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The history of Western music

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Title: The history of Western music


1
Lecture 6
  • The history of Western music
  • The mechanics of Western music since 1600

2
Beethovens Symphony No 5 in C Minor, Op.
67Tchaikovskys Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op.
74 (Pathétique)
  • Consider
  • Christopher Smalls idea of the meta-narrative
    of Western culture (i.e., a situation that is
    disturbed and then, somehow, reaches equilibrium)
  • is it possible for you experience these pieces
    (in whole or in part) as dramatic narratives?
  • if so, can you somehow describe the plot of
    the narratives?
  • are the plots the same or different?
  • if different, how are they different?
  • do the plots have anything at all to do with
    traditional Western concepts of masculinity and
    femininity?
  • do you have any thoughts or opinions about
    Smalls theory?

3
ancient Greece
the history of Western music
6th - 1st centuries B.C.
  • Pythagorean theory
  • surviving notation
  • is cryptic
  • suggests that the music consisted only of single
    melodic lines
  • importance placed on the nature of melodic
    modes
  • some were strong and manly, others were soft
    and feminine
  • some were highly moral, others were lewd,
    lascivious
  • we know the names of the modes, but not their
    actual sound
  • Plato (The Republic) Our songs are our laws

4
early Medieval period
the history of Western music
1st 7th centuries A.D.
  • more Pythagorean theory
  • music as part of the Quadrivium
  • along with arithmetic, geometry and astronomy
  • three kinds of music
  • musica instrumentalis, musica humana, musica
    mundana
  • as in ancient Greece, music consisted of simple
    melodies
  • all we know about is church music, and we know
    that only from theoretical texts
  • no musical notation, and none was needed

5
example of neumatic notation
  • Question
  • Why was musical notation needed at this point in
    time?
  • Answer
  • Because by now there was a relatively large
    formal repertoire that needed to be accurately
    preserved.

6
middle Medieval period
the history of Western music
8th 10th centuries A.D.
  • melodic modes (scales)
  • only the names (ionian, dorian, phrygian,
    mixolydian, lydian, aeolian, locrian) were
    borrowed from the ancient Greeks
  • development of a body of repertoire (monophonic)
  • plainchant
  • Gregorian Chant, and attributed to Gregory the
    Great (d. 604)
  • beginnings of a simple music notation (neumes)
  • assignment of letter names to pitches
  • gradual development of a more accurate notation
    system
  • assignment of syllable names to pitches

7
Guido of Arezzo c. 991 c. 1040
  • invented system of horizontal lines to indicate
    relative pitch level
  • invented the idea of using letters (C and F) at
    the beginnings of staves to indicate absolute
    pitch
  • codified the melodic modes according to their
    range (ambitus) and their finals
  • codified the rhythmic modes
  • divided the range of pitches into six-note
    patterns (hexachords) that sounded relatively
    the same
  • invented a system by which syllable names were
    assigned to the pitches of a hexachord

8
Guidos hand
9
Guidos solmization hymn
10
a 13th-century antiphonin Guidonian notation
11
Guido of Arezzo
  • invented the idea of using letters (C and F) at
    the beginnings of staves to indicate absolute
    pitch
  • codified the melodic modes according to their
    range (ambitus) and their finals
  • invented system of horizontal lines to indicate
    relative pitch level
  • codified the rhythmic modes
  • divided the range of pitches into six-note
    patterns (hexachords) that sounded relatively
    the same
  • invented a system by which syllable names were
    assigned to the pitches of a hexachord

12
Guido of Arezzo
  • Question
  • Where did Guidos inventions lead?
  • invented the idea of using letters (C and F) at
    the beginnings of staves to indicate absolute
    pitch
  • codified the melodic modes according to their
    range (ambitus) and their finals
  • invented system of horizontal lines to indicate
    relative pitch level
  • codified the rhythmic modes
  • divided the range of pitches into six-note
    patterns (hexachords) that sounded relatively
    the same
  • invented a system by which syllable names were
    assigned to the pitches of a hexachord

