was composed in a single inspired burst, at Maiernigg in
southern Austria in the summer of 1906. The last of Mahler’s
works that premiered in his lifetime, the symphony was a
critical and popular success when he conducted its first
performance in Munich on 12 September 1910.
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The fusion of song and symphony had been a characteristic
of Mahler’s early works. In his “middle” compositional period
after 1901, a change of direction led him to produce three
purely instrumental symphonies. The Eighth, marking the end
of the middle period, returns to a combination of orchestra
and voice in a symphonic context. The structure of the work
is unconventional; instead of the normal framework of several
movements, the piece is in two parts. Part I is based on the
Latin text of a 9th-century Christian hymn for Pentecost, Veni
creator spiritus (“Come, Creator Spirit”), and Part II is a
setting of the words from the closing scene of Goethe’s Faust.
The two parts are unified by a common idea, that of
redemption through the power of love, a unity conveyed
through shared musical themes.
Symphony 8 veni creator spiritus
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Mahler had been convinced from the start of the work’s
significance; in renouncing the pessimism that had marked
much of his music, he offered the Eighth as an expression of
CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM | 585
confidence in the eternal human spirit. In the period following
the composer’s death, performances were comparatively rare.
However, from the mid-20th century onwards the symphony
has been heard regularly in concert halls all over the world and
has been recorded many times.
Listening – Part II: Closing scene from Goethe’s Faust
The second part of the symphony follows the narrative of
the final stages in Goethe’s poem—the journey of Faust’s soul,
rescued from the clutches of Mephistopheles, on to its final
ascent into heaven. Landmann’s proposed sonata structure for
the movement is based on a division, after an orchestral
prelude, into five sections which he identifies musically as an
exposition, three development episodes, and a finale.
Finale
The final development episode is a hymn-like tenor solo
and chorus, in which Doctor Marianus calls on the penitents
to “Gaze aloft.” A short orchestral passage follows, scored for
an eccentric chamber group consisting of piccolo, flute,
harmonium, celesta, piano, harps, and a string quartet. This
acts as a transition to the finale, the Chorus Mysticus, which
begins in E-flat major almost imperceptibly—Mahler’s
notation here is Wie ein Hauch, “like a breath.” The sound
rises in a gradual crescendo, as the solo voices alternately join
or contrast with the chorus. As the climax approaches, many
themes are reprised: the love theme, Gretchen’s song, the
Accende from Part I. Finally, as the chorus concludes with
“Eternal Womanhood draws us on high,” the off-stage brass re-
586 | CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM
enters with a final salute on the Veni creator motif, to end the
symphony with a triumphant flourish.
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Briscoe, James R. Historical Anthology of Music by Women.
Indiana University Press, 1986. Project MUSE. This work is
licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Amy Marcy Beach
(1867-1944)
By ADRIENNE FRIED BLOCK
An American-born and American-trained
member of the Second New England School of
Composers, Amy Cheney Beach (Mrs. H. H. A.
CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM | 587
Beach) was the first woman in the United States
to have a successful career as a composer of
large-scale art music. She was prodigiously
talented not only as a pianist and composer but
also intellectually and was recognized during her
lifetime as the dean of American women
composers. She made her debut as a pianist in
Boston at age fifteen. During the next two years,
she played recitals and was widely hailed as a
fine pianist on her way to a brilliant performing
career. In 1885, a momentous year for her, Amy
Cheney played for the first time with the Boston
Symphony Orchestra, began a lifetime
association with the Boston publisher Arthur P.
Schmidt, and married the 43-year-old widower
Henry Harris Aubrey Beach. Dr. Beach was a
surgeon and society physician as well as an
amateur singer, pianist, poet, and painter. For
the next 25 years, Beach concentrated on
composition, giving only occasional concerts.
Leading artists and ensembles performed her
works in the United States and Europe.
588 | CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM
Figure 20.2 | Amy Marcy Beach
Dr. Beach died in 1910. A year later Beach went
to Europe to rest, then to rebuild her career as a
concert pianist, and not least to have her works
performed and reviewed in Europe. After a
highly successful three years, she returned to the
CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM | 589
United States on the eve of World War I, already
booked for the 1914-15 concert season. From
then until the mid-1930s, she undertook annual
winter concert tours but devoted her summers
to composition.
Beach was a prolific composer with 152 opus
numbers to her credit. Her catalog includes over
110 songs, piano pieces, sacred and secular choral
works with and without orchestra, chamber
music, a symphony, a piano concerto, a Mass
with orchestra, and a one-act opera, Cabildo.
Beach’s early works are in the late Romantic
tradition. Her harmonic vocabulary recalls that of
both Brahms, in its richness, and Wagner, in its
restless modulations. The energy and passion are
her own, however, as is her gift for spinning out
a long lyrical line. Some works composed after
1914 reveal the influence of French
Impressionism along with a new leanness and
restraint.
Beach set works by American, English, French,
and German poets, as well as more exotic texts,
such as the Scottish dialect poems of Robert
Burns. As early as her very first set of songs,
590 | CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM
published in 1885, Beach’s lyrical gifts and
sensitivity to language are apparent. “Elle et moi”
(My Sweetheart and I), composed in 1893 to a
text by Félix Bovet, is in the tradition of Schubert
and the Lied. It has an accompaniment figure
that expresses one central musical idea, possibly
inspired by the idea of the flame, while the voice
line, in its fioritura, suggests the butterfly’s
fluttering wings.
On May 28, 1893, the same year that “Elle et
moi” appeared in print, an article in the Boston
Herald reported that Antonin Dvořák, visiting
head of the National Conservatory of Music in
New York (1892-95), recommended that
American composers look to their own folk
music for thematic materials for their art music.
According to the article, Dvorak advocated the
use of “plantation melodies and slave songs.” In
response, Beach wrote in a solicited statement
that Negro melodies “are not fully typical of our
nation. . . . We of the north should be far more
likely to be influenced by old English, Scotch, or
Irish songs, inherited with our literature from our
ancestors.” Her Symphony in E minor, subtitled
“Gaelic” and completed in 1894, may well have
CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM | 591
been her thoughtful response to Dvorak’s
challenge. The first performance on October 31,
1896, by the Boston Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Emil Paur, had wide and mostly
positive coverage by the critics. During
succeeding years, leading orchestras in the
United States and abroad performed the
symphony.
Symphony in E minor
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Licensing & Attributions
Adapted
from
“Nineteenth-Century
Music
and
Romanticism” by Jeff Kluball and Elizabeth Kramer from
Understanding Music Past and Present
Edited and additional material by Jennifer Bill
592 | CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM
Gustav Mahler from Music 101
Elliott Jones, Santa Ana College, www.sac.edu.
Licensing & Attributions CC licensed content, Original CC
licensed content, Original • Authored by Authored by: Elliott
Jones.Provided by Provided by: Santa Ana College.Located
at Located at:http://www.sac.edu.License License:CC BY:
Attribution CC licensed content, Shared previously CC
licensed content, Shared previously • Gustav Mahler.Provided
by Provided by: Wikipedia.Located at Located
at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Mahler.License
License:CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
Media Attributions
• Johannes Brahms © Wikipedia is licensed under a Public
Domain license
• Private: Smetana Portrait © Geskel Saloman via.
Wikipedia is licensed under a Public Domain license
• Private: Antonín Dvořák Portrait © Wikipedia is
licensed under a Public Domain license
• Private: Pyotr Tchaikovsky Portrait © By Émile
Reutlinger via. Wikipedia is licensed under a Public
Domain license
• Private: John Philip Sousa Portrait © Elmer Chickering
via. Wikipedia is licensed under a Public Domain license
• Private: Gustav Mahler Portrait © Wikipedia is licensed
under a Public Domain license
CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM | 593
• Amy Marcy Beach © Wikipedia is licensed under a
Public Domain license
594 | CHAPTER 20: ABSOLUTE SYMPHONY AND NATIONALISM
UNIT VII: MUSIC OF THE 20TH CENTURY | 595
PART VII
UNIT VII: MUSIC OF
THE 20TH
CENTURY
596 | UNIT VII: MUSIC OF THE 20TH CENTURY
CHAPTER 21: MUSICALS | 597
CHAPTER 21: MUSICALS
Introduction
by Jennifer Bill
The American musical is a dynamic artistic medium that
beautifully blends music, narrative, and performance,
resulting in a profound influence on both the world of
entertainment and society at large. The musical combines
elements of music, dance, and theater. Musicals tell stories
through a combination of spoken dialogue, song, and
choreography, creating a dynamic and engaging experience for
audiences. Emerging in the early 20th century, musicals have
evolved into a multifaceted genre with a rich history and
cultural impact.
The musical as a genre is known for its ability to explore
a wide range of themes, from love and friendship to political
and social commentary. It often features memorable songs that
become cultural touchstones, and the choreography adds a
visual dimension that enhances the storytelling.
Throughout its history, American musicals have diversified
in style, embracing various genres such as comedy, drama,
romance, and even incorporating elements of fantasy and
science fiction. They have also become a global phenomenon,
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captivating audiences around the world and inspiring
adaptations, revivals, and new creations.
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Broadway, located in New York City, has been the epicenter of
American musical theater, producing countless iconic shows
that have left a lasting mark on popular culture. Musicals like
“Oklahoma!”, “West Side Story”, “The Sound of Music”, “Les
Misérables”, “Hamilton”, and many others have not only
entertained audiences but also tackled social issues, conveyed
powerful emotions, and reflected the spirit of their respective
eras.
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The American Musical
What is the American musical? It is many things: a fusion of
song, dance, spoken and sung dialogue, and visual elements; an
essential form of entertainment in popular culture; a venue for
the expression of political and social themes that have shaped
the American experience; a money-making enterprise, with
big-budget productions requiring an enormous outlay of
funds from wealthy sponsors; and a genre that both shapes
and has been shaped by American culture. For many, it is
synonymous with Broadway, hence the moniker “the
Broadway musical.” But the musical is not just on Broadway.
It is everywhere, in every major city in America and many
smaller ones. Musicals are performed by professional touring
companies and amateur community theatre groups and by
young people in secondary schools, and they represent an area
of study at colleges and universities.
Musicals are increasingly available to larger audiences
through films with performances by major stars. Marquee stars
such as Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe routinely perform in
live award-winning Broadway musicals. Popular television
shows even occasionally spoof or pay homage to the musical;
memorable episodes of Scrubs, Grey’s Anatomy, Phineas and
Ferb, and Always Sunny in Philadelphia have featured
production numbers in which the lead characters sing and
dance.
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The musical is a living genre, one whose history is still
developing.
Musical Comedies
1920s and 1930s
of
the
Musical theater in the 1920s and 1930s was all about
entertainment. Dance —particularly tap dance —was a crucial
element in the early musical comedies popular during these
CHAPTER 21: MUSICALS | 601
decades. The plots of musical comedies are usually considered
frivolous, a result of viewing them through the lens of today’s
book musicals. Musical comedies of the 1920s, like any other
genre, need to be understood in their own time, place, and
context. They do have narratives, but they stand apart from
book musicals because their emphasis is more on comedy and
dance rather than on drama and character development. The
musical language of jazz and other types of American popular
music greatly influenced the musical theater of this era.
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Figure 21.1 | (top) Ira Gershwin and (bottom) George
Gershwin.
The brothers George and Ira Gershwin (composer and
lyricist, respectively) created many of this era’s most popular
works. Songs from some of their musicals took on lives of their
own, becoming popular in their own right, independent of the
shows in which they had their premieres. At the same time,
many of the era’s big stars had their debuts in Gershwin shows.
The title song of Strike Up the Band (1927) was the Gershwins’
first hit of the 1930s. The catchy tune “Fascinating Rhythm”
with its driving syncopations was first heard in Lady Be Good
(1924), the show in which siblings Fred and Adele Astaire
made their debut as dancers. The lovely ballad “Someone to
Watch over Me” was first heard in Oh, Kay! (1926). Girl Crazy
(1930) introduced Ethel Merman to the theater-going public.
Her performance of “I Got Rhythm,” and Ginger Rogers’s
“Embraceable You,” helped to popularize these songs. The
show spawned the partnership of Fred Astaire and Ginger
CHAPTER 21: MUSICALS | 603
Rogers, one of the greatest dance teams in the history of
musicals. Although the show itself, like many of the musical
comedies of these decades, did not enjoy lasting popularity, it
took on new life much later, being revamped as Crazy for You
in 1992. The Gershwins’ Of Thee I Sing (1931) was the first
musical to win a Pulitzer Prize for drama and the first show to
have its book—the spoken dialogue apart from the song lyrics
—published separately.
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Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, the first composer-lyricist
team to attain recognition as such, had a hit with On Your Toes
(1936). The great choreographer George Balanchine created
the dances, which were central to the plot, and Rodgers and
Hart wrote the book together, in a partnership that would
span twenty-four years. Between the 1920s and 1940s, Rogers
and Hart wrote over 30 musical comedies for stage and
Hollywood.
CHAPTER 21: MUSICALS | 605
Figure 21.2 | Rogers and Hart
Blue Moon
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Irving Berlin is known better today for a show that came much
later in his career: Annie Get Your Gun (1946). His reputation
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in the 1930s was built on the strength of his songs, many of
which were wildly popular, such as “There’s No Business Like
Show Business,” “God Bless America,” “White Christmas,”
“Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” and “Blue Skies,” to name a few.
Berlin wrote both the music and lyrics for his songs, as did
Cole Porter, one of the most important figures from around
this time. Porter, like Berlin, was classically trained in music,
and like Berlin, Porter also had a hit later in his career with Kiss
Me Kate (1948). Porter’s songs have a technical complexity
unmatched by those of any of his contemporaries. Porter’s
lyrics are witty and suggestive and often exhibit a sophisticated
use of rhyme. His musical Anything Goes (1934) was a vehicle
for Ethel Merman (it highlighted her as the star); the title song
is typical of Porter’s style. Again, dance is a central element
in the narrative. The show’s revivals in 1987, 2011, and 2021
demonstrate its popularity with modern audiences.
Berlins No Business Like Show Business
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Anything Goes 2011 Revival
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The best-known musical of this era is decidedly not a comedy.
Show Boat (1927), by composer Jerome Kern and librettist
Oscar Hammerstein II, is an actual book musical, widely
considered the very first in the genre’s history. With its serious
tone and treatment of controversial issues of race, this work
stands apart from the popular emphasis on light-hearted
entertainment that characterized shows from around its time.
Based on a 1926 novel by Edna Ferber with the same title,
the show deals with issues of race and class, demonstrating
the controversy surrounding interracial marriage. Another
innovation concerns the integration of the songs into the plot.
Show Boat’s songs are more central to the narrative than those
of earlier (and later) musical comedies. This element would
become a defining characteristic of the later book musical.
Can’t Help Lovin That Man
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Old Man River
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Unfortunately, Show Boat did not inspire a trend. The work
and its innovations would not be influential in the
development of the musical until the 1940s, when Oklahoma!,
the next great book musical and the one to usher in the
tradition of greater emphasis on dramatic content, had its
premiere.
The Rise and Dominance of
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the Book Musical in the
1940s and 1950s
The 1940s and 1950s were dominated by the book musical.
Creators and audiences increasingly favored shows that were
based on some sort of literary source (such as a book, play,
novel, or story), many of which were serious in tone and
content. They typically featured down-to-earth, realistic
characters with whom people could identify and had a
recognizable storyline. The songs in works during this period
were part of the dramatic fabric and essential to the narrative,
a result of the close collaboration between the members of
the creative teams who conceived the works. In contrast to
earlier shows, the musicals of the 1940s and 1950s combined
lighthearted and comic elements with those of a greater depth
and weight, with characters that are more complex as
individuals and in relation to each other. A sense of unity
pervades the shows of these decades, with an emphasis on a
smooth integration of all the elements.
