LISTEN UP!

The first two of Alma Mahler’s Four Songs were written in 1901, while the second two were written in 1911, a decade later. What differences do you hear between the second and the third songs in the cycle?

Lieder: No. 2 Waldseligkeit (Forest Bliss) https://open.spotify.com/track/4bjdWI5hVLvAn0kFpdxyaF?si=1jujs6HgTEe5DUyIHLB7wQ

Lieder: No. 3 Ansturm (Onslaught) https://open.spotify.com/track/4s5O10MNCnvH6a5ntheFQg?si=14tK7OppQ42RyyoPwyzbbw

What other composers’ work does Four Songs remind you of? Do you think Alma Mahler was influenced by her contemporaries’ work, or merely by the same predecessors as her contemporaries?

Lieder: No 1 Licht in der Nacht (Light in the night) https://open.spotify.com/track/6UQqaZawYftc6yVsXV5GH2?si=onlumexiT6yufA3PDu9PMQ

Béla Bartók uses a dissonant minor second as a reoccurring motif, known as the blood motif, to evoke an unsettled disquiet, foreboding, and deep sadness. Sometimes it’s at a fast tempo while other times it is slow. Listen to these different selections and see if you can hear when this motif emerges.

Bluebeard’s Castle: II. First Door https://open.spotify.com/track/5g2s8kSoWeLR4HgYzi122k?si=y5kbO8fQRSy505K992TRIg

Bluebeard’s Castle: V. Third Door https://open.spotify.com/track/50AQIP5hq0Px0nlfrJ4ahN?si=4ZLtdIC5SuSfwdOP_qbZHA