Music Appreciation

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Music Appreciation

• Class 11
• The Romantic Period, Part 2
• Chopin, Schumann(s),
• Wagner and Verdi

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Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
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Web sites

• http//www.chopin.pl/spis_tresci/index_en.html
• http//www.chopin.org/ip.asp?opHome

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Nationalism

• Folk tunes
• Harmonies
• Influence Wagner, Liszt
• Forms
• Dedications
• Revolutionary Etude (November Uprising 1830)
• Sviatoslav Richter
• Heart

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Style

• New musical language
• Originality
• Exclusivity
• 170 for piano alone
• No news!
• Careful edits
• Melody!

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Chopins Life In Paris

• Composer
• Performer
• Teacher
• Bon Vivant Celebrity

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Parisian Friends

• Franz Liszt
• Hector Berlioz
• Vincenzo Bellini
• Felix Mendelssohn
• Ferdinand Hiller
• Heinrich Heine

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Salon society

• Schubert abend concerts
• Social, musical, political, intellectual gathering

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Personality

• The lonely artist is surrounded by frivolous
  society.
• Romantic appeal?

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Romance

• Women as inspiration
• Piano Concerto 1 dedication
• I have not yet exchanged a syllable with her of
  whom I dream every night. While my thoughts were
  with her I composed the Adagio of my concerto.

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Aurore Duvedant...
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or George Sand?
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Feminist!

•  "I know that I am the slave and you the lord.
  The law of the land has made you my master....you
  have the right of the stronger party, and society
  confirms you in it but over my will, sir, you
  are powerless."

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Odd couple

• Prude vs. exhibitionist
• Frail vs. healthy
• Demure vs. aggressive
• Confidence, intellect, sexuality

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Inspiration

• 21 Nocturnes
• Artur Rubinstein
• John Field (1782-1837)

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21st Century
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The Minute Waltz, CD 2, Track 4

• Listen for
• Virtuoso technique
• Singing quality in the melody

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Robert Schumann (1810-56)
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Romantic ideal

• Dichter
• Poet, writer
• Denker
• Philosopher
• Law student
• Friedrich Wieck

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Romantic paradox

• Whimsical and refined
• Dreamy and gritty
• Vehement and visionary

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Scenes From Childhood

• Träumerei
• Horowitz in Moscow
• And evenKatharine Hepburn inSong of Love
• The Wild Horseman

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Health

• 4th finger, Right Hand
• Physical health
• Mercury?
• Syphilis?
• Mental health
• Visions
• Institutionalized

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Musical pyramid

• Only composer to master compositions on one
  instrument (the piano) before proceeding to
  larger compositions
• Only solo piano compositions for over 8 years
• 1st orchestral composition not until 1842
• Difficult with large structures.

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Cultural Accomplishments

• Davidsbündler (The League of David)
• Philistines!
• Florestan und Eusebius
• Neue Zeitschrift für Musik
• (The Journal of New Music)
• 1st musical journal/criticism
• New composers/styles
• Chopin and Brahms

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Clara Wieck Schumann (1819-1896)
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Limitations...

• "I once believed that I possessed creative
  talent, but I have given up this idea
• a woman must not desire to compose there has
  never yet been one able to do it.
• Should I expect to be the one?"

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The High Priestess of Music

• Father Teacher
• 60-year amateur career
• Highly accomplished performer
• Inspiration
• Roberts most passionate music
• 150 songs in 1840 alone!
• Influenced and Encouraged
• Mendelssohn, Brahms, Chopin

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Musician, Wife, Mother

• Finances
• Concerts
• Teaching
• Premieres
• Eight children
• Revolution of Dresden rescue

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Rumors...
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Symphony 1 LarghettoCD 2, Track 5

• Listen for
• Full orchestral score
• Intricate harmonies
• Importance of melody

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Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
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Biography

• Step-fathers influence
• Composition training
• Beethoven
• Bach
• Opera as drama

