Play of Virtues

Hildegard von Bingen –  Secular Song  –  (ca. 1150)

  • plainchant
  • monophony
    • provided clarity for worship
  • melismas and syllabic text
  • free rhythm
  • Conjunct Melodies

I Can All Too Well Compare My Lady

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Machaut  –  Secular Song – (ca. 1350)

  • polyphony (independent voices)
  • courtly love
  • AAB
  • Mass oridinary song

The Cricket

Josquin des Prez  –  Secular Song  –  (ca. 1500)

  • four-voice polyphony (all equal)
  • counterpoint
  • ternary form (ABA)
  • word-painting

Sing Joyfully

William Byrd  –  Anthem  –  (1590)

  • polyphony (six-voice)
  • a capella choral music
  • imitative counterpoint
  • sectional form

Orpheus

Claudio Monteverdi  –  Early Baroque Opera – (1607)

  • homophony (subordinate accompaniment)
  • basso continuo
  • recitative

Brandeburg Concerto no. 2

J.S. Bach  –  Concerto Grosso  – (1720)

  • ritornello principle
  • fugal texture
  • extreme timbral contrast
  • vehicle for virtuosic displays

Messiah

Handel  –  Oratorio  –  (1747)

  • ritornello and sectional form
  • aria & recitative
  • all three textures

String Quartet in C Major

Haydn  –  String Quartet  –  (1797)

  • theme and variation form
    • each variation is assigned a diff. instrument
  • periodic phrase structure
    • memics a conversation between instruments

Symphony no. 40 in G Minor

Mozart  –  Symphony –  (1788)

  • Sonata form
    • modulation
  • contrasting themes (characters in a drama)

 

Marriage of Figaro

Mozart  –  Comic Opera  –  (1786)

  • opera buffa
  • drama through music
    • each voice is a character, represents character’s emotion
  • accompanied recitative
  • Rondo Form

Symphony no. 5 in C Minor

Beethoven ;- ;Symphony ;- ;(1808)

  • rhythmic motif
    • cyclic form
  • sonata form
  • Dynamic contrast (loud vs. soft)
  • theme and variations
  • scherzo

Erlkonig

Schubert ;- ;Song ;- ;(1815)

  • ballad
  • modified strophic form
  • word painting through music
    • enhances plot

Overture to A Midsummer’s Night Dream

Felix Mendelssohn  –  Concert Overture  –  (1826)

  • program music
  • drama represented in a purely instrumental musical
    • each situation is given a theme
  • sonata form

Symphonie Fantastique

Berlioz  –  Programmatic Symphony  –  (1830)

  • modern orchestra
    • mastered orchestration 
  • program music
  • Contrasting sections (major vs. minor)
  • Idee Fixe

Piano Trio in D Minor

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel – Piano Trio – (1846)

  • chamber music for the home
  • song without words
    • invitation to create our own
  • modified strophic form

Forward!

Clara Schumann – A capella choral – (1848)

  • political music
  • word-painting of “Forward!” (trumpets)
  • timbre of the a capella
    • unison and patriotic
  • Nationalism

 

Mazurka in B-flat

Chopin  –  Charater piece for piano – (1830s)

  • drone bass
  • Repetition, Variation, and Contrast
  • song-like vocal texture in piano
    • homophonic texture
  • Nationalism & Romanticism

Union

Gottschalk  –  Solo Piano  –  (1862)

  • Virtuosity
    • homophonic vs. polyphonic
  • Nationalism
    • response to the civil war
  • uses American folk melodies

La Traviata 

Verdi – Opera – (1853)

  • integretation of recitative and aria
    • uses aria to show deep emotion
  • vocal virtuosity
  • little focus on the orchestra

The Valkyrie

Wagner  –  Opera  –  (1856)

  • balance of voice and the orchestra
  • thematic ideas are represented in the music
  • Leitmotif
  • kept vocal parts simple and clear

