Music Listening Journal

Music History 352WI

Dr. Granade

February 21, 2008


































Journal Entries 1 & 2

It all begins with an overture. Just imagine stringed instruments frantically chasing one another, loud horns trumpeting their harmonies and an overall sense of urgency and you will have the beginnings of a late 18th century opera. I did not have to know the background or synopsis of this piece of music to figure out the opera’s time period. For my listening journal I listened to Luigi Cherubini’s Medea, an opera based on François-Benoit Hoffmann’s three-act libretto that lasts two hours.
Medea, based on Greek mythology, begins at the site of a wedding in Corinth. Giasone, the hero is about to embark on his second marriage to a woman named Glauce. His first marriage ended badly when he left his first wife Medea, the sorceress, and took the children they had together. In the first scene of the first act, Glauce is nervously awaiting her wedding and more so, the possibility of the evil Medea’s arrival. I love the way in which the overture sets up this first scene. I can just imagine Glauce scurrying around the stage in apprehension while her maids try to calm her down. The overture begins on an abrupt minor chord that descends one octave, pauses, and then begins to descend to the next octave. It is then interrupted by a few staccato chords played mostly by the horns. Next it goes to the dominant and it recreates this same circular pattern. It ascends back up and is soon followed by a small break which then leads into a nice, full, legato melody. Do not worry though, it does not stay this way for long as the music quickly crescendos to another intense moment. It goes back and forth like this throughout the whole overture letting the audience feel what Glauce is feeling.
As the opera goes on, I hear many things that are representative of what other composers were doing around this time. Cherubini’s style reminds me a lot of Gluck’s.. Gluck wrote for the singer and the melody with all other instruments lightly enveloping that main idea whether the music was at forte or piano. Cherubini does this as well but with a little bit more to offer. There is more to listen for in Cherubini’s music. He does not make it as obvious as to where the music is going. Instead, he makes the music a little bit more complex with the addition of more notes on a single phrase and rhythms that are more intricate. In the opening of Act 1, the music is written subtly as Glauce timidly sings with ornamented skips and leaps throughout the melody line. Her phrase ends as the chorus of maids comes in with a charming, bright sound. They sound angelic as they sing their simple harmonies. The chorus’s attempts to to calm Glauce has the same affect on the audience- it puts them at ease. Then Glauce comes back in with a little bit more direction in her melody. The chorus alternates beautifully with her while the orchestra accompanies them as if not to make a sound. The music fits so perfectly within itself that I can picture exactly what stage movements and actions are taking place. Nothing in the music is too abrupt at this point which is perfect for what is going on in the plot Although I do not have the translation of the opera in front of me, I can still tell where the plot changes by how the mood of the music shifts. In the middle of act one, the music suddenly changes from the light-hearted scheme it was following to an intense representation of the energy that Medea, the sorceress, always has around her. Medea comes sweeping into the picture trying to stop Giasone from marrying Glauce. The rest of act one remains tense because of Medea’s presence. One thing that this alteration of mood within the first act offers is contrast. In late 18th century opera, the audience was longing to be moved. Cherubini wrote his music in a way that makes it clear as to where ideas change. His transitions end up being emotional which was common in music of the early Romantic period. Other prevalent stylistic features of the time are seen in the opera such as being speech-like, having alternations between soloist and chorus, interruptions in phrases and the repetition of certain phrases.
Through the introduction of new characters in this first act alone, we see some of these characteristics come alive. One of the first things we hear is the continual dialogue between Glauce and her maids. This shows the idea of rhetoric being represented through music and the correlation between music and language. Opera is language being spoken, musically. During moments of tension, the fluidity of the music is interjected by the usage of short phrases, which mimics conflict in spoken language. This is heard especially when Glauce’s father enters during the first act. He comes to help calm his daughter down. His phrases tend to be short which perhaps represent the way in which he speaks to her. These characteristics of the dialogue between father and daughter portray their relationship. This idea of interjection in the music is heard again as Medea enters into the music. However, the music is interjected in a different way. Her phrases are short and cut off because either the chorus or the music interrupt. During the arias in this act, we do not get as much of these interjections. Instead, every aria is very repetitive of itself with antecedent phrases.
