Listening Assignment 6
Postwar Crosscurrents, the Late Twentieth Century, and the Twenty-First Century
Notes on the 20th Century & Beyond (Final) Exam
The final exam will include three sections that involve scores or listening. In the first, the Encounter 6 Scores/Listening section, you will see and describe several score excerpts from the Encounter 6 Listening List below. In the second, the film score listening section, you will see and discuss video excerpts from the Encounter 5 Film Score presentations. In the third, the review listening section, you will hear and describe one audio excerpt each from the Classical era, the Romantic era, and the 20th Century (in no particular order). See the 2021 Final Exam Study Guide for further instructions.
For the Encounter 6 Scores/Listening section of the exam, all examples on the Encounter 6 Listening List below are fair game. Recordings are from NRAWM unless otherwise indicated. For each score excerpt you will identify the following:
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Composer, title, & section
- Style—see Styles list below
- Genre—see Genres list below
- Three different musical features (heard in the excerpt), one each associated with:
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the style (a feature of the style you select from the Styles list below)
- the composer
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the piece itself
- Identify three different style features, one in each of the categories above.
- Remember! Style features describe how a historic style, composer, or musical work typically use specific elements of music—melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, color, instrumentation, form, etc.—simply saying “rhythm” or “texture” is not an answer! This is also a good place to identify distinctive uses of electronic instruments or techniques (as aspects of texture, color, or instrumentation)
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Answer Study Questions adapted from Listening Assignment 6 Study Questions below
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For any work with words, dance, video, or a program, this is the place I might ask about the story or the “dramatic situation,” how the work reflects political/historical/current events, etc.
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Styles |
Genres |
- American Musical Theatre
- Neoclassicism
- Tonal Traditionalism
- Chance Music & Indeterminacy
- Serialism
- Musique concrète
- Early Synthesis
- Voltage-Controlled Synthesis
- Sound Mass
- New Virtuosity
- Minimalism
- Interaction with Non-Western Musics
- World Beat
- Digital Synthesis
- Jazz Fusion
- Mixed Media
- Spectralism
- Polystylism
- Postminimalism
- Accessible Modernism
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- Chance work
- Choral antiphon
- Electric string quartet
- Electronic composition
- Etude
- Fanfare
- Film score
- Ghost opera
- Impression
- Monodrama
- Music video
- Musical
- Opera
- Passion
- Pop song
- Psalm setting
- Quartet
- Requiem
- Song cycle
- Suite
- Symphonic poem
- Symphony
- Tape piece
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Study Questions
The best way to do well on quizzes, exams, and other assignments in this course is to know the assigned listening well. Listen to each work below as often as you can, study the scores, and learn what the NAWM notes say about each one. For each work you want to be able to answer the following Study Questions:
- What is the name of the style in which it is written? (See Styles list above)
- What is the genre? (See Genres list above)
- Is this a modernist work or not?—After a lull between the World Wars, modernism returns with a vengeance after World War II.
- How does the composer use the elements of music? What features of the work are typical of the style? What features are not? Are any modernist features present?
- To answer this, look at the ways the composer uses melody, harmony, rhythm, dynamics, texture, color (timbre), form, text setting, and so on
- How does the work compare with other works in the listening assignment (especially those in the same genre)?
- What features of the work are unique or unusual?
- For any operas, songs, and program works on the Listening List, what is the story? How does each composer use the music, voice(s), and orchestra to tell the story. Which was most important for each composer: music, voice, or orchestra? Consider specific musical elements where necessary, such as melody, accompaniment, tempo, texture, vocal or instrumental effects, and so on.
Additional Study Questions below will draw attention to particularly interesting, unique features of particular works. These Study Questions, scores, and recordings together will help you prepare for the 20th Century & Beyond (Final) Exam. They require no written report.
Encounter 6 Listening List
The postwar era saw an explosion of different styles. Hard-core modernism returned with a vengeance in the serialism and chance music of the 1950s-60s, but styles have ranged widely from tonal traditionalism to minimalism to accessible modernism to polystylism to music created using electronic media. Before you listen, use Encounter 6 readings to guide your understanding of characteristic features of the styles listed above and the composers and works on the Listening List below. Challenge yourself to identify these features when you listen. As always, you really want to read the NAWM notes and follow the score for every work from NAWM.
