Franz Brendel:

Music critic, editor of New Journal for music New German School
Historicism: Belief that history is progressive and will attain a goal
German music reached height in 19th-century: gained respect (music, specifically
instrumental music (partly due to Beethoven) is the most revered of arts)

Franz Brendel: 1811-1868

Taruskin: Franz Brendel is the most important figure in the mid 19th century
music. (He is not a performer, a composer, but a historian, critic, PHD
philosophy).
Wrote universal and scientific history of music in Italy, German, France =
European Spirit

Principle: Historicism in Music

Method: Hegelian Dialectic
GFW Hegel 1770-1831 idealist philosopher, abstract ideas.
Thesis (concept, globalization) > antithesis (nationalization) => synthesis
o Synthesis becomes a new thesis (circular)
o The goal of successive operations is freedom!

Dialectic in music meant continuous progress new was valued

Musicians who believe in this dialectic felt that even new music was not understood,
composers should have faith in progress
Organism: all of the parts related to the whole
Successive emancipation (set free) musicians from employer; text (thesis)
plus instrumental (antithesis) = symphonic poem (synthesis).
Each age has its ideal representatives: last chapter of his history, Brendel
identifies the ideal representative of mid 19th century- Franz Liszt.
Also, Brendel named Liszt in his address to Allgemeiner deutscher
musikverein (All German music society, 1861)
o New German School: Liszt, Berlioz, Wagner, Hans von Blow, Raff,
Cornelius
o Opponents: Hanslick (critic in Vienna, champion of absolute music
free of program), Brahms, Schumann, Joahim (violinist, early concert
master for Liszt).
o Brahms and Joachim signed manifesto said New German School was
antithetical to art
o Promote new music and new composer
o Liszt honorable president

Liszt (1811-86)- virtuoso pianist, rock star

1848 became Kapellmesiter (master of court activity) in extraordinary
service in Weimar, Germany orchestra at disposal (38 members). Lab for
orchestra experiements.
 Write new music, his prestige name, revive the reputation of Weimar
(Goethe, Schiller stayed in Weimar)
Dresden quote: Liszt promoted new music, not just Beethoven, Haydn...
Public may not understand new music, but Liszt think it is more important
for music to progress (Hegels thinking) than public understanding.
Liszts quotation about the exact music language was to specify subject to
avoid quarrel especially for amateurs.

Symphonic poem:
Broad traits: Single-movement, programmatic elements, thematic transformation
(when the thematic material of a piece appears in radically different forms part of
the Organic aspect of Hegels philosophy)

Liszts Harold Essay:

Co-author: Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein (Liszts lover, companion in
Weimar). Wrote 26 vol book against Catholic church.
Pure instrumental music is not obsolete.
No, pure music possible, vocal music alternative.
Art has gradual transition (just like transition in nature, in psychology
emotions
Genius (Liszt) will appear at the moment of the progress take large steps
(public may or may not be able to catch up)
Amateur connoisseur opposition ( program helps the amateur)
Old forms limited new expression

Hamlet 1858, Symphonic Poem:

Bogumil Dawison Polish-born actor, a leading actor of Shakespeare in the
German stages. Performed excerpts from several for Liszt + CSW
Inspired by soliloguy To be or not to be
Prince of Denmark, father was murdered by mothers lover
(stepfather/uncle). Ghost of father vengeance, told Hamlet. Hamlet plays a
stage, fakes madness, lover Ophelia drowns (self). Polonius, another father,
Hamlets friend. He hides, stabbed by Hamlet.

Rotational form:
Material is presented, often incomplete or fragmentary state, then acquires a
fuller shape
Successive cycles, vary initial material, order differs, lengthen or shorten
Each rotation transform initial material, resulting change of character
6 sections:
o Intro Ghost themes not fully develop
o 1st rotation Hamlets character, appassionato, resoluto
o 2nd rotation Hamlet varied + Ophelia
o 3rd rotation Hamlet varied ironic
o 4th rotation Polonius stabbed
 o 5th opening repeat, funeral part (lugubrious)

Weimar achievements:
Revise virtuoso works
Promote new music/composers by writing criticism
Conducts new vocabulary, expressive gesture
Wrote new music 12 symphonic poems

Why Liszt left Weimar?

