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

Baroque Poetry

Thematic Issues: Baroque poetry continued to cultivate themes from earlier periods, intensifying expression while also reflecting disillusionment and a sense of crisis. A key feature is the diversity of topics covered.

Love Poetry

Love poetry expresses the poetic self's longing for unrequited love, often with physical descriptions of the beloved using Petrarchan imagery. Parody and burlesque approaches also appear.

Philosophical and Moral Poetry

This type of poetry is marked by pessimism, disappointment, the contrast between reality and appearance, the transience of life, and an awareness of death. It recovers Stoic ideas that advocate reason and the domination of passions to overcome the fear of death and promote a virtuous life.... Continue reading "Understanding Baroque Poetry: Themes, Motives, and Style" »

Medieval Theater

This is a fragment (147 polymetric verses, predominantly heptasyllabic and enneasyllabic, which was staged in the festival of the Epiphany). In the second half of the sixteenth century stands Gómez Manrique (1412-1480), author of two short sacred pieces: Representations of Our Lord and Coplas for Easter.

Renaissance Theater

Different trends are distinguished: religious theater, Italianate, classical, nationalist, popular.

Baroque Theater Drama Types

In the Baroque theater, two types of dramas were represented: a serious character and a comic nature.

Longer Works

The vast body of drama of the seventeenth century can be classified into:

Serious Dramatic Works

• Tragedies

  Present pitiful disasters involving the audience emotionally.

• Serious

Poetic Forms

• Sonnet: 14 hendecasyllable lines, consisting of two quartets with the same rhyme and two tercets, typically following the rhyme scheme ABBA ABBA CDC DCD.
• Romance: An indeterminate number of octosyllabic lines with assonant rhyme in even-numbered lines and no rhyme in odd-numbered lines.
• Silva: An unlimited series of seven-syllable and eleven-syllable verses rhymed in couplets as the poet wishes, with some verses potentially unrhymed.
• Blank Verse: Poems exhibiting all rhythms except for the rhythm of rhyme, without rhyme.
• Free Verse: Poetry with no fixed metrical pattern.

Literary Devices

• Allegory: A sustained metaphor.
• Alliteration: Repetition of one or more phonemes.
• Anadiplosis: Repetition of the last part of a verse at the beginning

Romanticism in Spain: A Cultural Movement

Romanticism, originating in Germany and England, flourished in Spain between the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Initially influenced by German Romantic vision, it evolved through distinct phases, from a traditionalist and conservative stance to a more progressive orientation, eventually settling into a conservative perspective by the 1840s.

In the latter half of the century, a more intimate poetic style developed.

Key Characteristics of Spanish Romanticism

• Desire for Freedom: Moral, social, political, and artistic.
• Subjectivism: Emphasis on individual perspective and emotional expression. The artist conveys personal thoughts and feelings, often grappling with the clash between ideal happiness and harsh

Late 19th-Century Events

From the French Revolution to the War of Independence, ending with the Spanish-American War and the Disaster of '98. A provisional government, the brief reign of Amadeo I of Savoy, the First Republic, and the Bourbon Restoration.

Characteristics of the Romantic Movement

Predominant feelings, passion, genius, and the defense of individuality. Exaltation of nationalism and vernacular literature. Liberal Romantics (Victor Hugo, Lord Byron). Conservative Romantics (Chateaubriand, Walter Scott).

In Spain, the triumph of Romanticism coincided with the return of liberals exiled to England or France after Ferdinand VII's death. They brought Romantic thought and literature.

New Themes

• Pessimism
• Love as an absolute passion
• Idealization

Baroque and Classical Music

The Baroque period in European culture was an artistic movement that served the power of absolute monarchy, uniting politics and religion. It occurred roughly between 1600 and 1750, from the first preserved operas to the death of Bach. Originating in Italy, it spread throughout Europe, peaking in Germanic countries and differing in each. Rulers used it to display power and wealth, and the church used it to reach the faithful in religious ceremonies.

Key Characteristics of Baroque Music

• Style concertato
• Basso continuo
• Important instruments: violin
• Birth of opera, musical scenes, and zarzuela

Opera

Opera is the largest and most complex musical spectacle, a synthesis of poetry, music, and dance. Its parts include:

• Overture
• Excerpts

Ancient Greek Music: Key Characteristics

1. Music and Dance: Art Dissemination

Music and poetry were the primary means to disseminate art.

2. Heterophonic Monody Texture

Instruments introduced small heterophonic ornaments, imitating the melody.

3. Music System Based on Modal Scales

Tetrachords are four sounds that overlap on the octave. Two tetrachords combine to form descending modal scales, creating an ethos.

Ethos: Scale Tone Distribution and Feeling

The distribution of tones and semitones in the scale caused different feelings:

• Dorian mode: Sublime
• Phrygian mode: Mild
• Lydian mode: Tears and sorrow
• Mixolydian mode: Passionate

4. Alphabetic Code for Pitch and Metric Feet for Rhythm

Letters were used to reflect pitch. Metric feet were combinations of long... Continue reading "Ancient and Medieval Music Traditions" »

Literary Baroque Aesthetic

The main themes of the Baroque are:

• Epic, romantic, and mythological legacy of the Renaissance
• Religious-political and moral disillusionment removed from the Baroque
• Picaresque and satire, social withdrawal or disenchantment
• Historical or legendary national

Differences Between Renaissance and Baroque

Renaissance:

• Joy of life and reality of this life
• Exaltation
• Optimism in the world and of man
• Harmony, natural elegance, and simplicity
• Balance and life as simplicity

Baroque:

• Problem of fugacity and the shelf
• Anxiety and pessimism
• Devalues human life and human nature
• Contrast and exuberance
• More difficulty and complexity
• Dynamism and movement

Conceptismo and Culteranismo

Conceptismo: Cares more about content with rhetorical figures such... Continue reading "Baroque Literature: Themes, Styles, and Poetry" »

Introduction to the Renaissance Era

The term Renaissance refers to the arts of the 15th and 16th centuries. It was not a sudden 'rebirth' or a complete break from previous periods, but rather a stylistic evolution that emerged from the Ars Nova stage. Humanism was the cultural movement that defined the entire Renaissance. After a long period of theocentrism, humanity became interested in science, nature, the cultivation of the arts, and the expression of emotions.

Religious Vocal Music of the Renaissance

During the Renaissance, the Church experienced internal strife that fractured the unity of Catholicism. Despite this, its musical tradition continued, with polyphony reaching its maximum splendor. This period is often known as 'the Golden Age

Musical Nationalism and Impressionism: Key Movements

Music coexisted with Romanticism and other movements. Two significant movements arose around 1850 and continued until the mid-twentieth century:

1. The Rise of Musical Nationalism (c. 1850-Mid-20th Century)

   Emerging around 1860, this musical movement saw composers from different countries express the need to incorporate their own folklore and traditions into music. It sought freedom from excessive foreign influence, particularly from German symphonic music and Italian opera.

   Defining Musical Nationalism

   The nationalist impulse in music emerged around 1850, within the Romantic period. It coincided with political movements originating in some European countries that sought to assert their historical