Download Classical Review Sheet

MUSC 220: 03 La Spata
The Eighteenth Century – Review Sheet
Listening: Know the composer and title of each piece. All recordings are either on your
CD set or posted as YouTube clips on Blackboard.
Composer
Antonio Vivaldi
Title
La Primavera, Movement 1
Johann Sebastian Bach
Brandenburg Concerto #5, Mvt. 1
“Little” Fugue in G minor
“O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden” from St. Matthew
Passion *
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhjJAJdmKOE
Christoph Willibald von
Gluck
“Che farò senza Euridice” from Orfeo ed Euridice*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFS9hnIAkes
Joseph Haydn
Surprise” Symphony, Mvt. 2
String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 33, No. 2; “The Joke”,
Mvt. 4*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmoA5fy_kvQ
George Frederic Handel
“Empio, dirò, tu sei” from Giulio Cesare
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pmeE7202T4
“Hallelujah” from Messiah
Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart
“Gran Partita” Serenade, Mvt. 4*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is9bVzKNCbk
Piano Concerto #23 in A Major – Mvt. 1
“Là ci darem la mano” from Don Giovanni
Terms and Concepts
 Concerto: virtuosic show pieces for a single soloist with orchestral
accompaniment
 Ritornello: an orchestral refrain alternates with solo passages
 Fugue: A polyphonic composition based on one theme
o The height of polyphonic music
o Each voice enters alone – the subject – and is imitated by another voice –
the answer
o The music accompanying the subject is called the countersubject
 Well-Tempered Clavier: Johann Sebastian Bach important works
 Passion: a sacred work for chorus, vocal soloists and orchestra depicting the
arrest, trial, death, and burial of Jesus
 Chorale: four-part homophonic hymns and the hymn tunes themselves
 Oratorio: From an Italian word meaning “small chapel”; a sacred work for chorus,
vocal soloists and orchestra depicting a story from the Bible
MUSC 220: 03 La Spata
o Similar to opera:
o Recitatives and arias
o Plot, action, and specific characters
o Not staged
 Reform” opera: Christoph Willibald von Gluck sought to reform it
o Focused on human drama and passions by making words and music
equally important
 Prince Esterházy
 Symphony: A form of movement that originated in the classical era
o For full orchestra (strings and winds, sometimes with timpani)
 string quartet
Leopold Mozart
Nannerl Mozart
 Serenade: An example of the outdoor entertainment demanded by aristocrats
o Mozart’s finest work for winds
 Minuet: A stately dance in triple meter
 Cadenza: a virtuosic solo passage
 Sonata-allegro form: mainly used in fast movements of concertos, symphonies
and string quartets
o Exposition: presentation of two contrasting themes
o Development: working out of thematic material, usually in a different key
 one or both themes
o Recapitulation: return of initial themes in tonic key
o Coda: Italian for “tail”; extends the ending of the movement
 Highly developed by Beethoven
 gagaku : instrumental music for the imperial court
 Amadeus: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
o Born in Salzburg, Austria
o A prodigy on violin and piano from an early age
o His father, Leopold, toured him and his sister Nannerl around Europe
 Antonio Salieri
 Lorenzo da Ponte: Da Ponte adheres to Enlightenment thought in his dim views of
women
o They are marginalized and slighted throughout the three libretti of his
which Mozart made into operas.
o Don Giovanni: Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte
 Story of the legendary Spanish nobleman Don Juan who seduced
women across Europe
 After attempting to rape Donna Anna, Don Giovanni is confronted
by her father, the Commandant.
 The Don kills him in a duel and continues on his licentious ways.
Donna Anna and her fiancé, Don Ottavio, swear revenge.
 During his many amorous adventures in the course of the opera,
Don Giovanni is pursued by his enemies.
MUSC 220: 03 La Spata

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He hides in a cemetery and sees a statue of the dead Commandant.
The statue threatens the Don but is invited to dinner
When the statue appears at the banquet hall, it orders the Don to
repent.
Don Giovanni defiantly refuses and is dragged down to hell for his
sins.
After learning of Don Giovanni’s well-deserved fate, the other
characters jubilantly sing a moral to the audience: “This is how
evildoers end up!”
 Leporello: Don Giovanni’s servant, is tired of serving and wants to live like the
Don
 He and his boss encounter Donna Elvira, a woman whom the Don seduced
but deserted.
 mockingly “consoles” her by showing her a long list of the Don’s sexual
conquests.
 Don’t be upset; there are many more women just like you
Zerlina
Important Considerations
 Role of the composer in society/relationships with their patrons
 Development of keyboard instruments from harpsichord to fortepiano
 Development of the orchestra from Vivaldi to Mozart
 Vienna as musical capital of Europe
 Development of opera from Handel to Gluck to Mozart
 Structure of major forms: fugue, symphony, sonata (a.k.a. sonata-allegro), theme
and variations
 Biographical information for all composers on the Listening List