His patron was interest in new music, and preferred old theater
Hostile press
Protest against his conducting Cornelius opera Barber of Bagdad.
His son died in 1859
Wanted to marry CS-W

After Liszt left Weimar:

Stop in Paris, visit 3 children (Blandine, Cosima) and Marie dAgoult French
countess, left her husband for Liszt
Visit Wagner (who whined a lot). 1849 Liszt helped Wagner escape from
Germany after he was involved in Dresden uprising.
Back to Weimar festival in his honor ADMV (General German music society)
Rome marriage is foiled

In Rome:
Liszt took minor Holy Orders, on path to become a monk (he has serious
religious interest)
Start writing sacred music
1863 lived in Oratory of the Madonna of the Rosary (modest monastery)
1864 friend, Cardinal Gustav von Hohenlohe (Weimar) put at Liszt disposal
his villa Villa dEste (outside of Rome)
He wrote small religious pieces, masses, 2 oratorios, 3rd unfinished

2nd oratorio Christus

Not the old testament stories - basis of most oratorios
Not narrative a few episodes from Christs life (nativity, miracles, Passion)
No narrator with prayer settings (unusual)
Usually 3 acts or parts (nativity, miracles, Passion)

Oratorio: biblical basis, choir, orchestra, vocal soloists, organ.

Written 1866-72

Stabat mater specioso (3rd no.), Standing Mother Smile

Mary contemplating Christ in the manger
 Text was published after centuries of neglect by Franciscan monks. Thought
to be work of Jacapone di Todi. Now thought to be the work of imitator of
Todi. Why Franciscan? His name Franz, Ferenc.
Tercets = 3 lines of text
T1 T2 T3 Refrain(T4) sequence by second strophic
T5 T6 T7 Refrain (T8)
Used medieval bar form = stanza stanza refrain (AAB)
Roots move diatonically in 3rd except 1st + last
Repetitive rhythms
Maximally smooth voice leading = voices move by smallest possible intervals
Consistent with late 20th century type of minimalism called tinntinnabuli
style Arvo Prt, who was inspired by medieval polyphony (Liszt inspired
by Renaissance polyphony in Rome)
Psalm tone repeated notes

Vie trifurque (Trifurcated life) live into 3 parts:

Spent part of each year in 3 places, after 1869:
Rome Fall/Winter (get rid of cold) meditate, compose
Pest (Budapest) Spring promoted Hungarian music + institutions.
Founded conservatory, concert societies
Weimar Summer: conducting master classes
In Rome - many young composers visited Liszt: Franck, Gounod, Debussy -
Ravel
In Weimar Smetana (Czech), Borodin (Russian)

Cardinal von Hohenlohe Villa dEste at Liszts disposal:

The Years of Pilgrimage
early years 1830s-40s Liszt wrote 2 sets of Pilgrim pieces.
o 1st set: Swiss, 2nd set: Italy.
Later years: 3rd book (1867-77), no country named. 3 have Villa dEste in
title, others have Hungarian subject + musical styles

Les jeux deau la Villa dEste (The Fountain at the Villa dEste) Character piece,
1870
Synthesis of 2 parts of Liszts life: virtuoso element and spiritual element.
Spiritual: water is symbol of rebirth, sacrament of baptism. The score
includes a quotation from John 4:14 (water = everlasting)
Programmatic element: arpeggios. Imitate in sound the action of water as it
rises and falls in the fountain.
Mimetic figuration (mimesis, Greek word for imitation): arpeggios, angelic
harp strumming
Impressionist sonorities: Dominant 9ths, 11ths, Pentatonicism, Fr.6th going
down
Triadic theme alternates with scale wise theme
 2nd New German Hector Berlioz (1803-69)
New very programmatic and avant garde
o symphony fantasique (1829), precedent for Liszts program
symphony Faust Dante
o Concert overtures (Corsaire), precedent for Liszts symphonic
poems
Promoted as New German
Berlioz was a critic, championed new music

After 1848 Berlioz changed his orientation:

Revolution in France, the Citizen King, Louis Philippe liberal, prosperous
economy, made diplomatic blunders, and was overthrown by Louis
Napoleon (the nephew of Bonaparte), who at first declared 2nd republic,
then declared himself Emperor (the 2nd Empire). They were conservative,
returned to strong classical tradition.
Berlioz respond to conservatism by choosing ancient subjects (Greek, Latin,
Biblical)

Berliozs background:
Born not in Paris, but southern France near alps
Father a doctor, home school, taught his guitar, flageolet (small flute).
Conductor.
Berlioz went to Paris to study medicine
Studied composition with Le Seuer.
Studied Rameaus treatise (18th c)
Studied at the Conservatoire, won Prix de Rome.

