Entry Of The Gods Into Valhalla Analysis

Though Richard Wagner is primarily known for his orchestral works, many of his piece have made their way into the wind band repertoire. Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral is a piece that takes place in the opera Lohengrin. In this scene, Elsa is in the midst of getting married to an unknown knight that has saved her from being accused

On November 15, 205 at 2pm I was able to see the Rutgers Percussion Ensemble. I was very interested in this show, because I have never been able to see a group of only percussionists perform in the same space. The first piece they did was called Ionisation, which was written in 1929. There were thirteen musicians on stage playing various instruments. This song began with a rolling unpitched sound coming from four snare drums with the claves. This idea was an interesting start, because it caught the audience’s attention to really listen to what was going to happen next. Then the song, went into a lighter more atmospheric section, where there were many crescendos and decrescendos. The instruments in the piece included the chimes, maracas, timpani,

Music is universal, and we all use it for different reasons. It can help you get through a bad day, cheer you up, and it even enhances the mind. What about literature? Usually, when an author refers to a song in literature, the reader doesn’t think too much of it. However, a closer look at the text may change your view. For example, author Julie Otsuka uses this element in her the novel, When the Emperor was Divine. This novel is set during World War II. It is about a Japanese family sent to the internment camps because of the American prejudice towards their people. The author includes a lot of vaguely written details, including the main characters’ names. So, the reader relies on indirect characterization and symbolism to comprehend the story and the characters within it. One example of this symbolism is the musical aspect that the author decides to include, the songs. Through the songs and the context in which they are used, the author establishes the mood, provides the reader with better

In the first video the composer Hector Berlioz is mentioned as well as his Symphony Fantastique. The symphony was inspired on the legend of Faust; it tells the story of a man that sold his soul to the devil in return for both knowledge and earthly pleasure. At the 7:00 mark “La traviata” is mentioned, which was an opera that talked about a love affair climaxing in a tragic death. The composer of this piece was Giuseppe Verdi, but it was not the only opera he composed, in fact they were 28 operas starting with Nabucco (1842) and ending up with Falstaff (1893) a half a century later. Franz Liszt is a composer and piano master discussed at 12:15. There are 6 innovations

Dr. Sheri Neill introduces herself and explains that she has different degrees in music and education from Texas Tech University, Stephan F. Austin University, and University of Missouri. Then she introduces Cheryl Lemmons, which is the pianist that was sitting at the piano located right front of the stage. There was a choir that was located center stage with the conductor directly in front of them. The choir consist of only women, which seemed to be alto and soprano singers. They began with their first piece “Wir Eilen Mit Schwachen, Doch Emsigen Schritten” written by S.J Bach. The song starts with the piano playing a nice melody as an introduction, which has a steady beat as well as steady tempo. Then the sopranos began singing softly with the altos following behind imitating and singing the words with a lower pitch. The piece seemed mostly polyphonic, yet there are many times when it is homophonic and

The poem, Dirge Without Music, by Edna St. Vincent Millay, is expressing that a loss of a loved one can be difficult to overcome.

The beat of the song is regular , even and repetitive as well, the rhythm is so energetic and danceable. The song has a steady beat and the speed is allegro which means it is at a jogging pace. Talking about dynamics , the volume is not consistent . It is loud at the beginning and it goes quitter at the end. The drop in dynamics does add to the interpretations of the song. And the texture of the song is homophonic and it does not change throughout the

The last piece of the performance was Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Opus 54, written by Dmitri Shostakovich. This piece also has three movements, and they are Largo, Allegro, and Presto. The piece starts off with a homophonic texture, followed by several changes in tempo and dynamics. The middle of the piece was mostly very quiet and slow. The piece ended very loudly and intensely with a extremely quick tempo.

It features two main themes, plus many melodic episodes. The structure - in A-B-A form - is clearly identifiable through the themes that mark each of the sections: the lyrical melody that opens the work, the exciting piu animato that ends with a demanding cadenza, and the final recapitulation that is followed by a cheeky and vivacious codetta that brings the work to a dramatic close. Possessing a memorable melodic theme, the piece tests the performer through the unending phrases, virtuosic c and the resultant nimble fingerwork required. It has remained one of the great standards amongst the

