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Summer Music
Recommended Music -- Upper School
Included below is a chronological listing of ‘classical’ music and a very eclectic and limited selection of the best of jazz and popular music to circa 1960s. We trust that students have heard many forms of rock and roll, hip hop, country and western and other popular genres that are audible to all. Music from areas other than Europe and the U.S. is not included, though the list may be expanded next year. Students: if you are going to be studying Foundations of the Modern World in History you should consider listening to the medieval, renaissance, and baroque composers for maximum benefit; those studying The Modern World, the classical, romantic and 20th century selections deserve your attention. For American History (and much of the literature you will be reading in English), the jazz and popular music will enrich your understanding. There is no expectation that you will give up your summer for ‘high culture’. But on a blistering hot day, you can enter the cool serenity of a dark lovely cathedral by listening to melismatic medieval chanting. When you long for something more complicated than a three-chord song with loud lyrics and lots of bass, you can try Bach’s fugues. Take a walk on a secluded beach, and listen to La Mer, Debussy’s gorgeous mood poem. And for night time company on endless summer evenings, Miles, Frank and Ella are wonderful companions. Experiment and enjoy!
Medieval (Before 1450):
Hildegard von Bingen
Gregorian Chant
Renaissance (1450-1600):
William Byrd (Pavanes and Galliards)
Orlandus Lassus (Madrigals or Motets)
Monteverdi (Madrigals)
Palestrina (Masses)
Thomas Tallis (Sacred Choral Music)
Baroque (1650-1750):
Johann Sebastian Bach - Art of the Fugue, Brandenburg Concerti (any)
Corelli - Concerti Grosse, Op.6)
Handel - The Messiah (Oratorio) or the Water Music
Pachelbel - Organ Music, or if you insist, the Canon
Purcell (Trio Sonatas)
Classical Period (1750-1820):
Beethoven - Quartet 8 or 14; or Symphony 5 or 9; or Trio no. 7 (Archduke)
Haydn - Quartet no. 76; or Symphony 45, 94, 101 or 104
Mozart - The Magic Flute (Ingmar Bergman has an enchanting video, sung in Swedish, but it doesn’t matter); or Exultate Jubilate, or Concerti for Flute K.313 and 314; or Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, k.581; or Symphony no. 40 or 41.
Rossini - Overtures.
Romantic Period (1820-1910):
Bizet - Carmen (an opera available on video; for an interesting variation see the video Carmen Jones, same music, in English, all black cast, a revolutionary film.
Brahms - Academic Festival Overture, op. 80; or any of his 4 Symphonies.
Chopin - Any of his piano music
Debussy - Clair de Lune (Suite Bergamasque); or La Mer; or Prelude a l’apres-midi d’une faune (Afternoon of a Fawn).
Dvorak - Symphony no. 9 (New World)
Franck - Symphony in D minor
Mussorgsky- Pictures at an Exhibition
Puccini - La Boheme (upon which Rent was based)
Ravel - Pavane pour une infante defente (Lament for a Dead Child)
Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade
Schubert - Quartet no. 14 (Death and the Maiden)
Tchaikovsky - Symphony no. 6 (Pathethique)
Verdi - Aida
Wagner - Tristan and Isolde (Prelude and Liebestod)
20th Century:
Bartok - Quartet 3 or 4
Copland - Fanfare for the Common Man, or Appalachian Spring (Suite or complete ballet)
Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue or the video of Porgy and Bess
Holst - The Planets
Ives - Three Places in New England
Modern (1945- ):
Babbitt, Milton - Piano concertos
Boulez, Pierre - Memoriale a Bruno Maderna
Crumb - Ancient Voices of Children
Jazz and Popular Music to circa 1970:
Ragtime:
Scott Joplin
Eubie Blake
New Orleans:
Sydney Bechet
Louis Armstrong
Jelly Roll Morton
Swing:
Count Basie
Glenn Miller
Duke Ellington (1940s)
BeBop:
Charlie Parker
Dizzy Gillespie
Thelonius Monk
Cool:
Miles Davis
Dave Brubeck
Jerry Mulligan
Chet Baker
Rhythm & Blues : Ray Charles
Broadway Musicals
There have been some unbelievably wonderful musicals in the past fifty years; try just two, each written by an incredibly talented team of composer and lyricist.
Rhythm & Blues--Ray Charles
Camelot (Lerner and Lowe) available on video
Oklahoma (Rogers and Hammerstein) available on video
Song Stylists:
Just two to start with, both recently deceased; both irreplaceable:
Frank Sinatra - Only the Lonely is a great album (now a CD)
Ella Fitzgerald - her Songbooks of Cole Porter, or George Gershwin, or Duke Ellington are incomparable.
Folk Music:
In its broadest meaning, music arising from the people, two examples:
Pete Seeger - American Industrial Ballads (Smithsonian Folkways)
Sing for Freedom: the Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Its Songs (Smithsonian Folkways)
