The name of this evening’s program, “Wanderlust”, refers directly to its definition – a strong desire for or impulse to travel and explore the world. The selected song cycles were written by composers of different backgrounds who were inspired by cultures outside of their own through their travels or other means of exposure. In each piece, one can see these sources of inspiration manifest itself in various ways, whether it be through the composer’s choice of text, their style of composition, or other musical elements borrowed from other cultures. Reynaldo Hahn was a Venezuelan composer who was naturalized as a French citizen, living in France for the majority of his life. He was a frequent visitor of Venice, Italy, and was inspired by his trips to the city to write the song cycle Venezia. This cycle is a group of six chansons set to texts …show more content…
His music for the ballet The Prince of the Pagodas written in 1957 clearly reflected the influence that Balinese gamelan music had on him as a composer, and within the same year he set Chinese poetry for the song cycle Songs from the Chinese. The cycle was written for tenor and guitar, likely through his friendship with guitarist Julian Bream and his partnership with tenor Peter Pears. The texts come from translations of classic Chinese verses which were published by Arthur Waley in 1946, and deal with themes that are familiar to Britten’s music, including innocence, loss and regret. The music itself is not particularly indicative of oriental influence, however the use of the guitar as the accompanimental instrument in a rather sparse texture evokes the aesthetic of a Chinese stringed instrument, such as a lute. Britten displays an excellent understanding of the guitar’s capabilities as an instrument as well as its special characteristics, such as his use of glissandi in “Depression”, a haunting song about aging and
Peter Sculthorpe is an Australian composer who is renowned for his experimentation and exploration of ideas and symbolism in his music. His music is a representation of his feelings in response to socio-cultural, political and historical viewpoints. For instance, his String Quartet No. 16 is a representation of the emotions of refugees trapped in detention centres. It consists of five movements entitled Loneliness, Anger, Yearning, Trauma and Freedom. Musical elements such as pitch, duration and other expressive devices show how effectively Sculthorpe evokes the feelings of refugees through each movements, especially the movements Trauma and Freedom.
However, the most fitting work with the concert theme may be Philip Glass’s String Quartet No. 2. This work is often entitled Company and was originally intended for an adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s prose poem entitled Company. This cross-disciplinary collaboration resulted in Glass extracting material from the theatre score and making it a four movement concert work that could stand alone. This 1983 minimalist work is clearly characteristic of Glass’s style in the repeating arpeggios, harmonic language, and his recognizable rhythmic structure. However, the most important aspect of the work in relationship to the other music on the concert may be its inspiration. While Beckett’s work was the inspiration for the Glass’s music, Beckett was also a collaborator in the creation of the staged work. Like the works of The Brooklyn Rider Almanac, Der Blaue Reiter Almanach, and The Onomatopoetic Project, Philip Glass’s String Quartet No. 2 provides a unique prospective on art through a different medium. This concert is a wonderful example of how music, the visual arts, theatre, and literature can all be used to comment on and inspire one another by simply looking at art through the prospective of all forms of
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.
John Cage took a simple approach to music. While Cage believed that music can merely be found anywhere and within any sound, traditionally, music remains described as the art of arranging tones or sounds in a way that produces a composition having unity and continuity (Merriam-Webster). John Cage had a Zen Buddhism philosophy of music, meaning music is everywhere and anything can be interpreted as such (House of Solitude). However, I believe music is only the intentional arrangement of sounds.
Many forms of popular culture today are inspired by themes, characters, and other references in various types of classical literature. John Denver’s song “Calypso” parallels with a number of the themes in Homer’s the Odyssey. The Odyssey’s themes involving Odysseus’ journey back home and the aid of gods and goddesses directly influence “Calypso.”
This musical piece is inspired by the story of Atlantis, and the powerful history that still lives on to this day surrounding it. The city of Atlantis was a utopian land conjured up by the Greek philosopher Plato, who wrote about it in the year 360 BC. Many historians believe that he based the city on his philosophical beliefs. The legend describes a civilization filled with highly advanced, spiritual peoples who became too greedy. As a punishment, it is said that the gods pummeled the city with a night of earthquakes and fires, consequently causing the land to sink. These events are similarly correlated with Plato’s theories of the gradual decline of moral values, and the growing increase of corruption in humans. These aspects, along with many others, are what inspired Romeyn to compose this magnificent
Music and literature are constantly evolving with each new release, but how ground breaking are these pieces compared to its contemporaries? Miles Davis and Jorge Luis Borges have contemplated and answered this question frequently. Rather than add on to a previous style, these two took the future of their genres into their own hands. In Davis’s “Kind of Blue” as well as Borges’s “The Garden of Forking Paths,” old ideas are completely abandoned and new, inventive styles flourish. Not only do these two play with the content of their work, but they also explore different styles and means of composition. Both Davis and Borges experiment with new innovative ideas and concepts in their works successfully creating a unique style of their own.
Miller, Terry, and Andrew Shahriari. World Music: A Global Journey. New York, London: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, 2006.
Western Music has developed in many ways since the middle ages through its form, sound, and message. Throughout these different periods in western music one thing has remained constant, the true essence of music, a way to communicate with someone on a much more divine level than be by rudimentary conversation. Though Ludwig Van Beethoven and Paul McCartney may seem completely opposite they have one in common through their music they changed the world’s perception of its self
When one hears of György Ligeti’s Atmosphéres, one would immediately think of the 1968 cult film favourite, 2001: Space Odyssey. Atmosphéres’ appearance in the film gained itself widespread recognition and exposure, and this was definitely for a good reason. In Atmosphéres, Ligeti explored unprecedented paradigms of texture, structure, and rhythm that would eventually render this piece to be the avant-garde of the avant-garde. As such, this essay aims to explore Ligeti’s historical background and the new musical techniques he employed in Atmosphéres.
Many say that music has evolved over the years. This essay shall explore the elements of two versions of one song. It shall discuss the correlations and disparities of these songs and confer how it has been revolutionised to entertain the audiences of today.
Raglio, A., Filippi, S., Bellandi, D., & Stramba-Badiale, M. (2014). Global music approach to persons
As the child is, so will the man be… So it is in music that the songs which a child assimilates in his youth will determine the musical manhood…the musical influence upon his afterlife and also that the melodies which composers evolve in their maturity are but the flowers which bloom from the fields which were sown with the seed of the folk-song in their childhood. (Barham, 9).
Therefore, the distinctive visual techniques employed by the composer provide a vehicle for the respondent to understand the ideas and themes prompted by people and their experiences. Tykwer’s film, Run Lola Run demonstrates the effect of the distinctive visual in Lola’s exploration of the themes of chance and time, whilst Mackellar’s poem ‘My Country’ provides the audience with an evocative experience of the Australian environment.
Throughout the semester, various styles of music and the aspects of culture associated with these styles have been analyzed. Musical elements such as dynamics, texture, form, timbre, melody, instruments, etc., have been used to thoroughly explore each kind of music from different areas of the world, with an emphasis in music from Africa, India and Indonesia. These aspects of music go far beyond just music itself. Culture also plays a huge role in music and the accompanying musical elements. Each country and culture has a different style and distinctiveness that add to what makes the music of that certain culture unique. Music in Africa may differ dramatically from music in Indonesia or India not only due to those certain elements but also due to how it is interpreted by people and what it represents for those people. In addition to this, what one may consider music in one culture may not be music to another. These differences have been made apparent in the several demonstrations that we have been exposed to in class.