Rimsky-Korsakov

Николай Римский-Корсаков, Фантазия на сербские темы - Сербская фантазия
(Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Fantasia on Serbian Themes/Serbian Fantasy)

This piece of music was another work that Rimsky-Korsakov had that is well known. The idea to come up for this Fantasy theme was Balakirev's idea, and Rimsky wrote the piece. This piece was composed because it was honoring the Serbs in the Serbian-Turkish War, 1876-1877, (with a little help of the Russians).
Hope you guys like it!

Public Art in Iowa City

After hearing about the fountains in Rome I decided to look up the different forms of art that are here in Iowa City for us to enjoy. The most common place that there is art that I found is in Downtown Iowa City in the pedestrian mall.

There are various Public Art Programs in Iowa City including: The Downtown Public Art Projects, Neighborhood Art Program, Public Art in city parks, Iowa Sculpture's Showcase, and others. Some history on the Public Art program is that it was established by the Iowa City City Council in 1997. The Public Art Advisory Committee was also established to oversee the operations of the Public Art program and advise the City Council on potential sites that can be enhanced by the addition of public art and also recommend various pieces of artwork.

Downtown Iowa City there is a growing art in decorating the public benches. This is known as the UICCU BenchMarks and their goal is to paint every bench in downtown Iowa City. And with the support of residence and those willing to support they believe they will achieve their goal.

Here are a few images of the benches in Downtown Iowa City

*More information can be found on public art in downtown Iowa City at this link.

Buckingham Fountain

   Last Thursday, we saw pictures of four amazing fountains in Rome. Professor Manning gave me an idea, to find another fountain in another city. I am originally from Chicago. There is an unforgettable fountain downtown called the Buckingham fountain. The fountain was commissioned in 1927 in honor of Kate Buckingham's brother Clarence. Kate frequently traveled to Europe and she loved the huge public fountains and she wanted to bring that home to Chicago. The design is based on the "Bassin de Latone" at the Versailles Palace. It was built by Edward H. Bennett, he also built the Michigan Avenue Bridge. Being one of the largest fountains in the world, the fountain measures 280 feet in diameter. The fountain is over 23 feet high and has 3 basins surrounded by 4 pairs of bronze seahorses. Each seahorse represents a state bordering Lake Michigan and the fountain represents the lake itself. The French sculptor, Marcel F. Loyau created the statues. The fountain also features 134 jets, powered by 3 pumps. Every hour, for 20 minutes, there is a water display that starts off with small sprays. The basins are filled until it reaches its climax and the jets push water up 150 feet. The best time to witness this show is at dusk, after 8 pm. The show is then accompanied by music and color spotlights.

The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky

Dancers from the 1913 premiere of Rite of Spring

For our ninth and final work, we will study the most wild piece yet; Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Premiered in 1913 in Paris at the Ballets Russe, the piece was so revolutionary that a riot broke out during the performance, because part of the audience hated it and the others loved it.

Stravinsky was born in Russia, lived for a time in Switzerland, in 1920 moved to Paris, then moved to Hollywood and became an American Citizen. He teamed up with an traveling ballet troupe of Rusian dancers and choreographers called the Ballets Russe. For them, he wrote several large scale orchestral scores for some of the most innovative ballets ever performed. They included The Firebird, Petrushka, and the Rite of Spring.

Stravinsky's innovations including writing for a very large orchestra, with many extra and rarely-used instruments, and he often wrote very difficult and atypical parts for the instruments. The entire ballet lasts about 35 minutes and the score calles for:

Woodwinds: 2 piccolos, 3 flutes, 1 flute in G, 4 oboes, 2 English horns, 2 B-flat clarinets, 1 E-flat clarinet, 2 bass clarinets, 4 bassoons, 2 contrabassoons.

Brass: 8 horns, 4 trumpets, 1 trumpet in D, 1 bass trumpet, 3 trombones, 2 tenor tubas, 2 bass tubas

Percussion: timpani, bass drum, cymbals, antique cymbals, gong, triangle, guiro

Strings: 8 first violins, 7 second violins, 6 violas, 7 cellos, 6 double-basses

We will be watching the Keeping Score episode; Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, presented by Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony. Below is a video of a performance of the Sacrificial Dance at the end of the Rite of Spring, when the sacrificial virgin literally dances herself to death

Related Links:

The Keeping Score multimedia website with interactive features 

The Stravinsky Foundation

BBC Radio 3's Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky page

Stravinsky Timeline at Boosey and Hawkes

The Origins of Liberal Arts

At our last class meeting, we had an interesting discussion on the purpose of education and the true meaning of "Liberal Arts". The concept of  studying seven subjects to understand our world and to continue to teach oneself. I would like it if you would share your thoughts on what education means to you in the comments below.

