Classical Music Appreciation--Summary on J.S. Bach And Some His Music

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)

--born in Eisenach, Germany, in 1685

--became court musician at the ducal court at Weimar; most of his contrapuntal works     

    (1708-17) came out of his work in Weimar

---50 members of the Bach family were musicians

Example was Johann Christian Bach (1613-1661), who was an instrumentalist

---The rest of his work as composer was in Leipzig, and made friends with Georg

     Phillpp Telemann and George Frederic Handel.

---In 1733, he composed one of his biggest choral works—the Mass in B minor.

List of Some of the Important Bach Works

Air on a G String

---The famous music from his Orchestral Suite no. 3

----In the key of D major, the piece is so called because the violins play the notes on the

        G string, one of the four strings played on the violin

Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D minor (c. 1720)

---the “fantasy” part is a free-fantasy, filled with runs, arpeggios and chromatic changes

---the fugue part is in 3 voices, in a ¾ meter

Partita in B-flat Major for Keyboard Alone (1726)

----composed as a suite of movements; the final movement, the Gigue, is very popular

     (it is a sort of keyboard exercise in crossover notes over accompanying triplets)

Italian Concerto in F major for Keyboard Alone (1735)

   ---almost in a form of a keyboard sonata since it has three movements

   ---the first movement is fast; the second, slower, and the third, even faster

The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I (1722)

The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II (1744)

---both collections contain 24 preludes and fugues in all the major and minor keys.

---in Book I, each prelude shows a different musical style in the Baroque period.

       For instance, Prelude #21 is an organ toccata; #9 is a 3-voice pastorale.

---Prelude and Fugue no. 6 in D minor from Book II

      The prelude is in a fast ¾ meter almost in a toccata with continuous sixteenth notes

      The fugue is in a slower 4/4 meter with a mixture of faster and slower notes, and

          …more smooth sounding than the prelude. Also more chromatics as well.

The Goldberg Variations (1741)

--an aria taken as a theme, followed by 30 variations.

--most of the variations are “canons” (imitative pieces almost similar to round songs like

    “Frere Jacques”), focusing on a different type of interval (such as 5^th, octave, etc.)

--takes about a little over 30 minutes to complete

Introduction to Music - 12-Week Sample Course Outline (college-level)

INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC

Assume that the "chapters" will be equivalent to one week of study.

Chapter 1

This chapter attempts to answer these three questions or statements:

1. What is music in general?

2. The basic parts that create music.

3. The difference between music and "noise"

Chapter 2

This chapter covers....

1. The several parts that make up music: pitch, melody, harmony, and timbre.

2. The introduction to bowed string instruments: the violin, the viola, the violoncello

    and double bass.

3. An introduction to music notation: the grand staff, the measure and bar line, the

    time signature, and the treble clef and the bass clef.

Prepare for Quiz #1 on Chapters 1 to 3

Chapter 3

This chapter covers....

1. The introduction to woodwind instruments: the flute, the oboe, the clarinet, and

    the bassoon.

2. More basic concepts to music notation: the whole note, the half note, the quarter note,

    and the dotted half note.

3. The basic arrangement of a symphony orchestra.

Quiz #1: Chapters 1 to 3

Chapter 4

This chapter covers....

1. The introduction to brass instruments: the trumpet, the French horn, the trombone

    (the slide trombone) and tuba.

2. More concepts to music notation: the basic time signatures (2/4, 3/4, 4/4 (or common

    time), 6/8 and cut time (2/2)).

3. A basic introduction to blues music structure, which includes the blues scale.

Chapter 5

This chapter covers.....

1. The introduction to non-pitched percussion instruments: the bass drum, the cymbals,     

     the snare drum, and the gong.

2. More concepts to music notation: the eighth note, the dotted quarter note, the sixteenth   

    note, and an introduction of a basic tuplet (the "triplet")

3. An introduction to the basic chord qualities: minor, major, augmented, and diminished.

Review Exam: Chapters 1-5

Prepare for Midterm Exam for Chapters 1-5, and 6-7

Chapter 6

This chapter covers....

1. The introduction to pitched percussion instruments: the timpani, the marimba, the 

    celesta, and the bells

2. More concepts to music notation: the double bar, the final double bar, the repeat sign,

    D.C. al Fine ("from the head to the end"), Fine ("the end")

3. An introduction to the major scale (the "Ionian" mode)

Chapter 7

This chapter covers...

