Alongside Sonata V by John Cage, I have chosen Yves Tumor’s music video for their song “Licking an Orchid.” Sonata V, due to its eerie and strange sound, has a sort of suspenseful nature to it. And in thinking of this suspense, I look to the work’s lack of a clear meter as perhaps a …
Continue reading “Yosan Alemu, Comparative Literature, CC 2021”
During the Harlem Renaissance, Jazz was used as a tool to display Black extravagance, since African-Americans were deemed to be devoid of culture. The “A train” was the quickest way to get to Sugar Hill, which is where Black Harlem royalty lived. In our contemporary time, Beyoncé is apart of the cultural elite. In “Get …
Date: 1932 Genre: Jazz Composer: Duke Ellington Lyricist: Irving Mills Visual Piece Scene: Hairspray Movie (2007) Song: Run and Tell That Hairspray Both the song and the scene emphasises the importance of using dance as a form of expression and alternative protest to the suppression of African American dance and music. The fast movements of …
The opening notes of Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring sound like an awakening to a folklike morning filled with spiritual rituals and feasts. It’s largely unmistakeable to a niche aesthetic lifestyle of flower crowns and simple living. I recall a scene from Midsommar (2019) that opens up more to the scenery and setting of the film …
Magritte’s The Lovers may seem too restrictive and unemotional to be seen in comparison to the Sono Andati? in La Boheme, considering that it is the piece when Mimi is gradually dying. However, in Sono Andati?, Mimi and Rodolfo do not mention anything about death but only recall their first encounter and their happy moments, putting their real emotions aside. Concealing …
Webern’s Symphony Op. 21 is a beautifully ominous composition that I felt set well with this particular scene from an episode of Luther. The scene, like Webern’s piece, is marked by a strong sense of tension which breeds suspense and slight discomfort. Additionally, the environment supports the tension within the scene a comparable amount to …
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I paired “Almost There” from Princess and the Frog with William Grant Still’s “Afro-American Symphony” because the two share a number of similarities. Firstly, similar time periods: Princess and the Frog is set in the mid 1920’s, and Still’s symphony was completed in 1930. Also, Still wrote the first symphony to feature the banjo and …
Continue reading “Lauren Alcindor English/Linguistics, CC ’21”
Carolino’s O mundo fez-se grande and Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps both portray what one expects to be pleasant themes — the opening up of the world and the coming of spring — unpleasantly. The painting and song to me feel somber, uneasy and aggressive. Carolino’s painting is made out of six canvases glued to …
“By using the word ‘nocturne’ I wished to indicate an artistic interest alone, divesting the picture of any outside anecdotal interest… A nocturne is an arrangement of line, form and colour first.” (J.A.M. Whistler, quoted in Dorment and MacDonald, p.122) Whistler’s Nocturne: Blue and Gold – Old Battersea Bridge for me mirrors many of the …
Continue reading “Charles Debussy – Voiles (Préludes – Book I) (1909)”
Tess Kim, CC 2021, History major In order to reflect the eerie and intense atmosphere of the song, I chose a scene from Corpse Bride. In this scene, Victor (the male protagonist) runs away after seeing his corpse bride for the first time. The fast repeats of the piano motive in minor key accompany Victor’s …
Levitsky Music Hum Fall 2019 Class Blog