About This Course

A Message from Ed

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:06:21 -0700

I hope you enjoyed taking Music 15 this term--I certainly enjoyed teaching it. Thanks for a being a great group of students.

If you liked taking this course, you may be interested in hearing about some other ways you can learn about music here at UCSB. Below you will find a list of some of the other music courses offered for non-majors, as well as some valuable resources that you may be interested in knowing about!

Have a great summer!

-Ed

Some Essential Music Resources

UCSB Music Library. The Music Library is an extremely valuable resource open to all members of the UCSB community. It is located on the second floor of the Arts Library, just behind our lecture hall in the Music Building. In addition to an excellent collection of books on music (including books on rock and popular music), the Music Library has over 10,000 CDs and over 20,000 LPs. While the collection of recorded music is strongest in the area of classical music, interesting (and sometimes rare) recordings can be found from all genres of music.

While most music books can be checked out of the library, recordings must be listened to in the building. To facilitate this, the library has several listening rooms equipped with both CD and record players for your use. Recordings can be searched through the library’s online catalog, Pegasus. (Try doing an advance search and putting the “Format” option on “Sound Recording”!)

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Though it calls itself a “dictionary,” the New Grove is truly encyclopedic weighing in at 29 large volumes. It is the major English-language reference work on music and is a great place to look if you’re interested in a specific time period, place, composer, genre, or... almost anything. The New Grove focuses on the Western art music tradition, but also has interesting entries on some topics and people related to popular music. You can find the print edition of the New Grove in the Music Library or you can search it online from any computer on campus (including in the dorms) by going to grovemusic.com.

Classical Music Library. An extensive online database of classical music that can be streamed (but not downloaded) for free from any computer on campus (or on your own computer if you use the library’s proxy server. It’s a great way of checking out composers or works you may have heard about but never actually heard!

Other Music Department Courses
for Non-Majors

The courses listed below are open to all students, even if you don’t read music. Note: Some of the courses (like Music 11, 17, and 114) are taught nearly every term, while others (like Music 116 and 119A are only taught occasionally).

Music 11: The Fundamentals of Music. Music 11 is an introduction to some of the basics of musical notation and music theory. You’ll learn how to read music and how some basic keyboard skills. (Discussion sections are held in a digital keyboard lab.) Among other things, the course teaches you the basic elements of harmony (e.g. different chord patterns) and how to analyze works. Fulfills the “F” requirement. Music 11 is typically offered all three terms of the normal academic year, as well as during summer sessions A and B.

Music 17: World Music. An introductory course surveying the unity and diversity of folk, traditional, and classical music of the non-Western world. Emphasis given to dance, theatre, musical instruments, and the role of music in society. Fulfills the “F” requirement. Music 11 is typically offered all three terms of the normal academic year, as well as during summer sessions A and B.

Music 114: Music & Pop Culture. A survey of the relationships between music and popular culture in America. Music to be discussed involves blues, jazz, and rock, as well as classical music. Emphasis is on cultural, rather than technical aspects of music. Fulfills the “F” and writing requirements. Music 114 is typically offered all three terms of the normal academic year, as well as during summer sessions A and B.

Music 116: American Music History. This course surveys the varieties of American musical experience from the colonial period to the present. A study of representative works supplemented by readings drawn from primary sources and recent scholarship will facilitate an understanding of the cultural context and chracteristic of musical practices in the United States. (This is a small course with a max of about 30 students.) Fulfills the “F” GE. This course is offered occasionally.

Music 119A: Music and Politics. A study of the interaction between music and politics from the fourteenth century to the present. Includes discussion of relevant art from each period. The course also has a focus on the role of music in film. Fulfills the “F” and writing requirements. Music 119A is typically offered at least once during the normal school year and once during the summer.

Final Review and Study Tips

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:25:14 -0700

The final will be on Wednesday, June 11 at noon. You will have 90 minutes (until 1:30pm) to finish it, which should be more than enough time given its modest length. Please arrive promptly and bring a narrow (green) scantron form (as shown above) as well as a #2 pencil. Scantron forms can be purchased at the UCen Bookstore, the Arbor, and the Corner Store.

The test will consist of 45 multiple choice questions, each of which will be worth one point. Some of the questions will be based on your ability to recognize musical selections we have discussed in class. Additionally, there will be a few extra credit questions. The test will focus on material from after the midterm, though there may be a few questions that ask you to compare recent topics with works or style we discussed earlier in the term in a very broad way.

