Music
INSTRUCTIONS:
Your review should focus on identifying and describing the style and historical context of compositions heard as well as your experience. This should be done through showing musical characteristics of the work(s), as well as those of the performance and performers,.
First, note briefly the time and place of the performance, the number and type of performers, and the content of the program if it’s a concert (and not an opera).
As dramatic as these can be, DO NOT SPEND CONSIDERABLE PART OF YOUR REVIEW DESCRIBING ADVENTURES OF GETTING DRESSED FOR THE OCCASION AND FIGHTING FOR PARKING BEFORE YOUR ARRIVAL.
Then, discuss each of the works on the program. They need not be treated in equal detail; you might want to concentrate on one piece that you especially liked using the terms and concepts you have learned in class and in your textbook.
1) Identify and describe the style, historical context/period, and principal musical features of each piece.
2) Include discussion of your perception. What did you find most striking and memorable? If you liked the piece, why? If not, why not?
3) Your report should demonstrate knowledge of stylistic context (what style, genres do you find, describe them).
4) Your report should demonstrate knowledge of historical context (in what historical period were the works written in, what elements, features of that period can be found in these works?).
5) Your report should use appropriate and specific vocabulary learned in class.
6) The more nuance, detail you include, the more advanced your report will be.
7) Your report should be 2000 or more words.
You can answer these questions most effectively by discussing musical elements such as rhythm, melody, texture, harmony, timbre, dynamics, etc. You can also discuss the ways in which repetition, contrast, and variation create musical shape in a piece, although this may be hard to discern in a single listening.
Each review must include the following:
1) Title and composer of each selection on the program.
2) Genre of each piece (opera?, aria?, recitative?, symphony movement?, sonata?, concerto?, etc.).
3) Style and historical context of each selection supported by listing musical features/elements typical for that style and historical period. Including date of composition helps.
4) Performers (include names) and your reaction to their performance.
5) Your personal understanding of the music.
6) The sources of information used for this report if any (program notes, books, articles, online sources).
See also List of Terms for Styles and Historical Periods vocabulary.
HISTORICAL PERIODS:
Baroque
Classical
Romantic/19th-century
20th-century
STYLES: include historical period, genres typical for the period, plus other terms
Classical
GENRES:
String quartet (Chamber Music)
Symphony
Concerto
Sonata (Chamber Music)
Opera (overture, recitative, aria, ensemble, chorus)
MUSICAL FEATURES:
Lyrical melody
Diatonic harmony (based on notes of scale)
Rhythmic regularity
Short phrases, repeated
OTHER FEATURES
Absolute music
Enlightenment, Age of Reason
Romantic/19th-Century
GENRES
String quartet (Chamber Music)
Symphony
Concerto
Sonata (Chamber Music)
Opera (overture, recitative, aria, ensemble, chorus)
Lied (Chamber Music)
Character piece (Chamber Music)
Symphonic poem
Ballet
MUSICAL FEATURES:
Romantic melody (long)
Chromaticism (chromatic melody, chromatic harmony)
OTHER FEATURES:
cult of individual feeling
virtuoso display
fascination with nature, supernatural, distant past
nationalism
exoticism
rubato
Romantic orchestra
“miniature” compositions
“grandiose” compositions
program music
bel canto style
20th-Century
See Terms handout
DO NOT
– write about the plot of the work extensively (if it’s an opera or dramatic work)
– provide a long biography of the composer
– list all instruments or performers