The musicals of the two great teams of the 1940s and 1950s
are the essence of the genre, classics that are still popular today;
many are given regular productions in community theatres
around the country as well as revivals on Broadway. The
formula they created was expanded upon by their successors,
and elements of it are evident in shows throughout the
remaining decades of the twentieth century. Shows from this
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era are sometimes called “symphonic musicals” because they
are symphonic in conception and execution, calling for the
resources of a full classical orchestra. The composers of these
partnerships carefully utilized particular instrumental colors
in composing their musical scores, and professional orchestral
musicians played in pit orchestras on Broadway.
Overture South Pacific
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Richard Rodgers (composer) and Osear Hammerstein II
(lyricist) began to collaborate after Rodgers’s partnership
with Lorenz Hart came to an end. Oklahoma! (1943), based
on the play Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs, was their
first collaboration. It was immensely popular, one of the most
successful musicals ever on Broadway. It broke the record for
the show with the longest run, with more than two thousand
performances (a record it would hold for fifteen years), and
won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Its choreographer was
Agnes de Mille, whose balletic style transformed theatrical
dance and who originated the dream ballet (an extended
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sequence in which a character’s dream is acted out by dancers).
The original cast recording helped make the show famous
nationally.
Oklahoma “People Will Say We’re In Love” (start at 54
seconds)
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Revival 2019
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Carousel (1945) dealt with the somber theme of spousal abuse
and featured an onstage death. Again, Agnes de Milles
choreography was, like the songs, an essential component of
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the storytelling. One of the songs, “What’s the Use of
Wond’rin?” is an example of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s
expansion of the classic song form to include participation by
the chorus.
Carousel “What’s the Use of Wond’rin?”
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South Pacific (1949) and The King and I (1951) share some
common features. Both are based on novels, are set in exotic
locales, and deal with issues of racism and ethnic prejudice
—how it is both created and overcome. South Pacific’s “You
Have to Be Carefully Taught” addressed this issue explicitly.
Both shows also centered on unusual love interests represented
by lead characters from different cultural traditions and have
many memorable songs that became associated with the music
of the era (“Some Enchanted Evening” from South Pacific;
“Shall We Dance?” and “Getting to Know You” from The
King and I). The Sound of Music (1959) is perhaps their most
famous show, known to family audiences through the wellloved film version from 1965 starring Julie Andrews.
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“You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught”
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“Some Enchanted evening”
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Frederick Loewe (composer) and Alan Jay Lerner
(lyricist) built successfully on the Rodgers and Hammerstein
model. Lerner, unlike most lyricists, had musical training. The
two began collaborating in the early 1940s. Their Brigadoon
(1947), set in a mystical land in the highlands of Scotland,
appealed to audiences for its elements of fantasy and exoticism.
Their greatest hit, My Fair Lady (1956), was based on George
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Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion. Against a backdrop of class
conflict in nineteenth-century Britain, it introduced lively and
lovable characters and situations. Camelot (1960) recreated the
medieval world of King Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere,
retelling the story of their love triangle.
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The film versions of these shows brought them to a broad
audience. These were often heavily revised versions of the
originals, with nonsinging film actors whose voices were
dubbed (Audrey Hepburn’s portrayal of Eliza Doolittle in My
Fair Lady is a classic example). These musicals thus developed
a national following that shows from the early years of the
century never had. The existence of these shows as films
contributed greatly to their status as classics that they enjoy
today.
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Varieties of Nostalgia in the
1950s
The shows of these two towering creative teams were not the
only ones to receive acclaim or to introduce innovations.
Musicals carried different meanings for different audiences.
The themes of the stories and situations dealt with many
different issues and topics that were both appealing and
thought-provoking in diverse ways and to varying degrees.
Several important shows by other composers evoked a
nostalgic view of America. They are known as works by their
composers alone, rather than as ones that represent a
partnership.
Guys and Dolls (1950), by Frank Loesser, was based on
characters from stories by Damon Runyon set in the New York
underworld of the 1920s and 1930s (which became known as
“Runyonland”).
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The Music Man (1957), by Meredith Willson, another
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classically trained musician, is the love story of a librarian and
a traveling salesman set in small-town Iowa. Audiences loved
the sweet, romantic view of urban and rural surroundings
depicted by these two shows.
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Gypsy (1959), by Jule Styne, can be viewed as representing
nostalgia of a very different type. Set during the vaudeville
era, it was based on the autobiography of the stripper Gypsy
Rose Lee. Dealing with a hard-edged subject matter, it was
among the first shows to reveal the unpleasant side of human
relationships, with several emotionally wrenching scenes and
songs for Gypsy’s strong-willed mother, Mama Rose.
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Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein is a towering figure in the history of
American music. His contributions to the musical world as
composer, conductor, and educator are unsurpassed by those
of any other artist in America in the second half of the
twentieth century. Bernstein composed concert works in
various genres and film scores as well as musicals. On the Town
(1944), his first musical, took its inspiration from a ballet he
and choreographer Jerome Robbins had created called Fancy
Free. It exhibits the thorough integration of book, music, and
dance so important to Bernstein’s creative vision and that
would become essential to the musical’s later development.
West Side Story (1957) epitomizes Bernstein’s genius as a
craftsman of musical theater and has earned its place as a classic
in the genre. Opening the same year as The Music Man
(demonstrating contemporary audiences’ widely ranging
tastes), it involved the collaboration of the era’s leading artists:
Stephen Sondheim as the lyricist, Arthur Laurents as the
author of the book, and Jerome Robbins as the choreographer.
Themes of discrimination, racism, and love play out in a
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retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet set in 1950s New
York highlighting the relationships between members of rival
gangs and their families. The show’s music is rich in melodic
and harmonic invention. The ensembles are particularly
challenging to coordinate, with dense textures and complex
rhythms. The “Tonight” ensemble is operatic in conception,
with energetic interplay between individual lines as well as
choral groups. Like the best opera composers, Bernstein
portrays characters and their contrasting emotions through
the changing qualities of the music they sing. “America,” with
its driving rhythms and shifting accents, is another high point
of the show; both ensembles require performers who are
skilled dancers as well as exceptional singers.
Tonight
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America
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Expansions of and
Alternatives to the Book
Musical in the 1960s-1980s
Starting in the 1960s, creators of the musical began to
experiment with new ways of telling stories, exploring new
narrative structures that did not rely as greatly on the book
musical’s plot-oriented approach. The book musical never
disappeared or went out of style, however, and is still the most
prevalent genre in popular shows of today. But certain aspects
of its conventions have been influenced by stylistic
developments that started to occur in the second half of the
twentieth century. Some of the categories we will explore here
are not actually different genres, but are ones that place
different amounts and kinds of emphasis on the traditional
musical’s various components.
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Breaking the Mold
Perhaps the most significant change to occur in the book
musical’s development around this time is the continued
broadening of the types of subject matter that came to be
considered acceptable for presentation on the musical stage.
Gypsy, with its gritty realism, might be considered the first
show to have initiated this trend and achieved success. Three
musicals with strong dramatic subjects by new creative teams
stand out as examples: Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s
Fiddler on the Roof (1964), John Kander and Fred Ebb’s
Cabaret (1966), and Chicago (1975). Fiddler and Cabaret were
directed by Hal Prince, whose later collaborations with
Sondheim would continue transforming the genre. Both
shows deal with ethnic prejudice and discrimination, exploring
issues of Jewish cultural identity in different times and places.
Fiddler set a new record, garnering more than three thousand
performances and winning many awards. Jerome Robbins
choreographed the dances, which were increasingly important
to the action, figuring even more greatly into the plot than
those of earlier decades.
Fiddler on the Roof “If I Were a Rich Man”
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Cabaret plays with generic convention perhaps more than any
of its predecessors, the role of the narrator (the emcee of the
Kit Kat Klub, originated by Joel Grey) playing an important
part in that process. In addition, many of the songs are
commentaries on the events in the plot. Based on Christopher
Isherwood’s Berlin Stories, its serious subject—the
encroachment of Nazism in Germany—was given a darkly
ironic treatment.
Cabaret
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Kander and Ebb had another hit with Chicago. Against the
backdrop of prohibition and Al Capone’s crime world,
Chicago integrated vaudeville-influenced songs and images
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with the edgy choreography of Bob Fosse. The ongoing 1996
revival of Chicago is the longest-running show currently on
Broadway.
Chicago
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The most important alternative to the book musical to emerge
in the 1970s was the concept musical. Shows in this genre are
more nonlinear meditations on various themes —explorations
of concepts —than unified stories. A Chorus Line (1975) is
perhaps the first concept musical to gain critical acclaim,
winning nine Tony awards. It is also called a “fully integrated”
musical, a reference to the prominence of dance in the action.
Bob Fosse created the dances, continuing his rise to
prominence as the leading choreographer/director of the
decade. The experiences of dancers auditioning for a place in
a chorus line, and their individual stories, form the dramatic
material. Two songs from the show, in particular, became wellknown: “One” and “What I Did for Love.”
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Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim was arguably one of the most significant
composers in the history of American musical theater. His
eclectic works exhibit a dazzlingly broad range of styles and
types of dramatic and musical expression. His shows
dominated Broadway during the 1970s and much of the
1980s, garnering numerous awards including six Tonys for
Best Broadway Musical. Sondheim was classically trained in
music, having studied with the modernist composer Milton
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Babbitt, but his true mentor was Oscar Hammerstein II. After
he collaborated in West Side Story and Gypsy, Sondheim’s first
show for which he composed all the music was A Funny Thing
Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), a hilarious
throwback to the tradition of musical comedy.
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A recurring theme in his subsequent shows is the many
different ways people communicate with each other —or do
not—in relationships. He creates complex characters who feel
deeply. His shows not only explore his characters’ inner lives
but address basic, larger questions about what motivates
people to do the things they do. The complex psychological
portraits he creates emerge as a central feature of his dramatic
language. Sondheim’s shows often defy categorization because
of his innovative approaches to form and structure and his
tireless search for new ways to manipulate generic conventions.
Company (1970) was the first of Sondheim’s collaborations
with director Hal Prince, a partnership that would last about
a decade and result in the shows Follies, A Little Night Music,
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Pacific Overtures, and Sweeney Todd. Company is a concept
musical exploring the theme of communication; its action
centers on the lead character, a single man named Bobby, and
his relationships to his married friends and girlfriends.
Sondheim both links him with and sets him apart from the
other characters through the use of a particular musical motive
—a short two-pitch unit that is repeated and transformed
throughout the course of the show. The motive is manipulated
in specific ways to reflect Bobby’s relationships with the
characters, and theirs with each other.
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Follies (1971) recreates the lavish world of the Ziegfeld Follies,
within which characters reexamine their life choices and the
consequences of those choices. One of several of Sondheim’s
shows to play with time and its passing in intriguing ways,
Follies uses flashbacks to the characters’ youth as a central
feature of the narrative.
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A Little Night Music (1973) is sometimes referred to as an
operetta for the central role played by the waltz as its
predominant musical style. Its most famous song, “Send In
the Clowns,” is a hauntingly poignant ballad that captures the
bittersweet essence of missed opportunities and lost love.
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Sweeney Todd (1979) has been described as a musical thriller.
Its subject matter —a deranged barber who kills his customers
and sends them to his neighbor, who then turns them into
meat pies to be eaten by the unsuspecting public —is at once
disturbing and irresistible. The story’s passion, tragedy,
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fascinating characters, and suspenseful situations have made it
a modern classic that is both hair-raising and heartbreaking.
Inspired by melodrama and British lore of the nineteenth
century, it is an adaptation of the story The Demon Barber
of Fleet Street. In contrast to conventional musicals, Sweeney
Todd is almost entirely sung throughout (like many operas)
with very little spoken dialogue and extensive underscoring.
The original east included Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou,
who both won Tony awards for their lead roles.
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Sondheim’s prominence lasted into the 1980s and 1990s,
during which he continued to experiment with form and
nonlinear ways of storytelling. In Merrily We Roll Along
(1981) everything runs backward, but audiences found this
reverse narrative structure hard to follow (and consequently
the show was later revised). Sunday in the Park with George
(1984), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (one of the few
musicals to do so), ushered in the era of partnership with James
Lapine, the writer-director who wrote the book. Sondheim
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and Lapine also created Into the Woods and Passion and revised
Merrily We Roll Along. Based on the famous painting of A
Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande fatte by the
pointillist painter Georges Seurat, Sunday in the Park explores
the nature of the creative process, playing with time and
dramatic structure in new ways.
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Into the Woods (1987) exhibits still more innovation. The show
is about community responsibility, as characters in different
fairy tales gradually begin to interact with and learn from each
other in how to live life. Sondheim’s score stands out for its
intricate refinement and evolution of subtle musical motifs,
notably exemplified by the recurring theme of “I wish,”
expressed through a rising major second interval, which serves
as a fundamental building block recurring and evolving
throughout the production—paralleling Lapine’s exploration
of the ramifications of personal desires and aspirations. The
dialogue resonates with a prominent use of syncopated speech,
often delivering characters’ lines in a steady rhythm mirroring
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natural speech patterns, while also intentionally incorporating
eighth, sixteenth, and quarter note rhythms, weaving them
into a spoken song. As is characteristic of many Sondheim/
Lapine collaborations, the songs capture inner reflections,
enabling characters to engage in conversational introspection
and express their thoughts aloud.
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Assassins (1991) is a concept musical and uses an eclectic mix
of musical styles drawn from diverse sources and influences.
Presidential assassins (both actual and would-be) from
different periods of history tell their stories and reveal their
motivations and goals, reflecting on their shared experiences as
alienated outsiders.
Passion (1994) represents in some ways a return to more
traditional storytelling and musical language. The show is
based on the Italian film Passione d’amore, and its musical style
is overtly romantic, with lush harmonies and soaring melodies.
It is perhaps the most sensuous of Sondheim’s musicals.
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New Developments from the
1980s and Beyond: Diversity
Continues
The development of musical theatre from the 1980s to the
present has seen a proliferation of new genres as well as an
ever-increasing overlap among the characteristics that define
them. Questions as to what constitutes the major new trends
and how musical theater will develop in the future continue
to occupy creators, critics, and audiences. Important genres
taking shape are based on factors such as dimensions and
scope, musical style, reuse of earlier music, and relation to film.
And many shows belong to more than one genre.
New Genres and Approaches
Megamusicals are characterized by their grand scale, lavish
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production values, and global popularity. Emerging in the
1980s, it redefined the musical theater landscape by
incorporating elaborate sets, intricate choreography, visual
effects, and memorable musical numbers. These shows often
feature epic narratives, spanning diverse genres and themes,
and are designed to appeal to a broad international audience.
Iconic examples include Cats (1981), Les Misérables (1985),
The Phantom of the Opera (1986), Miss Saigon (1989), The
Lion King (1997), Wicked (2003), and Hamilton (2015).
Phantom of the Opera and Cats, both by British composer
Andrew Lloyd Webber, are among Broadway’s longestrunning shows, and songs from them have become known
internationally.
Phantom
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Memory from Cats
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Lion King
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Many successful shows are based on popular musical styles
for which their genres are named. The rock musical is one
of the most difficult genres to define, primarily because rockinflueneed music has been part of the musical since at least the
1950s. It is a category that is still in flux, with the boundaries of
its definition still being formulated by specialists. Hair (1967),
Jesus Christ Superstar (1970), Godspell (1971), Grease (1972),
Pippin (1972), The Wiz (1975), Rent (1996), and Aida (1998),
are generally considered to be rock musicals. Subcategories
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based on specific popular musical styles have also emerged:
Dreamgirls (1981) is a Motown musical, and City of Angels
(1989 ) represents the jazz musical.
JC Superstar
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Rent
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Dreamgirls
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The pervasiveness of popular musical idioms in musical
theater is one factor in the development of a related genre, the
jukebox musical. Shows in this genre, also sometimes called
“compilation shows,” consist of existing pop songs, whether
by a single group or artist or by different ones from a particular
era: Mamma Mia! (2001), Movin Out (2002), Jersey Boys
(2005), and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (2011) belong to this
category. A few 21st century original rock musical productions
include Spring Awakening (2007), Passing Strange (2008),
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (2008), Rock of Ages (2009),
Next to Normal (2009), American Idiot (2010) and Jagged
Little Pill (2019).