13
Guido of Arezzo
  • Answers
  • The clef
  • The concept of tonality
  • The modern staff
  • Modern time signatures
  • The idea of the scale
  • The do-re-mi system
  • invented the idea of using letters (C and F) at
    the beginnings of staves to indicate absolute
    pitch
  • codified the melodic modes according to their
    range (ambitus) and their finals
  • invented system of horizontal lines to indicate
    relative pitch level
  • codified the rhythmic modes
  • divided the range of pitches into six-note
    patterns (hexachords) that sounded relatively
    the same
  • invented a system by which syllable names were
    assigned to the pitches of a hexachord

14
Guido of Arezzo
  • Question
  • Where else did they lead?
  • Answer
  • To the creation of polyphonic music.
  • invented the idea of using letters (C and F) at
    the beginnings of staves to indicate absolute
    pitch
  • codified the melodic modes according to their
    range (ambitus) and their finals
  • invented system of horizontal lines to indicate
    relative pitch level
  • codified the rhythmic modes
  • divided the range of pitches into six-note
    patterns (hexachords) that sounded relatively
    the same
  • invented a system by which syllable names were
    assigned to the pitches of a hexachord

15
late Medieval period
the history of Western music
11th 14th centuries A.D.
  • development of simple polyphonic music
    (organum)
  • at Notre Dame in Paris (Léonin, Perotin)
  • huge expansion of sacred repertoire
  • motets, masses
  • notation of secular music (troubadour songs)
  • increasing use of binary rhythms in sacred music
  • development of polyphony to include three and
    four parts
  • increasing use of imitative counterpoint

16
Renaissance
the history of Western music
15th 16th centuries
  • increasingly florid melodies
  • development of the isorhythmic motet
  • development of various fixed forms for secular
    music
  • renewed interest in relationship between music,
    mathematics
  • increasingly complex polyphony in sacred music
  • Council of Trent (1542)
  • Palestrinas Missa Papae Marcelli
  • a new social role for learned music
    entertainment!

17
Baroque
the history of Western music
1600-1750
  • Baroque
  • from the Portuguese barroco, meaning
  • imperfect pearl.
  • ???????????????
  • Borrowed from the vocabulary of art and
    architectural history refers to a highly
    ornate style.

18
Baroque
the history of Western music
1600-1750
  • new style (much simpler) contrasts with
    antique style
  • the beginnings of opera music as a dramatic
    gesture
  • rigorous counterpoint virtuoso instrumental
    writing
  • theoretical developments
  • problems with Pythagorean system !!!

19
Pythagorean system
  • relationship between naturally occurring musical
    intervals and simple mathematical proportions
  • 21 the octave
  • 32 the fifth
  • the circle of fifths

20
Pythagorean system
  • relationship between naturally occurring musical
    intervals and simple mathematical proportions
  • 21 the octave
  • 32 the fifth
  • the circle of fifths
  • C -- G
  • G -- D
  • D -- A
  • A -- E
  • E -- B
  • B -- F
  • F -- C
  • C -- G (A?)
  • G (A ?) D (E ?)
  • E ? -- B ?
  • B ? -- F
  • F -- C

21
Pythagorean system
  • relationship between naturally occurring musical
    intervals and simple mathematical proportions
  • 21 the octave
  • 32 the fifth
  • the circle of fifths

project 32 twelve times and it should equal
21 projected seven times.
So ???????
  • But it doesnt.

22
The Pythagorean comma
comma, from the Greek komma, meaning cutting
or gap Theoretically, the 32 fifth projected
twelve times should result in exactly the same
pitch as the 21 octave projected seven
times. The pitch at the end of the circle of
fifths should be an exact replication
(multiplied x 2 seven times) of the starting
pitch.
12
  • (1.5)

1.0136
7
2
23
The Pythagorean comma
  • So ????
  • In order for music to involve all twelve pitches,
    the Pythagorean intervals had to be compromised.
  • The comma needed to be somehow spread out over
    the entire range of pitches.
  • The musical scale needed to be somehow
    tempered.