If you are interested in further reading, here are a few interesting links worth checking out:

The 7 Liberal Arts - Trivium, Quadrivium and Logical Fallacies

Trivium

Quadrivium

What is a 21st Century Liberal education? from Association of America Colleges and Universities 

Liberal Arts Education: A Foundation for Success from the High School Graduate

The Greco-Roman Liberal Arts: When Students Were More Than Just Numbers by Gary David Stratton from Two Handed Warriors

My favorite piece in this class has been The Great Gate of Kiev. I enjoy very majestic sounding music and enjoy the styles of many Russian composers. I think many of the sounds present in this piece are also present in Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.

Fountains of Rome - Respighi

Trevi Fountain

Composed in 1916, Fountains of Rome is one of three symphonic poems written by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. The other two include Roman Festivals (Feste Romane) and Pines of Rome (Pini di Roma). Each of the four sections musically depicts one of Rome's 280 fountains at a different time of day. Like all of our Music Gone Wild compositions, this is a great work of program music, because it conveys a sense of place and time through the music of instruments alone.

Rome is a fascinating city; historically, archeologically, artistically and architecturally. What is the big deal about fountains? Well, they are a symbol of Ancient Rome's power and ingenuity, and Respighi was inspired to write music that celebrated four of the these fountains during different times. See if you can determine how Respighi conveys the beauty of each scene through his use of orchestration, tempo, dynamic, melody and harmony. Why do you think he chose these four fountains?

Four Sections:

I. "La fontana di Valle Giulia all'alba" 
(The Fountain of Valle Giulia at Dawn)

II. "La fontana del Tritone al mattino" 
(The Triton Fountain in the Morning)

III. "La fontana di Trevi al meriggio" 
(The Trevi Fountain at noon)

IV. "La fontana di Villa Medici al tramonto" 
(The Villa Medici Fountain at Sunset)

Video of still photo slideshow with complete music
 
List of Fountains in Rome

Directory of Fountains

360 Degree View of Trevi Fountain


Further connections and directions to explore:
Roman History
Public Art
Hydrology 
The Medicis
Civil Engineering
City Planning

Camille Saint-Saëns

    After hearing "Carnival of the Animals", I wanted to learn about the composer himself. Camille Saint-Saëns was born October 9, 1835 in Paris, France. When he was only three years old, his father died of tuberculosis. Charlotte Masson, his aunt, taught him how to play the piano. At age two he could already play the piano, and at age 3 he composed a piano piece. His first public performance was at age four. At the age of five Saint-Saëns composed a song titled "Le Soir". At the age of ten, Saint-Saëns could play Beethoven's piano sonatas. He also had a more formal public performance on May 6, 1846. In that same year the Société Sainte Cecile gave him an award, they later produced his first symphony. He was an organist at Saint Séverin in 1852. After leaving there, he then became the organist at the Church of Saint-Merry from 1852 until 1857. He last move was to La Madeleine from 1858 to 1876. Saint-Saëns become a professor at the Ecole Niedermeyer from 1860 to 1867. Franz Liszt and Saint-Saëns were good friends.

   Saint-Saëns joined the National Guard during the Franco-German war. In 1871, he and other composers, one being Gabriel Fauré, started a group which would promote French music. This group was called the Société Nationale de Musique. Saint-Saëns was very close to his mother. In 1888, she died. This affected him deeply. He traveled a lot during the 1890's. In 1893, he was awarded a doctorate in music by Cambridge University, and by Oxford University in 1913. He was also awarded the Grand-Croix of the French Legion of Honor in 1913. 

   Saint-Saëns had many works. Some of his most notable included, "Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor, Opus 22" (April 1868), "The Swan-Le Cygne" (Carnival of the Animals), "Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso", "Symphony No.3 in C minor", "Samson and Delilah" (an opera) and "Dance Macabre".

