Music History II

1
Music History II

• Lecture Notes 5

2
The British Isles

• Economic depression
• George IV (1820-1830)
• Literary giants
• Reform movement under Earl Grey
• Victoria and the House of Windsor
• Chartist group for rights of the working class
• Potato Famine (1840s)

• Irish Land Act (1870)
• William Gladstone as Prime Minister
• Unionist movement
• Edward VII, successor to Queen Victoria
• George V (1910-1936)
• Literature, art, music

3
France

• Louis XVIII in exile
• Freedom of the press
• Contributors to culture
• The Second Republic
• Insurrection of 1848
• Prince Louis Napoleon
• Coup dÉtat of 12/51
• The Second Empire under Napoleon III
• War on Russia (1854)

• Paris International Exposition
• War against Austria
• Return to parliamentary law (1860)
• Conquest of Mexico
• Alliance with Austria and Italy
• Frankfurt Treaty 5/70
• Constitution (1875)
• Jules Grévy first president
• Contributors to culture

4
The Iberian Peninsula

• Ferdinand VII and Isabella II
• Carlist War (1834-39)
• Spanish Bourbons (1814-1931)
• First Spanish republic (1873-74)
• New constitution (1876)
• Cuban Revolution (1895-98)

• End of Spanish-American War (1898)
• Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines ceded to U.S.
• Contributors to culture
• Portugal constitution patterned after Spains
  Portuguese Republic (1910)

5
Italy

• Italian states restored in 1814 under control of
  Austria
• Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti
• Several rulers in place in 1815
• War of Independence (1848-49)
• Venetian Republic (1848)

• Unification over a period of 20 years
• Kingdom of Italy 3/61
• Venetia from Austria to France to Italy (1866)
• Inviolability to the pope by law (1871)
• The Papacy in the 19th century Pius, Leo, Pius,
  Gregory, Pius, Leo, Pius, Benedict

6
A Solo Piano Recital?

• Today? Of Course!
• Before the 1830s? Not Likely.
• Beethovens Sonata on the program? For the pro,
  yes! Also for the highly skilled amateur. For the
  young lady at the parlor piano? Probably not. Why
  not? Rapid passage work and broken octave scales,
  to name just two.

7
Harmonic Content of the Sonata

• He modulates to where?
• Is the tonic/dominant polarity no longer sacred?
  Is chromaticism on the rise?
• Beethovens inspiration for this work? Haydns
  String Quartet, Op. 33, No. 3.

8
Beethovens String Quartet in B?

• Slow Opening a part of the exposition
• Another unconventional modulation? Did Beethoven
  pass music theory?
• Movement 2 A Presto Scherzo
• Movement 3 Andante con moto, ma non troppo
  equal voice texture
• Movement 4 A German dance
• Movement 5 A Cavatina

9
Need a Lied?

• Only if it is less demanding technically than
  those operatic arias.
• We want songs that are easy on the performer and
  the listener.
• If you call it a Lied does that mean you are
  sophisticated? No, I just want to show off my
  ability to speak German.

10
Why did the solo song really take off?

• Rise in popularity of German poetry
• Growing availability of the piano
• Emphasis on family ideals
• Two poets among many Johann Wolfgang Goethe
  (1749-1832) Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805)
• German now both artistic and practical

11
A Piano in Every Home!

• Keyboard length from 57 keys to 88
• Larger frame
• improved escapement action
• Leather replaced by felt on hammers
• Better damper pedal
• Una corda pedal
• 1 piece cast iron frame

12
Put it in the parlor

• Now we can afford one.
• It is more valuable than most every other item of
  furniture in the house.
• All my friends have one.
• Was yours made by Pleyel?

13
Focus on the Family

• The Congress of Vienna (1815)
• Revolutions of 1848
• Between these two events, the family became the
  center of attention (1810s and 1820s).
• A shift from the grandiose to the intimate

14
Lied Design

• Strophic (One more time!)
• Modified strophic (Change it a little!)
• Through-Composed (Dont look back!)

15
Can you say Erlkönig?

• And the key is?
• Agitato mood set up by the introduction
• Dynamic melodic motion
• Harmonic and melodic contrast to match a
  particular character in the story
• Repetitive rhythm patterns
• Is the poetic meter really iambic?

16
Wanderers Nachtlied

• Mood of calm with the limited melodic motion
• Mild syncopations add energy to the accompaniment
• Other observations?

17
A Song Cycle

• A collection of songs that are laid out in order
  to tell a story

18
Kennst du das Land?

• 3 keys 3 meters
• Schuberts melody lyrical, Schumanns more
  dynamic Wolfs even more so with wider leaps and
  sentences broken into short segments
• Schubert broken chords Schumann repeated
  chords in the accompaniment
• Wolf accompaniment more chromatic and varied

19
The Schubert Biography

• What did you find?

20
Minstrelsy

• Minstrel songs attempted to portray the lifestyle
  and idiosyncrasies of African Americans in the
  mid to late 19th century.
• Minstrel shows produced until well into the 20th
  century
• Foster portrayals with compassion and dignity

21
The Parlor Song

• Strophic
• Sentimental text
• Simple melody
• Rhythmically uncomplicated
• Harmony held usually to fundamental chords

22
The First Orchestral Song

• By Berlioz with the orchestration of his own song
  cycle, Summer Nights
• The French called the song Mélodie
• For a concert of songs, P. T. Barnum paid Jenny
  Lind 1000.00.

23
The Character Piece

• A song for piano
• Usually not of great length
• Explores the mood of a person or reflective of an
  idea, a situation or an emotion

24
Rossini the Promoter

• To organize a musical performance in a salon in
  the 1820s, Rossini collected a fee of 1500 francs

25
The Mazurka

• A Polish peasant dance
• Triple meter
• Accent on beat 2 or 3
• Why do you suppose Chopin was drawn to this
  particular genre?
• Did he employ tempo rubato when he played a
  mazurka?

26
More than mazurkas and preludes

• Nocturnes
• Etudes
• Polonaises
• Waltzes
• Sonatas
• Ballades
• Scherzos

• Impromptus
• Other piano pieces of varied design

27
Four Preludes of Opus 28

• Your observations
• And the Caprices by Paganini
• Transcendental Etudes by Liszt
• The Banjo by Gottschalk
• Can you study an etude or do you just play it?