2 SECONDARY - LISTENING
Unit 1: Sound
4'33''' - John Cage
4’33” is a musical piece in which musicians remain silent. The composer believes that silence does not exist, there will always be ambient noises.
Toccata and fugue in D minor - J. S. Bach
If you listen to the beginning of the piece, it consists of several short musical phrases, with rests between them.
Unit 2: Pitch
The Magic Flute: Queen of the Night's Aria - Mozart
Lyrics
Hell’s vengeance boils in my heart, death and despair blaze around me! If Sarastro does not feel the pain of death because of you then you will be my daughter nevermore. Disowned be forever, forsaken be forever, shattered be forever. All the bonds of nature, if Sarastro does not turn pale [in death] because of you! Hear, gods of vengeance, hear the mother’s oath!
Requiem. Libera me, Domine - Fauré
A Requiem is a mass for deceased people, that is, the music of the most
important parts of the liturgy. The fragment we bring here (Deliver me, Oh Lord, from death eternal) shows great emotion and kindness.
Unit 3: Duration
Music for Pieces of Wood - Steve Reich. Music for Pieces of Wood
This work was composed in 1973 for an ensemble of five claves. It consists on the superposition of different rhythmic phrases that are constantly repeated in the form of a canon.
Organ²/ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible) - John Cage
This is the slowest musical piece in the world. It began to be performed in 2001 in the German church of San Burchardi in Halberstadt and the performance is scheduled to end in the year 2640. So it will last 639 years. Each note or chord sounds for years. In the wikipedia article about this work you can see the dates in which the chord changes are made. Next change will be on September 5, 2020.
Unit 4: Intensity
Symphony No 9. 1st movement. Allegro ma non troppo - Beethoven
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony is probably his masterpiece and one of the most important works in the history of music. The famous Ode to Joy of the last movement was adopted as the anthem of Europe in 1985 and the whole symphony was declared «World Heritage» by UNESCO in 2003.
Peer Gynt. In the Hall of the Mountain King - E. Grieg
Grieg composed this music to accompany the theatrical performance of the work Peer Gynt by the Norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen. The play narrates the adventures of Peer Gynt, an irresponsible and selfish boy who leaves his village and his family to travel to a fantastic and imaginary world. The passage In the Hall of the Mountain King represents the arrival of the boy in the sinister palace of the king of the trolls, the malevolent geniuses of Scandinavian mythology.
Units 5 and 6: Timbre
Lascia ch'io pianga - Händel
During the 17th and 18th centuries the castrati were the most famous singers. They were castrated before puberty so that they could preserve the high register of the child voice. The most virtuosic and heroic roles of the operas were reserved for them, and the best composers wrote the music so that castrati could show off.
The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra - Britten
Britten composed this piece in the year 1946 in order to make the different instruments of the orchestra known to young people in a simple way.
Unit 7: Melody and Harmony
Clarinet Concerto in A major, K.622 - Mozart
The melodic discourse, with great cantabile sense and vocal influence, establishes on a ternary structure again in the form of a sonata, built on phrases of eight bars that demand unquestionable stability and balance, with the orchestral harmonic accompaniment.
Symphony n.9 "from the New World" (Theme of the 2nd mov.) - Dvorak
Dvorak's Symphony no. 9, known as the New World Symphony, is his most celebrated work. It was composed in 1893 during his stay in the United States as director of the New York Conservatory. It reflects his inspiration in Indian and American motifs.