In your essay, briefly describe the different elements of music you hear (harmony, conflict, tone color, instrumentation, dynamics, tempo, etc.) as you are listening to the music. Explain how the elements affect the music and your interpretation of the music. Please highlight elements and vocabulary words that have been discussed in your required reading.
The Firebird is based on Russian folklore and myth. The title character is a powerful female spirit bird with magical feathers that provide beauty and protection and glitter like the tongues of flames.
The story begins with Prince Ivan Tsarevich wandering in a garden at night. He sees the Firebird eating golden apples and captures her. However, he releases her when she offers him a magical feather. The Firebird warns Prince Ivan that he’s near the castle of Koschei the Deathless, a fearsome sorcerer. The next morning while hiding in the garden, Prince Ivan watches thirteen captured princesses enter the garden and dance (remember, it’s a ballet). He falls in love with one of them and decides to rescue them.
There’s a problem, however; the garden’s full of statues, because Koschei turns anyone to stone who tries to rescue the princesses. Clearly he doesn’t want to share. Regardless, Prince Ivan confronts Koschei and uses the Firebird’s feather to prevent becoming another immobile statue. The Firebird then casts a spell over the sorcerer and his followers, causing them to dance uncontrollably until they drop. The prince then destroys a magical egg that holds the key to the sorcerer’s immortality. The spell is broken, the princesses are free, the statues return to life, and Prince Ivan marries his bride.
Briefly describe the different elements of music you hear as you are listening to the music. Please highlight elements and vocabulary words that have been discussed in your required reading. Essay music be at least 250 words.
As you listen to the composition, use the following questions to guide your thinking:
How did the dynamics help you mentally visualize a story or situation?
Do you believe the composer was able to express a story by choosing special instrumental sounds (tone colors)?
How does Stravinsky’s music demonstrate the conflict and harmony of the story The Firebird?
KEY VOCABULARY
• Conflict: a clash of two or more notes that is unpleasing to the ear.
• Harmony: the sounding of two or more musical notes together that is pleasing to the ear.
• Mood: the feeling or emotion that is expressed through the music.
• Timbre/Tone Color: the unique quality of the sound of an instrument or voice.
• Dynamics: how loud or soft the music is played.