24
Stuart Isacoff, Temperament How Music Became a
Battleground for the Great Minds of Western
Civilization (Vintage Books, 2001).
  • Jacket synopsis
  • Few music lovers realize that the arrangement
    of notes on todays pianos was once regarded as a
    crime against God and nature, or that such
    legendary thinkers as Pythagoras, Plato, da
    Vinci, Galileo, Kepler, Descartes, Newton and
    Rousseau played a role in the controversy.
    Indeed, from the time of the ancient Greeks
    through the eras of Renaissance scientists and
    Enlightenment philosophers, the relationship
    between the notes of the musical scale was seen
    as a key to the very nature of the universe.

25
Stuart Isacoff, Temperament How Music Became a
Battleground for the Great Minds of Western
Civilization (Vintage Books, 2001).
  • Jacket synopsis
  • The contentious adoption of the modern tuning
    system known as equal temperament called into
    question beliefs that had lasted nearly two
    millennia and also made possible the music of
    Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Debussy and all who
    followed.

26
Equal temperament
  • A tempering, or adjustment, of all the pitches so
    that the relative distance between them is
    exactly the same.
  • In the Pythagorean system, there was a problem
    with the second tone of the scale. Depending on
    its relationship with other tones, its proportion
    (in terms of the first tone) needed to be either
    98 or 109.
  • Singers and instrumentalists could make the
    necessary adjustment, but only if the music was
    not very complex.
  • But this wouldnt work if
  • the music was complex
  • the music involved instruments incapable of
    pitch adjustment

27
Equal temperament
  • In equal temperament, only the octave retains
    the pure Pythagorean proportion (21).
  • All the other intervals are adjusted to
    accommodate the Pythagorean comma.
  • the fifth is slightly sharper than the 32 fifth
  • the fourth is slightly flatter than the 43
    fourth
  • the major third is considerably sharper than the
    54 third
  • the minor third is considerably flatter than the
    65 third
  • the major second is slightly sharper than the
    98 second
  • the minor second is a lot flatter than the 1615
    second

28
Equal temperament
  • In equal temperament, all the intervals (except
    the octave) are by Pythagorean standards out of
    tune.
  • Question
  • How can we stand to listen to music in which
    almost all the intervals are out of tune?
  • Answer
  • Weve gotten used to it.

29
Equal temperament
  • In equal temperament, all the intervals (except
    the octave) are by Pythagorean standards out of
    tune.
  • Question
  • What happens if we tune an instrument according
    to Pythagorean intervals for one key and then
    attempt to play in another key?
  • Answer
  • Yikes !!!

30
Baroque
the history of Western music
1600-1750
  • new style (much simpler) contrasts with
    antique style
  • the beginnings of opera music as a dramatic
    gesture
  • rigorous counterpoint virtuoso instrumental
    writing
  • theoretical developments
  • problems with Pythagorean system !!!
  • the galant style (simple textures, lots of
    ornamentation)
  • doctrine of the affections music as
    expression
  • theoretical writings
  • temperament, functional harmony, tonal
    system

31
functional harmony and the tonal system
  • in the tonal system (tonality), the pitches
    exist in a hierarchy that makes one of them (the
    tonic pitch) the most important.
  • in a major scale (do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do)
    the tonic pitch is do.
  • in the tonal system, the hierarchy of pitches
    implies that music eventually needs to resolve on
    the tonic (i.e., on do).
  • to feel this, just listen to an ascending major
    scale that ends on ti.
  • in the tonal system, the tonic in effect wields
    a magnetic attraction over the other pitches.
  • but all the pitches exist in some sort of
    magnetic relationship with one another.

