PSODY
RHA
F O R MS
-LESS ”
“FORM
“FORMLESS” FORMS
! Pieces that have no set structure
! Consist of one section, or…
! Consist of a series of seemingly “random”
sections
! Imitate improvisations, or the feeling of
improvisation
Johann Sebastian BACH
(1685-1750)
1685-1750
! 1685- 1703: Youth
! 1703-17: WEIMAR
! 1717-1723: CÖTHEN
! 1723-1750: LEIPZIG
1703-17: WEIMAR
1703-17: WEIMAR
! In Weimar, Bach hired as organist
! Writes the bulk of his organ music,
including the TOCCATA and FUGUE
in D minor
1717-1723: CÖTHEN
1717-1723: CÖTHEN
! Hired by the Prince of Cöthen to
write chamber music
! Writes the bulk of his chamber
music here, including his
! Cello Suites (There are 6)
Baroque Music is…
! Hyper-Emotional
! Mimics Movement (especially Dancing)
! Dramatic Emotion
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Pluto and Persephone
PRELUDE from
Cello Suite No. 1
! PRELUDE = Introductory Piece
! Exploratory - “Warming Up” pieces
! Improvised in 17th and 18th Centuries
! Written down to imitate (or notate)
improvised preludes
PRELUDE from
Bach Cello Suite No. 1
! The Cello Suites are sets of dances
! Allemande, Courante, Sarabande,
Gigue
! Each set is introduced by a PRELUDE
PRELUDE from
Bach Cello Suite No. 1
! Many of Bach’s preludes are a series
of CHORDS explored in a RHYTHMIC
PATTERN
First page of the Prelude to
Cello Suite No. 1
written out by Bach’s wife
Anna Magdalena
She had 13 children with
Johann Sebastian Bach
Cellist Mischa Maisky
TOCCATA and FUGUE
in D minor
! TOCCATA from the Italian word
Toccare or “To Touch”
! Freeform pieces that show the range
and capabilities of the instrument
! Usually paired with another piece
TOCCATA and FUGUE
in D minor
! Rather than the CHORD PATTERNS
of his preludes, Bach’s toccatas are
a SERIES OF DRAMATIC GESTURES
and MOODS
ORGAN
! “King” of Instruments: Expensive,
Large
! Difficult to play: Multiple keyboards
as well as pedal boards
! Bellows worked by hand
Handles to
engage different
pipes
3
Keyboards
Pedal
board
Two men
pumping an
organ bellows
Organist Hans-Andre Stamm in the Stadkirche, Waltershausen
George GERSHWIN
George GERSHWIN
1898-1937
! Born in Russian Jewish immigrant family in New
York
! Begins musical career as a “song plugger” in Tin
Pan Alley for $15 a week
! Writes songs with brother Ira (lyricist), and
publishes first song when 17
TIN PAN ALLEY
! West 28th Street between 5th and 6th Avenue in
New York
! Home of many music publishers
! Begun around 1885, and reached its peak in
1930s
George GERSHWIN
1898-1937
! First big hit “Swanee” for singer Al Jolson
! Writes a series of hit musicals: Funny Face,
Strike Up the Band, Girl Crazy, Of Thee I Sing
! Composes his first “serious work,” Rhapsody in
Blue in 1924
George GERSHWIN
1898-1937
! Moves to Paris and studies with Nadia Boulanger
! Writes opera Porgy and Bess in 1935. The work
is a failure.
! Moves to Hollywood in 1936 to compose for films
! Dies from brain tumor
ART DECO
! Style of Art developed after WW I in France
! Characterized by bold colors, graphic design,
geometric shapes
! Obsessed with imagery of technology, speed,
and modernity
Chrysler Building
Golden Gate Bridge (1937)
Paramount Theater, Oakland (1931)
Chrysler
Building
(1930)
1939 Bugatti
RHAPSODY in BLUE
! Rhapsody derived from Greek word the
performer (Rhapsodos) of epic poetry, such as
the Illiad or the Odyssey
! Rhapsoidein = “to sew songs together”
! Refers to the semi-improvisatory nature of epic
recitations
RHAPSODY in BLUE
! Rhapsody in music is a one-movement piece in a
series of episodes and meant to be experienced
as semi-improvisatory
RHAPSODY in BLUE
! Written in 1924 in 5 weeks
! Gershwin was asked for a piece by jazz band
leader Paul Whiteman for a experimental jazz
concert in Aeolian Hall (a bastion of classical
music)
! Gershwin declines
RHAPSODY in BLUE
! His brother Ira read article in New York Times
entitled “What is American Music?” announcing
that George was working on a “jazz concerto”
! George contacts Whiteman, who tells him that
another composer is attempting to preempt
Whiteman’s idea for selling jazz as “America’s
Classical Music”
RHAPSODY in BLUE
! Gershwin agrees to write a piece for piano and
orchestra
! Gets the ideas for the piece on a train ride to
Boston
“It was on the train, with its steely rhythms, its rattle-ly bang, that
is so often so stimulating to a composer – I frequently hear music
in the very heart of the noise....
