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What is neoclassicism?
- Around the end of WWI (1918) we see, for the first time, a conscious break with tradition
- Some aspects that changed with end of WWI Music was no longer meant to be "emotional"
- sentimentality/nature are no longer valid subject matters
- Music was now just about music.. not about representing things
- Music that assimilates pre-Romantic ideas
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What is a musical style that came about at the end of WWI? The style was no longer meant to be emotional, music was just about music.
Neoclassicism
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History of Stravinsky
- Stravinsky in 1913 - continued a little bit on his "Russian" path
- Communists then took over Stravinsky's heritage
- Soviet Union did not sign any international copyright agreements until 1970
- No money for Igor...wanted to break with his "Russian" style
- 1914 - moved to Switzerland 1920 - moved to Paris
- In addition to rejection of Romantic aesthetics, romantic performance practices were also rejected
- Stravinsky rejects strings - sees them as "cold" and dehumanizing
- Stravinsky takes on an active roll as performer
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Les Noces
- Genre: Ballet
- Artist: Stravinsky
- "The Wedding"
- all music is Russian-folk based
- all text is Russian-folk based
- Maximalization of orchestrational ideas from Rite
- 1913-1923
- Last work for Ballets Russes
- Ear-tag
- Percussion and chorus.. with random vocal soloists
- This was really a curveball ("a bad joke" said the press)"
- Noone could possibly have forseen that this would have been made by Stravinsky and that it would have been so influential" - Copland
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Ballet, last one for Ballets Russes, maximalization of orchestration from Rite, "a bad joke". Composition and Composer?
Les Noces - Stravinsky
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Octet for Winds
- Genre: Octet
- Composer: Stravinsky
- 3 mvmts
- Sinfonia
- Variations
- Finale
- abstract forms and harmonic relationships
- overuse of classical and baroque gestures - trills, ornaments
- This was all about the music - as abstract as possible. No meaning intended.
- Basically a commentary on all these romantic ideas - a lot of parody and irony.
- overuse of forms - and clarity of forms is primary
- 1st mvmt VERY clear sonata form, almost clearer than Haydn
- 3rd mvmt bossa nova-ish foxtrot
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3 movement work, overuse of classical and baroque gestures; all about the music - as abstract as possible. Clearer sonata form than Haydn. Composer and Composition?
Stravinsky - Octet for Winds
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Symphonies d'instruments a vent (Symphonies for Wind Instruments)
- Genre: Symphony
- Composer: Stravinsky
- Rejecting Russian and romantic aesthetics
- The Symphonies of Wind Instruments is a concert work written by Igor Stravinsky in 1920, for an ensemble of woodwind and brass instruments.
- One movement.
- Dedicated to the memory of Claude Debussy, who died in 1918
- premiered in London in 1921
- Conducted by Serge Koussevitzky.
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An example of rejection of Russian and romantic aesthetics, dedicated to Claude Debussy, premiered in London in 1921, one movement work. Composition and Composer?
Symphonies for Wind Instruments - Stravinsky
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"Les six"
- Group of six composers:
- Georges Auric
- Darius Milhaud
- Arthur Honegger
- Francis Poulenc
- Germaine Taileferre
- Louis Durey
- Tried to make entirely French music (no outside influences) (except Jazz)
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What is the name of the group of composers that tried to make entirely French music?
"Les Six"
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Jean Cocteau
- Did the scenario for Satie’s "Parade"
- Said tha young French composers should not be influenced by Debussy
- Encouraged young composers to follow Satie’s musical aesthetics
- Broke new ground with film
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Who was the man that did the scenario for Satie's "Parade"? He also discouraged French composers from following Debussy, and instead influenced them to follow Satie.
Jean Cocteau
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Pablo Picasso
Artist who did costumes and props for Satie's "Parade"
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Who was the artist who did costumes and props for Satie's "Parade"?
Pablo Picasso
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Francis Poulenc
- 1899-1963
- Very rich, aristocratic family
- Initially the music is so simple and influenced by jazz, and a little Stravinskian harmony
- People thought he was a nobody
- By 1920, compositional maturity hit Francis
- He played into satire and irony that was a big fad at the time
- 1944 Returned to "Lifestyle Modernism" (see Les Biches)
- First opera: Les mamelles de Tiresias
- Apollinaire coined the term "surrealism": he wrote the play that the opera is based on
- No person had ever wrote an opera with so much attention to breasts than Poulenc
- Premiered at the Opera Comique in 1947
- Denise Duval - sang the lead role, had a relationship with Poulenc
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Name the composer who wrote in "Lifestyle modernism" or "surrealism"; he wrote Les Mamelles de Tiresias; he wrote Les Biches; had a relationship with Denise Duval
Francis Poulenc
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Apollinaire
Coined the term "surrealism." Wrote the play Les Memelles de Tiresias
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Denise Duval
sang the lead role in Les Mamelles de Tiresias; Francis Poulenc's lover.
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Who coined the term "surrealism"? He also wrote the play Les Mamelles de Tiresias.
Apollinaire
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Who sang the lead role in Les Mamelles de Tiresias? She was also Francis Poulenc's lover.
Denise Duval
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Les Biches
- "The doe's"
- Genre: Ballet
- Composer: Francis Poulenc
- 1924 in Monte Carlo
- Plotless
- Girls flirt with dudes in bathing suits
- Three styles
- 18th Century dance suite (pre-Romantic music)
- French 'classical' ballet of early 19th century
- Contemporary dance hall music
- "Stylistic promiscuity" - Represented that in plot and music
- Incorporated at random
- "Lifestyle Modernism"
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"Lifestyle Modernism"
- Exact opposite of expressionism
- Void of emotional depth, only superficial
- Composers realize this is kind of a dead-end musically
- Poulenc moved away from it until 1944
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Ballet, premiered in 1924 in Monte Carlo, plotless, three dance styles, reflected "lifestyle modernism", about girls flirting with dudes in bathing suits. Composer and Composition?
Les Biches - Francis Poulenc
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