Final paper assignment:
Pick a piece of classical music (this encompasses a period of roughly 1,000 years, from the 11th century to the present day,
although most likely you will be looking at music written primarily between roughly 1700 and 1970 or so) with a vocal part
and a text. This can be in any genre: song (primarily voice and piano), choral, small ensemble, opera. Write about the use of
word painting in the piece you chose. How does the composer use music to highlight and enhance the meaning of the text?
Be specific. Point to specific places in the music and the text, exact measure numbers, and describe the music in technical
terms and how it relates to the text. Things to think about: rhythm, dynamics, patterns, harmony, melodic contour, texture,
instrumentation, etc. “It sounds sad to me” is insufficient; explain why. Be technical, and most importantly, again, be specific.
You can write about a limited spot in the music, or, conversely, about something that occurs throughout the piece. The exact
length of the section you write about is not as important as how convincing and specific your analysis is. However, do not
write a general summary of an entire 3-hour-long opera or oratorio. Pick a movement of a larger work, or even a section of
a movement, or a short song instead.
Wikipedia article on word painting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_painting#:~:text=Word%20painting%20(also%20known%20as,would%20accompany%
20lyrics%20about%20death
Dedicate roughly a page to a brief biography of the composer and a background on the piece you chose. You might also
briefly mention which recording(s) you listened to and which you prefer the most, and why. The rest of the paper should be
your own analysis of the music. Include a marked-up score with your paper when you submit.
3-5 pages, double spaced. Cite your sources in Turabian format. For help with research, citations, and writing in general, use
the Writing Center at Brooklyn College.
I suggest the following strategy: start looking for a piece of music now, and get the “research portion” out of the way. Then,
finish your analysis closer to the end of the semester, when you have more of the theoretical knowledge necessary to analyze
music.
You will be graded first and foremost on the depth and thoroughness of your analysis, as well as the completion of all other
requirements and the clarity and quality of your writing.
Resources:
www.imslp.org – online music library; the sheet music for nearly anything that is not under copyright protection anymore
can be found here
www.lieder.net – massive database of poetry that has been set to music, with translations
www.oxfordlieder.co.uk/songs – similar to above
www.emmanuelmusic.org – a useful site for specifically Bach, with translations of the text of all his vocal works
Online article databases: JSTOR, RILM, Brooklyn College and CUNY library systems
Wikipedia usually has separate articles titled “List of compositions by composer”, often arranged conveniently by genre.
This is another good place to look.
To help you start, here are some suggestions of major composers and some examples of their vocal works. The most common
languages you will encounter are German, Italian, Russian, French, and English. This is not even close to an exhaustive list,
whether of composers or their works, so feel free to choose something else entirely. Feel free to contact me with any
questions.
Johann Sebastian Bach – the St. Matthew and St. John Passions, Christmas Oratorio, Easter Oratorio, Magnificat, the Mass in
B minor, and, of course, 200 cantatas.
George Friderich Handel – 42 operas, 25 oratorios (of which Messiah is the most well-known), over 120 cantatas, various
arias
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – operas (some of the most well-known: Marriage of Figaro, Magic Flute, Idomeneo, Don
Giovanni, etc), Mass in C minor, Requiem
Ludwig van Beethoven – his opera Fidelio, choral works, songs (for example the song cycle An die ferne Geliebte)
Karl Maria von Weber – opera (Der Freischütz)
Franz Schubert – over 600 songs (“Lieder” in German), which include the song cycles Winterreise, Die schöne Müllerin,
Schwanengesang, and hundreds of individual songs, operas (these are less well-known)
Robert Schumann – another prolific composer of Lieder (the cycle Dichterliebe, individual songs)
Johannes Brahms – prolific composer of Lieder(cycles such as Die schöne Magelone as well as individual songs), Ein Deutsches
Requiem (A German Requiem)
Franz Liszt – Lieder
Hector Berlioz – opera (The Damnation of Faust)
Giuseppe Verdi – operas (Aida, Falstaff, Otello, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata), Requiem
Richard Wagner – operas (Der Fliegende Holländer, Tristan und Isolde, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Die Meistersinger von
Nürnberg, Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung, Parsifal)
Giacomo Puccini – operas (Turandot, La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly)
Mikhail Glinka – opera (Ivan Susanin)
Modest Mussorgsky – songs (the song cycles Songs and Dances of Death, The Nursery¸for example), two operas (Boris
Godunov, Khovanschina)
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – operas (The Golden Cockerel, Sadko, Kashchey the Deathless, The Legend of the Invisible City of
Kitezh, The Tale of Tsar Saltan, The Tsar’s Bride, etc), songs
Pyotr Tchaikovsky – songs, operas (The Queen of Spades, Eugene Onegin, Iolanta)
Sergei Rachmaninoff – one opera (Aleko), numerous songs
Claude Debussy – various songs
Maurice Ravel – various songs
Richard Strauss – operas (Salome, Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier), Lieder
Gustav Mahler – Lieder (the cycles Kindertotenlieder, Des Knaben Wunderhorn), Das Lied von der Erde
Sergei Prokofiev – operas (War and Peace, The Love for Three Oranges, Semyon Kotko, The Story of a Real Man), Alexander
Nevsky Cantata, Peter and the Wolf, various songs
Dmitri Shostakovich – operas (The Nose, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District), various songs
Benjamin Britten – operas (Peter Grimes, The Rape of Lucretia, Albert Herring, Billy Budd, The Turn of the Screw), War
Requiem, various songs
Igor Stravinsky – operas (The Rake’s Progress)
0 comments