Schubert’s setting of Goethe’s poem, “Gretchen am Spinnrade,” is evocatively beautiful and menacing – an ominous feeling of overwhelming melancholy and love’s fateful delirium. The lyrics are in stanzas of four and are in strophic form. Schubert’s D Minor setting is through-composed and accordingly illustrates the sorrowful feelings of Gretchen. The first stanza, “Meine Ruh’ is hin, Mein Herz ist schwer, Ich finde sie nimmer Und nimmermehr” following the third and sixth stanzas transforms, not into a refrain but a repeat ritornello-like section. This recurring “ritornello” reminds the listener of Gretchen’s inner anguish and aching heart. Overflowing with anguish and hopeless love, the emotional “Word Painting” pull of this lied is achieved by the piano collaboration, musical texture changes, and harmonic mixture in the telling of this tale. The music and text paint the picture of a girl possessed by the touch and memory of a certain man, yet Gretchen is isolated in her grief. Schubert takes the grief of this girl to an ascending level of torment. She can only sit at her spinning wheel. The unending circle “painting” her emotions. Seemingly requiring a pianist of both strength and dexterity. The idea behind the accompaniment is simple, yet brilliant. The right hand has to flow swiftly through sixteenth notes emulating the whirring sound of the spinning wheel. It easily doubles as a metaphor for the confusing emotions whirling within her mind. Perhaps, the spinning wheel mirrors the hypnotic effect of the temptation of love. The left hand, divided into two-parts, one requiring a stable beat to mimic the treadling of the spinning wheel; the other represents Gretchen’s beating heart. Striking to this setting, the spinning wheel is... ... middle of paper ... ...Figure 9 Schubert’s Gretchen am Spinnrade, mm. 101-112. Setting up the final “ritornello” like section is a PAC in m. 114. Here Gretchen’s flamboyant but unfaithful lover, betraying her affection and depriving her of peaceful happiness, has forsaken her to face her bitter fate alone. Gretchen moans in her solitary anguish: “Meine Ruh ist hin, Mein Herz ist schwer.” The music seamlessly voices the distressing sadness felt by Gretchen. Accordingly, the occasional erratic outpourings of passion are scored evocatively beautiful and menacing while the monotonous hum of the spinning wheel, literally imitated in the accompaniment drones on. The piano adapts to the song of the maiden, harmonizing the sadness of Gretchen. The lied, conforming to this melancholy, echoing the emotions felt in her voice – an illustration of intimacy and compassion of love’s fateful delirium.
Chopin’s Impromptu arouses "the very passions ... within [Edna’s] soul"(p.34). The harmony, fluidity, subtle rhythm and poetic beauty of the Romantic composer make Edna loose herself in the music that stirs her emotions. The art completes, for her, what nature cannot bring to a finish. The exquisite, looping, and often fiery melodies of the Impromptu make a cut in Edna’s mind through the conventional beliefs about people and society. Because she is not a musician, her listening is based on intuition, allowing for a direct apprehension of the music by the soul and leading to a confrontation with the reality itself — the reality of "solitude, of hope, of longing, ... of despair"(p.34). This is the beginning of Edna’s awakening, for such emotions, especially despair, are not an end but a beginning because they take away the excuses and guilts, those toward herself, from which she suffers. This revelation of previously hidden conflicts gives birth to dramatic emotions within Edna. It is so powerful that Edna wonders if she "shall ever be stirred again as...Reisz’s playing moved" her that night (p.38).
...nalist ties and works independent of this national category. The latter is extremely important in this discourse because it exposes the extent to which the verbunkos idiom, consciously or not, influenced Liszt’s compositions.
John Dowland (1563-1626) was a composer of Renaissance England and considered one of the most prolific and well-known composers of English lute song. A composer and accomplished lutenist, he is probably the most well traveled English composer of his time. Through his travels he was exposed to the musical elements of his Italian, French and German contemporaries. He developed his own musical language, in which he created a unique style for the lute song. As a composer, he focused on the development of melodic material and was able to elegantly blend words and music with a wide range of emotion and technique. For the purpose of this document we will focus on the influence of his Italian travels. John Dowland’s use of chromaticism in his lute songs as can be directly associated with such as “All ye whom love or fortune.” In these pieces, we can see the influence on this genre through his travels to Italy and encounters with such composers as Marenzio.
pity in the reader by reflecting on the traumatic childhood of her father, and establishes a cause
Another aspects of the story is that once Edna’s awakening begins to take place, she is on a roller coaster of emotions, from the manic exuberance of listening to music and the sounds of the water, her connection to robert--it’s as though all her senses are opened up. Between times, however, she is really depressed, as though all the color that Chopin imparts so beautifully in the descriptions of the other scenes, has become dull and uninteresting. Then, she is flung into an emotional upheaval when she reads Robert’s letter to Mlle Reisz, as the latter plays Wagner. Clearly, these kinds of emotions cannot be borne by a woman whose cultural structure does not admit the building of her own that it might sustain the weight and number. She is overwhelmed. She must escape, and she does, for her situation now is powerfully reminiscent of the “joy that kills” in “Hour.”