Mama Mia
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Jersey Boys
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Jagged Little Pill
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Hamilton was a groundbreaking musical created by Lin-
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Manuel Miranda that premiered on Broadway in 2015. This
innovative production reimagines the life of Alexander
Hamilton, a Founding Father of the United States, through a
diverse cast and a contemporary blend of hip-hop, R&B, and
traditional musical styles. Through its dynamic storytelling,
catchy songs, and thought-provoking themes of legacy,
ambition, and the cost of power, Hamilton has garnered
widespread acclaim, cultural significance, and numerous
awards, reshaping the musical theater landscape and attracting
a diverse and passionate fanbase.
Hamilton
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Intersections with Film
The musicals relationship with film has been a significant part
of its history. Many of the great shows of the 1940s and 1950s
were made into well-known films, some of which won Oscars
for Best Picture and have become known as classics (such as
West Side Stony My Fair Lady, and The Sound of Music). And
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some musicals that began life as films were produced on the
stage, such as Rodgers and Hammerstein’s State Fair, Lerner
and Loewe’s Gigi, and Singin in the Rain. The Disney variety,
such as The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, represents
particularly interesting crossovers from screen to stage. (These
are sometimes called “movieals”; they also qualify as
megamusicals.)
Different kinds of crossovers are stage shows that are
adaptations of nonmusical films, of which The Producers
represents a successful project, setting a record in 2001 for
winning a total of twelve Tony Awards. Mel Brooks’s show,
starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, started out as
his 1968 film, which starred Gene Wilder and Zero Mostei.
The musical movie version featuring the original Broadway
duo (joined by Will Ferrell and Uma Thurman) came out in
2006.
Producers
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Another show with a similarly circuitous route is the campy
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Little Shop of Horrors: the popular stage show of 1980, based
on a bizarre science-fiction movie from 1960, was made into
a movie featuring Rick Moranis and Steve Martin in 1986.
The award winning Billy Elliott (2008) was based on a non
musical film, as were Nine (1982), Spamalot (2005), School of
Rock (2015), and Beatlejuice (2019) to name a few.
Billy Elliot
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Spamalot
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CHAPTER 21: MUSICALS | 639
Conclusion
by Jennifer Bill
Musical theater continues to evolve while reflecting the
social, political, and artistic currents of each era. Through its
fusion of music, drama, dance, and storytelling, musical
theater entertains, inspires, and provides a platform for societal
reflection. As it continues to adapt and reinvent itself, the
legacy of musical theater stands as a testament to the enduring
power of human creativity and expression, leaving an indelible
mark on the world of performing arts.
Licensing & Attributions
Adapted from “The American Musical” by Margaret R. Butler
from Theatrical Worlds edited by Charlie Mitchell
This work is licensed under a modified Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
Unported License.
Edited and additional content by Jennifer Bill
Media Attributions
• George Gershwin © Wikipedia is licensed under a Public
Domain license
• Ira Gershwin © Wikipedia is licensed under a Public
Domain license
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• Rodgers and Hart © Wikipedia is licensed under a
Public Domain license
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CENTURIES | 641
CHAPTER 22: MODERN
MUSIC OF THE 20TH
AND 21ST CENTURIES
Introduction
What makes music “modern?” This section proposes that
heightened ambiguity differentiates experimental twentiethcentury music from the common-practice era repertoire.
In this section, we will study the ways in which progressive
modern music differs from common-practice era or otherwise
known as “classical” music. We will then use the conceptual
and listening tools that we have developed in earlier units as an
entryway into the modern repertoire.
To truly understand music in the 20th and 21st centuries it
is important to have knowledge of historical events, scientific
developments, technological developments, and parallel art
movements. Supplemental materials on these topics are
available and are highly recommended for the reader to
explore.
What to Expect When
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Listening to Modern Music
Heightening Musical Ambiguity
Because it is non-verbal and often non-representational, music
is particularly ambiguous. And yet, as the following will make
clear, classical composers put a high value on clarity and
resolution. Progressive twentieth-century composers shifted
the balance much more strongly towards the uncertain and the
unresolved.
Individualized Musical
Languages
Within European art music, the common-practice era
denotes the age of tonality, encompassing consistent
characteristics from the mid-Baroque era through the Classical
and Romantic periods, spanning approximately from 1650 to
1900. Throughout these centuries, there was substantial
stylistic evolution, witnessing the rise and fall of patterns and
conventions like standardized harmonic functions, consistent
metric structures, and structural forms such as binary form
and the sonata form. The prevailing and cohesive element that
prevailed throughout this period was tonal harmonic
language.
The shared materials and formal methods of the common-
CHAPTER 22: MODERN MUSIC OF THE 20TH AND 21ST
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practice era helped to make the music more accessible to
audiences. In past units, listening to one common practice era
work helped you understand how to listen to others from the
same time period.
For example, the following excerpts by Franz Schubert and
Johannes Brahms were written seventy years apart, but if
Schubert had been alive to hear Brahms’ work, the music
would no doubt have been intelligible to him.
Franz Schubert: Sonata in A-Major, D. 664 (1819)
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Time: 0 – 0:55
Johannes Brahms: Intermezzo in A-Major, Opus 118
(1893)
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Time: 0 – 1:20
During the twentieth century, the common practice era
came to an end. Composers intensified the individuality of
their musical voices. The following works for similar
instrumentation were composed within several years of each
other:
Igor Stravinsky: The Soldier’s March from L’Histoire
du Soldat (1918)
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Time: 0 – 2:15
Arnold Schonberg: Mondestrunken from Pierrot
Lunaire (1912)
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Time: 0:55 – 2:37
A few decades later, the following string quartets were
written very close together.
Elliot Carter: String Quartet No.1, II (1951)
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John Cage: String Quartet in 4 parts, IV (1950)
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Finally, the following works for two pianos were written
within six years of each other.
Steve Reich: Piano Phase
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Time: 0 – 2:50 (1967)
Pierre Boulez: Structures II for Two Pianos, Chapter
2 (1961)
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Time: 0 – 2:02
Even though these paired pieces share the same
instrumentation and were written around the same time, they
do not share the same musical language. Listening to one piece
does not help teach you how to listen to the other. Each work
and composer must be considered on their own terms.
The personality of individual musical languages was
established in a multitude of ways. Some composers, such as
Harry Partch, invented their own instruments. (Partch gave
his instruments such fanciful names such as Cloud-Chamber
Bowls, Diamond Marimba, and Chromolodeon.)
Explanations of Partch instruments
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Time: 2:45 – 3:50 and 7:50 – 9:40
Harry Partch: Castor & Pollux
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Time: 0 – 1:20
Some, like Pierre Schaeffer, Pierre Henry, and Mario
Davidovsky, pioneered the use of electronic sounds.
Schaeffer and Henry’s Symphonie pour un homme seul
(1950) laid the technical foundations for tape music.
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In Davidovsky’s Synchronism No.9 (1988), live and recorded
electronically transformed violin sounds are intertwined.
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Davidovsky explains that, “One of the central ideas of these
pieces is the search to find ways of embedding both the
acoustic and the electronic into a single, coherent musical and
aesthetic space.”
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Grimshaw, Jeremy (2005). “Mario Davidovsky”, All Music
Guide to Classical Music: The Definitive Guide to Classical
Music, p.341-2. Woodstra, Chris; Brennan, Gerald; and
Schrott, Allen; eds.
Some, such as Charles Ives, blended familiar music in
unusual ways.
In this excerpt from his String Quartet No. 2, Ives creates
a musical “discussion” in which American folk tunes from
North and South are quoted in opposition to each other.
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Time: 4:31 – 5:08
Some, such as the Chinese-American composer Chen Yi,
incorporate influences from non-western cultures.
This example from Yi’s Fiddle Suite uses the string quartet
along with the Chinese erhu.
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Others, such as Elliott Carter and Milton Babbitt, developed
sophisticated, very carefully constructed compositional
methods.
In this excerpt from Carter’s Variations for Orchestra
(1955), sections within the orchestra are characterized
uniquely—the woodwinds, for instance, are soft and slow-
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paced—and then the brass, percussion, and strings are layered
on top of each other in a complex counterpoint.
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Time: 0 – 0:55
Now, over a hundred years after the end of the “common
practice” period, there is an enormous proliferation of musical
styles. The dispersement of the musical community in favor
of much more personal musical languages greatly heightened
ambiguity.
Changing the Common Use
of Musical Elements
Absence of Pulse
A steady pulse or “backbeat,” so crucial to pop music, jazz, and
much world music, provides continuity and predictability:
You tap your feet to the beat.
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Duke Ellington: East St. Louis Toodle-Oo
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A steady meter divides musical time into a fixed cycle of beats.
Classical ballet and ballroom dancing depend on a steady
meter.
Peter Tchaikovsky: “Waltz of the Flowers” from The
Nutcracker ballet
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Time: 0:55 – 1:57
Removing the steady pulse or meter disrupts the musical
continuity and makes events much harder to predict.
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There are two main ways to accomplish this: One is to make
the pulse or meter erratic.
Igor Stravinsky: “Sacrificial Dance” from The Rite of
Spring
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Time: 0 – 0:24
The second is to remove the sense of pulse and meter
altogether, creating what Pierre Boulez has termed “unstriated
time.” In the following example from Boulez’s Eclat, the
solitary, sporadic events seem to float freely, unanchored by
meter or pulse.
Pierre Boulez: Eclat
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Time: 1:30 – 2:04
Weakening the sense of pulse or meter heightens ambiguity
by removing an important frame of reference to the listener.
Unpredictable Continuity
Musch music during the common practice era strove for
maximum clarity. The listener has learned expectations of
what will happen next in the composition. For instance, listen
to the opening of J.S. Bach’s Prelude in E-flat from theWellTempered Clavier, Book I, which was published in 1722. As
you listen, can you predict what happens next?
J. S. Bach: Prelude No. 7 / Well-Tempered Clavier,
Book I
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Time: 0 – 0:32
The first few exchanges between upper and lower registers
created the expectation that the lower register will continue to
imitate the upper. Sure enough, the lower register answers in
fast motion, confirming our prediction.
A surprise occurs when one outcome is strongly anticipated
but another one occurs. Ambiguity arises when multiple
outcomes are all equally expected or no clear forecast can be
made. Listen to the opening of the second movement of Igor
Stravinsky’s Three Pieces for String Quartet, which was
published in 1922. As you listen, can you predict what
happens next in the music?
Igor Stravinsky: Three Pieces for String Quartet, II
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Time: 1:17 – 2:00
This time, you were likely to have much less confidence
in your prediction. In the Bach example, a pattern was
established: the upper voice was repeatedly answered by the
lower. Stravinsky does not establish a consistent pattern,
making any predictions much more uncertain. When we
cannot confidently forecast what will happen in the future,
ambiguity is heightened.
Minimal Exposition
In music, expository statements (musical themes) establish the
identity of a musical idea;
developmental passages put the idea into action. Most
classical music operates like this: an idea is first introduced,
then put into action.
J. S. Bach: “Contrapunctus IX” from The Art of the
Fugue
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When the exposition is abbreviated and development
intensified, ambiguity is heightened.
Milton Babbit: Post-Partitions
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In the most extreme cases, a modern work may consist
exclusively of development. In such cases, the identity of the
underlying material may be very difficult to perceive.
Lack of Resolution
In classical music, dissonance is a tendency tone that is
considered unstable. A dissonance demands continuation: It
must resolve to a stable tone, called a consonance.
Classical music makes an essential promise: All dissonances
will resolve. Sometimes, resolutions are delayed; or new
dissonances enter just as others are resolved. Eventually,
however, the music will reach a state of repose and clarity.
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1, IV
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Time: 5:20 – 6:04
In progressive modern music, dissonance is frequently
intensified and sustained way beyond classical expectations.
Henry Cowell: Tiger
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Time: 0 – 0:45
In addition, there is a new paradigm: Dissonances no longer
must resolve. Stability and clarification are no longer
guaranteed.
Gyorgy Kurtág: Twelve Microludes, XI
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The absence of resolution at a work’s close guarantees greater
ambiguity. In the following example from Pierre Boulez’s
Dérive (1984), a stable sound is sustained by the violin. The
other instruments dart towards and away from this sound,
never wholeheartedly coinciding with it.
Pierre Boulez: Dérive
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Time: 5:20 – end
There is nothing that we can do to make Boulez’s ending
sound secure. It is inherently more ambivalent.
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Heightened Dissonance
In music theory, dissonance is a functional term. To listeners,
though, “dissonant” is often a value judgment, typically
meaning “harsh” and “unpleasant.” Those attributes, though,
are subjective and carry strong negative connotations. Let us
consider a different description. Acoustically, a stable sound
is more “transparent:” It is easier to identify its inner
constituents. A sound with a lot of dissonance is more
“opaque:” The greater the amount of dissonance, the harder it
is to analyze and interpret the sound.
Gyorgy Ligeti: “Kyrie” from Requiem
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Time: 7:52 – 9:40
It is easy to understand, then, why modern composers
might heighten dissonance: Not necessarily to make the music
more strident but rather to increase the ambiguity by making
the sounds harder to aurally decipher.
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Harmonic Independence
The word harmony describes the notes that are sounding at
the same time. In classical music, no matter how many
instruments are playing, they will share the same harmony.
As one harmony leads to another, the instruments will move
together, partaking of the same notes. In addition to a steady
pulse, harmonic coordination is the primary way that tonal
music coheres. Harmony is the reason that the instruments
“sound good together” even when they are playing
independent lines.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, IV
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Time: 18:50 – 20:10
The absence of harmonic coordination may create great
ambiguity and complexity. Harmonic independence makes is
much harder to get a “comprehensive” overview of how the
instruments fit together.
The third movement of Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia (1968)
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dramatizes this effect. In this movement, the scherzo from
Mahler’s Second Symphony is played continuously. On top of
it, an elaborate collage of music and text is layered: graffiti from
the walls of the Sorbonne, quotes from Samuel Beckett, and
excerpts from classical and modern music. Strong clashes arise
because the collage elements do not agree harmonically with
the Mahler.
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2, III Scherzo
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Luciano Berio: Sinfonia
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Time: 0 – 2:00
Harmonic independence does not mean that modern
composers do not care how independent lines sound together.
They do care, but they are trying to create ambiguity rather
than clarity. Giving each instrument its own musical line
which may complement others in intricate ways, leads to
radically new resulting sounds.
Weak Structural Clarity
In classical music, united emphasis or “rhetorical
reinforcement” is a primary means of creating structural
clarity. In Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, the third movement
continues into the fourth without a break. The boundary
between the movements is marked by strong rhetorical
reinforcement: The dynamics, texture, meter, and speed all
change at once to herald the opening of the fourth movement.
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 5, III-IV
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4:50 – 6:00
In progressive twentieth-century music, rhetorical
reinforcement is often weak or absent. This makes the
structural arrival points much more difficult to perceive. In
Henri Dutilleux’s Ainsi la nuit…(1976), the individual
movements are played without pause. However, the
boundaries between movements are difficult to discern
because there are conflicting aural cues.
Henri Dutilleux, Ainsi la nuit…(1976)
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Time: 3:18 – 4:30
Perhaps you recognized that the second movement begins
with the loud gesture played a little over a minute into the
excerpt. However, this gesture does not have a greater
perceptual priority than other potential markers, such as the
long silences. As a result, you are likely to be far less certain
about the formal boundary.
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Silence
Many musical traditions treat silence as the “absence of
music.” Silence is almost totally absent from pop music. In
classical music, it is used sparingly: It may occur as a “breath”
to short phrases or as a way to clearly separate one section of
the form from another.
