music history questions

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music history questions

Part 1:

1. In separate essays of 150–250 words each (with a typical font and double-spacing, this will be approximately a half to 1 page per essay), respond to each of the following topics:

A. Briefly summarize the difference between a mode (as used in church music of the Middle Ages) and a major/minor scale (as used during the common practice period). Cite two examples from the Norton Anthology of Western Music, explaining what mode system is being used, and at what points in the text setting the final occurs in the musical line. Does the mode's final appear at specific points in the text setting? Be sure to listen to the examples as well, which may illuminate your discussion.

  1. Describe musical differences between the sacred and secular music of the Middle Ages. Include mention of at least two examples of each genre (sacred or secular) from the required videos, describing how each of your examples represents its genre.
  1. Compare the uses and sounds of song in ancient Greece with secular song of the Middle Ages. You do not need to use specific musical terminology in your descriptions, unless you're able.

2. For your writing assignment in this module, address the following three topics:

A. Compare the role of music in ancient Greece to that in the early Middle Ages. Include mention of at least two musical examples from each period from the required listening, describing how each represents the role you’ve described.

  1. Describe the differences between organum and motet. Include mention of at least two examples of each form, describing how each represents its form.
  1. Summarize the characteristics of the three types of organum described in your textbook. For each, find at least one example from your listening. Describe each example to clarify the type of organum it represents, using appropriate terminology.

Your writing assignment will produce an essay of 100–250 words for each of the three topics, using good grammatical and organizational practice. Remember to cite at least the number of the pieces from your required listening as instructed in each topic. You can also expand your research beyond the required readings and listening assignments, but be sure to cite sources where appropriate (including passages from your textbook or other readings), and include a bibliography if needed.

2. In a narrative of at least 250 words, explain the characteristics of isorhythm, citing the isorhythmic movements of Machaut'sMesse de Nostre Dame fromNAWM/NRAWM as examples. For each of the isorhythmic movements from Machaut's mass, describe the use of thecolor and thetalea. The color and talea statements are obviously used to provide structure to the music, but how do they create interest? Besides your narrative, you'll be judged on the correct identification of these items in each section, showing your understanding of the isorhythmic process.

For this written assignment, you'll categorize the required study pieces from NAWM as to form and comment on how each represents its form. The objective of this assignment is to confirm your understanding of the characteristics of each of the vocal forms and instrumental categories used during the sixteenth century.

a. Identify the form of selections 55–61, 63, and 64 from NAWM. For each selection, indicate how it conforms to or deviates from the form you have identified.

  1. Identify the category for instrumental selections 66 (a, b, and c) and 70 from NAWM (see pp. 141-142 of CHWM). For each instrumental selection, specify how it fits its category, and cite any characteristics the composer includes to make it unique.

1. 4.Study and listen to NAWM 74(a–e), excerpts from act 2 of Claudio Monteverdi’s opera L’Orfeo (1607). How does Monteverdi use dissonance, rhythm, melodic contour, and other elements to convey the meaning of the text and the feelings it reflects in Orfeo’s recitative Tu se’ morta (NAWM 74d)? 

2. In Orfeo, Monteverdi uses particular musical forms and styles to convey the changing dramatic situation and the feelings of the characters. What characteristics make each of the following forms and styles appropriate in building and expressing the drama of this scene?

· Orfeo, canzonetta (NAWM 74a)

· Messenger, Shepherd, and Orfeo, recitative (NAWM 74c)

· Orfeo, recitative (NAWM 74d)

· Chorus, choral madrigal (NAWM 74e)

1. 5.In her cantata Lagrime mie (NAWM 77), Strozzi uses a variety of singing styles ranging from recitative to aria to something between (arioso). Indicate the measure numbers at which those changes in style occur and briefly describe the character of each section. Why do you think Strozzi chose to use the singing styles in this order? What about the structure of the text and its meaning may have influenced her compositional choices? 

2. How does Schütz use changes of texture and style to depict the events and text of Saul, was verfolgst du mich (NAWM 81)? What types of style and texture does he use? 

3. Complete a list of the new forms of vocal music described in Chapter 11. Briefly describe the characteristics of each form and provide an example of each from NAWM.

