Music appriciation.

listening from different perspectives

in music selection titled "in the hall of the mountain king" from the peer gynt suite no. 1, op. 46 by the norwegian composer edvard grieg. peer gynt is the incidental music to henrik ibsen's 1867 play of the same name loosely based on a norwegian fairy tale. it tells the story of peer gynt, a norwegian peasant anti-hero, who is constantly drunk, getting in and out of trouble, and experiencing real and imaginary adventures, including the one that is portrayed in the piece to which you will be listening. there is only one music idea in the piece. here it is played by the violins (pizzicato).

how do you think this piece would be described by different types of listeners — casual, referential, critical, or perceptive?

how to write the answers.

1. click pause at the end of each theme entry and describe what you heard from a listening perspective of your choice — casual, referential, critical, or perceptive. include at least two short descriptions from each perspective.

2. during the video, follow the question prompts and write down the comments.

3. when commenting as a referential, critical, or perceptive listener, address how grieg achieves unity and variety in the piece through the use of:

dynamics (loud or soft volume, or gradual changes from one to another).

timbre (instruments playing the theme by themselves or in different combinations).

pitch (for instance, an entry of the theme at a different registers, i. e., higher or lower than another).

tempo (at what theme entry does the piece start getting faster-accelerando? does the piece get slower again?

4. does this piece have any specific connotation(s) for you? if so, what is it? why does it have it?