Ryan Lin
CSC 174 Assignment 4
September 19, 2018
- Étude
- Waltz
- Nocturne
These three topics are all examples of musical compositions, mostly instrumental, which shaped composing in the Classical and Romantic era due to their vast popularity. They are all fairly short and casual, meant for dinner parties or dances. Still, their legacy survives even today, where they are played from casual gatherings to concert halls. Another common thread of these three composition styles is that one Romantic composer, by the name of Frederic Chopin, shaped all of them forever. He pushed the limits on how virtuosic an etude could be, composed waltzes made for art instead of dancing, and vanguarded the nocturne style single handedly.
An étude is an instrumental musical composition, usually short, of considerable difficulty, and designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidly growing popularity of the piano. Of the vast number of études from that era some are still used as teaching material (particularly pieces by Carl Czerny and Muzio Clementi), and a few, by major composers such as Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt and Claude Debussy, achieved a place in today's concert repertory. Études written in the 20th century include those related to traditional ones (György Ligeti) and those that require wholly unorthodox technique (John Cage).
- Chopin: Étude Op. 10, No. 4
- Scriabin: Étude Op. 8, No. 12
- Cage: Étude 8, Book I
A waltz is dance music in triple meter, often written in 3/4 time. A waltz typically sounds one chord per measure, and the accompaniment style particularly associated with the waltz is (as seen in the example to the right) to play the root of the chord on the first beat, the upper notes on the second and third beats. Classical composers traditionally supplied music for dancing when required, and Franz Schubert's waltzes (including the Valses Sentimentales and Valses Nobles) were written for household dancing, without any pretense at being art music. However, Frédéric Chopin's surviving 18 waltzes (five he wrote as a child), along with his mazurkas and polonaises, were clearly not intended for dance. They marked the adoption of the waltz and other dance forms as serious composition genres.
- Strauss: Blue Danube
- Beethoven: Gertrude's Dream Waltz
- Chopin: Minute Waltz
A nocturne is usually a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night. The name nocturne was first applied to pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensemble piece in several movements, normally played for an evening party and then laid aside. Sometimes it carried the Italian equivalent, notturno. At this time, the piece was not necessarily evocative of the night, but might merely be intended for performance at night, much like a serenade. In its more familiar form as a single-movement character piece usually written for solo piano, the nocturne was cultivated primarily in the 19th century. The first nocturnes to be written under the specific title were by the Irish composer John Field, generally viewed as the father of the Romantic nocturne that characteristically features a cantabile melody over an arpeggiated, even guitar-like accompaniment. However, the most famous exponent of the form was Frédéric Chopin, who wrote 21 of them.
- Chopin: Nocturne Op.9 No.2
- Rubinstein: Nocturne Op. 9: I. No. 1 in B-Flat Minor
- Field: Nocturne no. 5 B Flat Major