The opening of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 (1788) consists
of continuous sound until the arrival of the contrasting
section, which is marked by silence:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 40, I
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Time: 0 – 1:10
In some twentieth-century music, silence began to be
treated as a musical material in its own right. Its musical
information is limited: All we can analyze is how long it lasts.
But, in seeking to heighten ambiguity, this limitation became a
strength. We can read many possible meanings and inferences
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into silence: It is a hesitation, an interruption, a “trap door”
into the unexpected.
Earl Kim: “Thither” from Then and Now
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Time: 2:15 – 3:20
To John Cage, silence marked a musical event over which
the composer had no control, which could function as a
“window” into other sounds. His Imaginary Landscape No.4,
is scored for twelve radios. The performers move the frequency
and volume dials according to precisely timed instructions.
Cage has no control over the resulting sound: It depends
entirely on what is being broadcast that day. At one
performance, none of the frequencies marked in the score
coincided with stations in that location, resulting in a
completely silent performance.
The greater the use of silence, the greater the ambiguity.
John Cage’s 4’33” explained: The music of silence
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Noise
If silence is the “absence of sound,” then noise is
“indiscriminate” or “indistinguishable” sound, in which it is
impossible to tell the pitches or what instruments are playing.
Classical music is generally purged of noise.
To progressive 20th-century composers, the inherent
ambiguity of noise became very attractive.
Composers incorporated noise in their music in numerous
ways. Some brought the outside world into the concert hall.
For instance, to create his electronic composition Finnegan’s
Wake, John Cage recorded sounds in the Dublin
neighborhood where a scene from James Joyce’s novel on
which the piece was based occurred; he then layered these in a
complex collage.
John Cage: Roaratorio
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Time: 0 – 1:10
Other composers asked for standard instruments to be
played in non-traditional ways. In his string quartet Black
Angels (1970), George Crumb has an amplified string quartet
run their fingers rapidly up and down their fingerboards,
creating a sound meant to evoke the frantic buzzing of insects.
George Crumb: Black Angels
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As with silence, the more noise, the greater the ambiguity.
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Ambiguous Notation
Classical music comes with detailed instructions. A classical
score typically specifies the instrumentation, pitches, rhythms,
speed, dynamics, and articulations. Not everything is marked
with equal precision, i.e. tempo, leaving room for
interpretation. However, the purpose of the score is to create
a recognizable performance: Much more is shared between
interpretations than differs. For instance, compare two
performances of Beethoven’s Bagatelle, Opus 126, no.1
(1825).
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Now compare the following two recordings of Earle Brown’s
December 1952.
Earle Brown: December 1952 – performed by the Subtropics
Festival Ensemble
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Earle Brown: December 1952 – performed by David Tudor
(piano)
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Hard as it may be to believe, those are actually two
performances of the same work. How can that possibly be?
The instrumentation is different. The musical content—the
pattern of sounds and silences–is totally different. Not a single
detail is the same.
The sheet music score for Brown’s work is shown below:
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Figure 22.1 | Score for Brown’s December 1952 | Composer:
Earle Brown
The composer offers no suggestions as to how to interpret the
image: All decisions are left up to the performer. Brown’s goal
was to provide the impetus for a musical performance but not
to impose an outcome. With such ambiguity in the notation,
enormous variation in performance is possible.
Earle Brown writes:
”December 1952’ was written for one or more instruments
and/or sound-producing media. The following note appears
on a notebook page dated Oct. & Nov. ’52, but they are the
basis of the composition ‘December 1952’ as well as being
particularly relevant to ‘Four Systems’: “…to have elements
exist in space…space as an infinitude of directions from an
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infinitude of points in space…to work (compositionally and
in performance) to right, left, back, forward, up, down, and
all points between…the score [being] a picture of this space at
one instant, which must always be considered as unreal and/
or transitory…a performer must set this all in motion (time),
which is to say, realize that it is in motion and step into
it…either sit and let it move or move through it at all
speeds…[coefficient of] intensity and duration [is] space
forward and back.”
Ambiguity in notation represents perhaps the greatest
extreme reached in modern music. The more the musical text
leaves open, the more it moves away from the constructive
clarity of classical tonal music.
Listening with Intellect and
an Open Mind
Listening to Ambiguity
In Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,” two
vagabonds—Vladimir and Estragon—await the arrival of a
mysterious visitor, Godot. Godot’s arrival is anticipated, it is
hoped for, it is repeatedly heralded–but it never happens. No
matter how many times you see the play, Godot will never
appear. Similarly, the ambiguities in a modern musical work
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are built in and can never be removed. Acknowledging this is
the first step to a deeper understanding.
Listeners are so often frustrated because they expect the
uncertainties eventually to be clarified—if only they knew
more or could listen more attentively. Doing so does not
remove the ambiguities, it only makes them more acute and
palpable.
Thinking Clearly About
Ambiguity
Once you learn to tolerate the ambiguity, you can begin to
discover its source. Are pulse and meter absent or erratic? Is
dissonance heightened? Is the structure unpredictable? Is there
minimal exposition? Perpetual variation? Do noise and silence
figure prominently? Any or all of these may contribute to the
work’s open-endedness.
Considering the sources of the ambiguity will help you
relate different pieces to each other and enable you to become
more articulate about what you hear.
Be Prepared for More Personal
Reactions
Modern works often do not strongly direct the listener’s
attention: There may not be a clear hierarchy of theme and
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accompaniment; structural arrival points may be more subtle
or evasive. Be prepared for your reaction to be more personal;
and be prepared for your perspective to change with repeated
hearings, as you focus on different aspects of the work. Do
your best to not judge a work based on your first listening
experience.
Celebrating Ambiguity
In the same way that a Jackson Pollock drip painting will never
resolve itself into a clear image, the ambiguity in a progressive
modern composition is irreversible. Whether it is now or in
fifty or five hundred years, the only way to appreciate such
music is to learn to sustain, tolerate, and celebrate the
ambiguity. There’s nothing that we can do to make the ending
of Boulez’s Dérive sound like the end of Beethoven’s 5th
Symphony. We cannot remove the noise from Crumb’s Black
Angels or make a single performance of Earle Brown’s
December 1952 definitive. In an art form that is already
abstract and non-verbal, heightening the ambiguity only
increases feelings of isolation and uncertainty.
In addition, music is conventionally taught using concepts
and terms specific to the common practice era. This training
conditions listeners to certain expectations that modern music
often fails to meet, leaving them baffled. To enjoy modern
music, you must recognize the integrity of your own
experience with the music—you must learn to trust your ears.
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You must also learn to abandon your preconceptions and listen
in a style-independent way.
In life and in music, we often long for clarity. And yet, in so
many ways, we are learning how deeply ambiguity is embedded
in our experience and how acknowledging and tolerating it
enlarges our spirit. Modern music offers one of the safest ways
to experience ambiguity. If we can learn to listen to modern
music with an open mind and careful attention, it may help us
deal more patiently and constructively with a world filled with
contradictions and paradoxes.
Licensing & Attributions
Adapted from “Making Music Modern” from Sound
Reasoning
by Anthony Brandt
Edited by Francis Scully
Edited and additional content by Jennifer Bill
Media Attributions
• Score for Brown’s December 1952 © December
Variations (on a Theme by Earle Brown), Conference
Paper by Richard Hoadley, DOI:10.13140/
2.1.4210.8480 is licensed under a Public Domain license
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CHAPTER 23:
COMPOSITIONAL
STYLES
As has been true of all periods, music of the last one-hundred
and twenty-five or so years is related to past traditions, yet
has developed modes of expression that are distinctly modern
and depart from earlier practices. Works of art are always in
some respect reflective of the time in which they were created
and, conversely, shape our perception of the period in which
they were produced. Some music readily speaks to us because
we are in some way connected to its historical and cultural
context, yet often the closer works of art are to us in time,
the more alien and inaccessible they seem. This is not a new
phenomenon. Artists have traditionally been visionaries,
creators of new ways of experiencing and communicating that
challenge our comprehension. Insight into the circumstances
of a work’s genesis and what the composer set out to
accomplish can help us listen with more sympathy and
understanding.
In the early decades of the 20th century, many creative
artists were reacting against the aesthetics and values of
Romanticism. The composer Igor Stravinsky and the painter/
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sculptor Pablo Picasso are among the important figures whose
works reflect their interest in tribal societies and the primitive,
ritualistic dimension of the human psyche that was the subject
of Freud’s research and writings.
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One of the most radical departures from past music traditions
was Arnold Schoenberg’s “method of composing with twelve
tones” which rejected principles of a key center and the
distinction between consonance and dissonance that had been
the foundation of Western music for centuries. Because of the
absence of a tonic, twelve-tone music is often called “atonal,”
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a term to which Schoenberg objected, or “serial” because the
compositional technique involves the manipulation of a
germinal series of pitches. Schoenberg’s theoretical writings
and his serial works have had a great impact on subsequent
generations of composers. While twelve-tone describes
Schoenberg’s compositional procedure, his style is classified
as expressionist. Expressionism was an early 20th-century
movement that sought to reveal through art the irrational,
subconscious reality and repressed primordial impulses
postulated and analyzed in the writings of Freud.
Another important development during the early decades
of the 20th century was the awakening of interest among
American visual artists, novelists, poets, playwrights,
choreographers, and composers in creating works that
reflected a distinctly American, as opposed to a European,
sensibility. In music, the renowned Czech composer Antonin
Dvorak, who visited the United States during the 1890s,
challenged Americans to compose their own music based on
native folk materials. His own Symphony # 9 (1893), written
during his stay in America, was evocative of the AfricanAmerican spiritual.
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By the 1920s American composers like George Gershwin and
Aaron Copland were incorporating the rhythms and blues
tonality of jazz into their symphonic works. Gershwin’s 1924
piece, Rhapsody in Blue, is the best-known work from this
genre.
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During the 1930s and early 1940s, Copland, Gershwin, Virgil
Thomson, and Roy Harris drew from an array of American
folk styles including spirituals, blues, cowboy songs, folk
hymns, and fiddle tunes in composing their populist
symphonic works.
Copland conducts his own Hoedown from Rodeo
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American composers of the early 20th century also sought
to create distinctly new works by engaging in radical
experimentation. Charles Ives, writing in the first two decades
of the century, was the first American to move away from
the Romantic European conventions of form and style by
employing dissonance, atonality, complex rhythms, and
nonlinear structures. These ideas were continued by the
American experimental composers Henry Cowell, Conlon
Nancarrow, Edgar Varèse, and Ruth Crawford Seeger in the
1920s and 1930s. By the 1940s and into the post–World War
II years, American avant-garde composer John Cage would
challenge listeners to completely rethink what constituted
music and art through his radically experimental works that
drew from new technology, performance art, and Eastern
systems of thought and aesthetics. Cage paved the way for
the so-called “downtown” New York experimental scene that
broke down barriers between music, visual art, performance,
and so forth. Cage’s interest in non-Western music inspired the
minimalist composers including Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and
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Philip Glass, who would draw on African and Asian musical
systems in the 1960s and 1970s.
This interest in non-Western music in the last 75 years is
a result of the unprecedented contact between different
cultures. For most of human history, musical repertories have
evolved largely in isolation from one another, so musical
experiences have been principally confined to the music of an
individual’s own immediate culture. Today the opportunities
to hear music and the types of music that are available have
expanded dramatically as a result of modern technology and
increased contact among peoples. Modern modes of travel
along with communication and technologies for recording
music invented since the end of the 19th century have removed
barriers that isolated different musical traditions and
repertories from each other. People with access to the internet
can listen to recordings covering the entire span of European
classical music from the Middle Ages to the present, world
music, folk music, and repertories that evolved during the 20th
century such as jazz and rock. Music from distant times and
places are also accessible through online music sites.
For musicians, the globalization of music has opened new
doors and dissolved old boundaries. Performers study and gain
mastery in repertoires of cultures other than their own, and
composers can draw on literally the entire world of music in
creating new crossover styles.
Modern technology has made possible not only the
preservation and broad dissemination of music, but has also
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become a source for the generation and manipulation of
musical sounds. One of the earliest devices that created musical
sounds by electronic means, the Theremin (named after its
inventor, the Russian scientist, Leon Theremin) was
introduced in the early 1920s.
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Using the numerous technologies that were developed in the
following decades, composers recorded musical tones or
natural sounds that they transformed by mechanical and
electronic means and sometimes supplemented with others
generated electronically in a studio. This raw material was then
assembled for playback, either as a self-sufficient composition
or combined with live performance.
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Today, technology-based composition has become a widely
available process through the storage of sound samples in
computers. Synthesized, sampled, and digitally altered sounds
are commonly used for special effects in popular music, movie
scores, and works for the concert hall. There is also a repertory
in which the tone color dimension of sound is what the work is
about. Comparable to the abstract painter whose materials are
the basic elements of shape and color, the composer constructs
a succession of aural events of unique tone color, dynamics,
and registration.
Compositional Styles: The
“-isms”
Adapted from “The Twentieth Century and Beyond,”
Understanding Music: Past and Present
with additional content by Francis Scully
Edited and additional content by Jennifer Bill
Understanding Music: Past and Present is licensed under
684 | CHAPTER 23: COMPOSITIONAL STYLES
a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
License.
Near the beginning of the twentieth century, numerous
composers began to rebel against the excessive emotionalism of
the later Romantic composers. Two different styles emerged:
the Impressionist style led by Claude Debussy and Maurice
Ravel, and the atonal Expressionist style led by Arnold
Schoenberg. Both styles attempted to move away from the
tonal harmonies, scales, and melodies of the previous period.
The impressionists chose to use new chords, scales, and colors
while the expressionists embraced dissonance.
Impressionism
Impressionism is a term that originated in the visual arts.
Impressionist paintings depict experiences, moods, and
movement. In general, impressionist painters focused on using
visual brush strokes to paint overall visual effects and capture
light and its changing qualities rather than focusing on details.
Impressionism in music, as in art, focused on the creator’s
impression of an object, concept, or event. In the painting
Impression Sunrise, we see how the painter Claude Monet
distilled a scene into its most basic elements. The attention
to detail of previous centuries is abandoned in favor of broad
brushstrokes that are meant to capture the momentary
“impression” of the scene. To Monet, the objects in the scene,
such as the trees and boats, are less important than the
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interplay between light and water. To further emphasize this
interplay, Monet pares the color palate of the painting down to
draw the focus to the sunlight and the water.
Figure 23.1 | Soleil levant (Impression Sunrise), 1872
Similarly, Impressionist music does not attempt to follow a
“program” like some Romantic compositions. It seeks, rather,
to suggest an emotion or series of emotions or perceptions.
The two major composers associated with the Impressionist
movement are Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Both
French-born composers were searching for ways to break free
from the rules of tonality that had evolved over the previous
centuries. Listen to the example of Debussy’s La Mer (The
Sea) linked below. Pay particular attention to the way the
music seems to rise and fall like the waves in the sea and appears
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to progress without ever repeating a section. Music that is
written this way is said to be “through-composed.” The
majority of impressionist music is written in this manner. Even
though such music refrains from following a specific program
or story line, La Mer as music suggests a progression of events
throughout the course of a day at sea. Note that Debussy
retained the large orchestra first developed by Beethoven and
used extensively by Romantic composers. This music is tonal
and still uses more traditional scales and chords.
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Impressionist composers also liked using sounds and rhythms
that were unfamiliar to most Western European musicians.
One of the most famous compositions by Maurice Ravel is
entitled Bolero. A Bolero is a Spanish dance in three-four time,
and it provided Ravel with a vehicle through which he could
introduce different (and exotic, or different sounding) scales
and rhythms into the European orchestral mainstream. This
composition is also unique in that it was one of the first to
use a relatively new family of instruments at the time: the
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saxophone family. Notice how the underlying rhythmic
pattern repeats throughout the entire composition, and how
the piece gradually builds in dynamic intensity to the end.
