Call & Response 2015 Listening Guide *To be taught PRIOR to Cypress String Quartet visit* Far Into the Night: Unique Voices Under One Night Sky Beethoven & Bartok I. Introduction: the Character of Night a. IMAGE 1: “Rainbow Road” for “Mario Kart” Nintendo 64 b. IMAGE 2: Spirited Away poster c. Description of the novel Night d. IMAGE 3: Exorcist poster e. Introduction: Introduction into Fundamental Musical Tools f. MUSICAL EXAMPLE 1: Haydn String Quartet in B-flat major Op. 76 No. 4, I. Allegro con spirito g. MUSICAL EXAMPLE 2: Arnold Schoenberg Transfigured Night for String Sextet h. MUSICAL EXAMPLE 3: Bartok Quartet No. 4, Movement V. Allegro molto i. MUSICAL EXAMPLE 4: Haydn Quartet Op. 77 No. 1 in G-Major, I. Allegro moderato j. MUSICAL EXAMPLE 5: Beethoven Op. 130 Movement V. Cavatina k. Activity l. (New Title) m. MUSICAL EXAMPLE 6: Silent Night n. MUSICAL EXAMPLE 7: Miles Davis "Round Midnight" o. MUSICAL EXAMPLE 8: Zelda Twilight Princess “Light and Darkness” II. Beethoven III. Beethoven & the Night a. MUSICAL EXAMPLE 9: Beethoven Op. 59 No. 2 II. Molto Adagio b. IMAGE 4: “Two Men Contemplate the Moon” by Caspar Friedrich c. Discussion Questions IV. Bartok V. Bartok & the Night a. MUSICAL EXAMPLE 10: Bartok Quartet No. 4 III. Non troppo lento b. IMAGE 5: “Untitled” [Night View of Trees and Street Lamp] by Lyonel Feininger c. Discussion Questions VI. Appendix I: Beethoven & the Political Landscape a. Art Influenced by the French Revolution a.i. IMAGE 6: “The Death of Marat” by Jacques-Louis David a.ii. IMAGE 7: “Liberty Leading the People” by Eugène Delacroix b. Discussion Questions c. MUSICAL EXAMPLE 11: String Quartet Op. 59 No. 2, I. Allegro VII. Appendix II: Bartok & the Political Landscape a. Art Between the World Wars a.i. IMAGE 8: “The Magdeburger Ehrenmal” by Ernst Barlach a.ii. IMAGE 9: “The War Cripples” (1920) by Otto Dix b. Discussion Questions c. MUSICAL EXAMPLE 12: Bartok String Quartet No. 4, I. Allegro VIII. Conclusion & Discussion Questions IX. Appendix III: Additional Biographies a. Cypress String Quartet b. Philippe Hersant Call & Response “Call & Response” was born out of the Cypress String Quartet’s commitment to presenting music as a dynamic and ongoing process of inspiration. The term “Call & Response” is usually associated with Jazz and Gospel music, with the idea being that a musician places a musical “call” to which another musician “responds.” In this program the call is that of the Cypress String Quartet searching for connections across musical, historical, and social boundaries. The response is the creation of a new work by a contemporary composer and the creation of a new and diverse concert audience. Following over two-dozen educational outreach presentations before students of all levels and communities, the Cypress Quartet performs the Call & Response concert at Marines’ Memorial Theatre in San Francisco. Scholarship tickets permit participating students to attend the public performance free of charge. This year, for the 16th Annual Call & Response, the theme is "Night" and we will explore how nocturnal inspirations can produce vastly different pieces. The Call & Response concert will feature works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Béla Bartók, and a newly commissioned work by French composer Philippe Hersant. In Beethoven's String Quartet Op. 59, No. 2, we see how one starry night can inspire a hymn-like movement full of rich harmonies contrasted with the eerier soundscape of Bartok's Quartet No. 4. Who better to carry on this vein of inspiration than one of France's greatest living composers, Philippe Hersant? Affected deeply by personal background, relationships, and world events, we will see how each composer's painting of the night can give us diverse insight into the hearts of humankind. This listening guide is an aid to understanding how certain fundamental musical techniques become the palette for these compositional artists to create sounds, colors, and moods that are revolutionary and unique. In order to fully explore this, the students will discover how specific harmonies, articulations, tempos, dynamics, musical balance, and timbre affect musical character; grasp their application; and understand how these musical techniques affect the composition’s bigger picture. This guide will also put these works in a historical context in which the students can discover the life and political influences that have been inevitably woven into each of these works. By integrating the new with the familiar, “Call & Response” explores how contemporary music is an evolution of older works. The outreach presentations, pre-concert lectures, and other activities that surround the series bring music into the community and help audiences to understand the creative process. With this