A Few Study Tips

A good way to begin preparing is by looking over the lecture summaries that can be found on this website.
You should be familiar with the vocabulary terms that have been introduced in lecture. A list of the most important terms is provided below. You can find definitions for many of these terms in the Lexicon section of this website.
You should also be familiar with the different genres we have discussed so far and have a good idea of the defining characteristics for each. (See list of genres below.)
You should have a general idea of how music functioned differently in different time periods and contexts. (For instance, I might ask a question about the role of music in a medieval monastery or about secular music in the Renaissance.)
Be sure to review the basic elements of the composers’ biographical information that we covered in lecture.
For each work listed on the syllabus (except the John Adams, which we skipped) you should know:
composer
title
genre
historical style period (Romantic or 20th Century)
Any special musical features that may have been noted in lecture
Any important historical background or context, if relevant
You don’t have to memorized the exact years in which works were composed, but you should have an general idea of where they fit into the timeline. (For example, I might ask whether Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique was written in 1775, 1830, 1890, or 1950.)
Some questions will relate to the readings you have been assigned from the supplementary reader.
For the listening questions you will need to be able to identify a work after hearing about 30 seconds from the beginning of a piece or from the beginning of a movement in a multi-movement work. (You are not responsible for the film music excerpts we saw/heard in the last lecture.)

Some Important Terms
(Roughly in the order they appeared in the lectures.)

cyclical form
motive
sublime
exoticism
nationalism
virtuoso
tempo rubato (or just “rubato”)
through-composed
idée fixe
gesamtkunstwerk
leitmotif
nationalism
absolute music
verismo
modernism
teleology
atonality
klangfarbenmelodie
sprechstimme
avant-garde
prepared piano
musique concrète
minimalism

Genres
(Roughly in the order they appeared in the lectures.)

sonata
rhapsody
lied (plural: lieder)
song cycle
nocturne
program symphony
symphonic poem
ballet

Lecture 20: Music and the Cinema

Thu, 5 Jun 2008 12:59:33 -0700

We started the last lecture of the quarter by looking at the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt and his work Cantate Domino. We then talked about the Icelandic singer/song-writer Björk and her experimental all-voice album from 2004, Medulla. We finished the class with a quick look at film music across the course of the 20th century with examples by Bernard Herrmann (Psycho) and John Williams (Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark).

Lecture outline:
Minimalism
Arvo Pärt
Pärt: Cantate Domino
Björk: Mouth’s Cradle (from Medulla)
Music and “Silent” Film
Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975)
Psycho (1960)
Dir. by Alfred Hitchcock
Music by Bernard Herrmann
John Williams (b. 1932)
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Terms
minimalism

Lecture 19: New Technology

Tue, 3 Jun 2008 00:52:52 -0700

After covering George Crumb and his Ancient Voices of Children, we went through a quick survey of the history of music and technology. From there we discussed the theremin, the Moog synthesizer, and electronic music innovator Karlheinz Stockhausen before crossing over to the popular realm with the Beatle’s famous Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. We ended with a quick demonstration of digital sampling. We’ll discuss the works by Arvo Pärt and Björk during the last lecture of the term.

If anyone is interested in early recordings, the UCSB Cylinder Preservation & Digitization Project (an international leader in the field) provides free access to mp3 files of more than 5000 cylinder records dating back to the the earliest days of sound recording (ca. 1890-1920). (Click here to check it out!)

Lecture outline:
George Crumb (b.1929)
Crumb: Ancient Voices of Children (1970)
Music & Technology
A Short History of Early Sound Recording Technology
1877: Thomas Alva Edison invents phonograph
1890s: Cylinder phonographs become commercially available
1910s: Disc phonographs (78rpm) gain market dominance
1925: Microphone first used in recording, replaces acoustic recording process
1930s: Magnetic tape becomes viable recording medium
1940s: Introduction of modern Long-Playing records (LPs)
1950s & ‘60s: More sophisticated studio technology developed with more powerful editing abilities
20th-century Instruments
1919: Theremin (early electronic instrument)
1930s: First electric guitars developed
1955: RCA Sound Synthesizer (custom developed for Princeton and Columbia universities)
1964: Moog modular synthesizer introduced
1970: Mini-Moog portable synthesizer introduced
c.1980: digital sampler introduced
The Theremin
The Moog Synthesizer
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007)
Musique Concrète
The Beatles (1960-1970)
The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band (1967)  (excerpt: “A Day in the Life”)

Terms
musique concrète

Opera Assignment: Gianni Schicchi

Mon, 2 Jun 2008 19:03:45 -0700

Due: Tuesday, June 3 at 11am. (At start of lecture.)
Length: 1 to 1.5 pages (double-spaced, 12 point font, 1” margins)
Value: 10 points

Please read through all of the instructions and background information provided below before going to view the opera!