Listening Ravel Bolero
Characteristics of Impressionism
• Focused on Emotion, Mood, and Symbolism
◦ Impressionist music features the use of
timbre to create “color” through
harmonics, texture, orchestration,
tempo, and rhythm.
• Lack of a tonal center
◦ Use of modes and “unusual” scales like
pentatonic and whole-tone
• static harmony,
• emphasis on instrumental timbres that create
a shimmering interplay of “colors”
• melodies that lack directed motion
• surface ornamentation that obscures or
substitutes for melody
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• avoidance of traditional musical forms.
Debussy
Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was a French composer
widely regarded as one of the most influential figures of the
early 20th century. He is best known for his innovative and
evocative compositions that broke away from the traditional
harmonic and structural norms of his time. Debussy’s music
is often associated with the Impressionist movement in art, as
he sought to create a sense of atmosphere and mood through
his works, much like the Impressionist painters did with their
brushstrokes.
In his early works, Debussy was influenced by composers
like Wagner and Liszt, but later, he developed a unique style
that departed from the grand Romantic traditions. His
compositions often featured whole-tone scales, parallel chords,
and pentatonic scales, which contributed to their distinctive
and dreamlike quality. His innovative approach to
composition opened new possibilities in music and paved the
way for future generations of composers.
Debussy’s major works include:
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• Clair de lune (“Moonlight,” in Suite
bergamasque, 1890–1905)
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• Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1894;
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun)
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• the opera Pelléas et Mélisande (1902)
• La Mer (1905; “The Sea”)
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Ravel
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) was a French composer known
for his exceptional craftsmanship and innovative approach to
music. He is considered one of the leading figures of
Impressionist and Neoclassical music. Ravel’s compositions
are characterized by their meticulous attention to detail,
colorful orchestration, and sophisticated harmonies. Ravel’s
music often combined elements of Impressionism with a clear
sense of form and structure, leading to a fusion of traditional
and modern elements in his compositions.
Ravel was a master orchestrator, and his skill in crafting
instrumental colors and textures is evident in his works. He
was also a prolific composer in various genres, including piano
music, chamber music, ballet, and songs. His piano
compositions, such as “Gaspard de la nuit” and “Miroirs,” are
considered some of the most challenging and expressive in the
piano repertoire.
Throughout his career, Ravel enjoyed both critical and
popular success. His music was admired for its elegance,
emotional depth, and ability to create vivid imagery. He was
a fastidious composer, often taking great care in revising and
polishing his works, which contributed to their refined and
polished nature.
Ravel’s major works include:
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• Pavane pour une infante défunte (1899;
Pavane for a Dead Princess)
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• Rapsodie espagnole (1907)
• the ballet Daphnis et Chloé (first performed
1912)
• Le tombeau de Couperin (1917, the grave of
Couperin)
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• La Valse (1920)
• The opera L’Enfant et les sortilèges (1925; The
Child and the Enchantments)
• Boléro (1928)
Expressionism
Expressionism, similar to impressionism, originally emerged
in the realm of visual arts but later found its application in
other art forms, including music. It arose as a counter to the
delicate and momentary nature of impressionism. Rather than
portraying hazy depictions of natural beauty, expressionism
delves deep into the inner turmoil, anxiety, and apprehensions
hidden within the subconscious mind. In the realm of music,
expressionism fully embraces dissonance, showcasing its
profound impact and emotional intensity.
In Edward Munch’s famous painting, The Scream, we see an
excellent example of the parallel movement of expressionism
taking place in the visual arts. Expressionists looked inward,
specifically to the anxiety they felt toward the outside world.
This was in stark contrast to the impressionists, who looked
to the beauty of nature for inspiration. Expressionist paintings
relied instead on stark colors and harsh swirling brushstrokes
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to convey the artist’s reaction to the ugliness of the modern
world.
Figure 23.2 | The Scream (1893). Oil, tempera and pastel on
cardboard.
The Expressionist period in music was not a time when
composers sought to express themselves emotionally in a
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romantic, beautiful, or programmatic way. Expressionism
seems more appropriate for evoking more extreme, and
sometimes even harsh, emotions. Theodor Adorno describes
expressionism as concerned with the unconscious, and states
that “the depiction of fear lies at the centre” of expressionist
music, with dissonance predominating, so that the
“harmonious, affirmative element of art is banished.”
Many of the early works of Austrian-born Arnold
Schoenberg (1874-1951) exemplified an expressionistic
musical style. Although he is most famous for his experiments
with atonality, that is music without a tonal center, his early
compositions were highly dissonant and sounded quite radical
when compared to the music of the 19th century, which
utilized dissonance only as a means to eventually return to
the stasis of consonance. However, Schoenberg saw dissonance
not as a means to an end, but as the end itself. His music
invited the listener to revel in various levels of dissonance.
Examples of Expressionism
• Erwartung (1909) a one-act monodrama by Arnold
Schoenberg
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• Die Glückliche Hand (1913) an opera by Arnold
Schoenberg
• Three Japanese Lyrics (1913) for voice and piano by
Igor Stravinsky
• Wozzeck (1922) an opera by Alban Berg
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• The Young Maiden (1922) a song cycle by Paul
Hindemith
• Symphony No. 2 (1922) by Ernst Krenek
A-Tonality and Serialism
Atonality is a revolutionary concept that emerged in the late
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19th and early 20th centuries as a reaction against the
traditional tonal system that had dominated Western music for
centuries. Unlike traditional tonal music, where compositions
are centered around a specific key and follow established
harmonic rules, atonal music abandons the concept of a
central key and seeks to liberate composers from traditional
harmonic constraints. In atonal music, there is no clear sense
of a tonal center or hierarchy among pitches, and dissonance is
embraced as a fundamental element of the musical language.
In 1909, Arnold Schoenberg composed the first complete
work that completely did away with tonality. This piano
composition was one of three that together are listed as his
Opus 11 and was the first piece we now refer to as being
completely atonal (without tonality). Schoenberg’s mostimportant atonal compositions include: Five Orchestral Pieces
(1909), Pierrot Lunaire (1912), Die Jakobsleiter (Jacob’s
Ladder – begun in 1917 but never finished), Die glückliche
Hand (The Lucky Hand – 1924), and Erwartung
(Expectation – 1924) for soprano and orchestra.
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The term “atonality” was first coined by Joseph Marx in 1910
and later popularized by Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and
Anton Webern, who are considered pioneers of atonal music.
The most notable example of atonal music is Schoenberg’s
composition “Pierrot Lunaire” (1912).
Schoenberg’s song cycle Pierrot Lunaire for solo soprano
and five instrumentalists is one of the most famous examples
of the expressionist and atonal style. The piece sets 21 poems
by the Belgian symbolist Albert Guiraud. Pierrot, the “sad
clown,” is a stock character from the Italian street theater
tradition known as Commedia dell’arte. Guiraud’s poems, full
of suggestive dream and nightmare imagery, present the
adventures of Pierrot as he wanders about obsessed with the
moon (“lunaire”), unlucky in love, and feeling alienated from
society (perhaps Pierrot also represents the figure of the artist
in the twentieth century who was perpetually misunderstood).
For this song cycle, Schoenberg invents a style of singing
called Sprechstimme, a kind of half-singing, half-speaking
where the singer only approximates singing exact pitches. The
result is a highly theatrical singing style that effectively captures
the extreme psychological states.
No. 1 “Moondrunk”: In this song, Schoenberg represents
the moonlight with a dissonant descending melody on the
piano. You’ll hear this repeated throughout the piece and
shared with other instruments.
“Moondrunk” translation:
The wine which through our eyes we drink
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Pours from the moon in waves upon us
And like a springtide
Overflows the stillness of the night.
Desires so thrilling and so sweet,
Cascading through the floods in thousands:
The wine which through our eyes we drink,
Pours from the moon in waves upon us.
The writer, so divinely moved,
Is greedy for the holy liquid,
And skyward he directs his dizzy head,
Then reeling, gulps and slurps down
The wine which through our eyes we drink.
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Time: 50 sec
No. 8 “Night”: In this song, you hear the low
instruments (cello, bass clarinet, and piano) depict the
black moths of the poem. You will hear a three-note
theme that is repeated again and again throughout the
piece as Pierrot is overwhelmed with the arrival of night.
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“Night” translation
Obscure, black giant moths
Killed the sun’s splendor.
A closed book of spells,
The horizon settles–hushed
From the mists of lost depths
Wafts a scent–remembrance murdered!
Obscure, black giant moths
Killed the sun’s splendor.
And from the sky earthwards
Sinking on heavy wings
Unseeable the monsters (glide)
Down into the human . . .
Obscure, black giant moths.
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Time: 13:15
Part of what creates this expressionistic atmosphere in
Pierrot Lunaire is that the music consciously avoids any sense
of a tonal center. In later works, Schoenberg built upon this
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“atonal” style and developed a system whereby the twelve notes
of the chromatic scale were organized into units that he called
the twelve-tone row. These rows could then be further
“serialized” (organized in a random fashion) by a number of
different techniques. This idea of assigning values to musical
information is called serialism. In 1921 Schoenberg
composed his Piano Suite, opus 25, the first composition
written using the 12-tone method. Each 12-tone composition
is built from a series of 12 different pitches that may be
arranged in a number of different ways. The original row may
be played forward, backward (retrograde), upside down
(inverted), and backward and inverted (retrograde inversion).
All of the melodies and harmonies in a 12-tone piece must be
derived in some way from the original row or from fragments
of the original row.
In 1925 Schoenberg was hired by the Prussian Academy of
Arts in Berlin to teach composition, and he would most likely
have continued his career as a teacher and composer in Europe
were it not for the rise of the Nazi party and their subsequent
persecution of European Jews. In 1933 he was released from
the Academy and moved first to Paris and then to Boston. In
1934 he settled in California and held teaching positions first
at the University of Southern California (1935-36) and then
the University of Central Los Angeles (1936-44).
After immigrating to the United States, Schoenberg
reconnected with the Jewish faith he had abandoned as a
young man. The sadness he felt because of the personal
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accounts of the horrendous treatment experienced by so many
Jews during World War II led to his composition of A Survivor
from Warsaw, which was composed for orchestra, male
chorus, and narrator. The piece was completed in September
1947 and the entire piece is built on a twelve-tone row. This
important work is Schoenberg’s dramatization of a tragic story
he heard from surviving Polish Jews who were victims of Nazi
atrocities during World War II. Schoenberg created a story
about a number of Jews who survived the war by living in
the sewers of Warsaw. Interestingly, among Schoenberg’s many
and very specific performance instructions is the request that
the narrator does not attempt to sing his part throughout the
performance.
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Schoenberg’s ideas were further developed by his two famous
students, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern. Together, the three
came to be known as the Second Viennese School, in
reference to the first Viennese School, which consisted of
Hadyn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Born in Vienna,
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Alban Berg began studying with Schoenberg at the age of 19
and soon became known for his unique compositional style,
which fused post-romantic concepts with Schoenberg’s
cutting-edge twelve-tone techniques. Heavily influenced by
Richard Wagner, Berg held on to techniques such as the
leitmotif and sought to couch his harmonic ideas in triedand-true forms such as the sonata and fugue. Although he
composed many famous pieces, such as his Violin Concerto
and his unfinished opera Lulu, he initially made his fame with
Wozzeck, an opera based on the drama Woyzeck by German
playwright Georg Buchner. Berg served during World War I,
and much of Wozzeck was composed in 1917, during a period
of leave from the Austro-Hungarian Army. The opera consists
of three acts, each with five scenes organized around the
variations of a musical idea, such as the variations of a theme, a
chord, or a rhythmic pattern. Berg himself adapted the libretto
from Buchner’s original play.
The story of the opera centers on the title character
Wozzeck. Like the main character in many romantic operas,
he is a tragic figure. However, whereas the operas of the
nineteenth century often depicted gods and mythical figures,
the story of Wozzeck is couched in a sense of realism and
addresses the type of societal problems that Berg may himself
have encountered during World War I, problems such as
apathy and human cruelty. The character of Wozzeck is that
of a pitiful and unremarkable soldier who is tormented by his
captain and used for and subjected to medical experiments by a
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sadistic doctor. Wozzeck, who is often given to hallucinations,
eventually goes mad and kills his love interest, Marie, who has
been unfaithful. The opera ends after Wozzeck drowns trying
to clean the murder weapon in a pond and wading out too far.
Listen to the recording below of act 3, scene 2, the scene in
which Wozzeck kills Marie. The scene features a variation on a
single note, namely B.
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Time: 8:30
Total Serialism
Total serialism is an extension and refinement of the twelvetone technique, a form of serialism that aims to apply serial
principles not only to pitch but also to other musical elements,
including rhythm, dynamics, and articulation. It emerged in
the mid-20th century as a natural progression of the serialist
movement in music.
In total serialism, the composer organizes not only the
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twelve pitches of the chromatic scale but also other aspects
of the music’s structure using predetermined series or rows.
These rows dictate the order in which pitches, rhythms,
dynamics, and other elements appear in the composition.
By systematically controlling all musical parameters
through serial principles, total serialism seeks to create a
cohesive and tightly structured musical work. Composers
using total serialism often strive for a high degree of control
and mathematical rigor in their compositions, resulting in
intricate and complex musical textures.
The Austrian composer Anton Webern was an early
proponent of total serialism, and his works often serve as prime
examples of the technique. Other notable composers who
explored total serialism include Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz
Stockhausen, and Milton Babbitt.
Examples of Total Serialism
• Anton Webern Sechs Bagatellen, op.9 (string
quartet)
• Milton Babbitt three compositions for piano
• Milton Babbitt composition for twelve
instruments
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• Ruth Crawford Seeger Nine Preludes(solo
piano)
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• Pierre Boulez Le marteau sans
maître(contralto and ensemble)
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• Pierre Boulez Structures (for 2 pianos)
• Karlheinz Stockhausen Kontra-Punkte
Primitivism
Primitivism in music is a movement that emerged in the early
20th century, influenced by the broader primitivist movement
in the arts. It sought to evoke the perceived simplicity, rawness,
and vitality of so-called “primitive” cultures, particularly those
from non-Western and indigenous societies. As a genre of
Western art, Primitivism reproduced and perpetuated racist
stereotypes with which colonialists justified white colonial rule
over the non-white “other” in Asia, Africa, and Australasia.
Composers who embraced primitivism sought to break
away from the constraints of Western classical traditions and
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explore more elemental and primal aspects of music. They
drew inspiration from folk music, ancient rituals, and nonEuropean musical traditions, as well as the art of tribal societies
and ancient civilizations. Primitivism in music often involved
the incorporation of percussive and rhythmic elements,
irregular meters, and unconventional instrumental techniques
to create a sense of primitiveness and raw power.
The brilliant Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) was a
cosmopolitan figure, having lived and composed in Russia,
France, Switzerland, and the United States. His music
influenced numerous composers, including the famed French
composition teacher Nadia Boulanger. Stravinsky caused quite
a stir when his ballet entitled The Rite of Spring premiered
in Paris in 1913. The ballet was choreographed by Vaslav
Nijinsky, and the music and dance were so new and different
that it nearly caused a riot in the audience. The orchestral
version has become one of the most admired compositions of
the twentieth century.
Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring is primitivist program music
about the subject of Paganism, specifically the rite of human
sacrifice in pre-christian Russia. Its rhythmic complexity,
dissonant harmonies, and use of unconventional scales were
seen as a radical departure from traditional European classical
music, leading to one of the most notorious premieres in
musical history.
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Stravinsky’s use of “primitive” sounding rhythms to depict
several pagan ritual scenes makes the term “primitivism” seem
appropriate.
Neoclassism
In the decades between World War I and World War II, many
composers in the Western world began to write in a style we
now call Neoclassicism. When composing in a neoclassic
manner, composers attempted to infuse many of the
characteristics of the classical period into their music,
incorporating concepts like balance (of form and phrase),
economy of material, emotional restraint, and clarity in design.