6. In what ways do Bach’s melodies in both the fugue and the prelude (NAWM 100) show the influence of Italian violin style? Use the solo violin portions of Vivaldi’s op. 3, no. 6, first movement (NAWM 96), for comparison.

1. 7. The aria “Sì, sì ben mio” from Scarlatti’s cantata Clori vezzosa, e bella (NAWM 92b) follows da capo aria form. Give the primary harmonic areas for each of the following sections: 

a.  A section, opening ritornello (mm. 51–54) 
b.  A section, first vocal statement (mm. 54–59) 
c.  A section, middle ritornello (mm. 59–60) 
d.  A section, second vocal statement (mm. 60–73) 
e.  B section (mm. 74–87) 

How does da capo aria form reflect the form of the text? 

2. What characteristics of the overture to Lully’s Armide (NAWM 85a) mark it as a French overture? 

3. How does the musical setting of Armide’s recitative “Enfin il est en ma puissance” (NAWM 85b) reflect the dramatic situation and the emotional conflict Armide is feeling? 

4. How was England’s musical culture different from France’s in the Baroque period? What accounts for that difference? 

5. Describe the differences in the function and character of music in Orthodox Lutheran services and Pietist Lutheran services.

1. What was a sonata in the sixteenth century? How was the term used in the seventeenth century? 

2. What role did toccatas, preludes, and chorale preludes play in the Protestant church? 

3. Where and in what position was Dietrich Buxtehude employed for most of his career? What types of music did he compose for use in that position? 

4. How does Buxtehude’s Praeludium in E Major (NAWM 95) fit the definition of a late seventeenth-century toccata or prelude given in CHWM, page 215? What type of texture and figuration does it use? How does it fall into sections? 

Choose one (1) of the following topics (A, B, or C), and complete a paper of not less than six (6), double-spaced pages (minimum 1500–1800 words). Your final paper should be in essay style, not presented as a list or in outline form. It should include citations of any resources consulted (including your text materials). Please use an accepted academic style manual (e.g., MLA, Chicago, APA, etc.) in preparing, styling, and formatting your essay (see Writing Resources at the end of this document). Topic C. Keyboard Music

For each of the major historical periods covered in this course (Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque), describe the important keyboard instruments used by musicians and composers. Include in your essay:

  1. A brief description of each instrument.
  2. The instrument’s role in sacred or secular musical performances.

Description of the forms that used keyboard, identifying and describing at least three (3) examples of each form from your required reading and listening; for each example, name the composer and title of the piece, and give a brief description of its historical significance.

Five audio examples are attached. For each music excerpt, identify its historical period and provide at least one-half, double-spaced page (minimum 125–150 words) giving your reasons for your choice. You'll be judged on the logic leading to your conclusion of period placement in addition to the period placement itself. Include discussion of the musical characteristics of the piece (see categories in Module 2), its style, use of instruments and/or voices, form, etc. If you recognize the piece, identifying the title or composer can be one of your reasons, but this information alone is neither sufficient nor necessary for explaining your conclusions.

1. Music excerpt A

2. Music excerpt B

3. Music excerpt C

4. Music excerpt D

5. Music excerpt E


Part 2

1The Enlightenment dramatically changed many aspects of Western society in the Classic period as compared to that of the preceding Baroque period. To confirm your understanding of these changes in the arts, combine responses to the following four questions into an essay of 250–350 words. In your essay, please incorporate categories of musical style such as melody, periodicity, musical rhetoric, harmony, Alberti bass, form, emotional contrasts, and the notion of form and content.

· What distinguishes the new classical styles (including galant and empfindsam) from Baroque styles and from each other?

· What was the Enlightenment? How did the wider cultural climate of the eighteenth century affect music?

· What distinguishes the aims of Baroque artists from those of artists in the Classic period?

· What circumstances encouraged the broadening audience for and interest in music, and what were some of the results?