Opera was chief genre in Paris. Berlioz tried with opera, Benvenuto Cellini
flop (3 performances then withdrawn)
Critic for important paper, Journal des dbats, sarcasm, elegant prose
Treatise on orchestration: unusual and direct, not based on piano short score

Lenfance du Christ The Childhood of Christ (Nativity); oratorio

Unusual genesis Grew in stages:
o Stage 1: Berlioz wrote part of the second part first: Farewell of the
Shepherds 1st wrote as organ piece (no chorus), included in a
friends album. Claim this organ piece was a work of a 17th century
composer, named Pieree Ducr (imaginary). In an antique style
Pastoral - Evocation of bagpipes
o Drone + simple harmony (at first)
o Reed instruments prominent oboe, clarinet, bassoon
3 stanza slightly modified strophic on 3rd stanza - more bagpipes
Climax harmonic digression rather than cadential formula
Berliozs harmonic practices feature temporary digressions from the tonic
key, but often return to tonic without further preparation.
Herods dream:
Through composed type of form in response to text
Berlioz often follows the rhythm and accents of the French language. He has a
arioso-like (preserve some speech-like elements, but is more melodic than
recitative) vocal writing. Sequences.
Orchestra allows voice to predominate: punctuate the voice line with motives
(Characteristic Motives) that related to the text.
In Italian opera setting:
o Orch intro recit Cavatina (drawn from recit, sometimes cantabile,
in a moderate or slow tempo) (modal flat 2), Cabaletta (faster tempo)

Les Troyens (The Trojans) (Enemy of the Greeks); Grandest of the grand French
Grand Opera, 1856-58
French Grand opera:
o Old genre dating from 1830s Meyerbeer, Halvy, Auber, Rossinis
Guillaume Tell
o Mise en scene spectacular stage effects
Helen of Troy went away with Greek. Greek attacked Troy city, Troy sacked.
Survivors must to go to Italy to found Rome. Aeneas is their leaders (Ene),
but falls in love with Carthage Queen (Didon). Finally the left Troy for Rome,
and Didon suicide.
Passage from Berliozs Memoires: The Aeneid cause great emotional
response: grief, embarrassed.
Encouraged by Princess Carolyn Sayn Wittgenstein.
Based on Aeneid epic poem by Virgil (70-19BC)
French Grand opera usually has 5 acts
Act V Scene 2 Ah I am going to die
Recalled of love duet, passage with clarinet suspension voice steady
Change to recitative, culminates the prediction of Hannnibal. Chorus replies
Trojan victory march (sax horn)
Chromaticism, motives characteristic, supple and fluid text setting

Richard Wagner 1813-83

Born in Leipzig
Police clerk father died when Wagner was young, raised by his mother and
stepfather (actors in Dresden)
Ordinary beginnings not prodigy, wrote plays (15) later wrote all his own
libretto
Music took lessons in piano and theory from a local teacher at St Thomas
School
Earn living conducted in regional opera houses, wrote early operas based
on Gozzis fairy tale, another on Shakespeares measure for measure, then
Rienzi on Roman History (Paris)
Then write reviews and arranging music in Paris
 In Paris, heard Romeo et Juliette by Berlioz, which combines vocal + absolute
pure instrumental music
Heard Beethoven 9th fabricate story
Rienzi accepted in Dresden (1st big break)
Kapellmeister in Dresden dies, Wagner was hired (2nd big break)

1849 Revolution = Dresden Uprising

Dresden was in Saxony, an attempt to overthrow the Saxon King. The King
got help from Prussia. Wagner participated, faced arrest.
Liszt helps him go to Switzerland. There he 1st writes theories about opera +
society. Then he writes music.
Also, Wagner found patrons Wesendonck.

