Composition Quiz

[Roehre]

It's many years since I studied musicology and I seem to have forgotten lots, which is very sad. Use it or lose it, as they say. Thanks for that information; it makes perfect sense. I must go back into Walter Piston's "Orchestration", on my bookshelf.

Hi Bonnie, was this Piston the only book on orchestration you used, or others
as well?
I like e.g the Berlioz/Strauss as well as the Rimsky Korssakov "manuals", as these give more examples from (full) scores than the Piston, though the latter obviously is more modern (20th C that is).

As for your original question, please have a look (in Piston) at pp.55-57.

[Bonn1827]

Wow, yes I will look that up - I'm very impressed!! I do feel foolish as I'm particular about these things, but time has gotten away from me. Time was when I read Piston, Charles Rosen and Nicholas Cook's "Guide to Musical Analysis". I suppose there are more modern texts on this now. My particular love back then was actually baroque music - even going back as far as medieval music; isorythm, hocket, Notre Dame school, ars nova etc. etc. So much forgotten.....

Today I heard a program about Schoenberg's Piano Concerto, with Manny Ax on CBC radio. I think it is a couple of years old but Ax worked through the piece with Eric Freizen (spelling) and tried to "demystify" some of the elements of 12-tone that "offend" so many listeners. Not one word was made to suggest that this system is already quite old, as is the piece of Schoenberg. They played extracts from "Pierre Lunaire" (again, spelling) and I didn't like that sprecht-stimme thing at all. But I know you keep up-to-date with all the modern music so perhaps in another thread you could talk about some of these more inaccessible pieces as I'm sure they have much to say to us in our modern world!! (Next week it is a John Adams piano concerto, the one written for Manny Ax.)

[gprengel]

Let's continue (if you still have fun):

2 very beautiful songs:
www.gerdprengel.de/piece14.mp3
www.gerdprengel.de/piece15.mp3

a dramatic Italian opera scene (it's ok if you guess the composer):
www.gerdprengel.de/piece16.mp3

Gerd

[gprengel]

Let's continue (if you still have fun):

2 very beautiful songs:
www.gerdprengel.de/piece14.mp3
www.gerdprengel.de/piece15.mp3

a dramatic Italian opera scene (it's ok if you guess just the composer):
www.gerdprengel.de/piece16.mp3

Gerd

[Roehre]

Let's continue (if you still have fun):

2 very beautiful songs:
www.gerdprengel.de/piece14.mp3
www.gerdprengel.de/piece15.mp3

a dramatic Italian opera scene (it's ok if you guess just the composer):
www.gerdprengel.de/piece16.mp3

Gerd

For the opera: someone who knew his Verdi well, especially his Requiem.

14 is Loewe's Reiterlied,
15 Loewe's Wieviel Sonnenstrahlen fielen golden schwer

[gprengel]

Bravo, the songs are from Loewe! Aren't they wonderful? How did you recognise them? For me Loewe songs and only a few from Schumann are the only Romantic songs I enjoy besides the the huge work of Schubert. I never heard a song from Brahms for example which I really could enjoy.

Regarding the opera: It is NOT Verdi!

[Roehre]

Bravo, the songs are from Loewe! Aren't they wonderful? How did you recognise them? For me Loewe songs and only a few from Schumann are the only Romantic songs I enjoy besides the the huge work of Schubert. I never heard a song from Brahms for example which I really could enjoy.

Regarding the opera: It is NOT Verdi!

For me Loewe is recognizable because of his rather static harmonies, compare e.g. the harmonic context of the development of the "horse"-rhythm in Reiterlied with the one in Schubert's Erlkönig, though both "Strophen-lieder", the difference is evident.

No, the opera is no Verdi, as the orchestral writing is very un-verdian. The harmonic language on the contrary could be Verdi's, therefore this composer knew his Verdi well.

[Bonn1827]

I say the composer of the opera piece for the quiz could be Delibes, maybe?
Or Saint-Saens, though I thought he only had the one opera.

Roehre, thanks for the page references in the Piston, which I've duly read!

[gprengel]

The harmonic language on the contrary could be Verdi's, therefore this composer knew his Verdi well.

No, this opera was written when Verdi was still a teenager ;-)!!

[Roehre]

No, this opera was written when Verdi was still a teenager ;-)!!

then Verdi knew this composer's work well ;-)

This makes Bellini, Donizetti and Spontini candidates (not Rossini despite Otello e.g.) (Yes, I DO confirm again that opera is a weak point in my knowledge )

[Hofrat]

I am also a bit weak with operas. You hinted that as a teenager Verdi knew the opera from which you are quizzing us. The only Italian composer that meets that time line is Bellini who died in 1835. Verdi was born in 1813, therefore he was a teenager until 1833 which gives Verdi enough time to know of Bellini's operas.

I say it is Bellini.

[gprengel]

I say it is Bellini.

Yes, it can be only Bellini. It's from his first opera, IL PIRATA, composed in 1827!
It is not so known, but I love this opera very much.

Gerd

[Quijote]

I do apoligize for not playing yet, but I will get down to it as soon as term and exam marking is over. I must say that reading (and not listening to) many of the quiz questions and consequent answers would be beyond me (apart from stylistic identification). That said, I do intend to throw the question back to Gprengel and test him, instead.
In the meantime, I have an extra idea for the quiz : could you not feature a visual extract without sound? This way, we would have to identify the piece being played from the "technique" alone?

[gprengel]

[QUOTE=Philip;45976]What do you mean by "visual extract without sound"?
The score? QUOTE]

[gprengel]

How about 2 new very interesting pieces for our quiz?

The first is one of the most expressing song/aria I know!
www.gerdprengel.de/piece17.mp3

www.gerdprengel.de/piece18.mp3

To guess the composers should not be too difficult ...

Gerd