Developments in vocal and instrumental music in the Classic period are evidenced by the creation of new forms and genres. To confirm your understanding of these, list specific characteristics of the following forms and genres, identifying one example from NAWM for each:

a. opera buffa

b. opera seria

c. ballad opera

d. opéra comique

e. psalmody

f. sonata

g. symphony

h. concerto

i. Alberti bass

2.Part 1: Haydn
To confirm your understanding of the structure of the symphony as standardized by Haydn, complete the following questions, which analyze Haydn's Symphony no. 88 (NAWM 119).

1. In the exposition of the first movement of Haydn’s Symphony no. 88 (NAWM 119a), how are the following sections distinguished from one another? Mention these and other features you find significant: harmonic stability or instability, key (when stable), use of chromaticism, phrasing (clearly articulated or continuous and overlapping), dynamics, orchestration, and melodic content. 

a.  First theme area 
b.  Transition 
c.  Second theme area 
d.  Closing theme

2. The recapitulation repeats material from the exposition but with some changes. What is different in the recapitulation in comparison to the exposition? 

3. What happens in the development in terms of harmony and key? How are orchestration and dynamics used in the development? What ideas from the exposition are used in the development, where do they appear, and how are they changed from the exposition? 

4. Chart the form of the slow movement of Haydn’s Symphony no. 88 (NAWM 119b), and give the key of each section. 

5. Chart the form of the third movement (NAWM 119c). How does this relate to binary form? How is dance style evident in this movement?

Part 2: Mozart 
To confirm your understanding of some of the other formal developments during the Classic period, complete the following questions, which explore representative works by Mozart.

1. What is the form of the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata in F Major, K. 332 (NAWM 121)? Chart the form and harmonic plan, indicating the major themes, sections, and points of articulation with measure numbers. 

2. Also for the Piano Sonata in F Major, list the diverse musical styles used in the first movement. What associations outside music does each of these styles carry? How do the changes of style relate to the movement’s form? How do they highlight the harmonic plan of the movement? Why do you think Mozart chose to use so many different styles? How does knowing what those styles refer to affect your own understanding of Mozart’s piano sonata? 

3. In the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A Major (NAWM 122), which segments of the opening orchestral ritornello return later in the work, and where does each return? How is each segment varied on its return? 

4. Compare Mozart’s melodic style, as exemplified by the first movement of the Piano Concerto in A Major and the first movement of the Piano Sonata in F Major with Haydn’s melodic style in Symphony no. 88. What do they have in common? How are they different? 

5. In a Classic period concerto, what is a cadenza? Where does it fall in the form, and how is it prepared harmonically? 

6. What instrumentation does Mozart use in his Symphony no. 41 (NAWM 123)? What role do the woodwinds and brass play in the texture? 

7. What is the form of the finale of Mozart’s Symphony no. 41? Provide a large-scale diagram that gives measure numbers for the main parts of the form as well as the harmonic areas. Also indicate the measure numbers where Mozart includes fugato, stretto, or imitation in each of the main parts of the form. 

8. In what ways are Leporello’s opening aria in Don Giovanni (NAWM 124) similar to Uberto’s aria from Pergolesi’s La serva padrona(NAWM 107)? Why is this musical style appropriate for Leporello? 

9. In what ways does Donna Anna’s singing style resemble the style of opera seria? Why is this musical style appropriate for her character? 

10. How does Mozart use music to convey information about the actions and feelings of Don Giovanni and the Commendatore?

3.Part 1
Answer the following questions concerning Ludwig van Beethoven:

1. How did Beethoven make a living in Vienna? How was his situation different from that of Haydn’s and Mozart’s? How did Beethoven’s situation affect his choices of genres and the number of total works he composed? 

2. In what ways is the first movement of Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata (NAWM 125) like an expected sonata form? In what ways is it different? What are some of the effects Beethoven uses to make this sonata form dramatic? 

3. What are some features of the first movement of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony (NAWM 126) that his audiences would have found unusual? According to the textbook and NAWM, the principal theme is treated as a person in a drama, struggling against other players and triumphing in the end. How does Beethoven use changes in the principal motive (mm. 3–8) to convey struggle and triumph?

Part 2
Answer the following questions about compositions studied in Chapter 19:

1. What is a song cycle? In “Gretchen am Spinnrade” (NAWM 128), how does Schubert use the piano to depict the scene and Gretchen’s actions? How do these same devices suggest Gretchen’s mood? 

