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B: Western Art Music

  • Page ID
    92213
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    This appendix is designed to assist instructors who seek to craft alternative pathways through this textbook. In particular, it will facilitate the design of a chronologically-ordered music appreciation course focused on Western art music. Under the heading “Western Art Music,” such works are first grouped according to their respective style periods (see also the accompanying figure, “A Timeline of Western Art Music”) and then listed alphabetically (by the last name of their composer(s) in most cases, by some other designator in the others). Additionally, listed under “Other Musical Works,” instructors designing the type of course mentioned above will find relevant works of Western folk music and popular music, non-Western music, and cross-cultural music. List entries beginning with an asterisk (*) are works mentioned but not discussed at length; all other works listed are covered in great depth and are represented by an official listening example. Each entry includes the work’s date(s) of composition, premiere, or publication and the chapter(s) in which the work is mentioned.

    The style-period dates given in this guide are widely accepted and correspond to those used in “A Timeline of Western Art Music.” On this timeline, each style period is represented by a semi-oval proportional in size to its period’s duration. Because the evolution of musical style takes place over time, each period fades gradually into the next. This process produces smaller, transitional periods of varying lengths (the overlapping areas of the semi-ovals), within which the dates of the large style periods are positioned (though not necessarily centered). During these transitional periods, older composers writing in a fully developed style are working concurrently with the avant-garde, a younger generation of composers innovating toward the emerging style. At the apex of each semi-oval there appears a date marking a significant milestone in the period.

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    The Medieval Era (450–1400)

    • Countess of Dia, “A chantar m’er” [I must sing] (ca. 1200) (chapter 8)
    • * Dies irae [Day of wrath], the sequence of the Requiem Mass (chapter 6) Hildegard of Bingen, “O virtus Sapientiae” [O strength of Wisdom] (ca. 1150)
    • (chapter 11)
    • * Hildegard of Bingen, Ordo virtutum [Order of the virtues] (ca. 1150) (chapter 11)

    The Renaissance Era (1400–1600)

    • John Dowland, “Flow, My Tears” (1600) (chapter 8)
    • John Dowland, Lachrimae, or Seven Tears (1604) (chapter 8)
    • * John Dowland, Lachrimae (1596) (chapter 8)
    • Giovanni da Palestrina, Missa Papae Marcelli [Pope Marcellus Mass] (published 1567) (chapter 11)

    The Baroque Era (1600–1750)

    • * Johann Sebastian Bach, Die Kunst der Fuge [The art of fugue] (completed 1749; published 1751) (chapter 11)
    • Johann Sebastian Bach, Fugue in G minor (“Little”), BWV 578 (composed by 1707) (chapter 11)
    • Johann Sebastian Bach, Six Suites for Solo Cello, BWV 1007–12 (ca. 1720) (chapter 12)
    • * Johann Sebastian Bach, St. Matthew Passion (performed 1727) (chapter 11)
    • Johann Sebastian Bach, Wachet auf [Sleepers, wake], BWV 140 (1731) (chapter 11; see also chapter 10)
    • * Johann Sebastian Bach, Das wohltemperierte Klavier [The well-tempered clavier], Book 1 (1722) and Book 2 (1742) (chapter 11)
    • * Giulio Caccini, Euridice (1602) (chapter 4)
    • * George Frideric Handel, L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato [The cheerful person, the thoughtful person, and the moderate person] (1740) (chapter 2)
    • * George Frideric Handel, Water Music (premiered 1717) (chapter 4)
    • * George Frideric Handel, Music for the Royal Fireworks (performed 1749) (chapter 4)
    • Claudio Monteverdi, L’Orfeo [Orpheus] (1607) (chapter 4; see also chapter 10)
    • * Jacopo Peri, Dafne (1597) (chapter 4)
    • * Jacopo Peri, Euridice (1600) (chapter 4)
    • Barbara Strozzi, Lagrime mie [My tears] (1659) (chapter 8)
    • Antonio Vivaldi, Le quattro stagioni [The four seasons], nos. 1–4 (of 12) from Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione [The contest between harmony and invention] (1725) (chapter 6)

    The Classical Era (1750–1815)

    • * Ludwig van Beethoven, Ah! perfido [Ah! Deceiver] (1796) (chapter 7)
    • * Ludwig van Beethoven, Choral Fantasy (1808; revised 1809) (chapter 7)
    • * Ludwig van Beethoven, Mass in C Major (1807) (chapter 7)
    • * Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 4 (1804–6/7) (chapter 7)
    • Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 5 (1807–8) (chapter 7; see also chapter 9)
    • * Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 6 (“Pastoral”) (1802–8) (chapters 6 and 7)
    • Franz Joseph Haydn, String Quartet, Op. 33, No. 2 (“The Joke”) (1781) (chapter 8)
    • * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, La clemenza di Tito [The clemency of Titus] (1791) (chapter 4)
    • * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Cosí fan tutte [All women do it] (1790) (chapter 4)
    • * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Don Giovanni (1787) (chapter 4)
    • * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro [The marriage of Figaro] (1786) (chapter 4)
    • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Zauberflöte [The magic flute] (1791) (chapter 4)