1. Basic eurythmics, which include clapping to rhythms, and basic human rhythm

   techniques such as body drumming.

2. More concepts to music notation: the lead sheet, chord symbols, and fake books

3. An introduction to world music: capoeira

Midterm Exam: Chapters 1-7

Chapter 8

This chapter covers....

1. Different types of classical chamber music arrangements: the wind quintet, the string

   quartet, the piano duo, and the string trio.

2. More concepts to music notation: introduction to articulations (staccato, legato, accent,

     and "fermata" (or "pause"))

3. An introduction to world music: Afrobeat/highlife music

Prepare for Quiz #2 for Chapters 8-9

Chapter 9

This chapter covers.....

1. The sub-genres that make up jazz music: bebop, free jazz, swing, ragtime, fusion (or

   "funk"), Latin jazz, smooth jazz.

2. More concepts to music notation: the "tie", the breve note (or "double whole note"),

    cue notes, and the basic rests (half, whole, quarter)

3.  An introduction to world music: the bolero from a Cuban standpoint and the bolero

     from a Spanish standpoint.

Quiz #2:  Chapters 8-9

Chapter 10

This chapter covers......

1. The sub-genres that make up rock music: progressive rock, soft rock, Latin rock, heavy

    metal, power rock, power ballad, 50s and 60s rock-and-roll, disco, soul, rhythm-and-

    blues, jamrock.

2. More concepts to music notation: the basic symbols of guitar tablature: the finger

    numbers, the basic "effect" symbols, and how the note relates to the fret of the

    guitar.

3. An introduction to the three types of minor scales: natural minor, melodic minor, and

    melodic minor

Chapter 11

This chapter covers....

1. The basic concepts and structure of opera and musical theater, which will include

    the overture, ballet interludes, opera-comique, and recitative.

2. More concepts to music notation: reading a percussion staff

3. The 8 degrees that cover both the major and minor scales (tonic, supertonic,

   mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, leading tone, octave)

Prepare for Final Exam for Chapters 1-12

  

Chapter 12

The chapter covers....

1. The role of the conductor in symphony orchestras or choirs.

2. More concepts to music notation: the tremolo, the glissando, the multimeasure rest,

    and more introduction to tuplets (the duplet, the quadruplet, the quintuplet, the

    sextuplet, and the septuplet)

3. Introduction to world music: Russian music concepts (the minor second, and the

     "khovorod" (or "round dance"))

4. An introduction to the concepts of the "concerto".

Final Exam: Chapters 1-12

Musical Forms in Preludes 20-24 of the Well-Tempered Clavier Book I (J.S. Bach)

The Well-Tempered Clavier Book I--Prelude Forms (J.S. Bach)

Prelude no. 20 in A minor--2-part invention

Prelude no. 21 in Bb major--toccata

Prelude no. 22 in Bb minor--in a style of an organ/harpsichord prelude

Prelude no. 23 in B major--3-part invention

Prelude no. 24 in B minor--binary form

The Basso Continuo

Basso Continuo (or Thorough-Bass)

 It is one of the most distinct and consistent features of the Baroque as a whole.

Functioning as both melodic and harmonic bass, it was played by a combination of 2 kinds of movements....

1. One or more melodic instruments (viola da gamba, or bassoon)

2. A keyboard instrument (organ or harpsichord), or lute.

What Would Hector Berlioz Say in the "Marche Au Supplice" from "Fantastic Symphony" if He Did This in Poetic Form?

Now suppose Berlioz made an opera of the "Symphonie Fantastique", and made the 4th movement ("March To The Scaffold") with a libretto to add to the symphony orchestra version of this poetic symphony he wrote.

Berlioz writes in his program notes in that 4th movement that he was high on opium, and in his hallucinogenic dreams, he dreams that he murdered his lover and he himself is condemned to the guillotine. On the chopping block, just before the blade cuts his head off, Berlioz thinks about his last thoughts of her dead lover before he dies of decapitation.

Sure, Berlioz did write his opera called "The Damnation of Faust", but the Fantastic Symphony was of course, a large piece made out of 5 symphonic poems or "movements."

The libretto, in my guess, will likely involve a character that would play Hector Berlioz, and an opera chorus, and will likely have a scene similar to the end of the Francis Poulenc opera, "Dialogue of the Carmelites", where the Carmelites are beheaded--the guillotine scene. In addition, the libretto, would be written, in Berlioz's way, something like this:

SOLO:

Now I'm condemned to be cut off....