Wagners important:
Ideas on opera changed opera (It. Fr. Gr. Operas) Gesamtkunstwerk
(Unified/total art work)
Ideas on motivic use - changed motivic conception not just in opera but in
instrumental music Schoenberg
Ideas on society changes society

Wagner influenced by Russian revolutionary Mikhail Bakunin (anarchist):

destroy existing government, allow new order to take its place.
Wagner used this idea as basis of operatic theory:
o Based on ancient Greek tragedy would provide a model
o Tragedy was performed in festival environments, freeing it from
commercial constraints
o Wagner builds own theater: Bayreuth (town in Bavaria)
Festspielhaus (Festival play house)
o His music produced only in the Summer, no other repertory
All arts would contribute to drama in equal measure:
o Poetry, dance (gesture, acting, movement), music (has to have equal
status with text), visual (costumes, sets, props, lighting, effects,
architecture sight lines for everyone to be able to see, materials
enhance acoustics, no sight of conductor or orchestra
Themes/sources in libretos (poems):
o Flying Dutchman, Tannhuser, Lohengrin, Ring
all from German mythology,
main characters shared common feature they are all
outsiders, disrupt society.
All female died, sacrifice for male character

Traits of Music Drama (opera of Wagner):

Wagners own libretti Poem (old style stanzas need repetition and
cadences):
o no stanzas
 o Stabreim root rhyme, assonance (middle part of word similar
sound)
o Musico-poetic synthesis (music reflects contrasts in root sounds
o Initial sounds of words change (highly illiterative)

Leitmotifs short musical ideas that are associated with characters,

emotions, objects (is mimetic)
o Listeners retain those associations for future reference
o Errinerungsmotiv (memory motif)
o student Hans von Wolzogen leading motive
Endless or unending melody: continuous stream of motives with no pauses in
an entire act
Large orchestra with new instrument Wagner tuba (wide dynamic range),
piccolo, bass alto oboe, bass clarinet, brasses (various trumpet family, bass
tuba, contra bass tuba), percussion, huge strings, 6 harps
Helden voices (Heroic voice) big voices, stamina, sustained tones
Few ensembles and choruses

Quote in Taruskin: Who did Wagner consider his peers? Only 3 of us: Liszt, Berlioz,
Wagner 1850s.

1861 Wagner in Paris for performance of Tannnuser required ballet to be

performed in Paris (Dresden product has no ballet)

Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelungen) race of dwarves
Cycle of four music dramas
Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), Die Walkre (A woman on a horse),
Siegfried (Siegfried) Der junge Siegfried (the young Siegfried),
Gotterdammerung (The Twilight of Gods) (Siegfrieds Tod)
Libretto goes backward Twilight of Gods (1849), Siegfried (1851), The
Valkurie (1852), The Rhine Gold (1852). Then composed music backwards,
1854 1856 1856 break 1865 - 1876
No perofrmances of his music
o Wagner wasnt ready to write duet Siegfried + Brunnhilde (Valkyire)
o Had an affair, wanted set that to music
o Tristan more average opera to be performed in German opera
houses)

Plot:
Ring made of gold stolen from Rhinemaidens by Alberich Nibelung. Alberich makes
ring by renouncing love. Then Wotan, ruler of the gods in Norse+Germanic
mythology steals The Ring through trickery with the help of Loge, the demigod of
fire. Alberich curses The Ring. Wotan tries to find a free hero who will remove the
curse and save the gods. Wotan has a son Siegmund, and Wotan puts a sword in ash
tree for Siegmund. Wotan is exposed as fraud, finally persuaded that he must allow
Siegmund to die in the battle. Wotan tells one his daugthers Brunnhilde to protect
Siegmunds opponent Hunding, allow Siegmund to die. Siegmund doesnt want
heaven (Valhalla) if his wife wont be there. Brunnhilde helps Siegmund (go against
Wotan). Wotan intercedes, allows Siegmund to die. Siegmund and his wife have a
child after he is dead = Siegfried. Brunnhilde protects Siegmunds wife after
Siegmund died. Wotan punishes Brunnhilde by putting her into magic sleep, leaving
her for any man to awaken her. She pleads for a great hero to awaken her. Wotan
finally agrees. (Wotan has three wifes: Fricka goddess exposes his Fraud; mother of
Siegmund and Sieglinda; Erda earth goddess 9 Valkyries)

1857 Wagners stopped working on Ring:

impractical to produce, renew public awareness, not ready for challenge of
Siegfried-Brunnhilde Duet
Wanted to write something that could be produced at provincial opera house:
Smaller orchestra (N), shorter (N),
small cast (Y) Tristan Kurwenal, Isolde - Brangme, King Mark Morold,
Small mens chorus Saibrs.
Simpler staging psychological, interior
Very taxing (difficult to sing)

Tristan is a knight from Cornwall Kingdom (Western England)

Isolde is princess of Ireland. Tristan escorts Isolde back to Cornwall to marry with
King Mark of Cornwall. Tristan wounded in battle and killed Isoldes fianc. Isolde
healed Tristan, but later found out truth, raised sword to kill him. But they fell in
love. On board, she cannot bear humiliation of going back to Cornwall to marry the
King. Isolde eventually get Tristan to come, and plots to poison Tristan and herself.
Brangne (servant of Isolde) substitutes love potion. Later Tristan dies, and Isolde
also sings to die.