They also returned to popular classical forms like the Fugue,
the Concerto Grosso, and the Symphony. But these pieces are
not simply imitations of an older style. They continue to push
musical boundaries through dissonance and modernist
harmonies along with experimental approaches to rhythm and
meter. For artists and composers traumatized by the
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devastation of World War I, neoclassicism was attractive for its
anti-Romantic avoidance of emotionalism.
A neo-classicist composer is inclined to incorporate
elements of extended tonality, modality, or even atonality
instead of adhering to the hierarchical tonal system
characteristic of true (Viennese) Classicism. As a result, the
prefix “neo-” frequently suggests a sense of parody or
distortion of the genuine Classical traits.
Numerous well-known composers incorporated neoclassic
techniques and philosophy into their compositions. Stravinsky
was among them, and his ballet entitled Pulcinella (1920) is an
early example of the neoclassical style. It was based on music
that Stravinsky originally thought was written by the Baroque
composer Giovanni Pergolesi. Music historians later deduced
that the compositions were written by Pergolesi’s
contemporaries and not by Pergolesi himself. Stravinsky
borrowed specific themes from these earlier works and
combined them with more modern harmonies and rhythms.
Listen to how in some sections the music closely approximates
the style and sounds of Baroque composers, while in other
sections it sounds much more aggressive, primitive, and
modern.
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One composer who was able to combine elements of neoClassicism with the traditions of his homeland was Béla Bartók
(1881 – 1945). Bartok was born in Nagyszentmiklós,
Hungary, and was an important figure in the music of the
early twentieth century. A noted composer, teacher, pianist,
and ethnomusicologist, he was appointed to a position in the
Royal Academy of Music in Budapest in 1907 and worked
there until 1934. Along with his friend and colleague Zoltán
Kodály, Bartók enthusiastically researched and sought out the
traditional music of the Hungarian people, and both
composers analyzed and transcribed the music they collected,
as well as using this folk music as inspiration for their own
original compositions.
In addition to Hungarian folk music, Bartók’s style was
also influenced by the Romantic music of Strauss and the
Hungarian composer Franz Liszt. He was also influenced by
Debussy’s impressionism and the more modern music of Igor
Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg. As a result of all of these
influences, his music was often quite rhythmic, and it
incorporated both tonal and chromatic (moving by half-steps)
elements. Bartók composed numerous piano works, six string
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quartets, and an opera titled Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, as well as
a ballet entitled The Wooden Prince (1916), and a pantomime
entitled The Miraculous Mandarin (1919). His string quartets
and his Concerto for Orchestra have become part of the
standard repertoire of professional performing groups around
the world.
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Other important neoclassical works include Stravinsky’s
Symphony of Psalms (1930), Dumbarton Oaks (1937), and
Apollo (1928), Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1 (1918) and
Violin Concerto No. 2 (1935), and Maurice Ravel’s Piano
Concerto in G (1931) and Le Tombeau de Couperin (1917).
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Minimalism
Minimal music, also known as minimalism, is a style of
composition that utilizes a restricted and simplistic set of
musical elements. Key characteristics of minimalist music
encompass repetitive patterns or rhythmic pulses, continuous
drones, consonant harmonies, and the repetition of musical
phrases or smaller units.
Minimalism is a movement that began in New York during
the 1960s, and it stands in stark contrast to much of the music
of the early twentieth century. Minimalist composers sought
to distill music down to its fundamental elements. Minimalist
pieces were highly consonant and often relied on the familiar
sounds of triads. Instead of featuring rhythmic complexity,
minimalist composers established a steady meter. And, unlike
twelve-tone music, which avoided repetition at all costs,
minimalist composers made repetition the very focus of their
music. Change was introduced very slowly through small
variations of repeated patterns, and, in many cases, these
changes were almost invisible to the listener. Arguably the
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most famous two composers of the minimalistic style were
Stephen Reich (b.1936) and Philip Glass (b.1937).
But minimalism wasn’t confined to the realm of music. In
Barnett Newman’s (1905-1970) painting Voice of Fire (1967),
we see that many of these same concepts of simplification
applied to the visual arts. Minimalist painters such as Newman
created starkly simple artwork consisting of basic shapes,
straight lines, and primary colors. This was a departure from
the abstract expressionists such as Jackson Pollack in the same
way that Steve Reich’s compositions were a departure from the
complexity of Arnold Schoenberg’s music.
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Figure 23.3 | Voice of Fire (1967)
Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians is a composition
featuring eleven related sections performed by an ensemble
consisting of mallet instruments, women’s voices, woodwinds,
and percussion. Section VII is constructed of a steady six-beat
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rhythmic pattern that is established at the beginning of the
piece. Over this unfaltering rhythmic pattern, various
instruments enter with their own repeated melodic motifs.
The only real changes in the piece take place in very slow
variations of rhythmic density, overall texture, and
instrumental range. All of the melodic patterns in the piece fit
neatly into a simple three-chord pattern, which is also repeated
throughout the piece. Many minimalistic pieces follow this
template of slow variations over a simple pattern. This
repetition results in music with a hypnotic quality, but also
with just enough change to hold the listener’s interest.
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Minimalism Examples
• La Monte Young’s Trio for Strings (1958) and
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The Well-Tuned Piano (1964)
◦ experiment with droning textures and
slow harmonic progressions.
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• Terry Riley’s In C (1960)
◦ would serve as a template for the
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possibilities of minimalist music.
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• Steve Reich’s Music For 18 Musicians,
Different Trains, and Four Organs.
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• Philip Glass’ Einstein on the Beach,
Metamorphosis, and Koyaanisqatsi
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The American Style
Jazz is a uniquely American form of music, and American
orchestral composers were commonly influenced by jazz in the
early twentieth century, and George Gershwin (1898-1937)
was no exception. Gershwin was a brilliant talent who dropped
out of school at the age of fifteen to begin a professional career
playing piano in New York’s “Tin Pan Alley.” After several
years of success as a performer and composer, he was asked by
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the famous band leader Paul Whiteman to compose a work
that would help raise people’s perceptions of jazz as an art
form. The resulting work, Rhapsody in Blue, combines the
American jazz style with the European symphonic tradition
into a brilliant composition for piano and orchestra. Listen to
how beautifully Gershwin combines these elements.
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In addition to Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin is famously
known for his opera, “Porgy and Bess.” Although Gershwin
dubbed it a “folk opera”, the piece is considered one of the
great American operatic works of the century. The story is
set in a tenement in Charleston, South Carolina. Based on
DuBose Heyward’s novel Porgy, the opera incorporated
classically trained black singers to depict the tragic love story
between the two main title characters. Gershwin based the
music for the opera on elements of southern black musical
styles such as the blues and spirituals. Drawing on the
nineteenth-century opera tradition, Gershwin made use of
leitmotifs to represent people or places. Near the beginning
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of the opera, we hear the famous aria “Summertime,” which
depicts the hot, hazy atmosphere in which the story is set.
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Like Gershwin, American-born Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
was instrumental in helping to define a distinctly American
sound by combining his European musical training with jazz
and folk elements. As an early twentieth-century composer,
Copland was active during the Great Depression, writing
music for the new genre of radio, the phonograph, and motion
pictures. El Salon Mexico (1935), Fanfare for the Common
Man (1942), and Appalachian Spring (1944) are three of
Copland’s most famous works. He won a Pulitzer Prize for
his music for the ballet Appalachian Spring and was also an
Oscar-winning film composer. Appalachian Spring is a ballet
depicting a pioneer wedding celebration in a newly-built
farmhouse in Pennsylvania. It includes the now well-known
Shaker song “Simple Gifts”.
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Copland’s unique style evokes images of the landscape of the
western United States, as we can hear in his score for the ballet
Rodeo (1942).
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One of the ways in which Copland was able to capture the
sense of the vastness of the American landscape was through
his use of certain harmonic intervals, that is, two notes played
together, which sound “hollow” or “open.” These intervals,
which are called “perfect 4ths” and “perfect 5ths,” have been
used since medieval times, and were named so due to their
simple harmonic ratios. The result is music that sounds vast
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and expansive. Perhaps the best example of this technique is
found in Copland’s famous Fanfare for the Common Man.
While fanfares are typically associated with heralding the
arrival of royalty, Copland wanted to create a fanfare that
celebrated the lives of everyday people during a trying time in
American history. The piece was premiered by the Cincinnati
Symphony Orchestra on March 12, 1943, at the height of
World War II. It has been used in countless movies, television
shows, and even military recruitment ads. The piece came to
define Copland’s uniquely American compositional style and
remains one of the most popular patriotic pieces in the
American repertoire.
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Electronic Music
Modern electronic inventions continue to change and shape
our lives. Music has not been immune to these changes.
Computers, synthesizers, and massive sound systems have
become common throughout the Western world.
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Electro-acoustic music refers to a genre that harnesses
electronic technology, predominantly computer-based, to
access, generate, explore, and manipulate sound materials.
This art form relies on loudspeakers as the primary medium
of transmission, allowing for the creation of immersive and
innovative sonic experiences.
Two main genres have developed in electro-acoustic music
1. Acousmatic music is intended for loudspeaker listening
and exists only in recorded form (tape, compact disc,
computer storage, etc.).
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2. In live electronic music, the technology is used to
generate, transform or trigger sounds (or a combination
of these) in the act of performance; this may include
generating sound with voices and traditional
instruments, electro-acoustic instruments, or other
devices and controls linked to computer-based systems.
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Both genres depend on loudspeaker transmission, and an
electro-acoustic work can combine acousmatic and live
elements.
Musique Concrète
Musique concrète (a French term meaning “concrete music”)
is a type of electro-acoustic music that uses both electronically
produced sounds (like synthesizers) and recorded natural
sounds (like instruments, voices, and sounds from nature).
Musique concrète utilizes recorded sounds as raw material.
Sounds are often modified through the application of audio
signal processing and tape music techniques, and may be
assembled into a form of sound collage. The technique exploits
acousmatic sound, such that sound identities can often be
intentionally obscured or appear unconnected to their original
source.
Pierre Schaeffer (in the 1940s) was a leader in developing
this technique. Unlike traditional composers, composers of
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musique concrète are not restricted to using rhythm, melody,
harmony, instrumentation, form, and other musical elements.
The video linked below offers an excellent narrative on
musique concrète.
Musique concrète
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Below is a link to one of Pierre Schaeffer’s musique concrète
compositions.
Pierre Schaeffer, Études de bruits (1948)
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Elektronische Musik
Elektronische Musik (German term meaning “electronic
music”) is composed by manipulating only electronicallyproduced sounds rather than recorded sounds. Karlheinz
Stockhausen was a leader in the creation of elektronische
Musik.
By the early 1950s musique concrète was contrasted with
“pure” elektronische Musik but the distinction has since been
blurred such that the term electronic music covers both
meanings.
Electronic Music Examples:
•
Pierre
Schaeffer
and
Pierre
Henry
Symphonie pour un homme seul (Symphony
for One Man Only)
•
Edgard Varèse Déserts (for tape and
instruments)
•
Edgard
Varèse
Poème
électronique
(performed by 400 loudspeakers at the 1958
Brussels World’s Fair)
•
Karlheinz
Jünglinge
Stockhausen
Gesange
der
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Laptop Orchestras
With the development of laptop computers, a new wave
of interest has sprung up world-wide in electronic music of
all types. Musicians can now easily link laptops together to
form ensembles; they can also link laptops in other locations,
even around the globe. Software is being developed that allows
for all types of musique concrète and elektronische musik
compositions and combinations. The Princeton Laptop
Orchestra is a leader in this area of experimental composition
and performance.
Princeton Laptop Orchestra
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Chance Music
Chance music (also aleatory music or aleatoric music or
indeterminate music) is music in which some element of the
composition is left to chance, and/or some primary element of
a composed work’s realization is left to the determination of its
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performer(s). Chance music is a genre that embraces the role
of chance and randomness in the creation of music, leading
to compositions that are more open-ended and exploratory in
nature. It challenges traditional notions of composer control
and invites both composers and performers to engage with the
music in a more spontaneous and creative manner.
Chance Music can be divided into three groups:
The first group uses random procedures to produce a
determinate, fixed score.
The chance element is involved only in the process of
composition, so that every parameter is fixed before their
performance.
Examples:
John Cage’s Music of Changes (1951), the composer
selected duration, tempo, and dynamics by using the I Ching,
an ancient Chinese book which prescribes methods for
arriving at random numbers. Because this work is absolutely
fixed from performance to performance, Cage regarded it as an
entirely determinate work made using chance procedures.
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Iannis Xenakis used probability theories to define some
microscopic aspects of Pithoprakta (1955–56), which is Greek
for “actions by means of probability”. This work contains four
sections, characterized by textural and timbral attributes, such
as glissandi and pizzicati. At the macroscopic level, the sections
are designed and controlled by the composer while the single
components of sound are controlled by mathematical theories.
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In the second type of indeterminate music, chance elements
involve the performance. Notated events are provided by the
composer, but their arrangement is left to the determination
of the performer.
Examples:
Henry Cowell’s the Mosaic Quartet (String Quartet No. 3,
1934), allows the players to arrange the fragments of music
in a number of different possible sequences. Cowell also used
specially devised notations to introduce variability into the
performance of a work, sometimes instructing the performers
to improvise a short passage or play ad libitum.
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Alan Hovhaness (beginning with his Lousadzak of 1944)
used procedures in which different short patterns with
specified pitches and rhythm are assigned to several parts, with
instructions that they be performed repeatedly at their own
speed without coordination with the rest of the ensemble.
Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Klavierstück XI (1956) presents
nineteen events which are composed and notated in a
traditional way, but the arrangement of these events is
determined by the performer spontaneously during the
performance.
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The greatest degree of chance is reached by the third type
of indeterminate music, where traditional musical notation is
replaced by visual or verbal signs suggesting how a work can be
performed, for example in graphic score pieces.
Examples:
Earle Brown’s December 1952 (1952) shows lines and
rectangles of various lengths and thicknesses that can read as
loudness, duration, or pitch. The performer chooses how to
read them.
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Morton Feldman’s Intersection No. 2 (1951) for piano solo, is
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written on coordinate paper. Time units are represented by
the squares viewed horizontally, while relative pitch levels of
high, middle, and low are indicated by three vertical squares
in each row. The performer determines what particular pitches
and rhythms to play.
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Postmodernism
As we’ve observed, composers throughout the twentieth
century brought a sense of experimentation to musical
composition and the search for new languages of art and music
resulted in some wildly musical sounds.
But where do you go, once it seems as if all the radical
experiments have been conducted? For many composers of
the late-twentieth century, the end of modernism brought the
opportunity to freely pick and choose from various styles. A
composer might incorporate twentieth-century modernist
styles, Romantic era sounds, classical style, baroque style and
bring in elements of popular music, global music, and jazz.
John Adams (b. 1947) is probably the most well-known
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American composer living today. His early music was written
in a minimalist style, but he has embraced 12-tone style, pop
music styles, and opera, and often writes for a large, Romanticsized orchestra.
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Nowadays, classical music is a global phenomenon.
Composers from all over the world are writing operas,
symphonies, concertos, string quartets, etc. There are
composers writing exciting classical music in Africa, the
Middle East, South America, all over. The 2000 film Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon (directed by Ang Lee) was an
enormously popular film that won an academy award for Best
Original Score. The music for the film includes a cello concerto
written by the Chinese composer Tan Dun (b. 1957), which
incorporates traditional Chinese music styles with the Western
classical tradition.
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Osvaldo Golijov (b. 1960) is another composer who represents
the global trend in contemporary classical music. Golijov is
an Argentine of Israeli descent and his music reflects the
influences of Jewish culture, South American culture, as well
as contemporary popular music.
Listen to these excerpts from La Pasión según San Marcos:
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Twenty-first century classical music is also no longer
dominated by male composers and there are many fascinating
female composers who are making their mark in concert halls
all over the world. A few names of prominent composers today
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include: Kaija Saariaho, Sofia Gubaidulina, Jennifer Higdon,
Chen Yi, Julia Wolfe, Gabriela Lena Frank, Missy Mazzoli,
Unsuk Chin, Tania Leon, Anna Clyne, and Joan Tower.