The introduction of the second act is extremely important in understanding the opera’s direction and where it will end up. The neglected Medea, who has been rejected, decides to get back at those who have hurt her with the assistance of the Greek god, Eumenides and her maid, Neris. Act two opens with Neris plotting their scheme to get even. Her recitative and aria are dark and dissonant, moving at a slow, steady pace. Here we see another glimpse of contrast. The opera starts out with a light yet upbeat melody that portrayed Glauce’s naïve attitude. The music has slowly made its way through anger, with abrupt chords, to vengeance with an eerie, unpredictable arrangement of the music. I think this idea of slowly progressing the musical language in tandem with its plot expands the opera as a whole. It allows for the opera to unwind itself comfortably without being colorless and even puts the opera ahead of its time. Act two stays in this unwavering place without really changing the mood at all until the very end. Upon seeing her ex-husband, Medea decides to try and gain his pity in hopes of eventually winning his heart and their children back. Giasone could care less, which drives Medea even more into vengeance towards Giasone’s new wife. Finally, by the end, Medea decides to set up Glauce for death by poisoning her. I am assuming that the process in which Medea went through in order to poison Glauce was tedious because of the musical structure. The chords are accentuated with sounds of infuriation. All throughout the end of act two, the music shifts greatly between the two spectrums of buoyant and delicate to fervent and raging. Prior to this time period, opera did not contain nearly this much diversion. As opera evolved, the demand for more intensity became greater which lead to a heightened level of contrast. It is more appealing to the ear. I think of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo; even though it did have much contrast, the difference between it and Medea is that it took much longer to get to those points of variance. In Medea, the mood changes every couple of minutes which helps the audience to become more interested and involved.
The way the music is written in the beginning of the third act foreshadows how the opera will end. The strings section comes in with long, slow, legato lines in a minor key. Hurriedly, the orchestra is then thrown into this frantic frenzy of notes and chords. The music symbolizes destruction and turmoil. Medea had just poisoned Glauce and is now waiting to reunite with her children. Her purpose in retrieving her children is not a good one. She intends on killing them as a form of punishment towards Giasone. By the end of act three, Giasone is begging Medea not to kill their children. Desperation is heard in Giasone’s plead for their lives. Medea, however, has already made up her mind and kills both of the children, driving herself insane and causing her to set ablaze the temple in which the opera takes place. In this part of the opera, Medea’s vocal line is different than anything that was heard before. She had always sung with intensity but at this point the intensity is unbearable. Cherubini wrote in extremely high notes for Medea, forcing her to leap from her middle range to her high range, but not with ease. Medea’s singing is a constant back and forth, low to high motion. The chorus is heard in the background mimicking her as she strains in her madness. The opera ends in a traditional aberration of strings and horns bouncing around with ascending and descending runs thrown in the mix, finally ending with a VII-chord to the tonic.
Before listening to this piece of music, I must admit I was quite excited to finally get to listen to an opera from the Romantic period. As I began to listen I kept wondering why this piece of music is not included in the Canon. I listened to the first act a couple of times and it felt refreshing to hear an opera that I could better relate to than previous composers that we have listened to. As I began to make my way to the end, I started getting tired. It was not that this opera is boring because it is definitely not. It just started to become monotonous. Even though I was noticing crucial elements of Cherubini’s writing style, like the way he shifts mood so easily to intensify certain parts, it was all starting to sound the same. I then realized that this opera represents the shift from the late Classical-style of opera to the Romantic-style of opera. Medea is beyond the works of Monteverdi and Pergolesi but not quite reaching the style of Rossini’s and Donizetti’s. Cherubini aided in the development of opera. He helped it to become what it is today.
I really feel that this opera should be included in the canon. If anyone has ever had a hard time understanding where and why opera changed in the ways it did from one time period to the next, then Cherubini should be looked at and taken into account as a powerful figure in that process. Cherubini had a strong influence and impact on where opera was meant to go.

