Humanities Study Guide

Humanities Study Guide

Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote novels that strongly condemned modern progress. His experiences in prison convinced him that only Christian love could redeem Western society. Society, he felt, had been overtaken by materialistic greed and spiritual alienation. Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov are among his most famous works. Architecture The western city evolved into an assortment of various architectural styles from the eras past. Neoclassicism was in direct competition with the Gothic and Renaissance revivals, while new materials, such as iron and glass, created a unique architectural style of the Industrial Era. This new, industrial style was used for practical and mundane structures, like train stations, libraries, exhibition halls or shopping arcades. In stark contrast to the new, industrial style, Antoni Gaudi continued to expand on Art Nouveau in Barcelona, showing an effort to combine art and design to go beyond the pragmatism of typical industrial architecture. Music The influences of the Romantic era remained throughout the 19th century, although some composers created a new contemporary sound. Others, like Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner re-envisioned opera. Opera continued to flourish in Europe, especially in Paris. Verdi was the hero of the early 19th century opera, and he created such masterpieces as Rigoletto, II Trovatore, and La Traviata, all of which featured dramatic songs of lyrical beauty with elements of tragedy and dramatic effect. He even set Shakespeare’s plays to music in Otello and Falstaff. Wagner was renowned for his operas from his concept of Gesamtkunstwerk. This was the concept that an opera should be a synthesis of poetic, visual, musical, and dramatic arts. His operas featured a complex nature and rich harmonies. He frequently used leitmotifs , a musical phrase associated with specific places, ideas, individual characters, or plot elements. He is also credited with spearheading chromaticism , which broke conventions of tonality by mixing pitches, creating ‘color’ in music, outside of the usual chords. While other musicians remained in a sound known as the Late Romanticism, Pyotr Tchaikovsky led a rise in musical nationalism that was typically associated with Eastern Europe in the late 1800s. Musical nationalism was typically incorporated in native folk music and programmatic musical descriptions. Pieces celebrated a composer's origins and the beauty of their homeland. Tchaikovsky was also famous for his orchestral works featured in some of the most prominent ballets, like Swan Lake. Claude Debussy explored new harmonic relationships and exotic tone colors. His compositions evoked dream-like moods that were suggestive of impression, like in his piece Clair de Lune . This was very similar to the poets of this era. He also notably broke away the traditions of the past. Theater The world of theater was also largely influenced by the power of Realism. During this phase, plots were often based on strict rules of plausibility written in prose rather than verse. Sets were carefully defined with curtains and electrical lighting.

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