Instructions
Choose one of the works below on which to write an SFHRMTX analysis. Be sure to include your answer (just a few sentences) to the question(s) asked at the beginning of each “category” of examples, as well as some background information on the piece and composer (as usual!).
Atonality
Question: What is atonality? Gives some historical background.
Arnold Schoenberg (Austria)- Pierrot Lunaire
Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire, Moondrunk & Night, Marianne Pousseur, Pierre Boulez, Ensemble Intercont (Links to an external site.)
Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire, Moondrunk & Night, Marianne Pousseur, Pierre Boulez, Ensemble Intercont
Charles Ives (U.S.A.)-Central Park in the Dark
You might find this article (Links to an external site.) helpful
Charles Ives: Central Park in the Dark (1906) (Links to an external site.)
Charles Ives: Central Park in the Dark (1906)
Read the following articles on Ligeti’s life, relationship to film, and his opera, Le Grand Macabre:
A guide to György Ligeti’s music (Links to an external site.)
György Ligeti (Hungary) -Mysteries of the Macabre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ireZYjEkpac (Links to an external site.)
Neoclassicism
Question: What is neoclassicism? Give some historical background.
Igor Stravinsky (Russia): “Overture” from Pulcinella
Stravinsky: Pulcinella / Rattle · Berliner Philharmoniker (Links to an external site.)
Stravinsky: Pulcinella / Rattle · Berliner Philharmoniker
Heitor Villa-Lobos (Brazil): Bachianas Brasileras no. 4, movement 2, “Canto do sertão” Excerpt is from 9:29-14:00.
Consider: What does this work’s title mean?
https://youtu.be/5mf3SQ3dVz8?t=569 (Links to an external site.)
Minimalism
Questions: What is minimalism? What are the origins/inspirations of this movement?
John Adams (U.S.A.): excerpt from Nixon in China
“The People Are the Heroes Now” & “News Has a Kind of Mystery” – Nixon in China (2011 NY Met Opera) (Links to an external site.)
“The People Are the Heroes Now” & “News Has a Kind of Mystery” – Nixon in China (2011 NY Met Opera)
Julia Wolfe (U.S.A.) – Believing
Julia Wolfe: Believing (Links to an external site.)
Julia Wolfe: Believing
Steve Reich (U.S.A.) : Music for 18 Musicians (listen to at least the first 10 minutes)
Steve Reich, “Music for 18 Musicians” – FULL PERFORMANCE with eighth blackbird (Links to an external site.)
Steve Reich, “Music for 18 Musicians” – FULL PERFORMANCE with eighth blackbird
“American”
Question: Putting music into clear categories is always a challenge, and some say, a pointless one; certainly some of the composers above would disagree with being confined under a single label (Schoenberg and Stravinsky, for example, experimented with many different styles). The following works are uniquely “American” in that their styles represent a mixture of Black American and (largely) Central European musical aesthetics in a way which was not possible anywhere else; consider how differently African and European musics intermingled in the Western Hemisphere where there were African slave populations, like Brazil or the Caribbean. The history of jazz is too massive a topic for the scope of this class (OSU has a course dedicated to it, MUS 104) , but the genre nevertheless had an undeniable impact on “classical” music in the 20th century. Research the composer of the piece you select and address how you think their unique style developed.
George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
George Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue (Links to an external site.)
George Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue
William Grant Still: Afro-American Symphony
William Grant Still: Afro-American Symphony – I. Moderato Assai (Links to an external site.)
William Grant Still: Afro-American Symphony – I. Moderato Assai
Duke Ellington: Black and Tan Fantasy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeVhopvxBuQ (Links to an external site.)
Otherwise avant-garde
Question: Obviously, the meaning of “music” has changed a great deal in the 20th century. Do you think the following piece is music? If so, how do you define “music”?
John Cage- Water Walk
John Cage “Water walk” (Links to an external site.)
John Cage “Water walk”
Submission Details
Remember to follow the “Listening Example” SFHRMTX downloadtemplate. Save your SFHRMTX analysis as a Word-type document and upload to this assignment item.
