Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Music

The Romantic Drama: Don Alvaro, The Troubadour, and Don Juan Tenorio

Key Features of Romantic Drama

Structure and Discourse

• Division of the work into composite days.
• Time in various settings.
• Mixture of verse and prose with a tendency towards polymetry.
• Breaking the rule of three unities, with secondary episodes and genre scenes.
• The conflict occurs in different places and may include jumps of years.
• Mixture of comical and tragic elements, in scenes of dramatic tension and other maxims of intense lyricism.
• High and colloquial styles.

Characters

• The protagonists are often unknown, noble, and generous, and are victims of a blind fate.
• Women love passionately but are condemned to killing and suffering.
• Many secondary characters appear.

Staging

• Staging had great

La Celestina: A Timeless Masterpiece

Since the 16th century, *La Celestina* has been the popular name for the work initially titled *Comedy of Calisto and Melibea* and later *Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea*. Attributed almost entirely to the scholar Fernando de Rojas, this transitional piece bridges the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Written during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, its first known edition dates back to 1499. *La Celestina* laid the groundwork for the birth of the modern novel and theater.

Key Themes in La Celestina

• *The Fervor of Love*

  This theme centers on the uncontrollable desire that, while sometimes veiled in the conventions of courtly love, disregards all social and moral norms, ultimately leading to the downfall

Literary Devices

• Alliteration: Repetition of one or more phonemes.
• Anaphora: Repetition of a word at the beginning of each verse.
• Parallelism: Repeated similar grammatical structures.
• Polysyndeton: Repetition of conjunctions.
• Allegory: Transforms the overall meaning of a text to express a different idea, often using metaphor.
• Antithesis: Juxtaposition of words or sentences with opposite meanings.
• Hyperbole: Exaggeration of what is spoken.
• Metaphor: Identifying a real term with an imaginary one based on similarity.
• Metonymy: Designating one thing with the name of something closely related.
• Personification: Attributing human qualities to irrational or inanimate things.
• Simile (Comparison): Comparing two objects using a linking word (like or as).
• Synesthesia:

The Madrigal

It was typically a composition for two voices (rarely three), with the upper voices using the same text. The lower voice, the tenor, was often a free invention, and its melodic line, like the upper voices (especially the highest), was highly melodic and often featured lengthy melismas.

Texts were typically idyllic, pastoral, or amatory poems, sometimes satirical. Stanzas usually contained three verses. All stanzas (usually 2 or 3) had the same music. At the end, there were a couple of extra verses called the ritornello, set to different music.

A feature that links the madrigal to the earlier Conductus is the ornamented melismatic passage, which often appears at the end and sometimes at the beginning of a stanza. This form is characteristic... Continue reading "Trecento Italian Musical Forms" »

Evolution of Western Music

A brief overview of key periods in Western music:

• The Middle Ages: V-XV Centuries
• The Renaissance: XV-XVI Centuries
• Baroque: 1600-1780
• Classicism: 1780-1800
• Romanticism: XIX Century
• Contemporary Music: XX Century

Gregorian Chant

Gregorian chant is not primarily intended as artistic expression. Instead, it serves the specific function of enhancing the spoken word. It is a cappella vocal music without instruments, monophonic (consisting of a single melody), and its rhythm depends on the length of words and phrases. The text is typically in Latin.

Polyphonic Music

Polyphonic music features two or more melodies sounding simultaneously, often referred to as Organum.

Madrigals

Madrigals are short polyphonic works of increasing complexity,... Continue reading "Evolution of Western Music: From Gregorian Chant to Romantic Opera" »

Understanding Dialogue in Theatre

Plays are primarily written in dialogue. However, both traditional and modern performances often incorporate non-verbal elements such as gestures, body language, dance, music, and stage deployment alongside or instead of spoken words.

Types of Dramatic Dialogue

• Colloquy: A dialogue involving multiple participants, often presenting conflicting viewpoints.
• Soliloquy: A speech where a character speaks their thoughts aloud, usually when alone on stage, revealing inner feelings or intentions.
• Monologue: A long speech by one character addressed to other characters or the audience, or simply thinking aloud. Unlike a soliloquy, the character is not necessarily alone.
• Aside: A brief remark by a character delivered directly

The Baroque era, a significant period in European culture and an influential artistic movement, flourished under the power of absolute monarchies. It is characterized by dramatic contrasts of light and shadow, dynamic movement, and rich, strong colors.

Defining the Baroque Period

Key artists include:

• Sculpture: Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Francesco Borromini.
• Painting: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Diego Velázquez, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.

Baroque Music: An Era of Innovation

Baroque music developed between approximately 1600 and 1750, a period marked by the emergence of the first operas and concluding with the death of its most iconic representative, Johann Sebastian Bach. Originating in... Continue reading "The Baroque Era: Art, Music, and Cultural Impact" »

The Baroque Era

The term Baroque initially referred to a style characterized by complicated and irregular shapes in its lines. It then spread to other realms of art, like painting, sculpture, music, and especially literature. In Spain, it would reach a particular development.

Features and Style

The Baroque was a significant cultural movement manifested in literature, architecture, music, and fine arts. The 17th century is characterized by exaggeration and pessimism. In the literary field, the Baroque style has the following features:

• It highlights a special interest in language, marked by an aesthetic desire for originality.
• It is characterized by hyperbole, exaggeration, and corrosive wit.
• The world is seen as a struggle of opposites: life and,

The Renaissance: A Transformative Cultural Movement

The Renaissance was a profound cultural movement encompassing all aspects of human activity. It marked a fundamental shift in mentality, a reassessment of the world, the individual, and existence itself. At its essence, it represented a revival of classical ideals. Chronologically, it began in the mid-fourteenth century in northern Italy and spread across Europe by the sixteenth century. This era saw the imitation of classical models and the application of humanist principles.

Key Characteristics of the Renaissance

• Social Transformation: The birth of modern states.
• Economic Shifts: Changes in the craft production system, indicating early signs of pre-capitalism.
• Global Expansion: Discovery and

Mozart and Opera

Mozart stands as one of the greatest composers in the history of opera. By the age of 12, he had already composed two operas, Bastien und Bastienne and La finta semplice. While charming, these early works weren't fully representative of his genius, as Mozart was still developing his understanding of dramatic texts. From The Abduction from the Seraglio onward, Mozart's operas defy easy categorization, each possessing unique traits. He demonstrated an unparalleled ability to express the full spectrum of human emotion, often blending serious and comic elements. Other significant works include The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and his final opera, The Magic Flute.

Haydn and Oratorio

Haydn's contributions to oratorio came later... Continue reading "Classical Era Composers: Mozart, Haydn, and Gluck's Masterpieces" »