MA

• lieder -proper name for franz schubert‘s songs
• lieder - german word for songs
• franz peter schubert - developed lieder so that they had a powerful impact on the listeners
• Johann Goethe - schubert tapped on poetry like him
• franz peter schubert - considered the last of the classical composers and one of the first romantic ones
• Franz Peter Schubert’s famous vocal music works/lieder were: 

  • Gretchen am Spinnrade
  • Erlkonig
  • Ellens Gesang III (Ave Maria)
  • Schwanenge Sang (Swan Song)
  • Symphony no.8 in B Minor (Unfinished Symphony)
• Schubert was born on 31st of January 1797 in Himmelpfortgrund, Austria
• Schubert died in 1828 in Vienna, Austria at the age of 31
• Giuseppe Verdi - his characters are ordinary people and not those of the royal family like those found in german operas
• Giuseppe Verdi - insisted on a good libretto and wrote operas with political overtones and for middle-class audience
• Giuseppe Verdi - born in Panama, Italy on October 9, 1813
• giuseppe verdi - studied in busseto and later went to Milan where his first opera “Oberto” was performed in La Scala, the most important opera house at the time
• giuseppe verdi - almost all of his works are serious love story with unhappy endings
• expressive vocal melody - sole of a verdi opera
• giuseppe verdi - completed 25 operas throughout his career
• giuseppe verdi - his final opera ends with “all the world’s a joke!
• Giuseppe Verdi - some of his famous operas are still being produced and performed worldwide
• Giuseppe Verdi’s much acclaimed works are:

  • La Traviata
  • Rigoletto
  • Falstaff
  • Otello
  • Aida
• aida - he wrote for the opening of the suez canal
• Giuseppe Verdi died in Milan, Italy on January 27, 1901
• Giacomo Puccini - born in a poor family on December 22, 1858 in Lucca, Italy.
• Giacomo Puccini - studied at the Milan Conservatory
• Giacomo Puccini - belonged to a group of composers who stressed realism, therefore, he drew material from everyday life, rejecting heroic themes from mythology and history.
• Puccini's famous operas were: 

  • La Boheme
  • Tosca
  • Madame Butterfly
  • Turandot
• Wilhelm Richard Wagner was born in Leipzig, Germany on May 22, 1813. 
• Richard Wagner - attended Leipzig University
• Richard Wagner - was very much inspired by Ludwig van Beethoven
• Richard Wagner - introduced new ideas in harmony and in form, including extremes of chromaticism
• Richard Wagner - explored the limits of the traditional tonal system that gave keys and chords their own identities which paved the way for the rise of atonality in the 20th century.
• Richard Wagner - exerted a strong influence on the operatic medium
• Richard Wagner - an advocate of a new form of opera which he called "music drama" where musical and dramatic elements were fused together
• Richard Wagner - developed a compositional style in which the orchestra has of equal importance in dramatic roles as the singers themselves.
• The expressiveness is aided by the use of leitmotifs or musical sequences standing for a particular character/plot element.
• Richard Wagner‘s famous works are

  • Tristan and Isolde
  • Die Walkyrie
  • Die Meistersinger
  • Tannhäuser
  • Parsifal
• Richard Wagner - His work would later influence modern film scores, including those of "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings" film series
• Richard Wagner - died of a heart attack on February 13,1883 at age of 69.
• Georges Bizet was registered with the legal name Alexandre-Cesar-Leopold Bizet, but was baptized Georges Bizet and was always known by the latter name
• Georges Bizet - born October 25, 1838 in Paris, France
• Georges Bizet - entered the Paris Conservatory of music at a very young age.
• Georges Bizet - became famous for his operas. His most famous opera is "Carmen."