In fact, the winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner in
music (the highest honor for a composer in the United States)
was a young female composer named Caroline Shaw (b. 1982).
At 30 years old, she was the youngest-ever recipient of the
award. Take a listen to the first movement of her piece Partita
for 8 Voices (2012).
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Roomful of Teeth – Shaw: Allemande (1st movement) from
Partita for 8 Voices
GLOSSARY
• Atonal – Music that seeks to avoid both the traditional
rules of harmony and the use of chords or scales that
provide a tonal center
• Chromaticism – a style of composition which uses notes
CHAPTER 23: COMPOSITIONAL STYLES | 737
that are not a part of the predominant scale of a
composition or one of its sections.
• Elektronische Musik – (German term meaning
“electronic music”) Music composed by manipulating
only electronically-produced sounds (not recorded
sounds.)
• Expressionism – Style of composition where composers
intentionally use atonality. Arnold Schoenberg devised
a system of composing using twelve tones. His students
Alban Berg and Anton Webern composed extensively in
this twelve-tone style.
• Impressionism – music composed based on the
composer’s impression of an object, concept, or event.
This style included the use of chromaticism, whole-tone
scales and chords, exotic scales, new chord progressions,
and more complex rhythms
• Laptop orchestra – an ensemble formed by linking
laptop computers and speakers together to generate live
and/or recorded performances using both synthesized
and pre-recorded sounds
• Musique Concrète – a type of electro-acoustic music that
uses both electronically produced sounds (like
synthesizers) and recorded natural sounds (like
instruments, voices, and sounds from nature)
• Neoclassicism – A musical movement that arose in the
twentieth century as a reaction against romanticism and
which sought to recapture classical ideals like symmetry,
738 | CHAPTER 23: COMPOSITIONAL STYLES
order, and restraint. Stravinsky’s music for the ballet
Pulcinella (1920) is a major early neoclassical
composition.
• Polytonality – a compositional technique where two or
more instruments or voices in different keys (tonal
centers) perform together at the same time
• Primitivism – A musical movement that arose as a
reaction against musical impressionism and which
focused on the use of strong rhythmic pulse, distinct
musical ideas, and a tonality based on one central tone
as a unifying factor instead of a central key or chord
progression.
• Serialism – composing music using a series of values
assigned to musical elements such as pitch, duration,
dynamics, and instrumentation. Arnold Schoenberg’s
12-tone technique is one of the most important examples
of serialism.
• Synthesizers – instruments that electronically generate a
wide variety of sounds. They can also modify electronic
or naturally produced recorded sounds
• Through-Composed – Music that progresses without
ever repeating a section
• Twelve-tone Technique – Compositional technique
developed by Arnold Schoenberg that derives musical
elements such as pitch, duration, dynamics, and
instrumentation from a randomly produced series of the
twelve tones of the chromatic scale (the 12-tone row)
CHAPTER 23: COMPOSITIONAL STYLES | 739
Licensing & Attributions
Adapted from “European and American Art Music since
1900” from Music: Its Language, History, and Culture
Douglas Cohen – CUNY Brooklyn College
Edited and additional content by Jennifer Bill
Music: Its Language, History, and Culture by the
Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College of the City
University of New York is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.music1300.info/reader
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be
available at http://www.music1300.info/reader.
Media Attributions
• Soleil levant © Wikipedia is licensed under a Public
Domain license
• Skrik by Edvard Munch © Wikipedia is licensed under a
Public Domain license
• Voice of Fire (1967) © Japs 88 via. Wikipedia is licensed
under a All Rights Reserved license
740 | CHAPTER 24: JAZZ
CHAPTER 24: JAZZ
Jazz music, born in the late 19th century amidst the vibrant
cultural landscapes of African-American communities in New
Orleans, stands as a mesmerizing testament to artistic
innovation and cultural fusion. With its roots in African
rhythms, European harmonies, and the improvisational spirit,
jazz has evolved into a genre that defies rigid definitions and
thrives on spontaneity. Characterized by its expressive
melodies, syncopated rhythms, and the distinctive interplay
between musicians, jazz serves as a boundless canvas for
creative exploration. From its early days as a form of dance
music to its emergence as a platform for individual expression
and collective collaboration, jazz remains a dynamic and everevolving genre that captures the essence of human emotion
and connection.
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CHAPTER 24: JAZZ | 741
Characteristic Features
Although most people have heard of jazz, and many recognize
it when they hear it, the music is notoriously hard to
categorize. There is simply no single description that can
account for the vast number of styles and genres that have
been placed under the jazz “umbrella.” In fact, some musicians
(Duke Ellington, Randy Weston, and others) have avoided
using the term altogether, finding the concept too confining.
The term itself (and its variant “jass”) did not appear until the
1910s, after jazz was already a well-established idiom, and has
been applied to many types of music that most purists would
not consider “true” jazz at all, from the novelty piano rags of
Zez Confrey in the 1920s to the instrumental pop music of
Kenny G in the 1980s and 1990s.
A few general comments can be made about the music,
however. We know, first of all, that jazz was music created
primarily by African Americans, and it has deep roots in
traditions that go back as far as the African traditions brought
by slaves to America during the Middle Passage of the Atlantic
slave trade. Related to this are two dualities that virtually all
types of jazz share, spontaneity and planning. These dualities
create a vibrant tension in the music that gives jazz much of its
power.
742 | CHAPTER 24: JAZZ
Spontaneity vs. Planning
Contrary to some popular beliefs, playing jazz is not simply
a matter of musicians playing whatever they feel like.
Improvisation—creating new music on the spot—is a vital
part of almost all jazz traditions (see below), but it nearly
always takes place in the context of some larger structure that is
planned in advance. This planning can be as simple as deciding
who plays what when (the order of the solos, for example)
and as complicated as a completely written-out arrangement
in which most of the musicians are guided by notes printed
on the page. At the very least, musicians will usually decide
in advance the tune that will serve as the basis for their
improvisations. Perhaps another way to put this is to think of
jazz as a very “free” music, one that allows players to explore
a variety of means of self-expression, but at the same time,
with freedom comes responsibility. Some type of underlying
organization must be in place or the result is chaos.
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Individuality vs. Collectivity
From the very beginning of jazz’s history, a premium has
always been placed on musicians who create their own
sound—one that is highly personal and instantly recognizable.
Whereas classical musicians will learn the “correct” and
“incorrect” ways to play their instruments, for the jazz
musician, there is no “proper” way to make a sound. Though
some jazz musicians study their instruments in conservatories,
many also learn simply by picking up an instrument and
figuring out how to make a sound they like, whether or not
it has anything to do with “acceptable” technique. The great
New Orleans clarinetist and soprano saxophonist Sidney
Bechet, for example, developed a totally idiosyncratic
technique on his instrument—one that would make a classical
musician cringe—simply by experimentation, but he had an
enormous, rich, and passionate sound that was impossible to
duplicate.
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Time: 1:05
Many jazz musicians start their careers by copying another
jazz musician outright (legions of saxophonists, for example,
have learned Charlie Parker solos by heart) but at some point,
they must learn to develop their own voice or the music
becomes stale. In fact, one of the most damning criticisms a
jazz musician can levy at another is to say “he or she is just
a Charlie Parker imitator.” At the same time, all great jazz
musicians are also good listeners, who take pleasure in what
the fellow members of their group are trying to “say” with
their instruments and will often directly respond to ideas that
are tossed out as part of an improvisation. In addition, all
members of a jazz group pay close attention to how they sound
as a group; brilliant solos are only as good as the context in
which they are heard. Therefore, in any jazz performance,
there is always an exciting tension between attempts to sound
like a genuine individual, as well as to be a member of the
“collective.”
A few more specific features of the jazz tradition can be
outlined, and many are related to the dualities discussed above.
Improvisation. Improvisation of some type is nearly
always part of a jazz performance. Even if musicians are reading
notes on a page, they can “improvise” through the way they
attack or color a note or the rhythmic impulse they bring to
the music. In early jazz, musicians often improvised by creating
variations on a given melody. As the tradition developed, it
became more common to use a chord progression as the basis
CHAPTER 24: JAZZ | 745
for entirely new melodies. In more recent jazz traditions, even
chords are abandoned and musicians will simply improvise
on a scale, a motive, or even just a tonal center. No matter
how they improvise, however, most musicians have a set of
phrases (called “licks”) that lie easily under their fingers and
can be used and reused in a variety of contexts. Charlie Parker,
for example, had many signature “licks” that make his style
instantly recognizable. In other words, jazz musicians do often
play musical lines they have played before, but where they
place these lines, and how they play them, is part of the art of
improvisation.
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Time: 2:00
Instrumentation. Certain instruments have become
strongly associated with the jazz tradition, mainly because of
their tone color and ability to fit into an ensemble or carry a
chord structure. And, from its earliest history, there has been a
common division of some of the instruments into a subsection
known as the “rhythm section” that maintains the rhythmic
drive and reiterates the chord progression for other
improvising musicians. Ensembles have continued to evolve,
however, due to improvements in microphones and recording
technology.
• Rhythm Section = drum-set, piano, bass, guitar, electric
organ. The rhythm section’s primary role is to
accompany by providing chords (piano, guitar, organ,
bass) and a foundation of beat and groove (drums, bass).
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• “Horns” = any single-note instrument that is responsible
for playing both written and improvised melodies.
Instruments traditionally included are saxophones,
trumpets, trombones, voices, and guitars.
The blues. Nearly all jazz has some connection, even if subtle,
with the African American blues tradition, in performance
technique, common forms used, and overall musical “feel.” In
fact, there are those who would claim that when the music
loses its connection to the blues, it ceases to be jazz.
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Performance technique. Largely out of the blues tradition
comes the jazz player’s proclivity for creating “new” sounds on
748 | CHAPTER 24: JAZZ
their instrument, and using that instrument in an idiosyncratic
way. Often these techniques mirror the use of the voice in
various African American traditions; we know, for example,
that the bending of pitches and growling or rasping sound
often used by jazz musicians mirror black vocal traditions such
as the blues, as well as both speech and singing in black church
music. Listen to Louis Armstrong as both a vocalist and a
trumpeter, and you will note there is little difference between
the two.
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In addition, many people have likened the high pitches
(usually out of the normal sound range of an instrument)
associated with certain players such as saxophonist John
Coltrane to “screams,” even though they may reflect
excitement or intensity on the part of the performer, rather
than anguish. Such “screams” or “squeaks” are something to
be carefully avoided in Western classical music, but many jazz
musicians incorporate them into their improvisations
intentionally.
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Rhythm. Most jazz performances employ a subtle rhythmic
sense that is often called “swing” or “swing feeling” (note this
is a different meaning of the term than that used below to
describe a style and era of jazz). This “swing feeling” is virtually
impossible to define in words (one musician once noted: “If
you gotta ask what swing is, you’ll never know”) but it is very
different than the subtle pulse of most Western art music, the
driving beat of popular music, or the dense polyrhythmic
effect of many African traditions. Think of “swing” as a special
kind of groove that is unique to jazz; it creates the subtle
forward thrust of the music and often is what makes you tap
your foot. Especially in the 1930s and 1940s, it was the “swing
feeling” mastered by groups such as those led by Count Basie
and Benny Goodman that made audiences leave their seats for
the dance floor.
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Brief History
The great sweep of jazz’s first century is usually loosely divided
into six general periods: (1) the music’s origins and the
emergence of its early masters; (2) the so-called “Swing Era”
when the music was the popular music of the United States
(and much of the world as well); (3) the emergence of bebop
in the early 1940s; (4) Cool and Hardbop styles of the 1950s;
(5)the avant-garde movement of the late 1950s and early
1960s; and (6) the “fusion” movement of the 1970s and
beyond, in which jazz absorbed influences from a variety of
other musical traditions, including rock. Yet, though some
categorization is necessary to make sense of this music’s unique
and fascinating path through history, such classifications must
be used with care, for a newer style does not necessarily replace
an older one. It is possible, in fact, to hear virtually any style
of jazz being played in the 21st century; some musicians look
back to the work of earlier performers, while others continue
CHAPTER 24: JAZZ | 751
to push the music into new realms, often absorbing elements
of other genres (including world music and hip-hop) along the
way.
Early Jazz
Although New Orleans is often touted as “The Birthplace of
Jazz,” it is actually impossible to limit the music’s emergence
to a single geographic location. It is clear that vernacular music
traditions that would feed into emerging jazz were developing
throughout the country at the turn of the 19th century. Yet,
New Orleans did supply a distinctive style of jazz, and most of
the greatest early practitioners of the music (Louis Armstrong,
Sidney Bechet, Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton, and others)
came from this vibrant cultural melting pot, where blues,
classical music, ragtime, church music, and other traditions
combined to help create the irresistible, largely improvised
music that took the country by storm in the 1920s.
The first recordings of jazz were actually made in in New
York in 1917 by a white group, The Original Dixieland Jazz
Band, an ensemble made up of Italian Americans from New
Orleans, but the true birth of jazz recording is usually traced
to the magnificent recordings made in 1923 by King Oliver
and His Creole Jazz Band, in which Armstrong played second
cornet to Oliver’s lead. Joining the migration of many African
Americans to northern cities during the so-called “Great
Migration” from the South in the late teens and early 1920s,
752 | CHAPTER 24: JAZZ
Oliver, Armstrong, Morton, and many other musicians built
careers in Chicago, where the music flourished and some of the
early masterpieces by Armstrong and Morton were recorded.
Many of these performances include what has become known
as “collective improvisation”—everyone appearing to
improvise simultaneously in a densely polyphonic
texture—though we now know that a considerable amount
of planning went into these “improvisations.” Armstrong,
however, partly with the encouragement of his wife Lillian
Hardin Armstrong, soon emerged as one of the greatest
musicians in the country, and since his ground-breaking
recordings of the mid and late 1920s, jazz has been largely
considered (rightly or wrongly) an art that celebrates the
virtuoso soloist.
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Characteristics of Early Jazz (New Orleans &
Chicago Style Dixieland)
• Use of collective improvisation (polyphony).
Front line of trumpet (or cornet), clarinet,
trombone. New Orleans style typically
included banjo and tuba, later replaced by
guitar and string bass in Chicago Style.
Chicago Style also typically adds saxophone to
the front line.
• Use of flat four in New Orleans Style, later
replaced by lighter two beat feel in Chicago
Style.
• Modern drum set emerges when New
Orleans musicians begin to consolidate the
754 | CHAPTER 24: JAZZ
drum section (bass, snare, cymbals)
commonly found in early New Orleans brass
bands.
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The Swing Era
In the 1930s, New York City became the center of jazz activity,
as it has remained to the present day. In addition, partly
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because of the huge demand for dance music (the country
was in the midst of the Depression and dance—along with
movies—provided escape from the dismal realities of daily life)
and the sizeable venues into which jazz musicians were booked,
jazz bands became larger, often with entire sections of reed and
brass instruments. In addition, the saxophone—considered
largely a joke instrument in the 1920s—emerged as the jazz
instrument par excellence (perhaps because of its versatility
and similarity to the human voice).
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This was the era of the jazz big band, and of groups such as
those led by Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Count
Basie. It was also the heyday of the jazz arranger, who took
on the responsibility of laying out specific parts for members
of the band (often in notation) as well as incorporating
improvisation, for collective music-making was no longer
feasible in a group of 15 or more musicians. Many of the era’s
greatest soloists—saxophonists Coleman Hawkins, Lester
Young, Johnny Hodges and Ben Webster, clarinetists
756 | CHAPTER 24: JAZZ
Goodman and Artie Shaw, trumpeters Roy Eldridge, Red
Allen and Cootie Williams (as well as Armstrong, of
course)—played with these big bands. Big band jazz swept the
nation, becoming the most popular type of dance music on the
scene, and resulting in the creation of thousands of records.