Journal Entry #2

For my second journal entry I listened to Padre Anotonio Soler’s Works for Harpsichord. This disc is composed of nine harpsichord works. Most of the works are sonatas with the exception of one concerto and a fandango. Each piece is anywhere between three to nine minutes in length. Before listening to Soler’s harpsichord works I kind of expected to hear the regular old baroque style of harpsichord playing. To my surprise, I was quite wrong.

As I played “Fandango en re menor” I was blown away. I could not believe that harpsichord music could be so beautiful. The thing I like the most about the fandango is the process it goes through as if it is racing to the end. I had to listen to it a couple of times to try and catch everything. It starts simply, with clear triadic chords, ornamented with trills, that alternate between the tonic and the dominant. All of the sudden, this complex rush of polyphonic notes and chords comes breaking through to deliver the first theme of this piece. The piece later proves to have many variations between slow and fast rhythms. Because of my previous perception of the harpsichord, I feel as though I am not even listening to the same instrument anymore

Each piece after the fandango greatly differs from one another. It sounds like Soler took traits from the Baroque style of music, such as ornamentation, and applied it to a new style of music. He was still able to make each piece have its own unique stylistic features and feeling. His style of music is very pleasing to the ear, especially with his execution of Spanish characteristics and qualities. In some sections of specific pieces the harpsichord almost sounds like a vibrant Spanish guitar-or a couple for that matter.

In “Sonata en fa sotenido mayor” he begins with a clear chromatic ascension of notes. When he gets to the top he plays around a bit and then comes back down to a middle range and hangs out for awhile. He then proceeds down to low and heavy “thumping”sounding chords in the bass. Soler then moves his back to the top and basically does this back and forth for a while. He soon repeats the beginning all over again and the song ends on one low “thumping” chord. I think it is amazing to be able to put all of this into a one-instrument piece, especially when that piece is the harpsichord-which I used to think was limited to the Baroque style. My favorite thing about his works is listening to one song that makes you feel a certain way and immediately being tugged to feel another way by the next piece. In “Sonata en do sost menor” he begins with a light Spanish-sounding harmony and rhythm accompanied by a varied “alberti bass.” He then moves to an abrupt polyphonic style, quickly returning to his light Spanish-sounding characteristics. In this piece he becomes so quiet that it sounds like a million tiny, little men plucking at strings in the harpsichord and follows it immediately with loud, heavy chords.

The last two pieces in this compilation are a part of a concerto called, “Concerto en sol mayor para 2 claves.” In this piece I was mainly trying to listen for significant differences from his sonatas. I found that in his concerto he has a much more developed form. I could pick out themes better in this piece than in the other pieces. One thing that kept my attention was when he switched to minor key in the middle of it and then back to major. I could not exactly tell you where he switched back into major because it was gracefully written. In this concerto, I am somewhat reminded of Mozart. He often repeats in the left hand what he played in the right hand and vice versa. His chords are also much more clear.

I cannot understand why this collection of musical works is not included in the Canon. I feel as though his works represent a shift in music. The characteristics of pieces show where music was going. I do not know a whole lot of information about the harpsichord but I assume that since composers were beginning to have access to more keyboard instruments than just the harpsichord they were beginning to move away from that Baroque style of keyboard music. As keyboard music evolved, the harpsichord was still used and the result was an interesting, new sound on the harpsichord. With Soler, it could have been that nobody knew what kind of keyboard he intended his works to be played on. So, for his harpsichord music to all of the sudden possess something different than its usual or typical style really shows what was going on in the world of music. Soler’s era was in the late 18^th century preceding the Romantic period. For these reasons I feel as though Soler should have received more recognition and praise. Really, I think his music should have been a part of the Canon.

Overall, I feel like I really learned something from these harpsichord pieces. Mainly, I realized how much the harpsichord has to offer. For an instrument to be manipulated in a way that one would think of it as not just a harpsichord but a musical machine is pretty incredible.