series, the Cypress String Quartet is creating a public forum where a broad group of people comes together and shares in the universal experience of music. I. INTRODUCTION: THE CHARACTER OF NIGHT If we think of a scene at night, our picture might change depending on the mood we are in at the time. In music and art, night has been represented in the most diverse ways, expressing a deep range of human emotions and experiences. IMAGE 1: “Rainbow Road” for “Mario Kart” Nintendo 64 In “Mario Kart” for Nintendo 64, one of the racing levels known as “Rainbow Road” is set with a rainbow track surrounded by lights and stars. This level includes monsters that come biting at you and characters glowing in the sky. Like some dreams at night, it is fun, weird, and makes little sense when you try to explain it to a friend. IMAGE 2: Spirited Away In this fantastical movie, a 10-year-old girl wanders into a spirit world ruled by gods, witches, and monsters and humans are turned into beasts. This movie is a wonderful expression of imagination. In this movie poster for Spirited Away, we see the main character, Chihiro, riding through the night sky on a beautiful silver dragon, Haku. Haku has the ability to transform from a 12-year-old boy into this marvelous creature. This is an example of the power of how imagination and the ponderous night work hand-in-hand in creating moving stories. How many stories have you made up right before falling asleep? Yet, the mood and representation of the night can also have a darker side… Night by Elie Wiesel tells the story of the author's experience with his father in the Holocaust during World War II in the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald. In this Pulitzer Prize winning work, Wiesel depicts a horrific landscape and expresses great disgust in humanity where “everyone lives and dies for himself alone.” In 1945, when Wiesel was 16-years-old, he was freed from the concentration camps by the United States Army, yet not in time to save his father. Having lost his faith in humankind, he vowed not to speak of his experience for ten years. He broke his silence in 1954, writing a manuscript in Yiddish that was published in Argentina, catching the attention of a French novelist, who persuaded him to write of his experiences for a larger audience. Finding a publisher was difficult as his story was deemed too morbid, yet in 1960 it was published in the U.S. and given the title Night. The title is a reflection of Wiesel’s state of mind during his ordeal, as well as a representation of what the concept of night represented for his culture and religion. According to the Jewish tradition, nightfall is seen as the beginning of the new day. Wiesel comments, “I wanted to show the end, the finality of the event. Everything came to an end – man, literature, religion, God. There was nothing left. And yet we begin again with night.” IMAGE 3: The Exorcist In this classic 1973 horror movie, a 12-year-old girl is possessed by a demon and her mother provides her with an exorcism administered by two priests. In this famous and iconic movie poster by Bill Gold, the priest is depicted alone in the foggy night, looking up into the light. The poster plays with dark and light, giving the viewer a sense of the unknown and an even greater feeling of uneasiness. Many horror movies are set at night, as darkness falls and fears can be housed in the unseen. Are you afraid of the dark? INTRODUCTION: Exploration into fundamental musical tools Note: Although most students have a background in music, this introduction is intended not only to review certain musical fundamentals, but also apply them to chamber music, thereby expanding the students' view of composers' use of techniques and repertoire. In music, the word character can be defined as the kind of feeling and mood you get when listening to a composition. The composer or song-artist uses many techniques to get this feeling across including the following: Tempo: The speed at which music is performed Dynamics: The loudness or softness of a composition, also known as the volume level o Forte (f): loud dynamic (sound) o Mezzo forte (mf): medium loud dynamic (sound) o Mezzo piano (mp): medium soft dynamic (sound) o Piano (p): soft dynamic (sound) Harmony: The combination of notes sounded together to create chords o Major: notes together that give a happier quality to the harmony . MUSICAL EXAMPLE 1: Haydn String Quartet in B-flat major Op. 76 No. 4 1st movement (first 20 seconds) o Minor: A series of notes including more half-steps than Major and often sounding more sad, scary, or gloomy . MUSICAL EXAMPLE 2: Transfigured Night by Arnold Schoenberg (first minute) o Dissonant: Two or more notes played together that clash with one another causing jarring, and grating sounds .