Overview: For this assignment, you simply have to watch a short (1 hour long) opera written by the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini and write a short, semi-formal paper based on your reactions to it. The opera is titled Gianni Schicchi (pronounced like “Johnny Skeeky”).

Screenings: There will be two screening of the opera held during the 9th week of the term.

Tuesday, May 27, 2pm (Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall)
Wednesday, May 28, 4pm (Buchanan 1910)

You are encouraged to attend one of these two screening if at all possible. If, however, you have a schedule conflict that prevents you from doing so, a DVD of the opera is on reserve at the Music Service Desk (2nd floor) of the Arts Library, which is in the same building as our class. To watch this video, request call number M1500.P8 G5 2005 and mention that it is a DVD which is on reserve. The video can not be checked out of the library, so you will be provided with the key to a video screening room where you can watch it. (The principal video screening room seats about 4 or 5 people comfortably.) There is only one copy of the video, so you may have to wait a short time if another student is currently viewing it (or perhaps join them if they’ve just started it!).

Write-up: The written component of this assignment is similar in nature to the Concert Reports in as much as you are being asked to provide a considered response to what you have seen and heard. Unlike the concert reports, however, this assignment requires you respond to specific elements as prompted by the questions below.

Please respond to two of the following questions in your paper:

How did watching this change your view of opera? What elements of the genre did you find particularly successful or unsuccessful? Was there anything you found surprising?

Puccini’s operas are often associated with a cultural movement called verismo (from the Italian word for “truth”). This movement emphasized realism in the plot, characters, and setting of an opera. Do you think the opera Gianni Schicchi deserves this labels? Do the plot and characters seem believable? Do the issues seem relevant to our own time?

Compare this opera with a musical that have seen, whether live on stage or in a movie (e.g. Moulin Rouge, Across the Universe, or one of the many animated Disney musicals). What are the similarities and differences?

What affect did the music and singing have on your experience of watching the opera? Did you find the music helped to express the action and emotions of the plot or did you find it a distraction from what was going on?  

Opera Synopsis & Background

For the opera assignment, we will watching an entire late-Romantic opera. Giacomo Puccini’s opera Gianni Schicchi (1918) (pronounced a lot like “Johnny Skeeky”) is very short in length for an opera--it comes in at a little under an hour long--but it gives a good taste of what the most successful variety of opera was like at the turn of the 20th century. A short synopsis of the opera is provided below for your reference. Please read through it before viewing the opera..

We will be watching a video of a 2004 production of Gianni Schicchi by the Glyndeborne Opera Company in England.

Setting: Florence, Italy; the year is 1299.

Plot: The action begins in the house of Buoso Donati, a very wealthy resident of Florence. Buoso has very recently died and his relatives gather at his bedside to grieve--or at least that is how it first appears. Before long, it becomes clear that their sorrow is not very sincere: their true interest is in how the dead man has distributed his wealth. Will they be inheriting his great estate? The relatives decide to search the house for Buoso’s will in the hope that it will indicate that they will be soon inheriting a great fortune.

As the search commences Rinuccio, a 24 year-old relation of Buoso, declares his love for a woman he knows named Lauretta, the daughter of a local trickster named Gianni Schicchi. He convinces his relatives to let him marry Lauretta if they indeed inherit the dead man’s fortune.

Once the will is found, however, it becomes clear that Buoso’s fortune will not be staying the family: he has left it all to the monks of a local monastery. Rinuccio, set on marrying Lauretta, suggests the family call on her father, the resourceful Gianni Schicchi. He, it seems, has a reputation for being able to solve difficult problems with creative (if perhaps dishonest) solutions. After his older relatives express their reluctance to accept help from Schicchi, who they see as being beneath them in class standing, Rinuccio reveals that he has already summoned the man and that he will be arriving shortly.