Postwar Crosscurrents
A. Jazz & Popular Music
Jazz Roots & Jazz
American Musical Theatre & Popular Song
A1) Ethel Waters, 1929-1931 CD—Blackboard RESERVE
- George Gershwin, Girl Crazy (Broadway musical, 1930)
- I Got Rhythm (Broadway show tune)—performed by Ethel Waters (rec. 1930)
- Listen to this recording, NOT the Ethel Merman recording in NAWM!
- See Blackboard Assignment Resources module/Encounter Listening/Encounter 6/I Got Rhythm
- Follow NAWM 190 score as you listen!
- youtube recording (same as the Blackboard recording)
A2) NAWM 208—Leonard Bernstein, West Side Story (musical, 1957)
Swing
A3) NAWM 193—Duke Ellington, Cotton Tail (big band jazz chart—contrafact)
- Performed by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra (rec. 1940)
Bebop
A4) NAWM 205—Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Anthropology (bebop tune—contrafact, 1945)
- Performed by Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Tommy Potter, and Roy Haynes (rec. 1951)
Modal Jazz
A5) NAWM 206—Miles Davis, So What (jazz tune, 1959)
- Performed by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb (rec. 1959)
Modern Jazz
A6) NAWM 207—John Coltrane, Giant Steps (jazz tune, 1959)
- Performed by John Coltrane, Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers, and Art Taylor (rec. 1959)
Study Questions on Group A:
- What classical features do you hear in West Side Story? What jazz features do you hear? Which jazz styles does Bernstein borrow from? Cool? Bebop? Swing? What makes this a good example of what Gunther Schuller called “Third Stream” music?
- What form does Ellington use in Cotton Tail? Can you follow the Rhythm changes in this work? What is the relationship between this work and Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm? How does Ellington’s music break away from the typical swing era formulas?
- What popular song is Anthropology based on? What form does this work use?
- What is form of So What? What makes this a modal work? What is the modal structure here? What is distinctive about Bill Evans’s chord voicings?
- What is distinctive about Giant Steps? What is it about the chord changes that has made this such a challenging work for generations of jazz performers?
B. Heirs to the Classical Tradition
Tonal Traditionalism
B1) NAWM 210—Olivier Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time (quartet, 1940-41)
- Mvmt. i: Liturgie de cristal
B2) On the Waterfront DVD—RENTAL DIR KAZA ONTH
- Leonard Bernstein, On the Waterfront (film score, 1954)
- “Pigeons and Beer”—DVD, 35:20-37:35
- “End Title”—DVD, 1:45:30-end
- Alternate Blackboard recordings for both cues (Assignment Resources/Encounter Listening/Encounter 5)
B3) NAWM 209—Benjamin Britten, Peter Grimes (opera, 1944-45)
- Act III, Scene 2: “To hell with all your mercy!”
B4) Naxos—Benjamin Britten - War Requiem album (Bo Skovhus, Luba Orgonasova, Anthony Rolfe-Johnson, Gardiner & Monteverdi Choir, North German Radio Orchestra & Chorus)
- Benjamin Britten, War Requiem (requiem, 1961-62)
Study Questions on Group B:
- Written in a German prison camp in 1941, Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time focuses on texts from the book of Revelations. What features of this work remind you of Debussy or Stravinsky? What features are unique to Messiaen? Is there a message?
- Britten’s War Requiem blends texts from the traditional Requiem Mass with poetry written by British soldier Wilfred Owen during World War I. In this excerpt, as in the other movements of this requiem, Britten interposes Owen’s texts so that they comment on the Latin Requiem texts. Do you hear any resemblance to Stravinsky in this excerpt? What is the message here?
