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Author
George Fredrick Handel (1685-1759: German)
About the Piece
(much of thedescription comes from elements that were brought out by Forney and Machlis, The Enjoyment of Music, and the accompanying DVD)
- Genre is dance suite
- Ternary form, A-B-A
- multiple motives repeated throughout by different instruments
- clearly designed for an outdoor performance, to be heard from a distance
- homophonic, with interspersed imitative counterpoint
- alternates between disjunct (motive a) to conjunct (motive b)
- switch to minor key in middle of piece
Purpose
- outdoor performance for a royal outing on the Thames River
Reflections
This piece must have sounded quite majestic when played from the Thames river. I certainly find it relaxing as background music, but I don't think I have a good enough appreciation of music (yet!) to enjoy listening to all of the movements of this work without doing something to keep my mind occupied. (I frequently feel the same about modern popular music also). I would like to get better about that over the course of this class.
Author
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741, Venetian)
- father was a barber and later a professional violinist
- was ordained as a priest at age 25
- nicknamed il Prete Rosso ("the red priest") because of his red hair
- was violin master at an girls' orphanage early in life
- Wikipedia Article
About the Piece
(much of thedescription comes from elements that were brought out by Forney and Machlis, The Enjoyment of Music, and the accompanying DVD)
- Genre is violin concerto
- string instrumental piece
- homophonic texture
- evokes feelings of spring: playful birds, flowing brooks, thunder and lightning
- several very virtuosic solos
- two contrasting types of sound (as with all concertos): light and happy spring versus thunder and lightning
- frequently repeated (and catchy) ritornello is pervasive throughout
- several key changes, including minor key usage in "thunder and lightning" section
Purpose
- entertainment
- used for instruction in violin
Reflections
I like this piece a lot. It evokes pictures so perfectly and precisely that if someone asked me what this piece was about, without telling me the name, I would probably say spring. Perhaps this is only because I have heard it in that context before. Particularly well done, in my opinion, is the bird section. The "catchiness" of the tune is also something missing from many previous pieces, except for perhaps the Hallelujah choras from Handel's Messiah.
Author
G. F. Handel (1685-1759: German)
- embodies the worldliness of the late Baroque era
- son of a prosperous barber-surgeon
- appointed conductor to the elector of Hanover at age 25
- appointed a musical director of the Royal Academy of Music (England) at age 35.
- wrote more than 40 operas
- Wikipedia Article
About the Piece
(much of thedescription comes from elements that were brought out by Forney and Machlis, The Enjoyment of Music, and the accompanying DVD)
- Genre is Oratorio
- aria is full of virtuoso
- aria is da capo form, A B A
- elaborate instrumentation
- Hallelujah chorus is strong and triumphant
- text language is English
- multiple changes in texture during Hallelujah chorus
- Hallelujah chorus comes to a strong polyphonic climax
- whole piece is quite majestic and regal
Purpose
- sacred
- oratorios were generally for telling stories (this is one of the few that does not really)
Reflections
Another piece that I would like to hear in its entirity, particularly since it is in English. Handel's style is clearly more elaborate than Bach's style, and it's decently clear that the two had different motives for writting music. I like the virtuosity of the aria, but perhaps it belongs more in a secular context.
Author
J. S. Bach (German, 1685-1750)
- came from a family that was musicians for several generations back
- orphaned at age 10
- served as a chamber musician for the duke of Weimar, then for the prince of Anhalt-Cöthen
- later served as cantor at St. Thomas's Church in Leipzig
- Wikipedia Article
About the Piece
(much of thedescription comes from elements that were brought out by Forney and Machlis, The Enjoyment of Music, and the accompanying DVD)
- Genre is Cantata
- 1st movement is elaborate counterpoint
- 8th movement is homophonic and unified, easy for congregation to join in on
- text is in German
- each line in the first movement is treated fugally
- majestic
- instruments are non-obtrusive, but do play a different melody in the first movement.
Purpose
- sacred
- cantatas were meant to be sermons in song
Reflections
Another great piece; though, sadly, I still find myself wishing it were in English. It also doesn't quite feel right to listen to just the first and last movements. If I have more time, I would like to listen to the whole thing from start to finish.
Author
Henry Purcell (1659-1695: English)- Served as singer, organist and composer in three different royal courts
- has often been called England's finest native composer
- very influential both in England and throughout Europe
- Wikipedia Article
About the Piece
(much of thedescription comes from elements that were brought out by Forney and Machlis, The Enjoyment of Music, and the accompanying DVD)
- Genre is Opera
- Climax on "Remember me" in B section of Aria
- Very sorrowful
- Text language is English (!)
- Ground bass line characterizes emotion of piece
- Extensive use of strings in a decently diminutive accompaniment; focus is on performer.
Purpose
Reflections
This piece is beautiful! This is what opera has been missing for me whenever I have heard it before--a comprehension. I would be much more inclined to enjoy an English opera (or any classical piece in English for that matter), because the text painting makes sense. While I have the translations in front of me for songs in other languages, it's never the same. When a song climaxes on a particular word, I never know which English word that is. Also, something about an actual English word, with all of its connotations that I can understand, being sung with such grace.