Music Week 10 Wednesday · looking at two previous 'isms' (eg. expressionism, realism) · studying opera called Wozzeck today · Alban Berg s Wozzeck all Listening Guide o (1885G1935) o Movie Questions: How did the Wozzeck plot reflect expressionist art? con it's about music and perspective § its from main character Wozzeck's perspective can it is much more subjective vos Berg was in the army G wanted to show anxiety of this § hallucination and extreme aggression as turns to murder to reduce his pain (character) con this is the first expressionist opera con 'freely atoned' G uses major and minor systems in music and tone rows con more dissonant movie soundtrack § late romanticism Los trying to push tonal and atonal §0 uses historical forms once again G some of them we ve talked about (sonata form, fugue, rondo, passacaglia) cas in last act (3rd one) G there are 5 scenes G uses variations on a theme G each scene is a different variatio 1. scene one G variation on one theme 2. scene two G variations on a single now 3. scene three G variation on a pattern 4. scene four G variation on a hexachord (six notes at once) 5. scene five G variations on running notes (6/8) pattern con Lack of compassion for Wozzeck s son s dead parents § Leitmotif: a musical idea associated with each character G anchors the opera cos Outer world distorted by inner world con 2:08 G "see how the moon betrays me" harp comes in G dreamGlike (hallucination) G speechGlong throughout cos 2:35 G drowning G strings rise like the water is rising G it is from his perspective vos Distortion, loud volumes, dissonance §0 Plot not about love and beauty Jos Life is also about bleakness = expressionism · United States o The Europe, paris was the hub of modernism - the beginning of the modernist movement o Some early European composers wanted American music §0 Indigenous music § African American music · Charles Ives (1874G1954) o First distinctly American Composer o Son of a band master G father conducted marching bands o We see nationalism coming through marching bands o Realist comnoser G tells the stories and sounds that were around him for real (he didn't here indigenous music of
o Putnam s Camp Narrative (on OnQ) G Ives handed out this text to his piece o His father was kind of a sadist .. He got Charles to sing a song in the wrong key G wanted to push him so he can hold on to his own key and not focus on the key anyone else was playing o He became good at holding two keys simultaneously o Mistakes interested him G he would pick out musician s mistakes G this fascinated him (anything even slightly out of sync) o Two marching bands passed by each other and it blew his mind G he was enthralled o Bitonality is Stravinsky o Ives works with polytonality •