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Gesamtkunstwerk

• Complete art work
• Total synthesis of
• Music
• Drama
• Theater
• Dance
• Politics

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Thirteen complete music dramas

• http//wagneroperas.com/indexwagneroperas.html

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Leitmotif

• Musical idea or Melody
• Associated with
• Character
• Event
• Prop
• Idée fixe and Ritornello
• Hector Berlioz and Antonio Vivaldi
• Symphonie Fantastique Four Seasons

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Mad King Ludwig II
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King Ludwig and Wagner

• Admirer
• Musical and personal
• Patron
• Saved Wagners career?
• Swan King
• Lohengrin

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Neuschwanstein
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Bayreuth Festspielhaus

• Mecca for Wagnerites
• Replacement for Easter/Church
• Complete Ring cycle
• Hidden Orchestra pit

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Der Ring des Nibelungen (1848-74)

• Das Rheingold (The Gold of the Rhine)
• Creation of the Ring
• Die Walküre (The Valkyries)
• Siegfried
• Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods)

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Introduction and Background

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vhaO3BeuE_0sfeature
  related

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Ring Cycle Facts

• Libretto
• German, Scandinavian and Norse myth
• 34 characters
• God(s) vs. humans
• Aryan culture vs. Jewish threat
• Music
• 15 hours
• Through-composed

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Die Walküre (2nd opera in the cycle)

• God
• (Wotan or Wälse)
• Gods children on earth in human form
• Siegmund
• victory mouth (shield)
• Sieglinde
• victory gentle

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Background

• Winter Storm
• Wandering, nameless stranger
• Hunding
• Mystery guest at the wedding
• Tree with a Sword (Notung)
• Bayreuth Jeanine Altmeyer and Peter Hoffman

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End of Act 1

• Wehwal asks Sieglinde to grant him a name
• They realize that they have the same father,
  (Wälse God), and that they are twin brother and
  sister
• Sieglinde names him Siegmund
• Siegmund is then empowered to pull Notung out of
  the tree
• The two declare their love for each other.

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God in Human Form

• The Wagner ideal
• Sieglinde and Siegmund
• Sister/bride and Brother/groom
• Now let our race flourish and continue!
• Siegfried (Victory Freedom)
• (Savior/Führer /Leader)

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Wagners Essays

• Anti-Semitic
• Sexist
• Socialist
• Inspiration for Nazis

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The Ring and Star Wars

• http//www.trell.org/wagner/starwars.html

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Cosima Liszt von Bülow Wagner
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Cosima (1837-1930)

• Relationship with Franz Liszt
• Schooling
• Musical education
• Hans von Bülow
• Favored conductor
• Liszt and Wager
• Married Cosima (two children)
• Richard Wagner
• Affair and three illegitimate children
• Marriage and four children

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Mrs. Wagner

• Disowned by Liszt
• Denounced by von Bülow
• Frau Wagner
• Age difference 24 years
• Three children
• Bayreuth Festival
• Director and producer 31 years
• Anti-Semite

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Bayreuth, then and now
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Ride of the Walküres CD 2, Track 6

• Listen for
• Enormous orchestra
• Emphasis on the brass section
• Epic quality
• Continual repeats

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Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
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Giuseppe Verdi

• Il Re dItalia (The King of Italy)
• Vittorio Emanuele Re D'Italia (Victor Emmanuel
  King of Italy)
• Nationalism (il Risorgimento)
• Va, Pensiero
• Exiled slaves singing of their homeland
• Italy under Austrian occupation

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Career

• Almost 30 complete operas
• Shakespeare influence
• Rigoletto (1851)
• Quartet
• Aida (1900)
• Leontyne Price

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La Traviata PreludeCD 2, Track 7

• Listen for
• High, sustained string section
• Short, concise, dramatic
• Establishes a specific mood/emotion for the drama
  which will follow.