2. Diagram the form of the fifth movement of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique (NAWM 138). What eighteenth-century form or forms do you see traces of in your diagram? 

3. Where does the idée fixe (shown in NAWM, p. 487) appear in the fifth movement? Where does the Dies irae chant appear? How are these themes used and transformed to fulfill the program (see NAWM, pp. 485–486) 

4. What special instruments and instrumental effects does Berlioz use, and how do they suit the program? What other aspects of the music help to support the program? 

5. What features of Eusebius, Florestan, and Coquette (NAWM 132) are typical of character pieces as described in the textbook, page 413? How does Schumann distinguish between the characters Eusebius, Florestan, and Coquette musically? How do these pieces intersect with the composer’s personal life and literary interests? 

6. How does Chopin embellish the melodic line of his Nocturne in D-flat Major, op. 27, no. 2 (NAWM 135)? How do his melodies resemble the style of Italian opera? How does Chopin use chromaticism in the nocturne? 

7. Aside from being composed in the nineteenth century, how is Stephen Foster’s “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair” (NAWM 131) representative of Romanticism? In what setting was the song originally performed? Why do you think people found this song so appealing in 1854? 

8. What events does Gottschalk’s Souvenir de Porto Rico (NAWM 137) depict, and how are they suggested in the music? What elements are used to suggest the locale, the people, and their actions? Who was the intended audience, and why do you think this piece appealed to its audience?

  1. What are the characteristics of grand opera
  4. What makes Carmen an example of realism and exoticism? Refer to the scene in NAWM 152 specifically to illustrate your points. 
  5. Diagram the form of the scene from Il barbiere di Siviglia in NAWM 145, including indications of instrumental and vocal sections, melodic and thematic repetitions, and changes in tempo, style, and figuration. How do the changes of style, tempo, and figuration help to convey what Rosina is saying and feeling? What did audiences value in Rossini’s operatic style? Refer to specific aspects of this scene from Il barbiere di Siviglia to illustrate your general points. 
  8. What is melodrama? Where and how is it used in the Wolf’s Glen scene of Der Freischütz? Why do you think its use in this scene might be more effective than using recitative? 
  9. Look at the form diagram of the conclusion to act 1 of Tristan und Isolde (NAWM, p. 787). How does Wagner use leitmotives to develop the plot in the conclusion of act 1 (NAWM 149b)? How does the harmonic language used for the sailors (e.g., at mm. 196–203), “Heil! König Marke Heil!”) differ from that used for Tristan and Isolde after they have drunk the love potion? Why is this contrast appropriate, and how does it heighten the drama?

hapter 21

1. What technical problem for the player is the focus of Liszt’s étude Un sospiro (NAWM 136)? How is it addressed at the outset? How does the texture change over the course of the piece, to raise new problems for the performer? 

2. What elements of or references to past music does Brahms incorporate into the fourth movement of his Symphony no. 4 in E minor (NAWM 155)? How did Brahms learn about this past music? What composers influenced his musical style? 

3. Who gave Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony the subtitle Pathétique? Why is this subtitle appropriate? This subtitle was not used at the symphony’s premiere performance. Why do you think it was used for the second performance of the work? 

4. What did Dvořák suggest composers native to the United States do to write “truly national music”? How are his ideas reflected in his own New World Symphony

5. What elements of Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances (NAWM 161) are from Czech traditional music? 

Chapter 22

1. How does Richard Strauss characterize Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in the themes of his Don Quixote (NAWM 158)? What musical devices does he use to depict their personalities? 

2. Why is Boris Godunov an example of Russian nationalism, whereas Bizet’s Carmen, which uses musical elements associated with Spain, is an example of exoticism? 

3. In what ways is the plot of Madama Butterfly an example of exoticism as well as realism? What exotic musical elements did Puccini incorporate in the excerpt from act 1 in NAWM 151?

1. Describe the rhythm of Scriabin’s Vers la flamme, op. 72 (NAWM 170). Does it suggest a strong forward motion or a static hovering? How is the effect achieved? 