In addition, radio, which had begun to have an impact on
American culture in the 1920s, exploded into one of the
country’s most important media.
Duke Ellington
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Count Basie
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Benny Goodman
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Characteristics of Swing/Big Band Era
• Large ensembles, less improvisation, more
emphasis on written arrangements. Emphasis
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on showmanship (band uniforms, theme
songs, logos on stands, choreography,
singers).
• Development of sections (saxes, trumpets,
trombones, rhythm) based on the early model
of the front line in New Orleans/Chicago Style
Dixieland.
• Smoother swing feel (steady 4/4 time with
emphasis on beats 2 & 4, walking bass, ride
cymbal).
Bebop
Largely because of financial hardships brought on by World
War II, the popularity and economic feasibility of big band jazz
began to wane in the 1940s. But a host of young musicians
had already begun experimenting with new approaches to the
music, whether out of boredom, a sense that African
American musicians were being exploited in big bands, or
simply the natural tendency of creative minds to evolve. These
developments went largely undocumented, as they often took
place in late-night, informal jam sessions.
In addition, in the early 1940s the Musician’s Union called
for a ban on all recordings (in protest over the fact that
CHAPTER 24: JAZZ | 759
musicians were not being recompensed for the airplay of their
records), so the brewing sea change in jazz went largely
unrecorded. Yet, by 1945 trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and alto
saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker, along with pianists
Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell and drummers Max Roach
and Kenny Clarke, had essentially redefined jazz. Though their
music, which became known as “bebop,” remained firmly
rooted in past jazz traditions, they promoted a return to smallensemble music, and greatly expanded jazz’s harmonic,
rhythmic and melodic possibilities. They also seemed to
suggest that jazz be taken more seriously as an art form, rather
than dance music (though Gillespie once commented, when
a listener complained that he couldn’t dance to bebop, “YOU
can’t dance to it!”).
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This music of 1940s created the foundation for nearly all
modern jazz, and saw an important separation between the
music and social dancing. In addition, the popularity of jazz
760 | CHAPTER 24: JAZZ
began to be supplanted by the emerging idioms of R&B and
R&R.
Characteristics of Bebop
• Small ensembles (trio, quartet, quintet).
• Focus on improvisation rather than on
intricate arrangements.
• Complex, angular melodies usually played in
unison. Longer, irregular phrasing.
• Usually faster tempos than in swing.
• Emphasis on virtuosity and instrumental
technique. Drummer is now more interactive
(dropping bombs) with soloist.
• Use of contrafacts (original melody lines
written over standard chord progressions).
• Increased harmonic complexities (alterations
and substitutions of standard chord
progressions).
Cool and Hard Bop
Cool jazz, a prominent subgenre that emerged in the 1950s,
CHAPTER 24: JAZZ | 761
represented a departure from the frenetic energy of bebop and
embraced a more relaxed, introspective approach.
Characterized by its emphasis on intricate harmonies, subtle
melodies, and a subdued tempo, cool jazz sought to create
a calmer and more sophisticated atmosphere. Musicians like
Miles Davis, Chet Baker, and Gerry Mulligan were central
figures in this movement, employing intricate arrangements
and a focus on melodic improvisation. Cool jazz marked a
deliberate shift towards a cooler, more restrained aesthetic,
ultimately shaping the evolution of jazz into new realms of
subtlety and expression.
Miles Davis
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Gil Evans
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Characteristics of Cool Jazz
• Calm, unhurried approach to improvisation.
• Thinner textures, softer dynamics, smoother
melodic phrasing.
• Horn players tend to play with a lighter, less
harsh tone quality with little vibrato. Less
intense kicks/bombs by drummers, increased
use of brushes.
• More intricate arrangements, an emphasis on
composition.
• New instrumental combinations (flute, cello,
CHAPTER 24: JAZZ | 763
french horn, oboe, etc.).
• Renewed interest of collective improvisation.
Hard bop, a style of jazz that emerged in the late 1950s, took
the energetic spirit of bebop and added a bit of soul and
rhythm from R&B and gospel music. This type of jazz was
all about strong melodies, powerful rhythms, and intense
improvisation. Musicians like Art Blakey, Horace Silver, and
Cannonball Adderley played a big role in shaping hard bop. It
was a reaction to the smoother sound of cool jazz and brought
back some of the high energy that bebop had established.
Art Blakey
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Miles Davis
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Characteristics of Hard Bop
• Raw, hard driving style with an emotional
emphasis.
• Extensive use of the blues & gospel music.
• Emphasis on “groove” (funky), danceability
and the “shuffle” rhythm. Latin elements and
a “straight” eighth note feel used at times.
• Somewhat slower tempos and simpler
melodies than in bop.
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The Avant-Garde
Jazz musicians continued to explore the terrain opened up
by Parker and Gillespie and others during the 1950s. Some
created music even farther distant from the popular and
accessible music of the 1930s, while others tried to counteract
what they saw as the more “cerebral” aspects of bebop by
playing music more deeply rooted in the blues and gospel.
In 1959, a group led by saxophonist and composer Ornette
Coleman (which had been playing to small and largely hostile
audiences on the West Coast) took their inventive styles to
New York. Coleman’s music often did away entirely with
usual ideas of improvising on a melody or chord progression.
The work of Coleman and his compatriots is often referred
to as “Free Jazz” (the name of an album Coleman recorded
in 1960) but the idiom was not quite as loose as the name
suggests, with often a tonal center or motive providing an
important organizing principle, and close dialogue between
the various musicians a crucial feature of the music’s overall
effect. Nevertheless, Coleman’s music, which also
revolutionized the roles of the various instruments in the
ensemble, was highly controversial, as was his own edgy, often
harsh instrumental tone and idiosyncratic technique, which
some saw as evidence of poor musical training.
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Ornetter Coleman
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Some musicians rejected the new styles entirely, while
others—most notably, perhaps, saxophonist John
Coltrane—were strongly influenced by them. Even trumpeter
Miles Davis, though reportedly not a fan of avant-garde jazz,
seems to have incorporated some of its traits in the work of
his famous 1960s quintet, which featured saxophonist Wayne
Shorter, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Tony Williams, and
pianist Herbie Hancock.
John Coltrane
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Characteristics of Avante-Garde Jazz
• Open or free forms; tunes often complete
improvisations. Lack of preset chord changes.
• Usually dense textures, high energy playing
(energy music).
• Collective improvisation of a more dissonant,
atonal nature. Oftentimes ensembles omit use
of a piano or chord instrument.
• Experimental instruments & instrumentations.
• Use of unorthodox sounds (squeaks, screams,
noise, etc) and extended techniques (altissimo
register, multiphonics, etc).
• Interest in non-western musical concepts
(world music) and 20th century classical
composers such as John Cage and Karlheinz
768 | CHAPTER 24: JAZZ
Stockhausen.
Fusion and Jazz-Rock
In 1969 Miles Davis made the highly controversial move of
including electric instruments on his In A Silent Way and
Bitches Brew albums, adding as well rhythmic structures
aligned with rock and soul. Many accused Davis of “selling
out”—of trying to pander to popular music tastes of the
time—but though Davis was certainly interested in expanding
his dwindling audience, he also heard fascinating possibilities
in the work of Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown, and
Jimi Hendrix.
Many alumni from Miles’s “electric” groups went on to
form fusion bands of their own—keyboardist Chick Corea
with Return to Forever, Wayne Shorter and keyboardist Joe
Zawinul with Weather Report, guitarist John McLaughlin
with The Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Herbie Hancock with a
group that produced the hugely popular Headhunters album
in 1973. Though many critics complained that their music
“wasn’t jazz,” it did maintain improvisation and connections
with the blues that had always been a part of the jazz tradition.
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Chick Corea
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Weather Report
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Characteristics of Fusion and Jazz-Rock
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• Extensive use of electronic instruments:
electric piano (Fender Rhodes), synthesizers
(multiple keyboards), electric bass (bass
guitar), electric guitar, electronic modifications
on acoustic instruments.
• Focus of attention on the rhythm section.
• More attention on studio recording
technology and the process of recording.
• More emphasis on straight eighth note feel
(rock) than on swing.
• Harmony often simple chord repetitions
(static harmony, vamps). Bass lines often
repetitive.
• Pieces range from simple melodies with
vamps and open forms to complex throughcomposed , sectionalized compositions.
The 1980s and Beyond
The last four decades have seen the extension of many of jazz
history’s streams, as well as the promotion of jazz as an art
worthy of academic discourse. In the 1980s, New Orleansborn Wynton Marsalis, himself an alumnus of drummer Art
Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, emerged as one of the most
CHAPTER 24: JAZZ | 771
important spokespersons for the music. Though widely
criticized by many as musically conservative, he has done much
for the promotion of jazz worldwide, especially in his role as
director of Lincoln Center’s jazz program. As it always has,
the art of jazz continues to evolve and reflect changing political
and economic climates, as well as absorbing other music that
emerges in the now-digital age.
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Listening to Jazz Styles
Jazz is a way of life. It’s a way of thinking. It’s a way of listening
and speaking. It’s the way your soul sees the world. At the heart
of Jazz is improvisation. And Jazzers improvise with style. Jazz
means to be cool, to lay back, to play a little behind the beat.
This style we call Swing. Swing is about momentum. It’s about
playing together. Swing creates a force of moving ahead,
moving on down the road to the next bit of coolness that we
can experience and enjoy together.
Musically, Jazz is a language. The conversation began in
New Orleans around 1900 and was the result of music from
all over the world coming together at a magical time. The
Mississippi River offered jobs and promises to people who
packed up their families and moved to create a new life, a new
beginning. Part of this new beginning was Jazz.
Jazz, even before it was known as Jazz, was an integral part of
New Orleans. Music has been called the “universal language,”
and it couldn’t have been truer than in New Orleans. Music
was the thread that wove the new and diverse cultures
together, and this music was improvised.
Some of the music that led to Jazz were Ragtime, Blues,
Gospel, Marching Band, Classical, Caribbean, and African.
Congo Square played an integral role because AfricanAmericans would gather to sing, dance, and play music there
on Sundays in New Orleans.
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Buddy Bolden (1877-1931)
Figure 24.1 | Buddy Bolden’s band, Bolden, second row,
second from left; 1900-1906. | Attribution: Photographer
unknown from personal collection of trombonist Willie
Cornish
Buddy Bolden was the first musician whose name was
associated with Jazz. Please keep in mind that if the up-andcoming jazz musicians had been labeled, they would’ve been
called Ragtime musicians. After Buddy Bolden, some of the
first generation of Jazz players were Jelly Roll Morton, Joe
“King” Oliver, Sidney Bechet, The Original Dixieland Jazz
Band, and of course, Louis Armstrong.
774 | CHAPTER 24: JAZZ
Louis Armstrong (1901-1971)
Figure 24.2 | Louis Armstrong (1953)
Louis Armstrong is the Father of Jazz. Prior to Armstrong,
Jazz was a loosely assembled group or “collective”
improvisation. This worked because each instrument had a
role. Armstrong changed the arrangement by becoming the
only soloist, while the rest of the band supported him. This
transformation in Jazz might be compared Classical music’s
transformation from polyphony to homophony. Armstrong’s
phrases made perfect sense and were complete. And there was
so much joy. Even if you can’t see him play, listening to his
music will make you smile.
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Swing
The Swing Era is about the big band. The King of Swing
was Benny Goodman. Other key figures are Duke Ellington,
Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Tommy Dorsey,
and vocalists Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. This is Top 40
music, a very slick show, and is all about dancing.
Audio
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776 | CHAPTER 24: JAZZ
Figure 24.3 | Duke Ellington playing the piano and smiling
at the Hurricane Club in New York, N.Y., May 1943|
Bebop
Bebop is the beginning of “modern jazz.” This music was
not for dancing but was instead intended for listening. Some
CHAPTER 24: JAZZ | 777
musicians from the big bands felt that they were not really
getting to play on the gigs, so they’d go to small clubs like
Minton’s Playhouse, and improvise until the wee hours of the
morning. Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk,
and Bud Powell are just a few of the Bebop musicians. Whereas
Swing was about dance and boasted tight arrangements,
Bebop asked you not to dance and was all about the solo. It was
all about improvisation.
Figures
24.4-7 |
Left to
right,
Charlie
Parker,
Thelonio
us Monk,
Dizzy
Gillespie,
and Bud
Powell.
Dzzy Gillespie
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Post War Jazz
In the 1950’s after Bebop, Jazz branched out into Hard Bop,
Cool, Modal, and in the 60’s, Free Jazz and Bossa Nova.
Hard Bop is jazz with a little Rhythm & Blues and Gospel.
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Cool jazz reacted to the fiery tempos and blazing, frantic
improvisation of bop with slower, singable melodies and
relaxed grooves.
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Modal Jazz is about the music in a slightly different way.
Instead of playing off the chords, the improvisation is based on
a mode, which is just another word for scale. The pinnacle of
Modal Jazz is an album by Miles Davis called Kind of Blue. The
musicians on this recording all deserve the highest recognition.
It’s Miles on trumpet, John Coltrane on tenor sax, Cannonball
Adderley on alto sax, Bill Evans on piano, Wynton Kelly on
piano on Freddie Freeloader, Paul Chambers on bass, and
Jimmy Cobb on drums.
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Figure 24.8 | Miles Davis, c.1955-56 | Photographer:
Tom Palumbo
Free Jazz seeks to explore Jazz with few restrictions. The music
could be based on a single phrase or melody, a set of chords (in
no specific order), or maybe just an idea. Free Jazz is unbridled
emotion.
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Bossa Nova, Jazz originating in Brazil, on the other hand, is
some of the most beautiful, lyrical music that you’ll ever hear.
And contrary to Free Jazz which is instrumental, Bossa Nova
often focuses on a vocalist delivering the gorgeous melody.
Melodies are accompanied by a seamless series of magical
chords, and the beat is nothing short of paradise.
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Fusion was a popular style of Jazz in the 1970s. It began with
the Miles Davis recordings, In a Silent Way and the Bitches
Brew. Fusion is Jazz mixed with Rock & Roll, Rhythm &
Blues, and is played on electric instruments. Many of the key
players on Bitches Brew formed their own bands. Herbie
Hancock started Headhunters, Chick Corea founded Return
782 | CHAPTER 24: JAZZ
to Forever, John McLaughlin started The Mahavishnu
Orchestra, and Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul formed
Weather Report.
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Summary
Since its inception, jazz has been many things to many different
people. To some, it’s dance music. To others, it provides a place
to think. To yet others, it’s simply about emotion. Sometimes a
listener might select a song to suit their emotion, and yet other
times the listener might want to pick a song that will change
the mood.
Licensing & Attributions
Adapted from “MUSIC: ITS LANGUAGE, HISTORY,
AND CULTURE: A Reader for Music 1300”
CHAPTER 24: JAZZ | 783
Original text by Ray Allen, Douglas Cohen, Nancy Hager,
and Jeffrey Taylor with contributions by Marc Thorman.
Music: Its Language, History, and Culture by the
Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College of the City
University of New York is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Adapted from “Listening to Jazz Styles”
Music Appreciation: History, Culture, and Context
By Jesse Boyd
Music Appreciation Copyright © 2022 by LOUIS: The
Louisiana Library Network is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except
where otherwise noted.
Edited and additional content by Jennifer Bill
Media Attributions
• Buddy Bolden’s band © Wikipedia is licensed under a
Public Domain license
• Louis Armstrong (1953) © Library of Congress: Prints
and Photographs Division is licensed under a Public
Domain license
• Duke Ellington © Gordon Parks via. Library of
Congress is licensed under a Public Domain license
• Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, and
Bud Powell © Library of Congress & Wikipedia is
licensed under a Public Domain license
784 | CHAPTER 24: JAZZ
• Miles Davis, c.1955-56 © Tom Palumbo via. Wikipedia
is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike)
license
GRANT INFORMATION | 785
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