Forced to march on, I cannot scoff;

Gallows, execution...

O, that blade I see...is no fun!

O, that gulliotine stands,

As are fettered my hands,

O, guards push me to that supplice!

O, I cannot stand that thing of death,

It makes me tense with every breath,

Now let me die upon that platform please!

O, drums, sound that frightful roll

That precedes the blade's fall

Which sends a legal sign to all!

CHORUS:

Oh, that supplice!

SOLO:

O, drums, sound that frightful roll;

And now, I will not fail

Though I don't die in jail---

O, I am crying a terrible wail!!

I have memories of a lady that I killed...

And my awful arrest for this....

There was no more bliss....

For that dame I miss, I miss, I miss.....

Guillotine, cut off my own head, for I am ever tarnished!

Life now has no more meaning anymore, for murder's end that I can never mend!

CHORUS:

He'll die!!!

SOLO:

Guillotine, now cut off my very life as if I'm wood not varnished...

I can't bear it anymore; I want my life to end because I have no more to send.

CHORUS:

He'll die!!!

SOLO:

Oh, guillotine, fall!!

CHORUS:

Dah duh duh duh duh duh, dah duh duh duh duh duh!

SOLO:

Oh, fall, blade of awe!!!

CHORUS:

Dah duh duh duh duh duh, dah duh duh duh duh duh!

SOLO:

O, my God, pray for me right now...

With praise as my head I bow...

O, give me mercy when I go to heaven......

O, Jesus, I'm goin' to face a punishment of me beheaded...

I can't repent, for it's too late and I have did the sin that caused her to be dead!

O Jesus, cry, weep for me, for my own capital chastisement.....

I'd die like you, as if I'm goin' to be crucified and die without a hint!

Lord, cry for that dame!

CHORUS:

Dah duh duh duh duh duh, dah duh duh duh duh duh!

SOLO:

Cry, for she is slain!

CHORUS:

Dah duh duh duh duh duh, dah duh duh duh duh duh!

SOLO:

O, guillotine descend,

Come on, fall down and let my life come to an end....

(Note, this covers only the first two-thirds of the 4th movement)

Schumann's "Kreisleriana"--An Outline

Here, I give the tempo indications in German, the beginning key center of the pieces, and the beginning time signature of the pieces.

1. Aüsserst bewegt (D minor), 4/4

An agitated triplet section in the RH (A section) with a contrasting B section, softer than the first section, in B-flat major.  When the A section returns, it is the same as before--agitated.

2. Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch (Bb major), 3/4

Quasi poetic, quite nocturnal, and like a Lied.

   A. Intermezzo I--Sehr lebhaft (F major)--2/4

   Almost in the style of Papillons (from Carnaval, op. 9);

   a moto perpetuo piece with foci on syncopations of eighth

   notes.

   B. Return to Sehr innig (Bb major)--3/4

   Back to the nocturne-like them again.

   C. Intermezzo II--Etwas bewegter (G minor)--3/4

   Running, flowing 16th notes in arpeggi, punctuated by

   inner-note melodies, over a bass line in legato octaves in

   dotted rhythms and long notes. Main theme looks like a

   circle of 5ths.

   D. Langsamer--Adagio (Bb major)--3/4

   Starts of as a transitional episode to the return of

   almost the whole nocturne theme, and ends with a brief

   coda.

  

3. Sehr aufgeregt (G minor)--2/4

This is a precursor to the Schnell und spielend (or "Fast and

Playful") scherzo of the no. 8 piece in Kriesleriana. Sprightly, humorous triplets dominate the r.h., against slower-going notes in the L.H.

   A. Etwas langsamer

   Breaks off slightly slower into 16th notes, both rising     

   and falling scalar melodies are present.

  

   B. Erstes tempo

   As before--a return to the Sehr aufgeregt in the original

   G minor key.

   C. Noch schneller

   This is the coda of the piece, more agitated, and with

   more triplets. The final measures have notes crossing

    paths over each other in eighth notes.

4. Sehr langsam (Bb Major)--4/4

Nocturne-like, almost Eusebius-style, almost in the style of a Bach prelude.

   Bewegter (G minor)

  Change to G minor, with 3-part texture (upper part has

  slower melody; inner part has 16th notes; bass line has

   quarter notes)

   Erstes tempo (Bb major)

   Reprise of the A theme; ends in a mediant (D major)

5. Sehr lebhaft (G minor) 3/8

A fast movement/scherzo form, focusing on rests and dotted rhythms. Later in the piece, it goes into a waltz/mazurka bent, with a developing climax on hemiolas. Then, there is a reprise of the waltz/mazurka theme (B part) and goes back to the A section to finish.