The “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and ‘”The Hand” by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette are similar in theme and setting. Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette and Kate Chopin create the theme of obligatory love and the unhappiness it entails. Both stories illustrate the concealed emotions many women feel in their marriage yet fail to express them. The two stories take place in a sacred room of the house and both transpire in a brief amount of time. The differences between the two stories are seen through the author’s choice of characters in each story. In “The story of an Hour” Kate Chopin involves other characters in Mrs. Mallard’s life, whereas, “The Hand” deals with marriage and togetherness and only involves the husband and wife. Symbolism is seen all throughout “The Hand” not so in ‘The Story of an Hour.” The similarities in “The Story of an Hour” and “The Hand” is portrayed in theme and setting. The differences are illustrated in the choice of characters involved in each story and the amount of symbolism depicted in the different stories.
...Reisz’s piano performance establishes her as an ideal Bohemian who uses music to constitute self-exploration and individuality. Nonetheless, Chopin communicates to readers that although the act of playing the piano appears generic, it is quite different, especially for anyone who notices this difference, such as Edna, who does not imagine any “pictures” while Reisz is playing as she does during the Farival Twins’ performance. She only internalizes “passions” that are “aroused within her soul” and “beat upon her splendid body.” (Chopin 44) Chopin’s use of music as a symbol allows readers to understand Edna’s slow transition from Victorian customs into a more individualistic mindset.
...ts of fever and general ill-health. And in his last ten years in Vienna, the constant need to write commissioned work - for he was the first of the composing freelances, with no regular patrons or court salaries - had worn him down to the point where one bout of fever was sure to finish him off. In July he'd had the anonymous commission to write a Requiem for the Dead; but that had been progressing slowly, because he'd been busy with two operas - La Clemenza di Tito and The Magic Flute - and two cantatas at the same time. Thirty-five years of artistic, social and personal pressure was taking its toll.
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is a loosely autobiographical memory play this is enriched with symbolism. The play itself is symbolic and parallels with much of Williams own unhappy family background. The symbolism used by the playwright is used to represent the desire to escape or to distinguish the difference between illusion and reality. Much of the symbolism used is specific to each character, but the most important symbol is Laura’s glass menagerie.
Louise Mallard is a woman who enjoys freedom and independence. She feels soaring relief and fiery triumph upon realizing that, yes, she is finally free. She is free of the weighted ropes of marriage. She fantasizes of her days ahead, living for herself and only herself. “A kind intention or cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination” (Chopin 234). She views the imposing of one’s will on another person as a crime, no matter the intention behind it. She has a taste of freedom after Mr. Mallard’s death and can finally see days without stress ahead of her. Prior to her husband’s death, young Mrs. Mallard feels tied down and even oppressed. “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength” (Chopin 233). Despite the typical oppression of women throughout the centuries prior to the 1920s, Mrs. Mallard possesses a free spirit.
Seyersted, Per, and Emily Toth, eds. A Kate Chopin Miscellany. Natchitoches: Northwestern State University Press, 1979.
Based on a series of Brothers Grimm fairy tales, Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods (1987) focuses on fairy tale characters such as Cinderella, Jack and Little Red Riding Hood’s wish of life fulfillment. Numerous fairy tales are intertwined with one new tale in attempt to carry the childhood stories into an adult realm without ridding of their child-based sensibilities. (Knapp, 2009.) Little Red’s song, “I know things now” is performed after she escapes the wolf’s belly. It is a reflection song on what she has learnt from the experience of speaking to strangers. Sondheim cleverly integrates musical devises such as key, modulation, pitch, accompaniment, dynamics, motif and rhythm alongside language and literary devices to contribute to the development and growth of the character and story.
‘Do not forget that the melody is the Idea, the outline; as much as it is the form and the subject matter of a work. The harmony is an illumination, an exhibition of the object, its reflection…’(3)
... music to set the mood. When times were depressing, there would be dark and sad music playing. One example is when Tom accidently broke one of Laura’s glass figures. Laura was astonished and disappointed which made Tom feel horrible. Another example was when Laura and Mr. O’Connor were dancing, there was waltz music playing.
Several symbols in Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour" create a feeling of comfort, wellness, and wonderfulness within the reader's mind. The first symbol I will speak of is the "comfortable chair" which she sinks into after the news of her husbands' death. Then, I will speak of the open window, which she sits in front of through which she sees many symbols of things that are good. Finally, I will speak of the description of Mrs. Mallard herself and her comfortable situation, which will tie together all the symbols that create the feelings of comfort and wellness in the reader.