CHAPTER 24

1. How were nationalistic composers in Eastern Europe and Russia influenced by the New
German School described in Chapter 22?

Eastern European and Russian nationalist composers modeled themselves in many ways on the
progressivism of the New German School while also bending this style to suit their specific
aesthetic and political needs. As the most fashionable continental movement of the day,
allegiance to the cause of the avant-garde put these marginal composersalready sensitive to
charges of provincialisminto the orbit of the most cutting-edge international style. However,
many Eastern European nationalist composers rejected the dominance of Germany. The New
Russian School, for example, was a direct response to the supremacy of the German model, and
to Rubinsteins claim that music is a German art. Many composers had their cake and ate it
too, appropriating the authority of the New German School while fashioning it into an authentic
national style.


2. In what sense is Smetana both a New Germanist and a Czech nationalist? How and why
were his works received differently in Bohemia and outside Bohemia?

Smetana was ethnically Czech but culturally German: He chose to identify with Czech cultural
nationalism as an adult, but his artistic imagination was nourished his whole life by (New)
German music. Hearing Liszt at age sixteen inspired him to become a composer, and Liszt was
his primary mentor. He excelled at that most Lisztian genre, the symphonic poem, and in his
time he was considered to be one of Europes most avant-garde composers. But his works were
received differently in Bohemia and outside Bohemia. At home, Smetana was best known for his
New German, progressive works, while outside he gained a reputation for his charming, folksy
works (the good-natured opera The Bartered Bride being a particularly good example).


3. What factors make people hear Vltava as a nationalist work?

Vltava is programmatic and pictorial, with each section evoking a different aspect of the Czech
river. The piece incorporates main themes from other movements of the M vlast suite, each
named after famous Czech landmarks and historical episodes. To listeners with knowledge of the
associations, the end of the piece, which juxtaposes the Vltava theme with the Vy!ehrad
motive, is thus a cornucopia of Czechness. Although it does not borrow from Czech folk song
(in fact, it is based on a Swedish folk song), its pictorial effects and explicitly Czech-titled
sections and thematic materials make people hear it as a product of Czech nationalism.


4. Who were the Mighty Five? What were their goals? Which composers did they admire
the most, and why?

The Mighty Five were a group of progressive young composers formed by Mily Balakirev as
the core of the New Russian School. It consisted of Balakirev, Csar Cui, Alexander Borodin,
Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. They aimed to create an authentic national
voice for Russian music, and to do so outside the orbit of the German-dominated conservatories,
by drawing on the wellspring of Russian folk song. However, the Mighty Five studied and
admired Liszt, Berlioz, Chopin, and Glinka for their progressive tendencies. Their style was thus
a fusion of Russian folksiness with New German experimentation and complexity.


5. Describe Mussorgskys realism in Boris Godunov. How is it reflected in the text setting
and orchestral writing of the Coronation Scene?

Boris Godunov reflects Mussorgskys ideal of realism, which holds that music should be truthful
to life. He believed librettos should be written in a conversational language to mimic natural
speech. In the Coronation Scene, this is evidenced in the title characters melodic recitative,
which conforms to the rhythms of declamatory Russian. The scene also employs a prominent
folk tune, but perhaps most novel is Mussorgskys unorthodox orchestral effect to mimic the
pealing of bells. Consisting of the dissonant juxtaposition of A-flat and D dominant-seventh
chords, this clanging quality pushes up against the limits of tonality for the sake of
verisimilitude.


6. Discuss the importance of traditional song and dance for Tchaikovskys music, especially
in the Fourth Symphony and in Eugene Onegin.

Tchaikovsky employed traditional song and dance in the Fourth Symphony and Eugene Onegin
for the sake of realism. In the symphony, these sourcesthe prominent waltz of the opening
movement and the folk tune of the finaleserve a programmatic function, heightening dramatic
realism. Eugene Onegin draws on the waltz and polonaise for their social connotations
(respectively, rustic and high-class), and adds historical realism by incorporating melodies
popular during the era in which the opera is set.


7. Compare and contrast Tchaikovskys Fourth Symphony with the symphonies you have
studied by Beethoven. In what respect did Tchaikovskys symphonies break from
tradition?

Tchaikovsky shares certain features in common with Beethoven: For instance, both of them
wrote symphonies that were heavily invested with drama and enigmatic questions. This is
especially true of Tchaikovskys Fourth Symphony. However, it diverges from tradition in many
ways. The symphony lacks motivic development (a Beethovenian mainstay and obsession of the
New German School) and is driven instead by broad, expansive melodies. It is set in the
traditional four-movement structure, but Tchaikovsky treated these movements as separate
character pieces rather than an integrated whole. He seemed to bypass many aspects of German
influence entirely: His affinities were instead with French and Italian music. Consistent with this
allegiance, Tchaikovsky often drew on the overt influence of traditional song and dance.
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8. What is at stake when Tchaikovskys symphonies are understood as being
autobiographical? What makes autobiographical interpretation persuasive or
unpersuasive?

Understanding Tchaikovskys symphonies to be autobiographical transfers the cause of the
emotional force of his music to his (perceived) tragic life, and away from his skill as a composer.
Autobiographical interpretations can be persuasive in helping to provide links between the
emotional connotations of the music and the emotions that historians believe the composer was
feeling at the time. The connection can add pathos and a quality of truth to the music. However,
biographical readings are bound to mislead. Autobiographical interpretation assumes an
immediate level of correspondence between subjective states and musical representation, but
music is artful and requires mediation. Further, it assumes that every musical utterance
represents the direct voice of the composer, when the composer could be writing from a range
of contradictory perspectives. For example, Tchaikovsky wrote his melancholic Sixth Symphony
during a happy period of his life, and Beethoven penned his cheery Second Symphony during a
time of personal crisis.