Opera

Step 1

• Provide a scene summary for the Anvil Chorus from Verdi's Il Travatore.

  It depicts Spanish Gypsies striking their anvils at dawn – hence its English name – and singing the praises of hard work, good wine, and Gypsy women. 

Step 2

• Provide a scene summary for the Opera Ballet from Verdi's Aida

 At first glance an epic, monumental drama of ancient Egypt, it is at its heart the simplest and most tragic of tales—an intimate story of loves forbidden, unrequited, and enmeshed in a struggle for imperial power. ACT I takes place in the royal palace in Memphis. Radamès, an Egyptian officer, loves Aida, the Ethiopian slave of the Egyptian princess Amneris.  ACT II takes place in the palace at Thebes. News has arrived of Egypt’s victory over Ethiopia and Amneris is preparing for Radamès’s return. ACT III takes place on the banks of the Nile. Together with Ramfis, Amneris enters the Temple of Isis to prepare for her wedding, and ACT IV is in the hall of judgment – a tomb below the temple. Amneris tries to convince Radamès that she can save him—if only he will accept her in marriage. 

Step 3

• What musical elements are used to create the celebratory mood heard in Verdi's Triumphal March from Aida?

(Musical Elements; Pitch, Rhythm, Dynamics, Tempo, Texture, Timbre, Form, Purpose, Harmony, Melody, Expression, Mood, Language, Style, etc.). 

The evident major key is the first clue to a celebratory mood. The "oom pa" feeling in the accompaniment to the trumpets also gives it this march-like feel. The timbre used, which is bright and colorful, creates a cheerful mood as well. The tempo is also quite fast, which keeps it moving, along with the runs in the strings and flutes. All of the notes are very staccato as well, which makes this piece convey a cheerful, celebratory mood. 

Step 4

• Answer the following questions regarding Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries from the Ring Cycle. 

1. What is a Leitmotiv? 

A leitmotiv is a recurrent theme throughout a musical or literary composition, associated with a particular person, idea, or situation.

1. What instrument/instrument family is used for the Valkyrie motiv? Brass is used!

2. Describe how Leitmotives are used to elevate the story in the Lord of the Rings. In the lord of the rings, leitmotives are used very frequently to signify different events in the story. For example, the fellowship theme is very representative of the fellowship itself, as it builds and builds, yet sometimes breaks apart in different points of the story. 

3. Create your very own Leitmotiv using the template from this Wagnerian Leitmotiv Project

Step 5

• Define Music Drama/Gesamtkunstwerk with regards to Wagner' Ring Cycle

America during the Romantic Period

Step 1

• Listen to the 3 examples below to answer the following questions

1. Share your overall impression of Romantic Period music from American Music during this time period. This music from Colonial America is very upbeat and march like, most likely since they were going through the civil war during this era. It has a very steady tempo and most of it seems like it is in a simple meter. 

2. How does it sound similar to the European compositions? The timbre of the choir is very similar to that of European compositions. The use of strings is also pretty prominent in American music, as well as woodwind embellishments. 

3. How does it sound different from European compositions? European music had more fun with playing with time and rhythm, where during this time, American compositions seemed fairly simple and molded into a specific box. The timbre of the strings were was more one of a fiddle, where they played very staccato and fast.  There also was not much orchestral music in America, more just folk. 

A. Battle Hymn of the Republic

B.  Dixie Land

C.  Fife and Drum

Romantic Evening

Step 1

• What musical elements give Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overature a nationalistic/patriotic feeling?

(Musical Elements; Pitch, Rhythm, Dynamics, Tempo, Texture, Timbre, Form, Purpose, Harmony, Melody, Expression, Mood, Language, Style, etc.).  The strong duple meter gives this piece a nationalistic feeling. The major key and faster tempo in the beginning really sets the patriotic feeling, with a strong, heart ending with strong attacks and church like bells ringing. 

Step 2

• Describe the connection between the music and the choreography in Tchaikovsky's March from the Nutcracker. The dancers in this number very much emulate the duple meter that is being played in the march from the nutcracker. Their foot work emulates the rhythms being played in each section, with high jumps when trumpets are played, and tiny foot work when rapid scales are played. 

Step 3

• How does the composer connect the music to the story/image in Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain? In night on bald mountain, the suspense in the movie with slow zooming in and ghostly figures creeping around is also conveyed in the music, as it ebs and flows, slowly crescendoing into the the next phrase. At the end, when there is a burst of flames, the music intensifies even more, and then immediately quiets down as we get back into the pattern of suspense. 

Step 4

• Describe how dynamics & tempo are used to heighten emotion in Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King. This piece starts of slow and moderately quite with lower timbre's. As the piece progresses, we have more instruments being added, the dynamics getting louder and louder, as it also gets progressively faster. As it ends it is absolutely crazy and loud, intensifying the entire song. 

Step 5

• Use THIS LINK or the Julie Drive the access the Billy Joel Folder/Music Source File

• Provide a summary of Billy Joel's process and 'classical influences' in creating Lullabye(Goodnight My Angel)

• It was originally written as a piano piece, and he actually stole the ending from a greek piece. When he tried to compose his original ending, it was in latin and he thought it was too pretentious. He wanted this to be a part of a suite, and he realized it would be a great lullaby. 

• Bonus:  Find the title of the composition by Edvard Grieg that inspired Lullabye(Goodnight My Angel)

Step 6

• Provide a brief narrative explaining proper audience etiquette to include suggested do's and don'ts, advice on when to clap and when to not clap, etc. 