First of all, the piece is quite interesting as a prelude – an introductory piece of music as it start off with dynamic and vibrant sounds that include the whole ensemble. This piece is structured as a three-part or ternary form which consists of ABA’ form. The idea of this piece is mainly act as an introductory of a story because this piece is only an excerpt from a bigger orchestral performance. From what I have heard, the solo performance is mainly comprise of the woodwind instruments in part B that indicated the slight sign of relief and calmness. The piece has a lot of variation where the composer include different timbres and dynamics such as the high dynamic structure during the first and the last part with the associating crashes of cymbals. The piece comprise of many musical instrument particularly string, brass, and woodwinds. The composer also use repetition in composing as the first part is repeated at the end of the piece, but with more sophisticated dynamics and timbre. In my opinion, the piece by Richard Wagner is a very good example for the topic of Basic Musical Concept that introduce many essential parts like referential listeners and structure of

I’d like to take it a step further, however, and say that the opening song in The Sound of Music does a fantastic job of matching the imagery and communicates the drama in a clear manner. The beginning lyrics are as follows: “The hills are alive with the sound of music…with songs they have sung for a thousand years. The hills fill my heart with the sound of music…my heart wants to sing every song it hears.” What beautiful words! As Julie Andrews uses her sweet voice to bring words written on paper to life, she sings, “the hills are alive with the sound of music”, and the imagery indeed shows that they have sung for a thousand years. The music sung is effective in its support of her actions as she then takes a breath, puts her hand near her heart, and beautifully sings once more, “the hills fill my heart with the sound of music; my heart wants to sing every song it hears.” You can tell by the end of the piece that she means every word she

I Dreamed a Dream is a soliloquy piece, sung by Fantine during act one of Les Misérables (1980). Fantine has just been fired from her factory job after it is discovered that she has an illegitimate child and takes to selling herself on the streets to pay for medicine for her daughter. It is here that ‘I Dreamed a Dream,’ is sung as a way of progressing the story and providing a realisation by the character of her unfortunate situation in life with the song being composed as a way of expressing the feelings of Fantine as she wonders where her life went so wrong as to descend to her present predicament. Throughout the song an anguished, during and impoverished Fantine reminisces on happier days and descends back to the harsh reality that is her hopeless life.

There were many musical elements heard throughout these pieces and it was interesting to hear how they varied in each song and suite. In Intermezzo, it began with a quieter violin solo melody creating a monophonic texture. Soon after, it became accompanied by the other violins and cellos, then the full ensemble came in creating a moderate, flowing melody at about mezzo forte and switching to a polyphonic texture. Next, there was a harp solo at forte with many crescendos and decrescendos. The full ensemble enters again raising the dynamics to forte before decrescendoing and slowing down to end with a held note and final tone. The first movement of the Swan Lake Suite, Scene, which began with the violins playing with an oboe solo on top. The oboe was playing various crescendos and decrescendos at a mezzo piano dynamic and the tempo was moderate. This ends with the high woodwinds playing a string of the melody, passing it to the low brass with the strings very quietly in the background and then what seemed to be a diminuendo. The second movement of the Swan Lake

The Well Tuned Piano is a piece for solo piano and the entire duration of the work is 6 and a half hours. The music is composed of Just Intonation and is improvised by the composer La Monte Young. The composer also performs himself. During the song, the modern concert grand piano is played in just intonation pure toning. The sounds are completely controlled, and the composer exploits the constitution of pitch. In the beginning of the song, the low toned notes are played powerfully. The notes continue naturally and the flow is uniformity. According to the professor, Just Intonation is a musical tuning in which all frequencies are tuned as ratios of small whole number ratios to a single unified fundamental. At 3:20, the second part begins after

Debussy broke the mold so to speak in the 20th century of music by breaking away from the typical German style laid out by composers such as Beethoven as he often explored dreamy and distant sound worlds in an effort to stand out amongst his earlier peers of the classical period. He began to be drawn to the sounds of the pentatonic scales, whole tone scale, and sounds otherwise known in Asia as his music in comparison often contained a rather circular motion which broke away from the formers heroic cadential style of resolution. This breaks his music away as his was more of an ambient and distant much like the impressionist art movement happening at the same time being led by the likes of Monet and Van Gough. The Sunken Cathedral by Debussy exhibits many traits of the new impressionistic forum of 20th century composers as he exhibits many methods to place the listener into a dream-like state using melodic variation and connectivity amongst voice leading in order to achieve a watery type effect. This effect makes the listener feel as if they are floating along with the piece itself as he adds complexities to the music with the slow harmonic variation throughout the piece.