Involved with Wagners love affair with MAtthilde Wesendonck (wife of his patron in
Switzerland)

Tristan und Isolde; Music Drama; 1859

Wagner German
Gottfired von Strassburg (13th century)
Epic poem Tristan: Masterpiece of German medieval literature
Tristan chord (Fr. 6 with appoggiatura repeated in sequence deceptive
resolution V-bVI
Narration is common

Arthur Schopenhauer (philosopher)

Influenced Wagner
Neo Platonic: every object has a phenomenal (real tangible) and a noumenon
(non tangible, the most essential and spiritual part of a thing or object).
Music is pure noumenon.
 Wagner gradually changed his view, restoring music to prominence (instead
of emphasize only on texts)
Motivic symphonic style, leitmotifs are developed as in a symphony.
Leitmotifs become abstract, psychological.
o Isoldes Narration and Curse

Johannes Brahms 1833-97

B. Hamburg, Germany
Working class background, father freelance bass player, orchestras, popular
bands.
Studies piano with otto Kossel, took lesson on horn, cello. Kossel introduced
Brahms to Eduard Marxsen (famous piano pedagogue).
o Marxsen taught Brahms free, taught him Vienna classics. Encouraged
Brahms to improvise, and compose
Brahms played in taverns, restaurants, but not brothels. Played vernacular,
popular idioms
Brahms first composition date 1851

Niemann reading:
1849 Revolution in Hungary: Hungarian refugees came to Hamburg because
years earlier Hungarian have helped Hamburgers after a fire.
Hungarian soldiers were helping to protect western border of state of
Hamburg
Ede Remenyi, Hungarian violinist, revolutionary 1828-98. Announced leaving
for U.S.A. Hired Brahms as accompanist.
Remenyi introduced Brahms to Joseph Joachim, also Hungarian, but more
German-oriented: longtime collaborator, allies admired classical art/music
Joachim and Brahms traveled to Weimar. Joachim was concert master briefly.
1859 Manifesto published in Berlin magazine Echo, signed by Joachim and
Brahms + others: shows how strenuously they objected.
Brahmss wizardry:
o Memorized, transpose when needed
Brahms signed composition as Johannes Kreisler, Jr. = imaginary literary
persona of Hoffmann: early romantic composer, conductor, critic. Influence
Robert Schummann, Schumann was Brahmss mentor.
Also called little Beethoven. King of Hanover. One of the first instances of
Brahms intimidation by Beethoven.
Brahms largely avoided New German tendencies, wrote little program music.

Piano Quartet in G minor, op. 25.

Piano quartet
4 movements fast slow dance fast symphonic attribution and sonata
development. Big scale of scope (length), ambition/seriousness. Motivic
works
extremes of expression (like Beethoven).
4th movement: Rondo alla zingarese (Rondo in the gypsy manner)
gypsy = Roma people. Large population in Hungary, refugees.
Gypsy style uses features of popular Hungarian music that was played by
Roma + others in restaurants, taverns, other pop venues.
o Usually ornamental (grace notes, etc)
o Imitation of a cimbalom: instrument strings (cross strung) played
with mallets (sticks) large hammer dulcimer.
o Scales with augmented 2nd (2 of them)
o Irregular phrase length, not 2+2, 4+4
Sonata Rondo Form: ABACA (A=tonic, BC=contrasting keys). One episode is
developmental.
ABAC bca(development) cadenza (cimbalom imitation) fugato A(coda)

Taruskin 675-86:
Classic symphony not prominent as second half of 19th century, not center
creative energy:
o Beethoven influence: composers felt little was to be gained.
o Program music was energized
Who wrote symphony?: Gounod, Raff, Bizet (graduation exercise to opera),
Saint Sans, Gade, many of them were epigones (imitators, followers)
What were Classic symphonies? Lasting value, Museum pieces
Where? Leipzig Gewandhaus (drapers house displaying linen and textile
then converted into a concert space). Mendelssohn promoted.
Why? Commercial reason: bourgeoisie (earned $ industrialists, merchants,
professional classes) subscriptions. Concert halls built (Leipzig first, then
Vienna 1831)
Living composers tried to write classic symphonies: fine line original
components.

