Unit 4 Study Guide Music Appreciation

To assign the first movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony the sonata form would truly be a subjective judgment. I will first explain how this movement fits thesonata form; then I will discuss how it diverges from this form in rather fascinating ways.

As noted by Robert Hughes, "Beethoven was not only the embodiment of all that was before him, but also of that which was yet to come" (Hughes 486). The truth of this may be seen by comparing Beethoven's 5th Symphony in C Minor to Haydn, the father of Symphony, and his 95th in C Minor. While Haydn's symphony is both playful and dramatic, Beethoven's symphony is grander both in terms of scale and vision. He expands the size of the orchestra to incorporate the sounds swirling around, underlying, and depicting the arrival of Fate in a rhythm-driven, thematic symphony that takes Haydn's form and runs with it as though to the top of a mountain peak. This paper will analyze the symphonies by movement, according to form, size, structure, tonalities, melodies, orchestral sound and overall mood and effect.

Firstly, I will discuss the methods used in order to analyse the Form and Structure of the piece. The emphasis in analysis was often given to the form and structure of the piece, especially during the nineteenth century as this allows performers to gain knowledge more directly regarding the overall style of the piece. The sonata is composed in Sonata form and is separated into three movements, firstly the Grave- Allegro di molto e con brio movement, followed by the Adagio Cantabile middle movement and finally the Rondo Allegro movement. There are different meanings to the word structure in music, the first is to do with locating the different movements or the different sections of the piece and the second is to look at how the piece has been put

Composers since the early classical era have used sonata form to express through music ideas which are at once complex and unified. This form contains a variety of themes and permutations of these themes, but is brought together into a comprehensible whole when these excerpts reappear. Beethoven, in the first movement of his Piano Sonata Opus 2 Number 3 utilizes this form to its full potential, modifying the typical structure in his characteristic way.

Beethoven draws the listener in by providing multiple repetitions of the short fast-slow-fast waves. As I listened, I took notes about things I felt while hearing this. I felt like each time the symphony almost mellowed out with the violins, the listener was relaxed, but then the “fast” part came which included more instruments, and I felt awakened. When all the instruments came to a perfect harmony, it was soothing and satisfying to hear. I could also instantly see the emotions painted on conductor Claudio Abbado’s face as the wave increased in volume before mellowing out

2. The sounds (and silences) that comprise a musical work organized in some way * Music is a form of organized sound

Beethoven contributed one of the most significant musical developments through his fifth and ninth symphonies. He used a musical motive as the basic of his entire piece. (Beethoven described the motive as “Fate knocks at the door”.) It was the first time in history that anyone had done such a thing for a multi-movement piece. Beethoven’s contribution has become a norm in the music world, even to this day.

The basic elements that make up a concerto include three movements with one movement usually dedicated for a solo instrument such as the piano or violin with orchestra accompaniment. Since the late 18th century, the first movement is most likely in the sonata form

23 in A Major was composed in 1786. Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major was composed in sonata form. The piece has three movements, typical for the concerto; there is a first and second exposition, development, recapitulation, cadenza and coda. The music is homophonic and has changes from long notes to short notes, allegro to adagio and forte to piano and back again using crescendos, decrescendos and pauses. The cadenza runs up and down the scales of the piano with a long solo trill to end the cadenza. This musical piece intertwines solo piano performances, performance of the orchestra, and the piano and orchestra playing together giving a lovely, happy

The final complete symphony by Beethoven was Symphony No. 9, also referred to as “The Choral”. Not only is it considered one of his greatest works, it was one of the best known in the classical period, as well as the greatest compositions in western music. He was the first major composer to used voices in a symphony with a chorus. In 1817 the symphony was commissioned to The Philharmonic Society and was completed in 1824. Beethoven used a theme which is first played instrumentally is then reproduced vocally. This symphony premiered with the biggest orchestra ever assembled at this time. The main vocalists consisted of a contralto, a soprano and an alto with parts specifically written for their ranges. As well, he had a tenor, baritone

Previously people did play music outside, but it was all lowbrow. Mozart began playing highbrow music outside for the upper class. He used a new multimovement cycle in his symphonies. These cycles would begin fast, slow down, and then end fast. A multimovement cycle may also include a dance before the last fast piece. These dances, called minuets, were counted in threes. Another alteration would be a virtuosic solo passage called a cadenza. In Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" there were three movements; however, Haydn’s symphonies had four movements. Haydn also pioneered the sonata-allegro form. It has three parts: exposition, development, and

Classic Sonata Form(s): The term “sonata form” surfaced in the 1820s and was variously described as: “the first movement of the symphony [or sonata]”, “an elaborate movement [or] a long movement…generally divided into two sections”’, “grand binary form”, et cetera. It wasn’t until the second quarter of the nineteenth century that it was formally defined as an individual-movement structure. Leonard Ratner describes the form in terms of the key-area scheme I – V (III) / x – I and uses a 10-point system (Table 1) to map the points of cadential action. He identifies the most critical points

Sonata itself consists of three parts. First, exposition which is the introduction of the theme of the music and is sometimes split into two parts. The second part is a reflection of the first part of the piece. Usually in this section, the pattern will repeat itself. The second part is development where the music is developed, in exploration. This is usually the part that feels different from the other sonatas. This section is allowed to change the key signature and time signature (Hepokoski & Darcy, 2006). The third part is recapitulation. This is the stage of completion of the sonata. In this stage, the section of a movement in which the keys and the themes in the exposition and development part are repeated then combine to the final coda (Hepokoski & Darcy, 2006). Moreover, the historical development of the Sonata form is divided into three parts Baroque era, Classical era, and Romantic era. Every part of the Sonata form has itself unique characteristics.

In order to explore the career of Ludwig van Beethoven, and his ‘bridging the gap’ between the classical and romantic eras of music, this essay will examine the style of music and its features, most commonly associated with the Classical era (1750-1820), and those of the Romantic era (1815-1820) . It will look at some musical examples from Beethoven’s work, how they fit into each of the eras, and also how they transition from one era to the next. Beethoven’s career spans both eras mentioned above, from his public debut in Vienna in 1795 to his death in 1827. This essay will strive to explore the reasons why Beethoven is called a transitional composer.

“A loose expression for European and American music, of the more serious kind, as opposed to popular folk music,” is the ‘Classical Music’ definition according to the New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy (Houghton Mifflin Company). It appears that finding a common description for a musical phenomenon, that’s been around since the Medieval Period, is much easier said than done. I must admit that prior to taking this course, I fell victim to assuming all classical music is dense and contained very little diversity. However, after understanding and applying fresh knowledge of the subject, I began to see differences. During my research, I partially expected to find that classical music is unpopular and that society has great disinterest in any form of it. I also expected to find that millennials and baby-boomers would have opposite views on whether classical music is archaic and decaying. The quick poll I conducted revealed eight out of ten people said classical music isn’t dead and six of those eight were millennials. Fortunately, I was surprised by some of the evidence I encountered. By the very definition, classical music can be broad and versatile. It is hardly logical to assume that something so old cannon evolve over time.