Program Music: Richard Strausss Don Quixote Essay -- essays research

Before the Romantic medicinal drugal theater age, composers wrote medicament for the purpose of arranging sounds into the most beautiful way possible. Because of these goals, they followed sev durationl(prenominal) very specific ideas and wouldnt stray from them. Once the Romantic era hit, composers wanted to express a variety of things in their music. This is when the idea of architectural plan music appe bed. Program music is usu tout ensembley instrumental music without verbalise or sung words to explain the bal 1y or grammatical case that the composer has chosen to describe with his or her music. However, program music relies on a few non-musical things to make sure that the listener is interpreting the correct story. These things are often the title of the piece, a written forward and galore(postnominal) quantify notes written to the performer/director directly in the score. After all, it is easygoing for a composer to say I am sad in his or her music by retributive using minor sonorities and dissonances, but it isnt possible for the composer to say I am sad because my mother is slightly to die of prostate cancer without the aid of explanatory notes. Program music has become a staple of our modern musical listening victuals in almost every genre from full orchestra to wind peal to small jazz combo.One of the most prominent examples of program music is Richard Strausss tone poem simulate Quixote. This tone poem tells the story of Miguel de Cevantes Saavedras novel The Adventures of arrogate Quixote. The story of the hero Don Quixote is one of insanity and delusion that Strauss was able to depict very well. Don Quixote was a middle aged man that read too mevery books more or less cavalrys and their heroic deeds. This is shown by three different themes given to show Dons dreams of universe a knight. Over time, he read so many books and dreamt of rescuing his ideal woman named Dulcinea from a potassium bitartrate so many times that his sp irit was unable to separate his real life from his fancy world. Strauss chose to depict Dulcinea with a beautiful lyrical melody while the dragon is represented by a loud, low, sustained melody in the straining and bass tubas. Dons victory over the dragon is shown by a victory flourish in the flute and oboe. After this melding of his mind occurs, he believes that he is really the knight Don Quixote de la Mancea. From here, he and his side kick Sancho Panza set out into the world to do majestic deeds. From here on out, Don is represented by a aviate cello voice. When ... ...with the Knight of the Silver Moon. The knight is really one of Don Quixotes townspeople that is concerned for Dons well fare. To write Don, this man plays along with Don and defeats him in a joust. This battle is shown by the solo cello playing Dons themes playing against all the wind instruments playing the Knights themes. This is followed by a dirge-like character which includes the shepherds them. This shows that Don is forced to return home and he thinks about being a shepherd. With all of Dons dreams of being a knight shattered, he returns home and lives the rest of his life. The final scene is of Don manufacturing in his bed dying. Strauss shows Don Quixotes final peace in death by using the same two chords that showed his initial disposition to be a knight, but this time they are sustained at a pianissimo level.Richard Strauss was known for being able to portray dumfounding stories with his music incredibly well. Every part of his writing is so descriptive that even Strauss said that he could describe a soup smooch in his music. Program music became so popular and still is for just that reason a master composer like Strauss can tell any story in a musical format that people enjoy.