6. Sehr langsam (Bb major)--12/8

Almost pastoral-like as in the beginning, and then, later on, it turns into a style imitating a C.P.E. Bach free fantasia.

   Etwas bewegter

   Now, the key still goes in B-flat major and goes into a

   siciliana-like form--like a dance.

   Erstes tempo (slower)

   Back to the A form, as a coda.

7. Sehr rasch (C minor)--2/4

Very agitated and quite frightening moto perpetuo in the A section; B section is only slightly calmer with its still

agitated 3-part texture. Return of A section has the same

violent agitation, but ending in G minor.

The C section is almost in a style of a fast Bach prelude, or a little fugato.

   Noch schneller

   As before in the B section, and it returns eventually to

   the opening measures of the piece---frightening as before,

   and suddenly, everything drops into....

   Etwas langsamer

   ...a calmer mood, that ends the seventh piece for good.

8. Schnell und Spielend (G minor)--6/8

The final piece in the Kreisleriana seems like a 'scherzo in 3'. In the B section, the left hand octaves go into 2/4 against the r.h. in 6/8 doing call and response leaps.

   A. Mit aller Kraft (D minor)--6/8

   A stronger Florestan-like scherzo almost characteristic of     the music of Wagner.

   B. Return (G minor)

   Back to C minor, and then to G minor, with the same

   scherzo theme, and with time, it fades out at the end to

   almost nothing.

My Favorite All-Time Oldies Hits

This came especially when I listened to Oldies 92 (an FM Station) in Champaign-Urbana while I was in college.

I know all of you have other oldie favorites not on my list...

"All Shook Up" (Elvis Presley)

"Aquarius", from "Hair" (The Fifth Dimension)

"At the Hop" (Danny and the Juniors)

"Barbara Ann" (The Beach Boys)

"Crazy" (Patsy Cline)

"Don't Be Cruel" (Elvis Presley)

"Duke of Earl" (Gene Chandler)

"Everybody Get Together" (The Youngbloods)

"Everyday People" (Sly and the Family Stone)

"Evil Ways" (Santana)

"Get A Job" (The Silhouettes)

"Go Nowhere, Man" (Fab Four)

"Good Golly, Miss Molly (Little Richard)

"Good Vibrations" (The Beach Boys)

"Great Balls of Fire" (Jerry Lee Lewis)

"Hound Dog" (Elvis Presley)

"Hawaii Five-O--TV Theme" (The Ventures)

"I Feel Good" (James Brown)

"I'm Walking'" (Fats Domino)

"Johnny B. Goode" (Chuck Berry)

"La Bamba" (Ritchie Valens)

"Last Kiss" (The Cavaliers)

"Let The Sunshine In", from "Hair" (The Fifth Dimension)

"Let's Twist Again" (Chubby Checker)

"Light My Fire" (The Doors)

"Locomotion" (Little Eva)

"Love and Happiness" (Al Green)

"Love Potion no. 9" (The Searchers)

"Mack The Knife" (Bobby Darin)

"Mambo no. 5" (Perez Prado and His Orchestra)

"Moon River" (Henry Mancini and His Orchestra)

"Mr. Sandman" (The Chordettes)

"On Broadway" (The Drifters)

"Oye como va" (Tito Puente and the Latin All-Stars)

"Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (James Brown)

"Proud Mary" (Credence Clearwater Revival)

"Ran Kan Kan" (Tito Puente and the Latin All-Stars)

"Respect" (Aretha Franklin)

"Rock and Roll Is Here To Stay" (Danny And The Juniors)

"So Happy Together" (The Turtles)

"Soul Man" (Sam and Dave)

"Spinning Wheel" (Blood, Sweat and Tears)

"Splish, Splash" (Bobby Darin)

"Stand By Me" (Ben E. King)

"Sugar Shack" (Tommy Gilbert and the Fireballs)

"Summertime Blues" (Eddie Cochran)

"Tanga" (Machito and His Orchestra)

"Tequila" (The Champs)

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (The Tokens)

"The Twist" (Chubby Checker)

"Twist and Shout" (The Isley Brothers)

"Walk Don't Run" (The Ventures)

"You Can't Hurry Love" (Diana Ross and the Supremes)