Brahms 1862 Vienna:

As a conductor but passed over Hamburg Symphony
In Vienna, conductor of Singverein Singing Society. Known as protg of Schumann.
Schumann wrote his final essay, after 10 years of retirement as critic New Paths
essay in NZFM (irony upon irony):
Suddenly, one man would come as Minerva, Cronus (Athena, Zeus; Greek
gods), trained by teacher Marxsen, and recommended by master Joachim.

Schumann tried to get Brahms to write a symphony. But Brahms said Beethoven is
a giant behind him
Symphony No. 1 in C minor op. 68:
(Beethoven 5th recognized as Classic symphony): struggle is overcome by
heros triumph.
Begun 1855, finished in 1862 1st mvt, 1868 begun 4th mvt, completed in
1876. (In a post card sent to Clara Schumann, he wrote theme slow intro to
 4th mvt. High on a mountain, deep in a valley, I greet you many thousand
times. In the mountains, Brahms heard call played on Alphorn.

Brahms Symphony referred by Taruskin

3 chromatic pitches:
o but not true: not at pitch, supported by bass pedal, each pitch not
harmonized to left hand chord

Brahms harmonies influenced by Schubert:

harmonies in 3rd, not 5ths
modal mixture: altering 3rd and 6th, from E to Eb major, then to Cb major (B
major) = 3rd relationship
sequential statement of Primary theme

Brahms Symphony Finales form:

long slow introduction (not normative)
4 sections: 1st section begins in ambiguous harmony III (Eb Bb Gb)
figuration disjunct (pizz. + leaps)
turbulent passage (chromatic scales up and down)
2nd section Alphorn call (Alps) pastoral (C major, horn call, flute answer)
3rd section: trombone chorale scared topic
2nd + 3rd section = idealized; contrast to 1st section = realistic
primary theme is ode like (Beethoven 9th symphony)
Sequence of strings winds brasses as in Beethoven 9th

Unusual Sonata form feature:

Primary theme in C major; S1 theme in G major, S2 in E minor; concluding
theme in C. (because he wants to begin his development in V with
restatement of Primary. (C Eb eb B)
Recapitulation: Tonic recapitulation, tonic returns but not Primary theme
o S1 in C S2 in c e G
o Sturmmarsch, chorale, cadence plagal IV I (religious Amen)

Taruskin 703:
Choral music makes Brahms famous at first:
In Vienna, he conducted in a singing society (members supported organization),
amateurs.
Brahms became familiar with choral music of the past (17th-18th century): Bach,
Schtz German Masters (liberal nationalism: promote the culture + legacy of all
German speaking people)
Music of past had an effect on Brahms own composing.

Brahms Greatest choral work:

Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem):
Not liturgical, not for a church service (concert music)
 Not a mass, esp. not a Catholic Church
Concern death: inspired by the death of Brahms mother 1865. (6 mvts
finished at 1866, 4th added in 1868)
7 movements, Brahms took text from the Lutheran Bible (old testament and
new testament)
2 vocal soloist, chorus, orchestra, organ ad lib (oratorio-ish)

1st movement passage (They who sow in tears shall reap in joy)
reflects Brahms awareness of past practice: tears = sighing of two note
descending, joy = dance figures (typical of Renaissance madrigal or of motet
in Renaissance + early Baroque period)
Each phrase of text receives different music

2nd mvmt: All flesh is as grass:

4 passages of text: 1 Peter 1, James 5, Peter 1, Isaiah 35 (old practices:
mixture of text typical of medieval + Renaissance motet)
Brahms described it as a scherzo in tempo of a Sarabande (stately,
sometimes has funereal associations). = Stately, but not too slow. Triple
meter, 2nd beat accented.
Phrygian tonal inflections (lowered 2)
Overall form is ABA, tonal scheme (Bb minor Gb major, alla Schubert)
A section subdivided into a-b-a-b, a has instrumental + choral sections as in
Baroque ritornello.

