1. General Music
Day Twenty Four

2. Bell Work How To Always LABEL you bell work with the date.
You may use the same page for several of your bell works.
ALWAYS use at least THREE complete sentences to answer the question.
Save your bell work for bell work check in’s.
If you miss class, you may go onto Mrs V’s website to get the missed bell work question. It is YOUR responsibility to get the bell work completed.

3. Bell Work #24
Many popular children’s films involve music. Some songs from these films become quite popular. Some examples include “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” “The Sound of Music,” “The Lion King,” “Newsies,” and “Cinderella.” What is your favorite “musical” film? Explain why.
Use three complete sentences!

4. Planner
Homework: No Homework

5. Today I will learn:
I will learn about Wagner and Tchaikovsky.

6. One of the greatest composers of the Romantic era.
Richard Wagner
One of the greatest composers of the Romantic era.

7. Controversial Egotistical Racist Promiscuous
A few words used to describe the 19th century German composer:
Controversial
Egotistical
Racist
Promiscuous
Memorial bust of Richard Wagner in Venice.

8. soap opera debts Wagner’s life resembles the plot of a __________.
He was constantly fleeing his native Germany either to escape his enormous _____ or to evade a ______ sentence for getting involved in radical political activities.
He was also often in trouble for getting involved with married women!
soap opera
debts
prison

9. He wrote the scenario, the libretto and the music all himself.
Wagner is best known for his operas, or ____________, as he preferred to call them.
He wrote the scenario, the libretto and the music all himself.
music dramas

10. 4 One of his most well-known works
is a series of ___ music dramas called
_____________.
Took 26 years to write
15 hours to perform
He was so particular about how it was to be performed that he even constructed a specially designed theatre in __________
_________.
An annual Wagner festival is still held there. 4
The Ring Cycle
Bayreuth
Germany

11. nationalistic Adolph Hitler
Wagner was fiercely _________________ and sought to express “the German spirit” through his music.
He was the personal hero of ___________.
Hitler had Wagner’s music played on loud speakers as Jews were led to gas the chambers.
Many Jewish people refuse to listen to Wagner’s music and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra refuses to play it!
Adolph Hitler

12. Fast Facts: Name: Richard Wagner Dates: 1813-1883
Country of birth: Germany
Historical Era: Romantic
Contemporary Composers: Chopin, Liszt, Verdi
Contemporary Artists: Renoir, Turner
Other People/Events: Charles Dickens,
Leo Tolstoy, Charles Darwin, Abraham
Lincoln, invention of the telephone and the
light bulb

13. Fun Fact:
Have you ever heard the saying “it ‘aint over until the fat lady sings”? It is a phrase often used by sport commentators to note the fact you can’t state the winner of a game until it is finished. This saying is most likely referring to one commentator’s view that Wagner’s long, complex operas seem to go on forever, but finally end with a solo sung by a stout female singer!

14. “Bridal Chorus” Composer: Wagner Historical Era: Romantic
Type of composition: Instrumental & Vocal
Genre: March
Click here for song!

15. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Over one hundred years ago, Tchaikovsky composed the classic Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker.

16. Tchaikovsky was a ______________ composer born into a wealthy family that wanted him to become a _______.
He became very successful, acclaimed world wide, and was honored by the
__________.
He was invited to conduct some of his works at the opening of __________ in New York in 1891.
Russian Romantic
lawyer
Tsar of Russia
Carnegie Hall

17. Solo piano works Chamber music Vocal music Opera
Apart from Tchaikovsky’s orchestral music, including concertos, overtures and six symphonies, he also wrote:
Solo piano works
Chamber music
Vocal music
Opera
He is probably best remembered for his ballets, which apart from ____________, include __________ and _____________.
The Nutcracker
Swan Lake
Sleeping Beauty

18. shy Tchaikovsky was a painfully ____ and ________ man. reserved
His life was plagued with crises.
This often caused him to be intense and _________________.
After a failed marriage that only lasted nine weeks, he tried to commit suicide.
reserved
emotionally unstable

19. Soon after, he had an unusual relationship with a wealthy widow named
________________.
She greatly admired his music and sent
him money so that he could devote more time to composing, but only on the condition that they _________________.
Nadezhda von Meck
never meet in person

20. They wrote letters to each other, sharing every aspect of their lives for _________, and the abrupt and unexplained end to this relationship left Tchaikovsky devastated.
Tchaikovsky died three years later at the age of ___.
His official cause of death was ________, contracted by drinking a glass of
_____________.
13 years 51
cholera
unboiled water

21. Fast Facts: Name: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Dates: 1840-1891
Country of birth: Russia
Historical Era: Romantic
Contemporary Composers: Brahms, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov
Contemporary Artists: Monet, Van Gogh
Other People/Events: Friedrich Nietzsche (
view/494), Thomas Edison, American Civil
War, invention of the telephone

22. Fun Fact:
Tchaikovsky had an unusual and irrational fear of his head falling off his shoulders while conducting!
To prevent this from happening, he would often
hold his chin firmly with his left hand, whilst conducting with his right!
Tchaikovsky’s signature

23. “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”
Composer: Tchaikovsky
Historical Era: Romantic
Type of composition: Instrumental
Genre: Suite
Click here for song!

24. Exit Q & A Use complete sentences.
1. What City and Country is the theatre Wagner designed located?
2. What does the term nationalistic mean?