Opera Continued Review and Practise Exam 32-126

November 3rd, 2016

REMINDERS: Write practise exam questions on white board. Get musical examples ready on
computer (YouTube).
Pre-Assessment
Did anyone watch the opera Poppea like they were supposed to? We are going to watch a section
of one scene together without scores. What are some things that you remember about opera genre
from the lecture last class? (What is opera? How did opera evolve? Recitative and Aria What
are some musical characteristics of these sub-genres? What is Venetian opera and what is its
significance?)

Activity #1 Review of opera concepts and listening practise

Were going to watch an excerpt of Monteverdis Poppea from Act I, Scene 3. As you watch, I
want you to pay close attention to the musical materials and the character of the music. Decide
whether youre listening to a recitative or an aria and be able to give reasons WHY you think that
its not enough to just pick one or the other. Also listen for changes in sections/style,
instruments, text-music relationship, etc. Im going to ask you what you could identify after we
watch it so write something down if you have to. This is really good practise for your exam
thats why I dont want you to look at your scores just yet Listening is a lot more difficult.
Monteverdis Lincoronazione di Poppea: Act I, Scene 3 NAWM 75, pg.475
a) Dialogue in recitative: Signor, deh non partire
b) Aria: In un sospir
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddZNuKR9O8s

Activity #2 Practise Midterm Exam/Critical listening

You guys are probably feeling utterly terrified for the exam on Tuesday, correct? I want to spend
the rest of the class doing a sort of practise exam hopefully you guys will feel more
comfortable about the exam at the end of class.
Im going to play some musical excerpts picked both from the syllabus and not from the
syllabus and I want you to identify and describe as many style characteristics as you can and
answer the questions provided. The point is to draw on all the knowledge youve acquired thus
far in the course to decode the piece.

Continue on next page

Practise Midterm Exam 32-126

The midterm exam will largely concentrate on assessing your critical listening skills that is,
your ability to identify and describe musical materials using technical language and how well
you interpret those musical materials by drawing from the historical context. You must be fluent
with the technical language (esp. the worksheet on BlackBoard) understand where/how every
term/concept/musical genre fits into the historical context.
1. Describe as many style features as you can identify. Identify the genre, broadly
conceived at first, and more narrowly if need be, as you listen more closely; Identify the
time period. Who might have heard or sung this piece? Propose a possible composer
and reasons why The reasons you give to back up your choice of composer and
description of context are more important than your identification.
2. How would you describe the character (or mood) of this musical excerpt? How
could/does this help you contextualize the piece? (How could/did it help you answer
Question #1?)
***Make Chart/Web on board if students look confused***
OPERA
Monteverdis LOrfeo: Excerpt from Act II NAWM 74, pg. 452
a) Aria/Canzonetta: Vi ricorda o broschi ombrosi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0IJByVg1l0
b) Dialogue in recitative: Ahi, caso acerbo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx44v8EA2BY
LITURGICAL POLYPHONY
Guillaume de Machaut, La Messe de Nostre Dame (1364) NAWM 26, pg. 133
a) Kyrie (Mass Ordinary) melismatic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvIEA2dBKGA
MOTET
John Dunstable, Quam pulchra es (early 1400s) NAWM 34, pg. 179
Syllabic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQjdEbZH2wI
MADRIGAL
Cipriano de Rore, De la belle contrade doriente (1560s) NAWM 57, pg. 334
- listen for language. See score for musical materials.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCKlGlo7vgs

*****Lightning Round if time permits*****

CHANSON Lightning round ONLY
Orlande de Lassus, La nuict froide et sombre (1570s) NAWM 61, pg. 363
- Word painting techniques, listen for language.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYcJlrHOK1A