Audacity

Several of you are planning to play music for your presentations, and to keep them under five minutes, you may need to do some editing. The free software I recommend to do that is called Audacity. You will have to figure out how to use it, but it's pretty user friendly and I can assist if you have any problems. There are manuals and tutorials on the site. From their website:

About Audacity

Audacity is a free, easy-to-use and multilingual audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. You can use Audacity to:

• Record live audio.
• Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs.
• Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files.
• Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together.
• Change the speed or pitch of a recording.
• And more! See the complete list of features.

 I found the last class video to be rather interesting because the composer  Rimsky-Korsakov music was so sharp as well as having so much feeling. This video also reminded me of Aladdin from the Disney movie, because it had so many aspects of Aladdin from the carpets as well as into the way that people were dressed. But really the Aladdin movie got there concept from the works of what Rimsky-Korsakov did. I was really inspired by this composer work because as a dancer I could relate to the passion of this music not only that but could envision myself dancing to this music. This composer had so many elements that I was looking in making my final presentation. The elements that i found through this music was, the music being slow and gradually getting very intense, being able to dance in a way that I can express myself because I feel the music and because I found this composer to be the most different so far. Scheherezade by Rimsky-Korsakov was very good video and I will never for get it!

Aladdin and His Magic Lamp

The piece we listened to last week reminded me of the Disney movie Aladdin. One of the stories in One Thousand and One Arabian Nights is called "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp." I am familiar with the Disney version, but I assumed the actual story was a bit different than the movie.

The original story has the same basis of a poor boy being tricked into a cave by a powerful sorcerer. As Aladdin is trapped in the cave, he rubs his hands together in despair. He happens to be wearing a magical ring that had been lent to him by the sorcerer, and it summons a genie that helps Aladdin return home. In the Disney version, he is helped home by a magical flying carpet. He appears at his mothers house, and he is carrying the lamp. His mother cleans the lamp, and by rubbing it she releases a second more powerful genie. This genie enables Aladdin to marry the sultan's daughter and builds Aladdin an enormous palace, even bigger than the sultan's. 

The sorcerer becomes angry and tricks Aladdin's new wife into giving him the lamp. Aladdin uses the magical ring he still possesses summon the lesser genie, and with that genie's help he is able to defeat the sorcerer. The sorcerer's brother is angry at Aladdin for killing the sorcerer, and so devises a plan to trick Aladdin's wife into letting him stay in the palace. He poses as an elderly woman who is skilled at curing illnesses. Somehow Aladdin learns of the disguise and kills the brother. Everyone lives happily ever after.  

Mid-Semester Conferences

As I mentioned in class yesterday, each of you is required to schedule a 15-minute mid-semester conference with me to discuss your ideas and plans for you assignments (Blog posts, Presentations, Final Projects). I will be traveling next Thursday and I indicated in the class schedule that we would have online conferences, but due to a change in my travel and rehearsal plans, I will have to meet with you personally.

Some of you have already completed your conference, and most everyone else has scheduled one with me for Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. If you have not, please contact me as soon as possible to schedule your conference.

All conferences for Monday 10/15 through Wednesday 10/17 will be in my office, which is 3758 UCC (The Old Capitol Mall). For directions, refer to this map.

To prepare for the conference, write down your ideas and if you already done so, complete the online worksheet here.

The Cancan

From last week’s selection of Carnival of the Animals by Ogden Nash, we shortly mentioned the melody in the tortoise section.  The tortoise section slows down a melody from the famous French cancan. The Cancan was originally composed by Jacques Offenbach in Orpheus in the Underworld. Offenbach was German born but considered a French composer. Orpheus in the Underworld was his first full length operetta. Act two of this operetta featured the Cancan.

Jacques Offenbach

The cancan as a dance first appeared in Montparnasse, France (left of the Seine in Paris). It started in working class ballrooms. It was originally a dance for couples that included high kicks in a quick 2/4 time. Quite the opposite of a tortoise.  Chahut is the French term for cancan and it means little-tattle or scandal. This is also ironic because tortoises’ wrinkles often make him appear old and anything but scandalous. The dancers to the cancan became highly paid performers in famous clubs such as the Moulin Rouge.

Many other artists have written music for the cancan dance. One example is Franz Lehar. Cole Porter even wrote a musical play Can-can in 1954.

Today the cancan symbolizes anything but a tortoise. Here is an example of the aerobic, high kicking, and energetic dance toda, click here to see it!