Journal Entry #1

For my first journal entry I chose to listen to selections from American Psalmody, Make a Joyful Noise. The whole disc is about 48 minutes long. All of the selections are early American choral compositions by various composers. Each of these hymn-like, a capella songs is filled with homophony and consonance. Each piece is typically written for four voices- soprano, alto, tenor and bass. As I began to listen to this collection of songs, I realized how familiar it was to me.

When I played the first song on this disc of unruly choral masterpieces, I was taken back to high school choir. Rehearsals were right in the middle of the day after lunch. The choir conductor frantically tried to teach 60-some chatty students while I am still tried to digest my three cookies and square-shaped pizza from lunch. The songs we were learning? The names I cannot remember but they sounded much like those included in this compilation. Most of the songs I sang in high school choir sounded exactly like this list of American classics. It was not the best impression.

As I began to make it through the whole disc, I got over my cynicism and actually started to enjoy the music. I realized that there is nothing abrupt in this genre of music which can be very nice. It allows me to not have to think too hard while listening. In “Chesterfield” by William Billings, the harmonies are quite beautiful in the way the sopranos project their voices on high notes an octave above the bass while everyone else in between slowly circles around 3rds and fifths. This song is set in a minor key which is wonderful text-painting considering the text is based on a psalm that pleads for God whilst in the absence of him. You can almost predict what chord will come next but that is part of it’s beauty. It is so simple that it somewhat resembles that of a chant. Another song of Billings, called “Washington,” does exactly the opposite of “Chesterfield.” It is still homophonic and strophic, yet it is fast-paced and is sung in a round, vividly text-painting the Lord ascending, angels, chariots and the glory of God. It is still incredibly simple which, again, makes it nice to just rest and listen.

Something I found interesting about the American composers who were prevalent at the turn of the 19^th century was that they were not necessarily musically educated. They were not classically trained on an instrument. This group of composers were basically writing music off the top of their heads. They began by writing one part and then creating other voices based off of that one part. For the most part they used their ear and if it sounded nice, without dissonance, they kept it. There was no significant influence from Europe and what it had to offer. Instead, these composers were influenced by one another and the culture of America at that time. Composers who fit in this category include Supply Belcher, William Billings, Daniel Read, Timothy Swan, Jacob Kimball, Amos Bull and Oliver Holden, all of whom are included on this disc. To me, this type of writing brings about two differing ideas. One is authenticity. The music is pure and genuine because it really comes from a place of truth within one’s heart and soul. These composers were probably not trying to impress their peers nor were they trying to be outrageously unique. This music was created out of gladness and to be enjoyed. The second is without complexity music becomes redundant and boring. I feel that if you have heard one of these songs you have heard them all. However, this does not mean that I do not find pleasure in listening it. It just means that there is really not much to follow throughout these compositions other than being entertained by what the music brings you as an individual.

One way in which I can gauge whether or not I think any of the compositions from this collection should be included in the canon is by trying to imagine one of these pieces being performed nowadays. I have a hard time trying to put myself in the midst of the 19^th century because life at that time was so much different than today. The reality is I cannot see the majority of these pieces being performed professionally today, with the exception of one or two pieces. There are too many compositions that possess the same qualities and traits that these pieces possess but with much more to offer, like dynamic and variations in harmonic chord progressions. I feel like these compositions were only representative of the time in which they were written and that is where they will stay. It is somewhat unfortunate because they were written about lovely things and ideas. However, the music just did not stick. That is not to say that I was not moved by some of them. “Chesterfield,” “Crucifixion” and “The Dying Christian’s Last Farewell” put me in the spirit of worship because of their harmonic textures. They did make me feel sorrow and rejoicing at the same time and they did move me to take a second listen. However, there are too many other pieces out there that do the same thing in a much lovelier, complex way.

My opinion on this early American genre may seem a bit harsh, but it is only because I have grown bitter due to past experiences with long choir rehearsals, nagging conductors and the desire to take a nap after a well-balanced, filling lunch. Although I am a bit biased, I still appreciate the music from this genre because it represents a carefree and pure way of creating music. It would be nice for other composers to take this attitude just once in awhile.