On arrival, Gianni Schicchi is treating quite rudely by the indignant Donati family and, as such, initially refuses to help them. It is only after his daughter, Lauretta, sings an impassioned plea to her father (the famous aria “O mio babbino caro”) that he decides to assist the family with their problem.

Since word of Buoso’s death has not yet spread, Schicchi proposes to disguise himself in the diseased man’s bed and pretend to be him while dictating a new will to a local lawyer. He warns the family that they will be complicit in the deception and that if any of them reveal the truth they will also be punished severely.

When the lawyer arrives the deception initially goes exactly as planned: he completely believes that the disguised Gianni Schicchi is in fact Buoso Donati. As Schicchi begins to dictate the new will, however, it quickly becomes clear that he isn’t going to play by the rules: instead of leaving Buoso’s most valuable possessions to the family members as he had agreed, Schicchi allocates them to himself. The Donati family, afraid of being punished for their involvement in the deception, is horrified but powerless as they watch Schicchi trick them out of much of the fortune.

After the lawyer leaves the outraged Donati family accost Schicchi, only to be driven from the house that, due to his trickery, is now legally his. While the furious relations depart, the two lovers, Rinuccio and Lauretta, sit together happily knowing that they will be able to marry now that Lauretta’s father has suddenly become so wealthy.

In an unusual moment at the very end of the opera, Gianni Schicchi addresses the audience directly: he tells us that he has been sentenced to hell for his misdeeds, but he hopes that the cleverness he has displayed with his pranks (and the entertainment we have taken from it) will leave us at least a little sympathetic to his plight.

(Synopsis by E. Johnson)

Lecture 18: Music in America

Thu, 29 May 2008 15:03:48 -0700

After finishing up with Stravinsky, we discussed another big name in modernist music, Arnold Schoenberg. We then moved on to our first American-born composer of the term, Aaron Copland. After listening to music from Copland’s ballet Billy the Kid, we looked at what it means for music to be avant-garde and how John Cage questioned the very definition of what music is and can be. We didn’t get to George Crumb, so he’ll be the first topic on Tuesday’s lecture.

Lecture outline:
20th Century Timeline
1894 - Debussy: Afternoon of a Faun (symphonic poem)
1912 - Debussy: Afternoon of a Faun (made into a ballet)
1912 - Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire
1913 - Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
1918 - Puccini: Gianni Schicchi
1938 - Copland: Billy the Kid (ballet)
1946 - Cage: Sonatas and Interludes
1952 - Cage: 4’33”
1970 - Crumb: Ancient Voices of Children.
Arnold Schoenberg (1871-1951)
“Emancipation of Dissonance”
Atonality
Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire (1912)
Klangfarbenmelodie
Sprechstimme
Music in America
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
Copland: video excerpt of Appalachian Spring (1944)
Copland: Billy the Kid (1938)
The Musical Avant-garde
John Cage (1912-1992)
Prepared piano
Cage: Sonatas and Interludes (1948)
Chance Music & “Silence”
Cage: 4’33”

Terms
atonality
klangfarbenmelodie
sprechstimme
avant-garde
prepared piano

Lecture 17: The Early 20th Century

Tue, 27 May 2008 15:03:41 -0700

This class covered some of the major composers of the late 19th and early 20th century: Puccini, Debussy, and Stravinsky. After a brief look at Puccini’s biography, we talked a little about Debussy’s connections to the Impressionist movement in visual art and watched the ballet that was later created to the music of his symphonic poem The Afternoon of a Faun. We then proceeded to Igor Stravinsky and his great modernist ballet The Rite of Spring. We didn’t have to time to talk about Arnold Schoenberg, so we’ll start class with him on Thursday.

Lecture outline:
Early 20th Century Timeline
1894 - Debussy: Afternoon of a Faun (symphonic poem)
1912 - Debussy: Afternoon of a Faun (made into a ballet)
1912 - Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire
1913 - Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
1918 - Puccini: Gianni Schicchi
A Short History of Harmony
Harmony after 1900
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Verismo
Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi (1918)
Modernism
Modernism in Music
Teleology
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Debussy: Afternoon of a Faun (1894/1912)
Ballet Russe (Opera company in Paris)
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Stravinsky’s Three Periods
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (1913)
Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire (1912)

Terms
verismo
modernism
teleology

Paper 2: Analyzing Style and Form

Thu, 22 May 2008 15:46:48 -0700

Due: Thursday, May 22 at 11am. (At start of lecture.)
Length: 3 to 4 pages (double-spaced, 12 point font, 1” margins)
Value: 35 points (25 content, 10 for style)

Important Note: You may NOT consult outside material or do any extra research for this paper. The paper should be based on your own observations while listening to the musical selections and comparing them to other works we have discussed in the lecture. You are allowed to refer to the textbook if you wish, but you must provide proper citations (footnotes or parenthetical) if you decide to do so.

