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fandomhigh2014-03-14 12:46 am
sharp_as_knives) wrote in fandomhigh2014-03-14 12:46 am
Entry tags:
Flavors, Food Choices, and Menu Planning - Friday, 4th period
Hannibal grinned and nodded at everyone as they arrived. He was sitting on the bench in front of a rather garishly-painted grand piano this week, flexing his hands in preparation. There was a fairly nice, very expensive blazer tossed over the desk behind him, and he was wearing very stylish and expensive boots, slightly ratty jeans, and a Ramones t-shirt.
On the bright side, class - at least your teacher wasn’t a mobster any more!
On the down side - hope you weren’t planning on learning anything about food.
On the really bright side - at least this Hannibal wasn’t going to try to cook for you! He burned macaroni.
“So,” he announced cheerfully, “we were up to the Romantic era, I think. Some good things here. It starts late 18th, early 19th century. Romanticism mostly was people fighting back against too much science, too much industrialism. Not because it was bad, but because they felt emotion was being lost. Emotion was the best part of art — even emotions like fear and disgust. Any emotions. Folk art, folk music were very big — also the supernatural and anything exotic.”
Was that a suggestive look he gave them? Very probably. You’re welcome, Sparkle.
“Also there was a lot of nationalism, so you hear composers pulling from the sounds of their homelands to flavor their music.
“You might think all this emphasis on nature and earlier eras and such sounds fairly conservative, but they also hated musical constructs and formulas and they wanted to make their own, not just follow in everybody’s footsteps. So, as I said,” he grinned, “a lot of good things here!”
He shook out his hands and turned to the piano. “First, I will play for you something by a French composer, Amédée Méreaux. Some people thought his work wasn’t terribly musical, but I like it. His most famous is the 60 Études, opus 63; this is number 24.
After he played that, he stretched his hands again. “I think you see why it is so much fun to play! Another good piano composer, much more influential, is Franz Liszt. He was himself a gifted pianist, considered to be possibly the best at the time. He also helped and inspired many other composers, such as Wagner, Berlioz, Grieg, and Saint-Saëns. He transcribed a lot of music for piano to make it accessible, and he invented the symphonic poem — a work, usually of one movement, that is meant to evoke the mood of something non-musical. A landscape or a poem or something.”
He turned back to the piano. “This is his Transcendental Étude number four.”
After that was done, he continued. “One of the composers I mentioned Liszt helped was Camille Saint-Saëns. One of his best-known pieces is the Danse Macabre. The dance of death, a medieval conceit showing that everybody dies. They would draw pictures of Death leading everybody in a dance, with important people and nobodies all together. Liszt also wrote one of these — his Totentanz. So, first I will play for you Liszt’s version. Listen for how he echoes that idea, and how he uses the Romantic ideals I mentioned earlier."
When he was done with that, he laughed. “And now we come to the part of ‘let’s listen to other things, because Hannibal’s hands only last for so long and he has a painting to finish tonight’. So. Here is Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre. Listen for the similarities and differences with Liszt, and how he interprets the theme.” He pressed Play on the excellent stereo system he'd programmed the room with, and let them listen to it.
“One very well-known symphonic poem — or series of them — is Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. It’s meant to be like an art gallery — there is a piece that’s a picture, and then the promenade between them, and then another picture. And these are all real pieces you can look up. There are many of them, and I encourage you to listen to the whole thing when you get a chance, but for now — the opening promenade and Gnomus, a picture of a gnome with a lurching walk.” He let them listen to it.
He watched the class as they listened to the music each time, clearly enjoying sharing all of this. “And last, because opera was also very big and there is too much to choose from, Gounod. A French composer, known for a few things, but mostly for Faust. This is part of the last act." He pressed Play one last time.
"So. Thoughts and questions about the Romantic era of music and about these in particular?"
On the bright side, class - at least your teacher wasn’t a mobster any more!
On the down side - hope you weren’t planning on learning anything about food.
On the really bright side - at least this Hannibal wasn’t going to try to cook for you! He burned macaroni.
“So,” he announced cheerfully, “we were up to the Romantic era, I think. Some good things here. It starts late 18th, early 19th century. Romanticism mostly was people fighting back against too much science, too much industrialism. Not because it was bad, but because they felt emotion was being lost. Emotion was the best part of art — even emotions like fear and disgust. Any emotions. Folk art, folk music were very big — also the supernatural and anything exotic.”
Was that a suggestive look he gave them? Very probably. You’re welcome, Sparkle.
“Also there was a lot of nationalism, so you hear composers pulling from the sounds of their homelands to flavor their music.
“You might think all this emphasis on nature and earlier eras and such sounds fairly conservative, but they also hated musical constructs and formulas and they wanted to make their own, not just follow in everybody’s footsteps. So, as I said,” he grinned, “a lot of good things here!”
He shook out his hands and turned to the piano. “First, I will play for you something by a French composer, Amédée Méreaux. Some people thought his work wasn’t terribly musical, but I like it. His most famous is the 60 Études, opus 63; this is number 24.
After he played that, he stretched his hands again. “I think you see why it is so much fun to play! Another good piano composer, much more influential, is Franz Liszt. He was himself a gifted pianist, considered to be possibly the best at the time. He also helped and inspired many other composers, such as Wagner, Berlioz, Grieg, and Saint-Saëns. He transcribed a lot of music for piano to make it accessible, and he invented the symphonic poem — a work, usually of one movement, that is meant to evoke the mood of something non-musical. A landscape or a poem or something.”
He turned back to the piano. “This is his Transcendental Étude number four.”
After that was done, he continued. “One of the composers I mentioned Liszt helped was Camille Saint-Saëns. One of his best-known pieces is the Danse Macabre. The dance of death, a medieval conceit showing that everybody dies. They would draw pictures of Death leading everybody in a dance, with important people and nobodies all together. Liszt also wrote one of these — his Totentanz. So, first I will play for you Liszt’s version. Listen for how he echoes that idea, and how he uses the Romantic ideals I mentioned earlier."
When he was done with that, he laughed. “And now we come to the part of ‘let’s listen to other things, because Hannibal’s hands only last for so long and he has a painting to finish tonight’. So. Here is Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre. Listen for the similarities and differences with Liszt, and how he interprets the theme.” He pressed Play on the excellent stereo system he'd programmed the room with, and let them listen to it.
“One very well-known symphonic poem — or series of them — is Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. It’s meant to be like an art gallery — there is a piece that’s a picture, and then the promenade between them, and then another picture. And these are all real pieces you can look up. There are many of them, and I encourage you to listen to the whole thing when you get a chance, but for now — the opening promenade and Gnomus, a picture of a gnome with a lurching walk.” He let them listen to it.
He watched the class as they listened to the music each time, clearly enjoying sharing all of this. “And last, because opera was also very big and there is too much to choose from, Gounod. A French composer, known for a few things, but mostly for Faust. This is part of the last act." He pressed Play one last time.
"So. Thoughts and questions about the Romantic era of music and about these in particular?"
Listen to the lecture, ask questions
Re: Listen to the lecture, ask questions
SmallsHannibal.Re: Listen to the lecture, ask questions
Killing. Him. Look at you. You and that suggestive look. Could Sparks just die, right here, right now? Please?
Re: Listen to the lecture, ask questions
Rilla sighed. It wasn't like she was all that interested in being a great student anyway...
Re: Listen to the lecture, ask questions