C. The Avant-Garde—Chance vs. Serialism
Prepared Piano
C1) NAWM 212—John Cage, Sonatas and Interludes (suite for prepared piano, 1946-48)
Chance Music
C2) NAWM 213—John Cage, Music of Changes (chance composition for solo piano, 1951)
Indeterminacy
C3) Naxos—Deep Listening Band - Non Stop Flight album (Julie Steinberg)
Total (Integral) Serialism
C4) NAWM 211—Pierre Boulez, Le marteau sans maître (song cycle for alto and chamber ensemble, 1953-55)
- VI. Bourreaux de solitude
Study Questions on Group C:
- Cage’s works for prepared piano were composed before he invented chance music, but they reflect his early belief that any sound can be used to make music, not just “musical” sounds. What kinds of music do his Sonatas and Interludes remind you of (think world music)? What insights do the notes about this work on the John Cage website provide?
- Cage’s Music of Changes was his very first chance work. What chance procedures does he use? What makes 4’33” an example of indeterminacy? What insights do the articles by Cage (in Weiss/Taruskin & Fisk) or the notes on the John Cage website provide?
- Boulez’s Le marteau sans maître is regarded as one of the masterworks of total serialism. What similarities can you find between this work and Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire, one of Boulez’s models for Le marteau? What does the composer seek to express here? What other kinds of music does this remind you of (think world music)?
D. New Sounds & Textures—Early Electronic Music
Musique concrète & Chance Music
D1) Naxos—The 25-Year Retrospective Concert of the Music of John Cage album (John & Xenia Cage, Merce Cunningham, David Tudor, Earle Brown, etc.)
- John Cage, Williams Mix (chance/musique concrète tape piece, 1952)
Musique concrète & Electronic Sounds
D2) NAWM 214—Edgard Varèse, Poème électronique (electro-acoustic tape piece, 1957-58)
Early Synthesis & Serialism—Tape & Live Performance
D3) NAWM 215—Milton Babbitt, Philomel (monodrama for soprano, recorded soprano, and synthesized sound, 1964)
Voltage Controlled Synthesis (Moog & Buchla)
D1) Naxos—Morton Subotnick - Silver Apples of the Moon & The Wild Bull album (Morton Subotnick)
- Morton Subotnick, Silver Apple of the Moon (electronic composition; 1967)
Study Questions on Group D:
- Cage’s Williams Mix provides an example of both musique concrète and chance music. What chance procedures does Cage use? What musique concrète procedures does he use? What kinds of sounds do you hear in this work? Was it meant to be serious? humorous? thought-provoking? What insights do the articles by Cage (in Weiss/Taruskin & Fisk) or the notes on the John Cage website provide?
- Breaking away from the purism of early musique concrète, Varèse mixes electronic and musique concrète sounds in his landmark work, Poème électronique. What features of this work are geared towards the multimedia setting for which it was intended (the Philips Pavilion at the Brussels World Fair)?
- Babbitt’s Philomel provides an example of both total serialism and early electronic music. It was created at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center on one of the very first synthesizers, the RCA Mark V. How do the live human voice and the synthesized sounds interact? What is the story about? Can you hear the text-painting described in the NAWM notes?
- Subotnick’s Silver Apples of the Moon was created on one of the first voltage-controlled synthesizers (a Buchla instrument). What is the difference between these electronic sounds and those used by Babbitt? Can you hear the ostinato patterns created by the Buchla sequencer module? How does the style of this piece differ from earlier electronic pieces?
E. The Avant-Garde—The New Virtuosity, New Sounds & Textures, Quotation & Collage (1960s)
Sound Mass (Texture and Process)
E1) NAWM 216—Krzysztof Penderecki, Threnody: To the Victims of Hiroshima (symphonic poem for string orchestra, 1960)
The New Virtuosity—Quotation and Collage; New Instruments, Sounds & Scales
D1) Naxos—Berio Sinfonia - Boulez Notations I-IV - Ravel La valse album (Roomful of Teeth, Morlot & Seattle Symphony)
- Luciano Berio, Sinfonia (symphony, 1968/69)
E3) Naxos—Kronos Quartet - 25 Years album (Kronos Quartet)
- George Crumb, Black Angels (electric string quartet, 1970)
Study Questions on Group E:
- Penderecki’s sound mass composition, Tren, better known as Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, is a purely acoustic work inspired by the new sounds and textures of electronic music. All of the sounds in this work are made by a string orchestra: violins, violas, cellos, and basses. Which sonorities sound like they could be electronic? What special effects do the string players use here? What is unusual about the notation used here? Do you hear the big blocks of sound that give this style its name? Is this an effective lament for victims of the atomic bomb dropped at Hiroshima? Is this program music?
