The Moldau is a beautiful piece of instrumental music with a flair for nationalism from the Romantic period. It is program music that describes the river Moldau. It is a symphonic poem in structure and form. It is an orchestral arrangement that is broken into sections rich in musical concepts. Smetana’s The Moldau is very representative of late 19th century music.
Romantic Period – The Moldau demonstrates Smetana’s own personal feelings about his homeland of today’s Czechoslovakia. He is able to express his patriotism and romanticism through his combinations of diverse instruments, musical contrasts, and touch of folk tunes. His representation of nature creates music that can be easily understood.
Program Music – The Moldau is a descriptive piece of program music. It portrays the river Moldau from its beginning to its end at the river Elbe. Smetana wrote the program for The Moldau: “The composition depicts the course of the river, beginning from its two small sources, one cold and the other warm, the joining of both streams into one, then the flow of the Moldau through forests and across meadows, through the countryside where merry feasts are celebrated; water nymphs dance in the moonlight; on nearby rocks can be seen the outline of ruined castles, proudly soaring into the sky. The Moldau swirls through the St. John Rapids and flows in a broad stream toward Prague. It passes Vysehrad (where an ancient royal castle once stood), and finally the river disappears in the distance as it flows majestically into the Elbe.”
Symphonic Poem Structure – The Moldau’s symphonic poem form helped listeners envision the course of the river Moldau. It was written in one unbroken movement that lacked the strict sonata form of th...
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...ver Moldau comes to an end the music quiets to pianissimo and then ends with two loud chords.
Smetana uses dynamics, tempo, line, texture, and color to create this masterpiece. The Moldau is written with a wide range of dynamics in an allegro commodo non agitato (fast, not agitated) tempo. The line or main melody of each section returns over and over again creating sections that are easily followed. Smetana also varies the number of instruments he uses to create a light or thick texture. He begins with two flutes and ends with the full orchestra. Each section seems to use the unique color or timbre of the chosen instruments to help describe the scenes surrounding the river Moldau. Smetana purposefully uses contrast within each technique to create this impressive piece of program music. The Moldau is a great example of music from the Romantic period.
Cantecul Miresei, a piece also known as “Bride’s Song” is a Romanian piece, which by the english title is used for weddings. The ensemble playing it consists primarily of a brass sections with trumpets, tubas, trombones, and baritones, giving allowing the melody to be doubled in a higher and lower octave. The lower instruments also articulate the polymeter structure: triple meter with 2 extra beats. This meter is made more prominent by the scratch board and percussion. The dynamics stay mostly constant, until the closing of the piece where the quick diminuendo leads to nothing and the tempo stays constant. The melody travels between octaves, first starting with the trumpets, making it bright and piercing, virtually impossible to mistake. The
The next work of the program, Courtly Airs and Dances, is a multi-movement work composed by Ron Nelson. The piece is split into six movements: Intrada, Basse Danse, Pavane, Saltarello, Sarabande, and Allemande. Each of these present distinct characteristics that separate it from each other movement, yet all are united by being a style of dance. The first movement, Intrada, presents a fanfare-like opening to the multi-movement work. The trumpets and brass section as a whole lead this, as they create a sense of nobility. The key is major and the tempo is one that could be described as allegretto—it is not a fast tempo, yet more brisk than an andante pace. The texture is homophonic, as there are different parts being performed by different
This movement was also in complete sonata form, like the first, but started out with a fugue, containing timpani solos and then later concluded with an abrupt
“The Little Heidelberg” is the story of a small dance hall. The customers of The Little Heidelberg are typically older men and women, many of whom are foreigners who cannot speak English. One of these is El Capitán, a retired Finnish sea captain, who has been dancing with niña Eloísa, a lovely Russian woman, weekly for forty years. They have never spoken to each other because of language barriers. One day some Scandinavian tourists come to the Heidelberg. El Capitán hears them speaking his language and asks them to translate to Eloísa for him. In this scene it is the first time that anyone has ever heard him speak. Eloísa learns that El Capitán wants to marry her, and she says yes. The couple begin a celebratory dance, and as they start twirling Eloísa begins to turn “to lace, to froth, to mist” until she is first a shadow and then completely disappears (Allende, 179). In the magic of the scene, she twirls out of existence. Her disappearance seems to reflect the dreamscape nature of the scene.
Ultimately, it is apparent that Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” and Modeste Moussorgsky’s “Pictures At An Exhibition” share similarities such as the instruments used and influences, yet share differences like the background of the composers and time these pieces were composed. “Carmina Burana” and “Pictures At An Exhibition” are both beautifully composed works and will continue to intrigue the mind of all who listen to them.
