Music Appreciation Class #12: Late Romanticism Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Elgar, Debussy.
-
Upload
allyson-long -
Category
Documents
-
view
216 -
download
0
Transcript of Music Appreciation Class #12: Late Romanticism Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Elgar, Debussy.
Music AppreciationClass #12: Late Romanticism
Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Elgar, Debussy
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Biography
•Encouraged and support Hans von Bülow Robert and Clara Schumann (14 years older)
▫Piano and Cello▫Conductor
Earliest professional career Brothel?
▫Began composing at 11
Musical Style: “War of the Romantics”
▫Traditionalist Baroque and Classical techniques
Scorn and dismissal▫Wagner and Liszt
▫Romantic New harmonies and melodies
Admiration and devotion▫Schumann and most music critics
Attack of the Walkuries
•Mocked by Wagner fans•Intimidated by protests and attacks
▫Result = Concentration on non-Wagner forms
no operas
1st Recordings!
•Thomas Alva Edison▫“Hungarian Dance #1”
CD#2, Track 8
•“Hungarian Dance, #3
•Listen for…▫Full orchestrations▫Contrapuntal techniques▫Concentration on melody
Peyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky1840-1893
Biography
•Child prodigy▫Discouraged
•Composed at 14•Musical training (conservatory)•“The Five”
▫Conflicting musical influences•Civil service job•International success
Musical style•Russian
▫Folk tunes▫Harmonies▫Rhythms
•European▫German form▫Italian melody▫French lyricism
Ballet (Russian Nationalism?)
•Previously inconsequential music▫2nd rate composers
•Tchaikovsky elevated and expanded▫Full orchestral tonality
•Stand-alone quality
“Romeo and Juliet” (1869)
•Scandal!
Musically graphic Violence/sex
•Overture Fantasy (11:00)
• Youtube.com @ 7:45
Brief segue
•Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)▫“Romeo and Juliet” 1935
Arrival of the Capulets and the Montagues Romeo and Juliet’s pas de deux
Rudolf Nureyev and Lynne Fontanne: Balcony Scene
Nutcracker (1891)
•Most expansive ballet score to date▫Immediately popular▫Critically ridiculed
▫“Sugar Plumb Fairy” from the Kirov Ballet
Piano Concerto #1 (1875)
•Van Cliburn (1934 - )
•1st International Tchaikovsky Competition ▫1958
1812 Overture (1880)• Commission
▫Russia’s victory over Napoleon▫Orchestration
Tubular bells 16 cannon shots on musical cue!
• Carnegie Hall
• Philadelphia
Seiji Ozawa and the Berlin Philharmonic @ 4:0011:45
Personal • Gay
▫ Punishable by prison/execution
• Paranoid
• Married▫ Antonina Miliukova
Virtual stranger Unsolicited love letter Disastrous marriage
Nadezhda von Meck• Patron, 1877-90
• Letter relationship only
• Abrupt end
“Bob”
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Biography
•Born near Prague (Czech Republic)•Father was a professional Zither player
▫“The Third Man” 1949•Violinist, violist, organist•Father of 9 children!•Extensive travel
▫London▫New York (327 East 17th Street)▫Des Moins and Spilville, Iowa
Musical Style•Eastern European Nationalism
▫Folk music idiom▫American Negro Spiritual
•Extensive repertory▫Symphonies
“From The New World”: 4th Movement▫Chamber music
“The American String Quartet”▫Choral ▫Opera
CD #2, Track 10
•“Slavonic Dance #1”•Listen for…
▫Simple rhythm▫Melody suggestive of “rustic” life▫Complex technical demands
Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Biography
•Family owned a music shop▫“Down time” reading and studying
Self-taught•Father was a professional organist•Early violin lessons•Music director of “Lunatic Asylum”•Passionate bicyclist/naturalist
▫“There is music in the air…”•1st violinist under Dvorak
British Class System
•Caroline Alice Roberts▫Eight years older▫Daughter of a Major-General
“The care of a genius is enough of a life work for any woman!”
▫Important introductions•King Edward VII’s coronation: 1902
▫“Pomp And Circumstance” march•Knighthood
CD #2, Track 11
•“Enigma Variations”▫“Dedicated to my friends pictured within…”▫Each dedicated to a close personal
collegaue, friend or acquaintance.▫Inspired by Beethoven’s struggles
•Listen for…▫Soaring themes▫Full use of orchestra▫Simple rhythms
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Claude Monet:“Impression: Sunrise” 1872
Biography
•Studied piano with a former student of Chopin;
•Difficult and argumentative student•Teacher of Nadezhda von Meck’s children•Judgmental of other composers•Numerous wives and children
Musical Style
•Deliberately avoid the sound of structure▫Key signatures▫Time signatures▫“Floating chords”
CD #2, Track 12
•“Clair de Lune”
Listen for…
•Orchestrations?! (“yuck!”)•Evocative•Advanced piano technique