Brahms wrote piano (solo) music:

Wrote few program pieces*: sonatas, variations, Op. 11 Ballades* --Edward
1878 turned to character pieces: Rhapsodies, Intermezzo, Fantasie,
Klavierstucke, Capriccios
1890 Brahms lost many friends (Clara, Hans von Blow). Blow conducts
famous Meiningen Orchestra
retired two times: 1890, 1894. Richard Mhlfeld (clarinetist)
Brahms became aware of his own impending death, liver cancer, genetic.
Introspective quality in late Character piece:

Op. 118, no.2 Intermezzo

lyrical, moderate pace
ABA (A-F#m-A) B section canonic

Giuseppe Verdi 1813-1901

Italy many city-states, not a unified nation, ruled by foreigners (France,
Austria, Spain)
1848 four city states had revolution: established a constitutional monarchy:
Statuto Albertino (Statute Albert Emperor of Austria who allowed this
constitutional monarchy).
 A year later, Monarchy was replaced by Austrian Rule. 1860 Italy unified,
Statuto Albertino became constitution.

Risorgimento A political movement to unify the city states under one king
Emmanuel Re di Italia. Viva Vittorio Emmanuel Re di Italia (VERDI)
Resurgence of political power of yesteryear (Italy very unified in the time of Roman
Empire)

Early Verdi operas contain situations that appealed to Risorgimento politics.

Giuseppe Verdi
B. Northern Italy, talent early, education at patrons expense
Educated as church musician, organ,
1839 1st opera, Oberto, produced Teatro alla Scala (Theater of the Ladder)
Milan: model for future opera houses

1851, Rigoletto; melodrama

melodrama: medium drama (still contains some popular style music, but
ends tragically)
Author: Victor Hugo play Le roi Samui (The King amuses himself)
Adapted for opera by Francesco Piave (Italian librettist). Wrote another 8
operas together.
Counts character, he thinks all women are fickle. He seduces
wives/daughters of fellow aristocrats
Rigoletto court jester, but tragic hero. He facilitates the Counts debauchery.
Rigoletto has a daughter, Gilda, and keeps her a secret. Conflicts between
public and inner = paranoid. One of the daughters fathers puts a curse on
Rigoletto.

Rigoletto solo scene Pari Siamo

Get rid of recitative-Cavatina-Cabaletta, instead soliloquy in accompanied
recitative + arioso style: highly declamatory speech like. Orchestra
contributes characteristic motives background of tremolos.
Rarely rises to expected lyricism
Moves directly to a duet with Gilda.

La donna e mobile (Women are fickle)

Duke Solo, voice type tenore di forza
Canzone outside of dramatic action
Four measure phrase (2 measure unit, parallel phrases)
Music throws off phrase structure at the beginning because of extra measure
of orchestra accompaniment.
Double stanza structure (strophic), bel canto

Bella Figlia Dell Amore

 Stage divided
Quartet moves action along
Melodically similar to Lucia
Introduction parlante (speaking style in aria) cynical
1st stanza Duke: Maddalena (flirty), gilda (crys out), Rigoletto (silences her)
2nd stanza Duke accompanied by other 3 (counterpoint), Maddalena is still
flirty, Gilda sighs descending from high notes, Rigoletto harmonic support for
Gilda (harmonic support)
3rd coda (Maddalena and Gilda), ironic juxtaposition: Maddalena laughing,
Gilda crying. Music 16th note = Gilda 16th note sighing/crying, Maddalena
with her laughing
Repeat of coda (2 women): contrast of insiders/outsiders insider embrace
love, outsiders distraught
Musically lovers (Parallel motion, lyrical, legato lines); outsiders (broken
lines, alternate between 16h notes and rests)

Storm section:
Men humming (stylize realism) humanizes the storm, psychological agitation

Taruskin:
Shakespearean elemnts: Duke- fool; Rigoletto tragic hero.
Entire story based on irony
Critics: Cant be judged in one evening: Novelty, strange subject
Combined comedy within tragedy
Realist ending two characters, one dead
Italian opera had specific structures
Literature Shakespearean elements
Idea of immediacy of pathos from Aristotle

1851 Rigoletto Middle Period of Verdi

Establish himself as Italy foremost composer La Traviata, La torza del
destina, II trovatore, Un ballo in maschero

Aida commissioned for opening of Suez Canal 1871

Boatload of Italian journalists/critics sailed to Cairo and reported on
developments daily basis telegraph

Then Verdi retired to countryside, where tended horses, crops.