    The Romantic Era (1815–1900)

    • * Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 (1822–24) (chapter 7)
    • * Hector Berlioz, Le retour à la vie [The return to life] (1831–32) (chapter 6) Hector Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique [Fantastical symphony] (1830) (chapter 6; see also chapters 7 and 9)
    • * Antonín Dvořák, String Quartet No. 12 (“The American”) (1893) (chapter 9) Antonín Dvořák, Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”) (1893) (chapter 9)
    • Franz Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (1847) (chapter 9) Modest Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition (1874) (chapter 6) Franz Schubert, “Erlkönig” [Elf king] (1815) (chapter 5)
    • Franz Schubert, Die schöne Müllerin [The lovely maid of the mill] (1824) (chapter 5) Clara Schumann, Piano Trio in G Minor (1846) (chapter 8)
    • Bedřich Smetana, Vltava [The Moldau] (1874), from Má vlast [My homeland] (1874–79) (chapter 9)
    • Johann Strauss II, An der schönen, blauen Donau [The blue Danube] (composed 1866; premiered 1867) (chapter 12)
    • Johann Strauss II, Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka (1858) (chapter 12)
    • * Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Iolanta (1891) (chapter 4)
    • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker (1892) (chapters 4 and 7)
    • * Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker [Suite] (1892) (chapter 4)
    • * Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sleeping Beauty (1890) (chapter 4)
    • * Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake (1877) (chapter 4)
    • * Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 4 (1877–78) (chapter 7)
    • Richard Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen [The ring of the Nibelungs] (1848–74), the Ring Cycle, including Das Rheingold [The Rhinegold], Die Walküre [The Valkyrie], Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung [Twilight of the gods] (chapter 3)

    The Twentieth Century and Beyond (1900–Present)

    • Alarm Will Sound, Acoustica: Alarm Will Sound Performs Aphex Twin (2005) (chapter 13)
    • * Alarm Will Sound, Steve Reich, Tehillim/The Desert Music (2002) (chapter 13) Béla Bartók, Romanian Folk Dances from Hungary (1915) (chapter 9)
    • Amy Beach, Gaelic Symphony (1894–96) (chapter 9)
    • * Amy Beach, Mass in E-flat Major (1890) (chapter 9)
    • * Amy Beach, Piano Concerto in C-sharp Minor (1899)
    • * Benjamin Britten, War Requiem (1962) (chapter 7)
    • * John Cage, 4’33” (1952) (chapter 1)
    • * John Cage, Williams Mix (1952) (chapter 1)
    • * John Alden Carpenter, Concertino for Piano and Orchestra (1915; revised 1948) (chapter 7)
    • * Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Bamboula (1911) (chapter 7)
    • * Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast (1891) (chapter 7)
    • * John Coltrane, Giant Steps (album, released 1960) (chapter 11) John Coltrane, A Love Supreme (album, released 1965) (chapter 11) Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring (ballet, 1943–44) (chapter 13)
    • * Aaron Copland, Billy the Kid (ballet, 1938) (chapter 13
    • * Aaron Copland, Rodeo (ballet, 1942) (chapter 13)
    • * Henry Cowell, Dynamic Motion (1916) (chapter 1)
    • * Mario Davidovsky, Synchronisms No. 6 for Piano and Electronic Sound (1970) (chapter 13)
    • * Ivan Dzerzhinsky, Quiet Flows the Don (1934) (chapter 10)
    • * Edward Elgar, Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 (1901) (chapter 7)
    • Duke Ellington (and Billy Strayhorn), The Far East Suite (recorded 1966); released as Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, Duke Ellington’s “Far East Suite” (1967) (chapter 13)
    • * Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra, “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” (released 1932) (chapter 13)
    • * Duke Ellington and His Washingtonians, “East St. Louis Toodle-Oo” (1927) (chapter 7)
    • * George Gershwin, An American in Paris (1928) (chapter 1) George Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue (premiered 1924) (chapter 7)
    • * Gustav Holst, The Hymn of Jesus (composed 1917; premiered 1920) (chapter 3) Gustav Holst, The Planets (1914–16) (chapter 3)
    • Catherine Likhuta, Lesions (2017) (chapter 6)
    • Wynton Marsalis, Blood on the Fields (premiered 1994) (chapter 13) Carl Orff, Carmina Burana (1936) (chapter 10; see also chapter 7)
    • * John Powell, In Old Virginia (1921) (chapter 7) Florence Price, Symphony No. 1 (1931–32) (chapter 7)
    • * Florence Price, Symphony No. 3 (1938–40) (chapter 7)
    • * Florence Price, Piano Concerto in One Movement (1934) (chapter 7)
    • Maurice Ravel, orchestration (1922) of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (1874) (chapter 6)
    • Steve Reich, Come Out (1966) (chapter 13) Steve Reich, Tehillim (1981) (chapter 13)
    • * Steve Reich, The Desert Music (1983) (chapter 13)
    • Caroline Shaw, Partita for 8 Voices (in four movements, each premiered individually between 2009 and 2011); released as Roomful of Teeth, Roomful of Teeth (2012) (chapter 13)
    • * Dmitri Shostakovich, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (1930–32) (chapter 10)
    • * Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony No. 1 (1924–25) (chapter 10)
    • * Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony No. 4 (1935–36) (chapter 10)
    • Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5 (1937) (chapter 10; see also chapter 7)
    • * Igor Stravinsky, L’oiseau de feu [The firebird] (1910) (chapter 3)
    • * Igor Stravinsky, Petrushka (1911) (chapter 3)
    • Igor Stravinsky, Le sacre du printemps [The rite of spring] (1913) (chapter 3)
    • * Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Symphony No. 1 (Three Movements for Orchestra) (1982) (chapter 13)