- Berio’s Sinfonia was written for the Swingle Singers (an octet) and large orchestra, and the third movement immediately established itself as one of the most spectacular, virtuosic collage compositions (mashups) of the 1960s. What new sounds and virtuoso effects does Berio call for? What vocal techniques are used? What role do quotation and collage play here? What meanings do these “found objects” take on in this new context? What is the effect of the Mahler Scherzo that runs throughout this movement? How does Berio interact with the symphonic tradition in this work?
- Make sure you follow the NAWM score as you watch this DVD performance of Crumb’s Black Angels. What new sounds does Crumb explore in this work? Which sounds do you find most fascinating, visually and sonically? In what sense is this electronic music?
The End of the Millennium—Music of the Late Twentieth Century
F. Minimalism
F1) NAWM 218—Steve Reich, Come Out (1966)
F2) Naxos—Steve Reich - Tehillim & Three Movements album (de Leeuw & Schönberg Ensemble)
- Steve Reich, Tehillim (psalm setting for four solo voices and chamber orchestra, 1981)
F3) NAWM 219—John Adams, Short Ride in a Fast Machine (orchestral fanfare, 1986)
Study Questions on Group F:
- Reich’s Tehillim marked a turning point in his music; here he creates a stronger sense of musical shape and direction than in his earlier works. Is there an audible “process” at work in this piece? What is the form? What is unusual about the notation? the instrumentation of the orchestra? the vocal style? What insights into this music do Philip Glass’s comments (RESERVE readings from Fisk) and the Reich RESERVE readings provide?
- Rooted in the techniques and sounds of minimalism, Adams is nonetheless much less doctrinaire than others about his relationship to minimalism, borrowing freely from other musical styles. What features of Short Ride in a Fast Machine are typical or atypical of minimalism? Is there an audible “process” at work in this piece? What insights do the comments about this work on Adams’s website provide?
G. The New Accessibility
Accessible Modernism
G1) NAWM 220—György Ligeti, Étude No. 9: Vertige (étude for piano solo, 1990)
G2) The Red Violin DVD—RENTAL POP RED VI
- John Corigliano, The Red Violin (film score, 1998)
- “Main Title (Chaconne theme)”—DVD chapter 1, 1:00-3:05
- “Death of Anna (Red Violin theme)”—DVD chapters 3-4, 12:35-19:49
- “A miracle”—DVD chapter 5, 20:40-22:05
- “Summoning the music”—DVD chapters 11-12, 52:20-57:15
- Alternate Blackboard recordings (Assignment Resources/Encounter Listening/Encounter 5)
Radical Simplification (Minimalism)
G3) NAWM 223—Arvo Pärt, Seven Magnificat Antiphons—(choral antiphons, 1988, rev. 1991)
- No. 1: O Weisheit
- No. 6: O König aller Völker
Study Questions on Group G:
- Over the course of his career, Ligeti has used techniques associated with styles as diverse as serialism, sound mass (and micropolyphony), chance, minimalism, and Central African pygmy polyphony. What textures does he favor in Vertige? What about his use of rhythm? In what ways is this more accessible than chance and serial works from the 1950s?
- Estonian composer Arvo Pärt is one of several composers growing up behind the Iron Curtain who adopted minimalist techniques but adapted them to create a simple, profoundly spiritual style. What features of Pärt’s Seven Magnificat Antiphons are typical or atypical of minimalism? What is Pärt trying to express in these two movements? What insights do Reich’s comments on Pärt (RESERVE reading) provide?