Symphony no. 4

Brahms –  Symphony – (1885)

  • theme and variations form
    • theme derived from Bach’s Cantata
    • complex
  • ABA form
  • orchestral timbre
  • Combined old forms with new elements

String Quartet “American”

Dvorak ;- ;String Quartet – ;(1893)

  • call and response
  • pentatonic melody
  • folk-like rhythms
  • Nationalism

Violes

Claude Debussy ;- ;Character Piece for Piano ;- (1910)

  • timbre of the piano
    • Gamelan
  • whole-tone scale
    • harmonies unsolved, melodies float in and out
  • atonal
  • Impressionism

The Unanswered Question

Ives – Programmatic Work for chamber orchestra – (1908)

  • layered texture
  • dissonance vs. consonance
  • tonal vs. atonal
  • symbolism

Columbine

Schoenberg – Song cycle for voice and chamber – (1912)

  • atonality
  • sprechstimme
  • expressionism

The Rite of Spring

Stravinsky – Ballet – (1913)

  • primitivism
  • polytonality
  • pentatonic melodies (simple)
  • mega orchestra
  • metrical irregularity
    • ostinato

Maple Leaf Rag

Joplin – Ragtime – (1899)

  • syncopation
  • sectional form
  • compound melodies

Terraplane Blues

Johnson – Downhome Blues – (1936)

  • 12-bar form
  • blue notes
  • lyrical content: blue, sad
  • symbolism

Cotton Tail

Ellington – Big Band Jazz – (1940)

  • big-band insturmentation
  • swing rhythms
  • 32-bar song (AABA)

Ornithology

Parker – Bebop Jazz – (1946)

  • virtuosity
  • jazz combo instrumentation
  • improvisation
  • soloist vs. rhythm section

Piano Study in Mixed Accents

Ruth Crawford – Solo piano music – (1930)

  • atonality
  • register as a structure
  • modernism

Concertino for Harp and Orchestra

Tailleferre – Neoclassicism – (1927)

  • periodic phrase structure
  • transparency
  • rondo form

A Black Pierrot

William Still – Art Song – (1949)

  • blues inflections
  • chromatic harmony (dissonance)
  • through-composed piece

“Hoe-Down”

Copland – Ballet – (1942)

  • popular modernist
  • traditional folk tunes
  • open orchestration
  • rondo form

Concerto for Orchestra

Bartok – Concerto – (1943)

  • symmectrical form
  • folk melodies
  • orchestration virtuosity
  • pairs of instruments

Tonight

Bernstein – Musical – (1957)

  • additive form
  • contrasting meanings
  • polyphony

Indeterminacy

Cage – Aleatory Music – (1959)

  • aleatory music
  • musique concrete
  • electronic music
  • experimental

Knee Play 1: Einstein on the Beach

Glass – Opera – (1976)

  • drama without a plot
  • variation form
  • ostinato
  • minimalism

School Day

Chuck Berry – RocknRoll – (1957)

  • Shuffle rhythm
  • guitar solos
  • 12-bar blues form
  • stop timing

Good Vibrations

Beach Boys – Psychedelia – (1966)

  • Composition in the studio
  • psychedelic timbres
  • themlin
  • verse-chorus / sectional form

A la Par

Leon – Music for percussion ensemble – (1986)

  • tonal vs. atonal
  • percussion
  • Nationalism
  • Post-modernism

Farewell

Tan Dun – Film Music – (2000)

  • mix of western and eastern styles
  • pentatonic melodies
  • symbolism (man and a woman)

Counterpoint

  • rules that govern the composition of multiple melodies
  • note-against-note 

Ternary Form

  • ABA
  • idea is shown, contrasted, and returned
  • Ex:
    • “The Cricket”

Anthem (genre)

English version of a sacred choral work

 

meant to be sung in church

Imitative Counterpoint

  • type of counterpoint where one voice presents a theme and other voices imitate it

Sectional Form
each new section of text gets its own melodic idea