John Dowland (1563-1626) was a composer of Renaissance England and considered one of the most prolific and well-known composers of English lute song. A composer and accomplished lutenist, he is probably the most well traveled English composer of his time. Through his travels he was exposed to the musical elements of his Italian, French and German contemporaries. He developed his own musical language, in which he created a unique style for the lute song. As a composer, he focused on the development of melodic material and was able to elegantly blend words and music with a wide range of emotion and technique. For the purpose of this document we will focus on the influence of his Italian travels. John Dowland’s use of chromaticism in his lute songs as can be directly associated with such as “All ye whom love or fortune.” In these pieces, we can see the influence on this genre through his travels to Italy and encounters with such composers as Marenzio.
In the second part of And the Violins Stopped playing Dymitr Mirga arranges an escape group to Hungary. On their way to Hungary, ...
It has a very nice combination of the woodwind and violin. The music goes slow for first three minutes and suddenly it goes fast with the sound of violin and slows down again with the melodious sound of the flute and violin and repeats again giving the feeling of nature and after eleven minutes it is in very high notes. And again, from the 14 minutes, begins the second movement with the melodious sound of violin followed by other instruments. This part is very sad and attractive part of the orchestra too. It feels tragedy and sad music. The music is slow and in low notes. The flute in the fourteen minute is so attaching and alluring. I felt like listening to it again and again. The third movement then begins from twenty-three minute which also feels sad music. It reminds me of the good old childhood days. After the thirty minutes comes the most powerful and weighty part that is the fourth movement. It ends comfortably in F major. Among the four symphonies by Johannes Brahms, I liked the Symphony no.3. And I would like to thank Mr. Madere for giving us with such assignments which help us relax and get free from our
?Kate Chopin.? Gale Group (1999): n. pag. Online. Galenet. 4 April 2001. Available FTP: www.galenet.com/servlet/SRC
There are two main rhythmic ideas that are present in this piece. The first is the regular rhythmic pulse in the pianos and mallet instruments
The form is more like a multi-movement tone poem that tells a story though music. The symphonies of Haydn, and Mozart were pieces written with music that was not influenced by non-musical ideas. Other symphonies that have been written that are programmatic are Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz, Symphony no. 3 "Pastoral" by Vaughan Williams, and Metropolis Symphony by Michael Daugherty. This paper will show the similarities and differences between the programmatic symphonies of Beethoven, Berlioz, and Daugherty.
...re was very interesting transitions between the variation, for example, string section plays the variation from low to high, when they reach the highest note, the brass family takes over and continue with the scale and make it more higher. Tremolo style was used in this piece, which is a quick ups and downs stroke mode. The music were very soothing and attracted the audience. Lastly, they end the piece with the same variations that was played at the beginning.
... then plays allegro passages of semi quavers, accompanied by timpani and descending scales in the woodwind. The clarinet, takes over the main melody whilst the cello accompanies with sequences. The French horn takes over the melody, accompanied by the strings. The flute briefly plays the melody before the cello plays octaves, accompanying the woodwind as they play a reprise of the DSCH theme and the timpani crashes. Repeating the themes in the first movement, the cello plays the DSCH motif followed by the "tate ta, tate ta" rhythm in the strings. The horn then plays the theme in augmentation, whilst the cello plays passages of ascending and descending scales, and the theme is heard again in the strings. The movement builds up with the motif appearing increasingly often in the woodwind and strings and climaxes with octaves by the soloist and a boom from the timpani.
Foday, a famous kora player, performed a music piece called, "Minstrel's song." Its structural flow consists of significant characteristics at different parts if the song. First, Foday plays his kora with an ostinato pattern. After 11 seconds, he introduces melodic phrases
...chestral introduction with an imperfect cadence. A strong rhythmic ¾ allegro passage, with sequences and descending scales is played by the orchestra, with timpani and cymbals. The music modulates, and a short, quiet woodwind passage is then alternated with an orchestral passage with dotted rhythms, creating a `terraced dynamics' effect. Part B begins with a major clarinet melody accompanied by pizzicato strings. A minor flute sequence follows, and is followed by a repetition of the oboe melody. A string sequence is then played, imitated by the oboe. There is a crescendo, then the rhythmic orchestral melody returns, alternated with a short flute passage. There are suspensions, descending scales and a crescendo, followed by a strong rhythmic passage with the timpani playing on the beat. Imperfect cadences are played, before the piece finishes with a perfect cadence.