• Leave crying babies at home, or leave the audience to not interrupt the other listeners
• be at your seat at least 10 minutes before curtain time
• remain in your seat until intermission
• turn off all electronic devices
• At the beginning of a symphony or concert, the concertmaster arrives on stage and the audience claps as a sign of welcome. After the orchestra tunes, the conductor and possibly a soloist will walk onstage. Applaud to welcome them. When the conductor steps on the platform, however, and raises his or her baton, it signals that the music is about to start and everyone should become silent.
• Once the concert begins, the audience only applauds at the end of each piece. Confusion can occur when there is a pause in the music. To tell if a piece is complete, watch the conductor. When she or he lowers the baton, and drops his or her hands, the piece is done and it’s time to applaud. Another way to tell is that the conductor may turn around and acknowledge the audience. If you’re in doubt, don’t be quick to applaud, but instead, wait and take your cue from others.
• Do not bring food into an auditorium

Step 7

Enjoy these animated inspirations

• Franz Liszt

• A Tribute to No. 2

HONORS TRACK

In Our Own Back Yard

Use LINK 1 &  LINK 2  to answer the following:

• Provide a brief historical overview of the Vermont Symphony. In 1934, a group of musical enthusiasts meeting in Woodstock convinced each other that they could assemble the necessary musical and financial resources from across Vermont to create a statewide orchestra. At their center was a young conductor named Alan Carter, fresh from musical studies abroad, and eager to lead the effort. In the fall of 1934, Carter began to gather the scattered musical forces of this rural state to try to fulfill that dream. The Vermont Symphony Orchestra has been a key player in this state’s arts community for nearly 80 years, bringing music not only to performance halls, but school gymnasiums, armories and even hillsides – anywhere Vermonters would gather to enjoy and share all forms of music. With around 40 annual performances statewide in concert halls, beautiful natural settings, and historic and community buildings, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra has proven its value and sustainability, not only as the nation’s oldest state-assisted orchestra, but as one of the finest of its size.

• List locations included in the TD Bank 2018 Summer Festival Tour.  Barrre, Burlington, Rutland, Newport, Warren, Grafton, Manchester, etc. 

• Provide a brief background of the guest conductor. Noted in the New York Times as part of “a new wave of female conductors in their late 20’s through early 40’s”, Sarah Hicks’s versatile and vibrant musicianship has secured her place in “the next generation of up-and-coming American conductors”. Hicks concurrently holds the positions of Staff Conductor of the Curtis Institute of Music. Throughout her career she has collaborated with diverse artists, from Jamie Laredo and Hilary Hahn to Josh Groban and Smokey Robinson; during the summer of 2011 she was on a two-month tour with Sting as conductor of the final leg of his Symphonicities Tour. 

• Provide historical background for 7 of the 14 program choices:

Clair De Lune= Suite bergamasque, four-movement suite for piano by French composer Claude Debussy, begun in 1890, when the composer was a student, and revised and published in 1905. Its most readily recognizable segment is the third movement, the ever-popular “Clair de lune” (“Moonlight”)

TCHAIKOVSKY  – Valse-Scherzo : The origins of the Valse-Scherzo are somewhat mysterious. It seems to have been written in January-February 1877; this has been surmised from a letter of 3 February 1877 from Iosif Kotek to Tchaikovsky, which is the first documentary evidence of its existence. A perfect companion piece for the Sérénade, the Valse-scherzo shows Tchaikovsky's lighter side. In the second half of the 19th century, the waltz was all the rage all over Europe (including Russia). In the Valse-scherzo, the waltz becomes a vehicle for the violin soloist, with abundant double-stops and other virtuoso fireworks

STRAUSS – Voices of Spring: Strauss dedicated the work to the pianist and composer Alfred Grünfeld.[1] The famous coloratura soprano Bertha Schwarz (stage name Bianca Bianchi) sang this concert aria at a grand matinée charity performance at the Theater an der Wien in aid of the "Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth Foundation for Indigent Austro-Hungarian subjects in Leipzig". The waltz was not a great success at its premiere, but was more successful when performed on Strauss' tour of Russia in 1886. A piano arrangement by the composer contributed much to its success beyond Vienna.[2]Grünfeld, the work's dedicatee and a pianist and composer in his own right, also wrote and recorded his own concert transcription of the work for solo piano. 

HANDEL, arr. Harty – Water Music: The Water Music is a collection of orchestral movements, often published as three suites, composed by George Frideric Handel. It premiered on 17 July 1717, in response to King George I's request for a concert on the River Thames.

JOHN WILLIAMS – ET: Adventures on Earth: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: Music from the Original Soundtrack is the film score to the 1982 film of the same name composed and conducted by John Williams. The score was released by MCA Records on June 11, 1982. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Score and Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. 

GRAINGER: "Country Gardens" is an English folk tune collected by Cecil Sharp from the playing of William Kimber and arranged for piano in 1918 by Percy Grainger. In 2008,[1] "Country Gardens" was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia registry.

STRAUSS – Thunder and Lightning Polka: Possibly the noisiest of Strauss' dance pieces, Unter Donner und Blitz evokes the sound of thunder and lightning through incessant timpani rolls and cymbal crashes. In the first half of section A, a loud timpani roll occurs every four measures, while the cymbals crash on each beat of the detached descending melody of the second half. Drum answers cymbal in the arching woodwind tune that begins section B, moving the accent to the second beat of the measure. Clearly, Strauss sought to amuse as much as compose a successful piece of music.

• What percentage of their programming comes from Romantic Period Literature? TCHAIKOVSKY, SMETANA, STRAUSS, and SAINT-SAËNS were all composers during the Romantic Era featured in the VSO.