    Western Music

    • “Amazing Grace” (three renditions) (chapter 11)
    • * Aphex Twin, Drukqs (2001) (chapter 13) “Arkansas Traveler” (two renditions) (chapter 12)
    • The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) (chapter 8)
    • Irving Berlin, “Blue Skies” (1927) as arranged by Fletcher Henderson (1935) (chapter 12)
    • Chic, “Good Times” (1979), from the album Risqué (1979) (chapter 12)
    • * George M. Cohan, “Over There” (1917) (chapter 7)
    • * Concert spirituals performed by Roland Hayes (chapter 7):
    • “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” arranged by Henry T. Burleigh (see also chapter 9)
    • “Bye and Bye,” arranged by Roland Hayes
    • * Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Pictures at an Exhibition (1971) (chapter 6) “Fisher’s Hornpipe” (two renditions) (chapter 13)
    • Jimi Hendrix, “Purple Haze” (live, 1970) (chapter 7)
    • Jimi Hendrix, “The Star-Spangled Banner” (live, 1969) (chapter 7)
    • * Victor Herbert, A Suite of Serenades (1924) (chapter 7) Kendrick Lamar, DAMN. (2017) (chapter 13)
    • * Lightnin’ Rod (pseudonym of Jalal Mansur Nuriddin), Hustlers Convention
    • (album, 1973) (chapter 12)
    • Yo-Yo Ma, Soul of the Tango: The Music of Astor Piazzolla (1997) (chapter 13)
    • * Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O’Connor, Appalachia Waltz (1996) (chapter 13)
    • Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O’Connor, Appalachian Journey (2000) (chapter 13)
    • Mekong Delta, Pictures at an Exhibition (1996) (chapter 6) National anthems (various) (chapter 9)
    • * The Original Dixieland Jass Band, “Livery Stable Blues” (1917) (chapter 7) “Scotland the Brave” (ca. 1890s) (chapter 12)
    • John Philip Sousa, The Stars and Stripes Forever (1896) (chapter 12) Steelband music of Trinidad and Tobago (chapter 9)
    • The Sugarhill Gang, “Rapper’s Delight” (single, 1979) (chapter 12) Isao Tomita, Pictures at an Exhibition (1975) (chapter 6)
    • John Williams, Star Wars [A New Hope] (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
    • (1977) (chapter 3)
    • John Williams, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1980) (chapter 3)
    • John Williams, Soundtrack to Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1983) (chapter 3)
    • * John Williams, music for numerous films directed by Steven Spielberg, beginning with The Sugarland Express (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1974) (chapter 3)

    Non-Western Music

    • Tanburi Cemil Bey, “Samâi Shad Araban” (ca. 1900) (chapter 8) Chinese solo repertoire:
    • “Attack on All Sides” (composed by 1818) (chapter 6)
    • * “The Song of Gaixia” (composed ?) (chapter 6)
    • Peng Xiuwen, “Spring River in the Flower Moon Night” (ca. 1957) (chapter 6) Tian Han, Baishe zhuan [The story of the white snake] (1958) (chapter 4)
    • Javanese traditional (gamelan) music, The Love Dance of Klana Sewandana (chapter 4)
    • “Raga Madhuvanti” (two renditions) (chapter 6) “The Sunjata Story” (two renditions) (chapter 5)

    This page titled B: Western Art Music is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Esther M. Morgan-Ellis with Contributing Authors (University of North Georgia Press) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.