Listening: For this paper you will be listening to two different versions of the same musical work. The original version of this work was written for piano. Later on, the composer arranged the work for orchestra. The title and composer of this work is not being provided to you. As such, part of the challenge in writing this paper will be to identify some general musical characteristics of an unknown work.

For this paper, the musical examples you will be writing on are available as mp3 files which you can download from the links below. If you have any difficulties downloading or listening to this file, please contact the instructor or a TA as soon as possible. Click on the link below to listening to each version of the “mystery” work. You can download the file by right-clicking (Windows) or ctrl-clicking (Mac) on the link and selecting “save file as.”

Username: “music15” (no space)
Password: [provided in lecture]

Piano Version
Orchestra Version

Instructions: Start by listening to each version of the work several times. You will want to familiarize yourself with its different melodies and also pay attention to the way its form is organized. You may want to jot down some notes for future reference.

In your paper you should:

Start by analyzing the basic musical characteristics of the work which are common to both versions:
In which time period do you think it may have been written? Explain how the music might reflect cultural or aesthetic characteristics of this time period. (Bonus fact: Some of the melodies from the work are taken from Hungarian folk songs.) You may find it helpful to compare the work to some of the ones we have listened to in class.
Describe the work using some of the musical concepts we have discussed in class: tempo, texture, dynamics, melody, harmony, rhythm, and meter. Some of these categories may be more relevant to the discussion of this piece than others. Concentrating on what you think are the most important aspects of the works construction, do your best to use the terms you have learned to communicate as much about this work as you can.
Describe the form of the piece. Does it fit into any of the common forms we have discussed in class? If so, how? If not, how is it organized? How many sections would you divide into? Use the system of letters (like ABA, etc.) that we have used in class to help explain the form. (If you wish, feel free to draw a diagram to help illustrate your explanation of the form.) Note: There may be several different ways to interpret the work’s form, all of which could be correct. Your task is to figure out a form that you think makes the most sense in explaining how this work is laid-out by the composer.
Now compare the two versions:
What strikes you as being distinct to each?
How does the composer distribute the music originally written for piano to an entire orchestra of instruments?
Are there certain passages or musical elements that come out more in one version when compared with the other?
How would characterize the overall effect of each version? Does the different instrumentation change character of the work?
In the final section of your paper, briefly assess both the work and its variant versions. What do you think about the work itself? Is it successful? Do you think one of the two versions is more musically compelling than the other? If so, why?

Please contact your TA if you have any questions.

A note on academic honesty: When you submit a paper for a class you are representing it as your own work. Cheating by copying from other students or plagiarizing from other sources is forbidden by the University of California. Any cheating or plagiarism will result in the automatic failure of this assignment and, in some cases, the entire course. Additionally, all students involved in such activities will be reported to the Office of Judicial Affairs.

Lecture 16: Romanticism Continued

Thu, 22 May 2008 07:58:12 -0700

This lecture covered some of the musical developments of the second half of the 19th century. We began by looking at nationalism, an important cultural and political movement of the age and we looked at how the unification of Italy affected the way audiences reacted to the music of Verdi. After watching a clip of Verdi’s opera Rigoletto, we moved on to a discussion of Smetana and nationalism in the area that would eventually become the Czech Republic. We ended the class by talking about about the “Music of the Future” controversy, the rift that formed between composers who wrote mostly program music and those who wrote mostly absolute (or non-program) music. One of the leading advocates for the latter was Brahms and we listened to part of his Symphony no. 3.

