Page 247 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

Having entered the musical picture gallery, the visitor now focuses
in turn on a musical evocation of each of ten paintings: first a depiction
of an elf-like gnome, then an old castle, and so on. As we walk from im-
age to image, the Promenade theme accompanies us. Finally, we arrive at
the tenth and last picture, Musorgsky’s musical rendering of a grand and glorious gate (see Listening Cue). This final scene is based on Hartmann’s
The Great Gate of Kiev (Figure 14.8), the painter’s vision of a triumphant
gate to the Ukrainian city of Kiev (then controlled by Russia). Think of the
Arc de Triomphe in Paris or the Arch of Constantine in Rome, through
which victorious armies returned home in triumph. Hartmann’s paint-
ing is impressive, but Musorgsky’s music more so. Using rondo form
(here ABABCA), Musorgsky arranges his thematic material to depict a
grand parade passing beneath the giant gate. Its majesty is first evoked through the impressive sound of the full brasses (theme A). Suddenly the music shifts to solemn woodwinds quietly playing a harmonized chant from the liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church (B), thereby suggesting a procession of Russian clergy or pilgrims. Even the composer-viewer seems to walk beneath the gate as the Promenade theme (C) appears, before a final return to a panoramic view of the gate (A), now with Hartmann’s bells ringing triumphantly.
Listening Cue
Modest Musorgsky, The Great Gate of Kiev from Pictures at an Exhibition (1874) Orchestrated by Maurice Ravel (1922)
Form: Rondo (ABABCA)
Figure 14.8
Victor Hartmann’s vision The Great Gate of Kiev, which inspired the last of the musical paintings in Musorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibi- tion. Note the bells in the tower, a motif that is featured prominently at the very end of Musorgsky’s musical evocation of this design.
Download 43
what to listen for: Three distinctively different kinds of music: A (brasses and full orchestra at 0:00), B (woodwinds at 0:56), and C (Promenade theme at 2:41). A sounds Western; B and C more Russian. Most important, listen to how Musorgsky makes the gate theme (A) sound more and more grand with each appearance.
reAD . . . a detailed Listening Guide of this selection online.
LiSTeN TO . . . this selection streaming online.
WATCH . . . an Active Listening Guide of this selection online.
DO . . . Listening Exercise 14.2, Musorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition, online.
practice . . .
your understanding of this chapter’s concepts by reviewing a Checklist of Musical Style for the Romantic era and working once more with the chapter’s Active Listening Guides online.
do . . .
online multiple-choice and critical thinking quizzes that your instructor may assign for a grade.
Join us on Facebook at
Listening to Music with Craig Wright
music and nationalism 225 Copyright 201 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
56797_ch14_ptg01.indd 225 29/08/14 3:37 PM
© RIA Novosti/The Bridgeman Art Library
<