And there I suddenly heard, and even saw on paper – the
complete construction of the Rhapsody, from beginning to end.
No new themes came to me, but I worked on the thematic material
already in my mind and tried to conceive the composition as a
whole.
I heard it as a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America, of our
vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our
metropolitan madness. By the time I reached Boston I had a
definite plot of the piece, as distinguished from its actual
substance.”
RHAPSODY in BLUE
! Gershwin writes the piece out for two pianos
(the second as the orchestra part), and the
second piano is orchestrated by Ferde Grofé for
Whiteman’s orchestra in 8 days
! One section was left unwritten, and Gershwin
improvised it during the performance
RHAPSODY in BLUE
! The Whiteman Aeolian Hall Performance historic
for jazz and American music
! Concert was long—26 pieces—and Rhapsody in
Blue was second to last (after Elgar’s Pomp and
Circumstance March No 1!)
! The Rhapsody was the hit of the concert
RHAPSODY in BLUE
! Gershwin’s “plot of the piece” is in 3 sections
! Fast, Slow, Fast—like a typical concerto—with
the addition of a slow introduction
! Piece is continuous with no breaks
RHAPSODY in BLUE
INTRODUCTION
FAST SECTION 1
SLOW SECTION
FAST SECTION 2
RHAPSODY in BLUE
SLOW INTRODUCTION
00:00 Opening Clarinet Glissando: Theme 1 “Blues” Theme
00:39 Hint of Theme 2, “Pile Driver” Theme, in brass)
00:53 Blues Theme in solo muted trumpet
01:03 Blues Theme (Tutti)
01:19 Piano transition
01:38 Piano Cadenza I
02:11 Blues Theme (piano) with orchestral comments
03:00 Piano transition
03:20 Piano Cadenza II
FAST SECTION 1
3:41 Blues Theme in whole orchestra (in tempo)
RHAPSODY in BLUE
4:13 Dance Theme in brass with piano decorations
4:38 Transition (clarinet)
4:52 Pile Driver Theme tutti (with commentary by brass)
5:19 Transition (Blues Theme) solo clarinet, solo trumpet
5:40 Train Theme in tutti with saxophones, build up
6:39 Piano Cadenza III
6:57 Pile Driver Theme in solo piano
7:38 Transition in solo piano
7:53 Pile Driver Theme in solo piano
8:39 Blues Theme (solo piano) + orchestra
9:48 Train Theme in piano
10:00 Train Theme transition, accelerando version
11:29 Transition
RHAPSODY in BLUE
SLOW SECTION
11:44 Romantic Theme in tutti Orchestra
13:29 Transition; piano musing
13:57 Romantic Theme in solo piano version
14:37 Transition
RHAPSODY in BLUE
FAST SECTION 2
14:50 “Jack Hammer” Theme in solo piano
15:57 Jack Hammer theme in piano
+ Variant of Romantic Theme in orchestra
16:30 Final push (cadenza)
16:56 Pile Driver Theme
17:26 Blues Theme (orchestra)
17:38 Coda
TERMS to KNOW
! Prelude ! Rhapsodos
! Suite ! Rhapsody
! Toccata, toccare ! Glissando
! “King of Instruments” ! Cadenza
! Baroque ! Tin Pan Alley
! Art Deco ! Song Plugger
PIECES to KNOW
! J. S. Bach, Prelude to Cello Suite No. 1 in G
major (Track 96,The 99 Most Essential Classical
Pieces)
! J. S. Bach, Toccata in D minor (Track 11,The 99
Most Essential Classical Pieces)
! George Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue (Track 86,
The 99 Most Essential Classical Pieces)