Lecture outline:
1850-1900 Century
1851 - Verdi: Rigoletto
1856 - Wagner: Die Walküre (first performed 1870)
1876 - Wagner: The Ring of the Nibelung finished and performed
1879 - Smetana: The Moldau (from Ma vlast)
1883 - Brahms: Symphony no. 3
Nationalism
The unification of Italy
Victor Emmanuel II, First King of Italy
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
“Viva Verdi”
Verdi’s opera Rigoletto
Verdi’s operas vs. Wagner’s operas
Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884)
Genre: Symphonic Poem
Nationalism in the Czech Republic
Smetana’s Ma Vlast (cycle of 6 symphonic poems)
Smetana’s The Moldau (from Ma Vlast)
Music of the Future Controversy
Absolute Music
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Brahms’ Symphony no. 3, mvt. III

Terms
absolute music
nationalism

Lecture 15: Berlioz and Wagner

Tue, 20 May 2008 18:58:07 -0700

In this lecture we looked at the public face of Romantic music with spectacular works by Hector Berlioz and Richard Wagner. Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique (1830) broke from the tradition symphonic practices by having a detailed story musically depicted in each movement. Wagner’s epic operas were no less innovative: his four opera set The Ring of the Nibelung was unprecedented in its scale and musical ambition.

Lecture outline:
19th Century Timeline (of works we’ve had so far)
1801 - Beethoven: “Moonlight” Sonata
1807 - Beethoven: Symphony no. 5
1815 - Schubert: Erlking
1830 - Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique
1836 - C. Schumann: Nocturne
1838 - Chopin: “Military” Polonaise
1840 - R. Schumann: In the Lovely Month of May
1856 - Wagner: Die Walküre (first performed 1870)
1876 - Wagner: The Ring of the Nibelung (four opera cycle)
Genre: program symphony
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique (1830)
The program of Symphonie Fantastique and the idée fixe
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
The Theater at Bayreuth
Wagner: The Ring of the Nibelung
Leitmotif (pronounced: light-mo-teef]
Wagner: Die Walküre (pronounced: val-kur-ah)

Terms
idée fixe
gesamtkunstwerk
leitmotif

Genres
program symphony

Lecture 14: Romanticism Continued

Thu, 15 May 2008 00:44:54 -0700

After filling in the biographical details for Frederic Chopin (whose Nocturne in C sharp minor we heard last lecture), we moved on to Franz Schubert and his thrilling lied Erlkönig (also called Erlking). That was in turn followed by Robert Schumann’s lied In the Lovely Month of May (from his song cycle Dichterliebe); and, finally, Clara Wieck Schumann’s Nocturne (from Music for an Evening Entertainment).

Lecture outline:
The private side of Romantic music
Romantic salon culture
tempo rubato (or just “rubato”)
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)
Chopin: Polonaise in A major, op. 40 no. 1 (“Military”)
Genre: Lied (plural: lieder)
Forms of Lieder/Songs
strophic
through-composed
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Schubert: Erlkönig (or Erlking)
Genre: Song cycle
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
R. Schumann: In the Lovely Month of May from the song cycle Dichterliebe
Clara Wieck Schumann: (1819-1896)
C. Schumann: Nocturne, from Music for an Evening Entertainment

Terms
tempo rubato
through-composed

Genres
lied (plural: lieder)
song cycle
nocturne

Lecture 13: Romanticism and the Piano

Tue, 13 May 2008 00:37:43 -0700

This lecture introduced the Romantic Era and looked at three works written for the piano. The first new work of the day was Beethoven’s Sonata no. 14 which is popularly known as the “Moonlight” Sonata. We then moved on to a discussion of the first self-styled piano virtuoso, Franz Liszt, and his Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2. We finished the class with a live performance of Frederic Chopin’s Nocturne in C sharp minor. We’ll talk more this work and about Chopin during the next class.

Lecture outline:
Introducing the Romantic era
Important themes
folklore & the supernatural
man vs. nature
exoticism & nationalism
the beautiful vs. the sublime
The piano in the Romantic era
Genre: sonata
Beethoven: Sonata no. 14 “Moonlight” (3rd Movement on eRes)
Virtuosity
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2 (available on eRes)
Rhapsody Rabbit (1946; dir. by Friz Freleng)
Some types of short Romantic piano music
Nocturne (a “night piece”)
Prelude
Intermezzo
Impromptu
Polonaise (a “Polish dance”)
Rhapsody
Étude (a musical “study”)
Chopin: Nocturne in C sharp minor (1830)

Terms
sonata
sublime
exoticism
nationalism
virtuoso