Symphony No. 3 4th Movement

The symphony has three different textures: monophonic, homophonic, and polyphonic. Similar to the Tabuh Pisan piece, there is a monophonic texture in playing the melody. Listening to only the single melody line enables the audience to engrave the melody in their heads without the adornment of an accompaniment line. By using this texture, Beethoven introduces the first melody line the rest of the movement varied off on. Overall, texture changes, homophonic texture, polyphonic texture and monophonic texture, are used to accentuate the technique of theme variation throughout the movement. The polyphonic texture is shown through the fugal melody in measures 117-174. The same melody is played in different parts at different times, which causes the melody to overlap, creating two melodies that are played at the same time. Below is an example of the fugal subject, or melody, played by different parts.

Berlioz believed in originality just like Beethoven, this is display in both composers’ unsymmetrical structures. Beethoven starts The Fifth with dramatically contrasting dynamics, as with Berlioz beginning with a normal Sonata structure, however, with extreme fortepianos. Both composers utilize sequencing and sheer repetition. Beethoven employs the ‘Fate’ motif across themes; and Berlioz’s variation of triplet rhythms. On the other hand, Berlioz introduces a larger orchestra than that of Beethoven’s (1st – 3rd movements), Beethoven relies on his own intimate thoughts, to convey his individual and majestic orchestral writings while Berlioz’s compositional technique lies in the nature of the

Ludwig van Beethoven was one of the greatest composers and a musical genius. Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770 in Bonn, Germany and died on March 26, 1827 in Vienna, Austria. Beethoven came from a family of musicians just like many other great composers before him had. At the age of only 11 Beethoven began serving as an assistant to the court organist and had several published piano compositions at the age of 12. At the age of 18, he became the legal guardian of both of his younger brothers, after the death of his mother and dismissal of his father from the court choir because of alcoholism. By this team Beethoven was also a court organist, violinist and responsible for composing and performing.

Texture – The texture is homophonic throughout the whole of Section A. There are three layers of sound in the Section A. The first is the melody – played by the violins and trumpets. This is the layer of sound which is most prominent throughout A. The second is the timpani and viola part. This is the softest layer throughout the section. It provides harmony to the melody, using the notes of the D major chord. The last layer is the continuo bass It provides accompaniment and bass.

The dissonance and being difficult to follow the music can be heard throughout this section, but especially in the third and fourth scenes (13:47-16:29 and 16:52-21:00, respectively). This music sounds “off” somehow because of its clashing chords and being devoid of a pattern. Indeed, attempting to tap or hum along to the music in these sections proves impossible. (It should be noted, however, that the orchestral transitions, specifically the one from 12:43-13:47 do feature some patterns. These are the main difference between this work and

The piece that I decide to do was Mozart Symphony No. 40 because it seemed like it would have the most instruments, different dynamics and a different sound to it.

Symphony number nine in D minor, Op.125, the "Choral" is the outstanding piece accompanied with a vocal chorus. Beethoven began concentrated work on the piece in 1822. It occupied him throughout 1823, and he completed it in February 1824. The first performance took place at the Karntnertor Theater in Vienna on May 7, 1824. The deaf composer stood on stage beating time and turning the pages of his score, but the real conducting was done by Michael Umlauf. The first American performance was given on May 20, 1846 by the New York Philharmonic under George Loder. Its performance can never be an ordinary event, just another concert, it is something special because the feeling you get inside when you hear

The fourth movement is titled “thunderstorm” and is a romantic movement. It is in episodic form (a format of the romantic period). It is extremely programmatic. The movement depicts a thunderstorm through the use of the timpani that creates the rumble of the thunder and the punctuated sforzando chords that create a harsh lightning (for example in bar 21). These programmatic features are romantic traits and show Beethoven’s ability to push the boundaries of the style he was contained to. The use of percussion and brass in a dominant role is also a romantic feature. There are multiple dramatic dynamic changes throughout the movement ranging from pianissimo to fortissimo, which is unusual for the classical period. The movement also exercises dissonance and the melody is unresolved, a

Composers since the early classical era have used sonata form to express through music ideas which are at once complex and unified. This form contains a variety of themes and permutations of these themes, but is brought together into a comprehensible whole when these excerpts reappear. Beethoven, in the first movement of his Piano Sonata Opus 2 Number 3 utilizes this form to its full potential, modifying the typical structure in his characteristic way.

Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No.1, Classical Symphony, a favorite to many, is a major piece of the orchestral repertoire. The piece was composed from 1916 to 1917 and was in a new genre; neo-classism. This new genre was due the reaction to the expressionism and the perceived formlessness of the late-romantic music during the time period (Whittall). In fact, the Classical Symphony is one of the earliest works of music using the aesthetic of the neo-classical movement, and it is possibly the earliest symphony to do so (Green). Despite being written in the early 20th century during the midst of the Russian revolution, Prokfiev stayed true to the important aspects of pre romantic instrumentation and structural, harmonic, and melodic styles.

This piece is from the Romantic period, written in 1901 and published in 1902. Mahler wrote a large three part symphony intended to be played with a large orchestra of at least 36 instruments. He wrote the score with the intention of using the instruments in new ways and exploring the capabilities of the instruments and their ranges. The third part of this symphony, the Adagietto, is meant to bring a simplicity to the beauty of the piece. This piece ends with a rondo.

I choose “Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125, "Choral": IV. Ode to Joy” composed Beethoven. I have no specific reason why I picked this song, besides the fact that I admired Beethoven when I was young. When I listened to the piece the first time I was surprised by its dynamics. In my head I have this preconceived idea that classical music was soft. I did a little research on the classical era and discovered; that music was an important part of society at the time and Beethoven was one of the top composers at the time. I was also informed that the all classical music was dynamic, the song could be quiet one minute then loud the next. In the beginning of “Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125, "Choral": IV. Ode to Joy” it seemed to drag, and then

Brahms third symphony is similar to Haydn’s conception of the symphony which he shows in his Oxford creation. It starts with a fast allegro movement, followed by a slow andante movement, later has a scherzo, and finally an allegro

The polyphonic texture can be seen through the music where is has three different layers which are produced by the different intrsuments. The polyphonic texture is a texture that is simultaneously performed by two or more melodic lines, or players, that have relatively equal interest. The polyphonic texture is not layers that are accompanied by chords, which would be called as the homophonic texture. The music for the Chinese Lion Dance consists of only percussion instruments such as the Gu (which is known as the drum), the Luo (known as the Gong) and the Bo (which is known as the cymbal). These are the instruments that are played together during the performance of the Chinese Lion

The first movement of Beethoven’s fourth (Adagio – Allegro Vivace) opens in a solemn and mysterious way – light on its feet, the string instruments are tenuous and nearly lack decisiveness in their playing. The piece seems to switch keys quite a bit, devoid of any real direction, and only as time passes does it begin to solidify and gain traction, placing more accentuation on individual notes. Finally, it locks into a key, and becomes very upbeat and triumphant. There are several runs of arpeggios as well as definitive accentuation throughout. Despite this, there are still very few consistent melodic ideas; rather a melody will poke its head through and be wrapped up and carried away in a string of runs instead. There is a lot of alternation and overlap between staccato and legato. It is not quite chaotic enough to be chaos, yet the movement is not nearly together enough to fit more Classical standards for meter and theme – emphasis seems to be placed on the dynamism in and of itself.