H. Interactions with Non-Western Musics
Asian Polystylism
H1) Ran DVD—RESERVE VIDEO 822.33 R185kd
- Tōru Takemitsu, Ran (film score, 1985)
- “Hell on earth”—DVD chapter 10, starting at 1:01:30
- Alternate Blackboard RESERVE recording (Assignment Resources/Encounter Listening/Encounter 6)
H2) Naxos—Tan Dun - Ghost Opera album (Kronos Quartet)
- Tan Dun, Ghost Opera, for string quartet & pipa (ghost opera, 1995)
World Beat
H3) Paul Simon, Graceland CD—Blackboard
- Paul Simon & Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes (pop song, 1986)
- See Blackboard Assignment Resources module/Encounter Listening/Encounter 6/Paul Simon, Graceland
- youtube video of live performance with Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo at the 1987 African Concert
- youtube music video of studio performance with Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Study Questions on Group H:
- Born and raised in China, composer Tan Dun emerged in the early 1980s as the leading composer of the Chinese “New Wave” that followed the collapse of China’s so-called Cultural Revolution. Always controversial, his music was denounced for its “spiritual pollution” in 1983, and performances were banned for a time. He took this opportunity to move to New York, finish graduate degrees at Columbia, and inaugurate a career in the U.S. Today, Tan Dun is probably best known as the Oscar-winning composer of the score for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and his powerful, full-scale opera, The First Emperor, premiered at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 2006 (starring Plácido Domingo, Paul Groves, and Elizabeth Futral and directed by Zhang Yimou, who also did House of Flying Daggers and Hero). Rather than choose one or the other, Tan Dun integrates both Asian and Western traditions in his music. Which aspects of Act III from Ghost Opera are Chinese? Which are Western classical & avant-garde? What other postwar crosscurrents can you hear in Tan Dun’s music? What insights do the notes on this work on Tan Dun’s website provide?
- Since the early days of radio and recorded music, Western popular music has had a pronounced influence on the popular musics of nations around the globe. By the 1980s, these non-Western (yet Western-influenced) popular styles began to be heard worldwide. The collective name given to these styles is World Beat, and these styles in turn have influenced Western musicians as diverse as Peter Gabriel, Joni Mitchell, Brian Eno and Herbie Hancock. Paul Simon has drawn on non-Western musics since his Simon & Garfunkel days in the 1960s, but the emergence of World Beat inspired him to go even farther. For his Graceland album he decided to collaborate with South African musicians to create songs that fused Western and South African pop styles. Which elements of Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes derive from Western pop? Which elements are typical of African popular music (i.e. township jive)? Does this song fuse these elements effectively?
I. New Technologies—Digital Synthesis & the MIDI Revolution
Jazz Fusion & Mixed Media
I1) Future2Future Live DVD—RESERVE VIDEO 781.63 F886
- Herbie Hancock, Rockit (music video, released 1983)
- Select Bonus Video/Rockit: The Original Music Video from 1982
- youtube recording (same as DVD)
Digital Technologies—Spectralism
I2) Naxos—Kaija Saariaho - Prisma album (Florent Jodelet & Kaija Saariaho)
- Kaija Saariaho, Six Japanese Gardens: In memory of Toru Takemitsu (six impressions for solo percussionist and electronic sounds, 1995)
Study Questions on Group I:
- Since the 1960s, jazz fusion pioneer Herbie Hancock has melded jazz with various popular styles, including funk, techno, hip-hop, and rap. He has also shown a long-standing interest in new technologies, ranging from the latest & greatest electronic keyboards to music videos to the first-ever Internet live jam. Hancock scored one of the biggest hits of his career with the 1982 MTV video, Rockit. What features are typical of jazz? What other musical genres does he borrow from? What features are typical of music videos? Which features are innovative (for 1982)? Is there a message?
- You had a chance to explore Saariaho’s compositional techniques in Part I of this Encounter. Which of those techniques can you hear most clearly in these two pieces from Six Japanese Gardens? What kinds of colors does she use here? How does Saariaho’s music differ from earlier electronic works by Cage, Babbitt, or Subotnick? How does Saariaho integrate electronic sounds with the sounds of percussion instruments? Is this program music? (Check out the photographs of Ryoan-ji and a Japanese stone bridge in the Blackboard Encounter 6 Listening module.) What insights do the notes about this work on Saariaho’s website provide?