Ricordi (publisher) introduced Verdi to Arrigo Bito, (librettist of his own
operas).
o Boito is very interested in Wagners theories.
o Boitos own opera Mefistofele (Goethes Faust)
Verdi auditioned Boito as a librettist, revised an early opera Simon
Boccanegra
Manzoni died, Verdi wrote Requiem
Otello, lyric drama 1887
From Shakespeares play (tragic). Otello: general Venetian army under Doge
(chief)
Otello is jealous of his wife Desdemona (venetian woman of high standing)
Jago villain, soldier, passed over (by Otello) for promotion. Used
handkerchief (stole the handkerchief that Otello gave to Desdemona)
(falsoletto) and gave to Cassio (another soldier). Had Cassio gave it to
Desdemona and make Otello jealous.

Duet Act III beginning:

2 scenes. 1st very short: prelude motive. Jago first warns Otello about
jealousy = subject of scene
start with F#. Announcement ambassadors arrive (E), then return to F#,
Jago elaborates plan.
Duet: Desdemona + Otello (4 sections). Each begins lyrically: 3 with
Desdemonas melodies, 4th Otello sings one Desdemonas melodies
Increasingly free: 1st rounded binary form. (aaba), then declamatory singing
from Otello (harmonies more faster, as Otello more agitated)
2nd Desdemona thinks Otello is joking. Dialogue back+forth
3rd overlay of dialogue, ends with force. 4th calm

Falstaff (Comic opera) 1893 (when Verdi was 80)

fugue: Tutto il mundo burla (All the world is a joke)

Verismo (truth to real life, especially real lives of lower classes: Italian peasant)
Literary + musical (operatic) movement, 1880-1914: base emotions, vulgar
by previous standards
Mascagni, Cavalleria tusticana; Leocavallo, I Paglical,
Puccini, some verismo traits
Greater and greater emphasis of melody, often at the expense of harmonic
contrast + motivic complexity
Greater and greater emphasis of arias over ensemble

Giacomo Puccini 1858 - 1924

B. Lucca Italy. Musical family.
Exposed to opera 3 theaters. Went to Milan Conservatory 1880.
1883 Boito noticed him. Ponchieli. Puccini spent years on each opera.

La Boheme 1896, Verismo Opera (Plain opera in score)

simple story: poet Rudolfo falls in love with mimi seamstress, then separate,
then reunited before Mimi dies of consumption
2 arias: Rudolfo, Mimi, short dialogue, duet
both arias still show traces of 2-stanza form of old-style cavatina
melody emerge from recitative or from the orchestra.
 Transparent instrumental texture; harmony color chords

George Bizet 1838-75

Born musical family
Prodigy student age 10 at Conservatoire, Gounod student
Study symphony graduation exercise
Prix de Rome age 19, then slow start to his professional career:
o The Pearl Fishers, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) always look for unusual
foreign locations (typical for Bizet)
Success incidental music set a play Larlesienne (Arles, southern France)

Bizet attraction to foreign subjects reflects exoticism: portraying of foreign cultures

as different from native culture:
colonizing southeast Asia, North Africa, often project their own fantasies onto
a foreign culture: Carmen

Carmen 1875, opera-comique

Opera-comique (old genre dates to 18th century)
o spoken dialogue + musical numbers
o Carmen produced with dialogue. Venue: Opra comique
o Set forms in opera comique couplet (aa) + refrain (B)
o Normally plot was comic, ended happily. Rom-com (overcome
struggle and be together)
o Bizet wanted to explode the genre of opera-comique

Plot: Carmen seduces soldier Don Jos, Escamillo (Famous Toreador bullfighter) =
triangle. Carmen Micaela (Don Joss fiances)
Carmen gypsy, work in cigarette factory (low class)
Micaela similar class, countryside, ingnue native, innocent, or pretends to be
Escamillo admired professional
Carmen: exotic gypsy in Spain, low class cigarette worker (an outsider, easy to be
identified).
Don Jose stabs Carmen realistic

After premier, Ernest Guiraud, Bizet friend, fellow Prix de Rome winner, wrote
recitatives for Carmen, produced elsewhere, Vienna success.

Explode conventions:
Plot/characters
Continuity Act II duet, spoken dialogue, recit, Carmen dancers (accomp by
Castanets Spanish exotic element),
vocalize la,
trumpets sound call DJ to duty -- Phenomenal or acoustic music when
characters are aware of orchestral contributions.
Then more recitative and dramatic, danger to society.
 Recurrent motive, reminiscence, (exotic augmented 2nd = fate)
Aria for Don Jose: Flower Song (not in a set form), but in 4 different sections
ABCD. Series form: free form made of a free succession of division.