Puccini, Strauss, Debussy, and Ravel: A Comparison of Operas
Operas of Puccini, Strauss, Debussy, and Ravel
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Giacomo Puccini, the most successful Italian opera composer after Verdi, was the son of a church organist and composer. Initially expected to follow in his father’s footsteps, he chose to focus on opera, studying at the conservatory in Milan.
Puccini gained attention with his first opera, Le Villi, in 1884. His third opera, Manon Lescaut (1893), catapulted him to international fame. Over the next three decades, he produced nine
Read MoreWest African and Caribbean Music: A Rhythmic Journey
West African and Caribbean Music
Mami Wata – Kwaa Mensah, Ghana. West African pop, Palmwine – Ghanaian highlife and Nigerian juju music. Two-finger guitar style of Liberian Kru sailors, (mostly Caribbean) and local musical elements. Mami Wata is a water spirit.
Taxi Driver – Bobby Benson (1950s) Nigeria. Classic in West Africa, Golden Age of dance-band highlife in Nigeria. Jazz swing instrumentation and big band Caribbean rhythms (calypso). Benson was a multi-instrumentalist and composer. His Trumpeter,
Read MoreDon’t Cry (Acoustic) – Guitar Tabs and Chords
Don’t Cry (Acoustic)
Introduction (continues throughout the song) – Darlon Costa Duarte
Part 1
Am Dm G C
e|-----------0---------|-------1------|---------3-------|---------------------|
B|-------------1-------|-----3---3----|-----------3-----|---------------------|
G|--------2------2-----|---2-------2--|------0------0---|------0-----0--------|
D|------2----------0---|-0---- Read More
Baroque Music: Characteristics and Forms
The Baroque era began in the late sixteenth century, as Europe underwent a social and economic crisis that shook the Renaissance order. This situation favored a change in mentality, which led to the beginning of the Baroque period. At this time, absolute monarchies thrived, and the people and the bourgeoisie accepted the monarch’s authority. In the field of religion, the Counter-Reformation continued to preside during the Baroque period.
Characteristics of Baroque Music:
- A desire for splendor, artifice,
Traditional Music: India, Indonesia, and China
Musicology and Ethnomusicology
Musicology, as a discipline, has studied the sources of music. Comparative musicology was created by the interest in folklore and ethnomusicology, and exotic music. Ethnomusicology is the study of traditional music and instruments from all cultures: classical music, folk, and cultured music with long traditions; popular music; and the evolution of music, which occurred in centers related to civilian and religious targets. A public has grown for folk music that developed
Read MoreRomanticism: Art, Literature, and Revolution
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic and literary movement that emerged at the end of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It gave strength, excitement, freedom, and imagination in the correction of classical art forms; it was a rebellion against social conventions. Romanticism opposes the corseted character of academic painting, breaking the rules of composition. The French Revolution, the Napoleonic wars which raged in Europe, and the internal crisis of the Ancien Régime system caused
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