Bell Ringer - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Bell Ringer

M.Socrative.com – Room #38178

Questions:

1. What building is introduced?

2. What was the new style of architectural decoration?Slide2

Impressionism

－－

Music Part 1Slide3

Impressionism in Music

The anti-Romantic spirit also produced a style of music similar to that of the impressionist painters

Several characteristics are still apart of contemporary music

Some composers made free use of chromatic harmony and key shifts (but stayed within the parameters of traditional harmony.) Others rejected traditional tonality completely

A new

atonal

harmonic expression was inventedSlide4

Nontraditional Transitions

As painting diverged from its heritage, music did too. Its new directions parted with past traditions in 3 ways.

Rhythmic complexityFocus on dissonant harmonies

Rejection of traditional tonalitySlide5

Nontraditional Transitions

Rhythmic complexity:

the characteristic accents of double and triple meters helped to unify and clarify compositions, but modern composers did away with these patterns and regular accentsInstead, they choose to employ complex, changing rhythms in which it is often

virtually impossible to determine meter, or even the actual beat

(you can’t quite tap your foot)Slide6

Nontraditional Transitions

Focus on Dissonant Harmonies:

Before consonance was the norm and dissonances were expected to be brief and passing, just for emotional impactBy the 20

th

century,

composers were using more and more dissonance and not resolving it.

You will hear things that sound WRONG to your ears – like wrong notesSlide7

Nontraditional Transitions

Rejection of Traditional Harmonies:

Traditional idea was that one note, the “doh” or tonic of a scale was the most important

Now, composers choose different paths – one was to get rid of any tonal center at all

No one tone was more important than any other, all twelve pitches are now equal at all timesSlide8

Impressionism in Music

Claude Debussy – 1862-1918 – the primary champion of Impressionist Music

He was French (like all the painters)

Debussy maintained that he as “an old Romantic who has thrown the worries of success out the window.”

His use of tone color has been described as “wedges of color” much like those the painters provided with brushstrokesSlide9

Debussy

He wished, above all, to return French music to fundamental sources in nature and move it away from the “heaviness” of the German tradition

He delighted in natural scenes, as did the impressionist painters, and he sought to capture the effects of shimmering light in music

The Girl with the Flaxen HairSlide10

Debussy

Unlike his predecessors, Debussy reduced melodic development to limited short motifs and moved away from traditional progressions of harmony

Debussy considered a chord strictly on the merits of its expressive capabilities, not to follow any rules

He created the ‘gliding chord’ – the repetition of a chord up and down the scale avoiding tonality

Playing a C Major chord, then a D Major chord, then an E Major chord, on up (or down.) The key center is unclearSlide11

Debussy

Debussy uses dissonance and irregular rhythm

Form and content are subordinate to expressive intentHis works suggest rather than state, leaving the listener only with an impression, even it’s an ambiguous one

It makes an impression on you and its up to your interpretation what it meansSlide12

Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun

Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun

A faun in a mythological creature with the body of a man and the horns, ears, tails, and sometimes the legs, of a goat

Uses a large orchestra, with emphasis on

the woodwinds

Has virtually no tonal center

All notes on all the instruments are equally

importantSlide13

Stravinsky

Igor

Stravinksy (1882-1971)Russian

The Firebird Suite was his first major work, but The Rite of Spring created greater impact

Both were ballets as well

We’ll look at them when we talk about dance. Today we’ll focus on what they sound like

The Rite of Spring created a riot because of its revolutionary orchestrations and driving,

primitive rhythms

More on this when we talk about danceSlide14

The Firebird Suite

Written in 1910 for the French Ballet in Paris

Based on Russian folk tales of the magical glowing bird of the same name (that is both a blessing and a curse to its captor)

Critics were very enthusiastic

Stravinksy’s

first big breakSlide15

The Firebird Suite

Written for a nearly 100 piece orchestra (HUGE)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlCzpkpQ3qsSlide16

Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring

CONTROVERSY – a riot at the premiere!

It is subtitled “Pictures of Pagan Russia”Stravinsky explained it as “representing pagan Russia unified by a single idea: the mystery and great surge of the creative power of Spring.”

It depicts

the cruel rites of spring that culminate in the sacrifice of a virgin, who dances herself to death

accompanied by frenetic musicSlide17

Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring

The compelling rhythms give the work its impressive character

Rapid, irregular mixtures of very short note values create an almost intolerable tension (or at least to the public of that day)

The melodic treatment is unconventional – short driving motifs stop short of thematic fulfillmentSlide18

Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring

First performed in 1913 in Paris (French dancers and choreographers)

Although designed as a work for the stage, the music achieved growing success on its ownRecognized as one of the most influential musical works of the 20

th

century

Lots of experimentation – in rhythm, meter, tonality, and dissonance

Honestly, you’re probably not going to like it

Its harsh and uncomfortableSlide19

Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring

The Rite of Spring (Full Suite)

Beginning sounds very similar to Debussy(22 minutes) – intense rhythms, short motifs, aggressive timbresSlide20

Rite of Spring

Disney’s Interpretation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3VqcTDf6l4Slide21

About 10 minutes short…

Olympic

ceremony version?