2. In Arnold Schoenberg’s Nacht (NAWM 172a), how is the opening motive (E–G–E-flat) used during the course of the piece? Where does it not appear in some form? How does Schoenberg create a sense of unity and form, without tonality, inEnthauptung (NAWM 172b)

3. What do the Prelude (NAWM 173a) and Menuet and Trio (NAWM 173b) from Schoenberg’s Piano Suite, op. 25, have in common with Baroque pieces in the same genres? (See NAWM 88 and 97)

4. In act 3, scene 3, of Wozzeck (NAWM 174b), where does Berg imitate a polka? A folk song? How does he suggest these types of tonal music, despite using an atonal language? 

5. What is Klangfarbenmelodie? In what way does the first movement of Anton Webern’s Symphony, op. 21 (NAWM 175), illustrate the concept of Klangfarbenmelodie

6. In his Rite of Spring (NAWM 176), how does Stravinsky create the effect of building intensity toward the end of each excerpt? What makes the melodies beginning at measures 43, 89, and 119 of Danse des adolescentes (NAWM 176a) sound like folk tunes? 

7. What elements of Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, first movement (NAWM 177), recall past music? What past style period does Stravinsky deliberately avoid? Why? 

8. What elements drawn from east European folk music does Bartók use in the third movement of Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta (NAWM 179)? 

9. What experimental elements does Charles Ives use in General William Booth Enters into Heaven (NAWM 180)? Describe them, indicating passages by measure number. Which different musical styles does Ives use or allude to in this song? How does he use contrasts of style and changes of figuration in the piano to distinguish each phrase or section from the previous one?

Chapter 26

1. In the second movement of Hindemith’s Symphony Mathis der Maler (NAWM 187), where do consonant harmonies (triads or open fifths) appear from measure 1 through measure 16? How does Hindemith move between those consonances? Based on your answers, how does Hindemith’s method of “harmonic fluctuation” create a sense of harmonic conflict and resolution in a neotonal context? 

2. In what ways does the text of the fourth movement of Prokofiev’s cantata Alexander Nevsky (NAWM 188) exemplify the ideals of socialist realism?

  1. What is ragtime? From what traditions did it derive? How is Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag (NAWM 164) typical of the style? Compare the performances of Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton (NRAWM 164a, b). How do they differ? In what ways is Joplin’s performance typical of the ragtime tradition, and Morton’s typical of early jazz? 
  2. Refer to the standard twelve-bar blues form shown in the textbook, page 545. How is Bessie Smith’s Back Water Blues(NAWM 182) typical of the form? How is the performance of West End Blues by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five (NAWM 183b) typical of the New Orleans jazz style? Which elements of the group’s performance are present in and which are missing from the sheet music version (NAWM 183a
  3. Compare the music for the verse of I Got Rhythm with its refrain (NAWM 181). What harmonic, rhythmic, and melodic elements create a contrast between the two sections? Why do you think Gershwin used these contrasts? 
  4. What aspects of Duke Ellington’s Cotton Tail (NAWM 184) are typical of big band music? What elements did Ellington compose in advance? What elements were left to improvisation? Cotton Tail is a contrafact. Ellington composed a new tune over the harmonic progression from I Got Rhythm. How does Ellington modify the harmonic progression from I Got Rhythmin Cotton Tail
  5. What is the social function of Anthropology (NAWM 197)? Where and for whom would it be performed? 
  6. As you listen to the recording of Edgard Varèse’s Hyperprism (NAWM 192), record your first impressions. What did Varèse mean by spatial music and sound masses? Listening to Hyperprism again, how did knowing about Varèse’s ideas about the music change your understanding of the piece? 
  7. In what ways does the Shaker tune Simple Gifts (shown in NAWM, vol. 3, p. 526) convey simplicity? How does Aaron Copland reinforce that simplicity in his use of the tune in Appalachian Spring (beginning in m. 171)? 
  8. The first movement of William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony (NAWM 196) unites symphonic and African-American traditions. What elements does it draw from symphonic tradition? What elements does Still incorporate from African-American traditions, including those illustrated in NAWM 164, 182, 183, and 184?


  1. Music excerpt A
  2. Music excerpt B
  3. Music excerpt C
  4. Music excerpt D
  5. Music excerpt E

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