J. The New World of Music—The Twenty-First Century
Spectralism & A New Lyricism
J1) NAWM 224—Kaija Saariaho, L’Amour de loin (opera, 2005)
- Act IV, Scene 3. Tempête
- Alternate Recording: Kaija Saariaho, L’Amour de loin DVD (chapter 11, 1:30:32-1:37:24)—RESERVE VIDEO 782.1 A525
Polystylism—Interactions with Non-Western Music
J2) NAWM 225—Caroline Shaw, Partita for 8 Voices (suite, 2009-11)
J3) NAWM 226—Osvaldo Golijov, La Pasión según San Marcos (passion, 2000)
- No. 24. Escarnio y Negación
- No. 25. Desgarro de la Túnica
- No. 26. Lúa Descolorida (Aria de las lágrimas de Pedro)
- Alternate Recording: Osvaldo Golijov, La Pasión según San Marcos CD/DVD—RESERVE VIDEO
J4) Lagaan–Once upon a time in India DVD—RESERVE VIDEO 791.4309 L172
- A.R. Rahman, Lagaan (film score, 2001)
- “Gilli-Danda”—DVD chapter 14
- Alternate Blackboard recording (Assignment Resources/Encounter Listening/Encounter 5)
- “Radha Kaise Na Jale”—DVD chapter 22-23
- Alternate Blackboard recording (Assignment Resources/Encounter Listening/Encounter 5)
- “The final ball – We have won!”—DVD chapters 50-51
- Alternate Blackboard recording (Assignment Resources/Encounter Listening/Encounter 5)
Postminimalism
J5) NAWM 228—John Adams, Doctor Atomic (opera, 2005)
- Act I, conclusion: Batter my heart (aria)
- Alternate Recording: John Adams, Doctor Atomic DVD1 (chapter 5, starting at 1:13:00)—RESERVE VIDEO 782.14 D637
Accessible Modernism
J6) NAWM 229—Jennifer Higdon, blue cathedral (symphonic poem, 2000)
Study Questions on Group J:
- After writing so many works using spectralist and avant-garde techniques, Saariaho surprised many listeners with her 2003 opera about medieval troubadour Jaufre Rudel, L’Amour de loin (Love from Afar). An unexpected lyricism emerged in this work and in a series of new works for the human voice, including Lonh (voice and electronics) and Quatre instants (voice and piano). These works all offer beautifully expressive examples of accessible modernism. Compare L’Amour de loin with Six Japanese Gardens: Which is more expressive? accessible? modernist? How does Saariaho express the words? What elements of 12th Century troubadour music does Saariaho borrow? What does the orchestra add to the expression? Do you hear any examples of the spectralist techniques you read about in Part II above (Prisma)? What insights do the notes on this work on Saariaho’s website provide?
- In what ways can Golijov’s Pasión be called a mashup? What diverse elements are combined here? What specific styles and techniques does he borrow? What similarities and differences do you find between Golijov’s work and J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion? What is the form of Peter’s aria, Lúa Descolorida? What does the compser seek to express here? What insights do the materials and links on NPR’s Golijov’s Passions web page provide?
- Written when the composer was 97, Caténaires points to the unrepentant modernism that has long been a hallmark of Elliott Carter’s music. What features of this work are typical of postwar modernism? of serialism? How did Chopin’s music influence this piano work? What is unusual about Carter’s handling of 12-note chords?
- In recent works, John Adams has moved even further away from traditional minimalism than he did in Short Ride in a Fast Machine, and a strong lyrical element has emerged. What features of Adams’s Doctor Atomic are typical of minimalism? of postminimalism? of neither? In “Batter my heart,” what connection can you find with the Baroque da capo aria? What is Oppenheimer feeling at this moment? Why is it significant that Adams used this Donne sonnet as the text for this aria? What is significant about the sonnet’s references to the Trinity? What is Adams trying to express? Is Oppenheimer a modern-day Faust or not? What insights does the Doctor Atomic page on Adams’s website provide?
- At a time when emerging contemporary composers struggle to get performances, Jennifer Higdon’s blue cathedral has been a smash hit, receiving more than 600 performances by orchestras around the world. What elements make this music accessible? What elements are modernist? What does the composer want to express in this work? Is this program music? Why so many performances? What insights do Higdon’s program notes provide?
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