The Mighty Handful

  1. Who were the Rubinstein brothers?
    • Anton Grogoryevich and Nikolai
    • Two Russian Muscians who for were influencial in the development in music becoming acseible in Russia
  2. In what two cities did they host concerts and eventuall build music schools.
    • Moscow and St. Petersburg. 
    • Anton in St. Petersburg, Nikolai in Moscow
  3. Which of the brothers was a virtuoso pianist, conductor and composer
    Anton
  4. Which 3 musicians did the Rubinstein brothers devote concerts to
    Beethoven, Schumann and Mendelssohn
  5. In what year was the Petersburg conservatory founded? And the Moscow?
    1862 and 1866
  6. From which country were proffessors for the conservatories hired 
    Everywhere but specifically Germany
  7. What contributed to Anton's uncomfortabl return into Russian borders
    Boarder gurads stopped him and required his position in russia. He said self-aspiring artist.They didnt recognize this and didn't let him enter the country ill he mentioned his father was a merchant of teh second rank
  8. Who held objections to the Rubinsteins work
    nationalist, they saw the conservatories as foreign, and that they would distort Russian music and culture 
  9. Who were the 6 members of the mighty handful
    Mily Balakirev (1837-1910), Modest Mussgorsky (1839-81), Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1884-1908), Alexander Borodin (1833-87), Cesar Cui (1835-1918) and Vladimir Stasov
  10. What was the handful called in english? What was wrong with this name
    The Five. this left out the member of Stasov, who wasn't a musician
  11. What was Stasov's job within the handful
    Held a leading role in the groups ideas he was a critic and promoted the group with great passion. Denigrated Rivals
  12. Where does the story fo the handful begin
    1850s with the meeting of Balakirev and Stasov
  13. Who did Balakirev meet, who incouraged him to continue musical composition
    Glinka
  14. Balakirev sought an original style, which was in charge of doing what in the music
    Had to convince it was in Russian language (original) and win prestige as international music
  15. by which decade did the group form
    1860s
  16. Wo was the first joined member of the handful? what was his job at the time
    Ceaser Cui, who worked in military fortifications: interested in opera in his free time
  17. Who was the second joined member of the handful? What was his job at the time
    Modest Mussgorsky was a army officer who played piano, but just to entertain female company with his polkas
  18. Who was the third member joined? What was his job at the time
    Then the naval officer Korsakov wwho did composition between his tours of duty
  19. Who was the last joined member of the handufl? What was his job at the time of joining
    Alexander Borodin, who was on his way to becoming a famous chemist. He played he cello
  20. Why was it not surprising they were all musical ameratures except for Balakirev
    Musicians couldn't, at the time make a generous living. (Balakirev was poor and made moeny giving tutoring lessons)
  21. What did Stasov refer to the handful as in the 1860s
    moguchaya kuchka (the mighty little heap)
  22. Who guided the group? Who was the musical leader?
    Stasov the guide and Balakirev he musical leader
  23. Althougth the group was talented, what did they lack
    Grounding for long scale composition techniques and large scale serious works
  24. How was Balakirev in term of the idea of the conservatory
    anticonservatory: 
  25. From which artists did Balakirev draw from for the group to study? Which did he avoid and why
    Beethoven, Schumann, Berlioz, Listz and Glinka. He wanted to avoid Mendelssohn, he held all the worst properties of German "routine" 
  26. What was the rule in which composers had to follow for the group to study them
    They had to be progressive and oringal 
  27. In which way did Balakirev explain musical theory
    idiosyncratic way
  28. What type of over the top work were Korsakov and Borodin asked to do by Balakirev
    Were told to make a symphony. Borodin had already tried his hands at a sonata, Korsakov floundered and had to get advice from Balalkirev
  29. How did Balakirev help with the early works of the composers
    His tasks were rediculous, but he would serve as a critic of their music and if the problems were above the members he would fix them and put his on music in their pieces, leaving his name out of it
  30. How did Balakirev shape his pupils compistional style
    To avoid traditional cliches by European composers. 
  31. What did Balakirev despise about Mendelssohn? What was he weary about in Chopins music? 
    His smooth musical periods. He thought Chopin was too sickly and sentimental
  32. What did Balakirev value in Beethoven and Schumann
    use of motives with strong rythmic profile and the freedom of forms
  33. What did Balakirev value about Berlioz and Lizsts
    ability to write program music and painting of characters and events with music
  34. What became the trade mark of Borodin
    Unusual harmonies, specificall the unresovled seconds
  35. What was the problem with the way balakirev tought 
    Composers usually gained background from common material, forming the back drop to their music. BALAKIREV HAD NONE OF THAT BULL SHIT
  36. The unleft works of the Handful were often completed by which member
    Korsakov
  37. What "bread and butter" harmony was avoided by the hadful. How did they alter it
    IV-V-I which was used widely in Europe. They though of going from IV-I or using distorted V's
  38. What was a source of fresh, non-Western music
    Russian folk songs
  39. How did Balakirev get his hands on Russian folk songs, what did he do with them
    Second hand from cultured connoisseurs, he edited and published what he collected in 1866 into a collection of 40
  40. What did Balakirev restrict the harmonic palette too
    The diotonic, avoiding the leading notes in minor keys and used plain triads instead of seventh cords
  41. Give a description of the Orential style (here it's from and what it is)
    Musical idioms from Georgia, Armenia and Turkic people. It gave the handful the chance to distance themselves from western music
  42. What Balakirev piece used Oriental Style? What variation did he use? What type of figurations?
    Islamey 1869 inspired by Casucasian folk bands. using Glinka's changing background variation and extension of Lisztian virtuoso figurations
  43. What Oriental piece did Korsakov known for? What is it based off
    a syphonic suite Antar (1868) from an eastern fairtale
  44. What was an example of Borodin using the Oriental style
    His Polovstian dacnes in his opera Prince Igor
  45. What was the third source of inspiration after the Russian adn Oriental idioms
    Glinka's oeurve
  46. What type of idiom was Korsakov drawn by? What was the scale he somtimes used and the name of the one he created
    fairytales and supernatural. He used Glinka's whole-tone scale but used his own alternating semitones and tones. This came to be known as Korsakov Scale 
  47. What was the Korsakov scale known as in the west What is different about it
    Octatonic Scale with has eight notes instead of the common seven
  48. In what tye of music is the Octatonic Scale still used
    Modern jazz music
  49. Why does Korsakov use the scale
    suspend the rules of tonality
  50. In which two pieces did Korsakov use the Octatonic scale in
    To represent the underwater kingdom in his symphony Sadko and later in the opera of the same name. Also in depiction of the evil sorcerer Kashchei the Deathless in the eponymous opera
  51. What is Korsakov's Sheherazade compared to?
    • Balakirev's Tamara. In fact it's thought  Balakirev copied Korsakov.
    • KORSAKOV VIOLEN. BALAKIREV CLAIRINET
Author
ReXx24
ID
178037
Card Set
The Mighty Handful
Description
The events and development of the Might Handful
Updated