Scheherezade by Rimsky-Korsakov

Based on One Thousand and One Nights (or Arabian Nights) as told by Scheherezade Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov composed Scheherazade in 1888. The movements are based on some of the stories and scenes depicted in this famous collection of stories. The movements are named:
  
I. The Sea and Sinbad's Ship
II. The Kalendar Prince
III. The Young Prince and The Young Princess
IV. Festival at Baghdad. The Sea. The Ship Breaks against a Cliff Surmounted by a Bronze Horseman.

From his blog "Classical Notes", Peter Gutmann offers up a summary of the beginning of the story:

Rimsky-Korsakov's 1888 Scheherazade [is] an exotic, ravishing, timeless, evocative fantasy brimming with awe, sensuality and sheer wonder based on The 1,001 Nights, the sprawling collection of ancient Arabian legends. The framing story is summarized in a prefatory note to the score: the Sultan Shahriar, who regards all women as deceitful, vows to take a virgin as his new wife each day, sleep with her, and then slay her the next morning. But the brilliant Scheherazade outwits him by spinning intriguing tales that she would halt at dawn and only conclude the next night. After the thousand and one nights of the title, she finally wins his love.

Rimsky-Korsakov's music inspired a ballet choreographed by Mikhail Fokin. Below are videos of two different versions:

This production is a little more dramatic and adapted for film :

Connections and Directions:

Persian Studies
Narratives
1001 Arabian Nights

Related Links:

• If you are curious about the original stories, you can read them for free at Project Gutenberg
• Read about "Romatic Orientalism" from the Norton Anthology of English Literature 
• The WikiPedia entry for Rimsky-Korsakov is quite detailed. Like Mussorgsky (the composers of Pictures at an Exhibition whom we studied a few weeks ago), Rimsky-Korsakove is one of the "Mighty Handful" (five famous composers) of Russia.
• Here is a handy guide to all of the characters of One Thousand and One Nights

 To reflect back on class Thursday when we listened to the different movements from "Carnival of the Animals" by Ogden Nash I found them to be interesting. Why do I say this? I say this because one when the professor told us that these were movements children would listen to I found that kind of hard to believe but as we begin to listen I could hear the happiness that children would get from this music. Two I saw the different levels the movements had because the music was being acted out as if it were an animal,which I think is brilliant for Ogden Nash to come up with through his music. When listening to each movement you can hear the comparing and the contrasting. But overall I would have to say that my favorite movement was "Aquarium"because it gave you such a sense of being at an aquarium and seeing the fishes run around. Not only that but the peace that this movement gave me was amazing as well it is interesting how music can effect you in so many ways.

The History of Catacombs

In the piece by Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition, there is one piece of art described in the music that depicts the catacombs of Rome. Catacombs are underground tunnels in which there are many dead bodies buried. The Roman catacombs are very old, and some date back to the first century. Many of the tunnels are open to public viewing, but there are also some "lost" catacombs that have yet to be discovered. The tunnels began as a result of many people wanting to be buried as close as possible to their religious leaders. The tunnels were built around the tombs of saints to accommodate the peoples' requests. It is estimated that over 6 million bodies are buried within the catacombs.The bodies were buried rather than burned because Christians believed in the bodily resurrection of the dead.

The first catacombs built were Jewish ones, and then later came the Christian catacombs. These Christian catacombs are owned by the Roman Catholic Church. People can not tour these tunnels without special permission from the church, and that permission is not easily received. The lack of ability to tour these Christian tunnels may account for the low number of archaeological expeditions into the tunnels. 

There are also some legends surrounding the catacombs in Rome. An archaeologist claims that the Holy Grail is hidden near the tomb of a martyr who is buried underneath the Basilica of San Lorenz Fuori le Mura. The Vatican has declined to let anyone search for the Holy Grail, saying that there is no base to the claims. The catacombs of St. Callixtus are said to be very important to the Christian community. In these tunnels, 16 popes were buried, along with many martyrs and Christians. The small area of the tunnels where the 16 popes are buried is sometimes referred to as the "Little Vatican". 

During the historical persecution of the Christians, Christians were not allowed to openly profess their faith. They began to use symbols, and many of the symbols are found on the walls of the catacombs. These symbols include the Orante, the fish, and the monogram of Christ. The Roman catacombs are the most widely known, but there are catacombs located in other areas of the world as well. There have been underground burial tunnels found in Naples, North Africa, and Asia Minor. The tombs were not only used for burial purposes, but also for religious meetings.