32
functional harmony and the tonal system
  • a system in which simple harmonies based on
    the various tones of the scale have functions
    based on the tones magnetic attraction toward
    one another.
  • a simple harmony, in this case, is a triad
    (i.e., a group of three pitches) built on
    successive thirds.
  • in other words, a pitch, then a third above
    that, then a third above that.

33
functional harmony and the tonal system
In the key of C major, the tonic pitch ( do)
is C.
  • The tonic harmony consists of the pitches C, E
    and G (do-mi-so).

34
functional harmony and the tonal system
  • After the tonic, the two most important pitches
    in the hierarchy are
  • the fourth tone (fa)
  • the fifth tone (sol)
  • Similarly, after the tonic harmony, the two most
    important harmonies in the hierarchy are the
    triads built on
  • the fourth tone (fa-la-do)
  • the fifth tone (sol-ti-re)

35
functional harmony and the tonal system
In rudimentary musical analysis, these harmonies
are identified by Roman numerals. (upper case
major triad)
  • The strongest magnetic attractions are between
    the harmonies related by the interval of the
    fifth.
  • V is a fifth above I
  • I is a fifth above IV

36
functional harmony and the tonal system
In rudimentary musical analysis, these harmonies
are identified by Roman numerals. (upper case
major triad)
  • The magnetic attractions are strengthened when
    the harmonies are expanded to include a
    dissonant minor seventh (i.e., a minor seventh
    above the harmonys root pitch.

37
functional harmony and the tonal system
The harmony based on the second scale degree is a
minor triad. (lower case minor)
  • The ii harmony has two pitches in common with
    the IV harmony, so these two harmonies are
    closely related.

38
functional harmony and the tonal system
The same close relationship (because of tones
in common) exists between the harmonies built on
I and vi
  • and between the harmonies built on V and
    iii.

39
functional harmony and the tonal system
Remember the fifth relationships (and strong
magnetic attraction) between V-I and I-IV ???
  • There are also fifth relationships (and thus
    attractions) between iii-vi, vi-ii and ii-V.

40
The tonal system with its functional harmony
is complex, with many intertwining relationships.
functional harmony and the tonal system
  • Yet we can easily hear the functional
    relationships between harmonies in simple songs.
  • The patterns of harmony in simple songs makes
    sense to us because
  • were accustomed to the tonal system
  • the system itself is theoretically
    (mathematically) logical

41
Bingo
functional harmony and the tonal system
  • I IV I
    V I
  • I had a dog and he had me, and Bingo was his
    name-o.
  • I IV V I
    vi ii
  • B, I, N, G, O B, I, N, G, O B, I, N, G, O
  • V I
  • And Bingo was his name-o.

42
Santa Catalina
functional harmony and the tonal system
  • I vi ii V
  • Twenty-six miles across the sea,
  • I vi ii V
  • Santa Catalina is a-waiting for me,
  • I vi ii V
  • Santa Catalina, the island of
  • I vi ii
    V
  • romance, romance, romance, romance.

43
Classical
the history of Western music
1750-1800
  • theoretical development of equal temperament
  • increased use of chromaticism, modulation
  • development of sonata form
  • in Exposition two themes are contrasted not
    just by character but also by tonality
  • in Development fragments from both themes are
    intermixed, modulated from key to key
  • in Recapitulation the two themes are
    presented in the same key
  • aesthetics music as abstract form
  • idea of the composer as craftsman

44
Romantic
the history of Western music
1800-1900
  • practical use of equal temperament
  • increased use of chromaticism, modulation
  • aesthetics the sonata as dramatic form
  • in the sonata form
  • the two themes are presented in dramatic
    opposition
  • the development section a conflict
  • the recapitulation a resolution of the
    conflict
  • idea of the composer as artist

45
Review
the history of Western music
  • for simple music in isolated communities,
    notation was not necessary
  • notation became necessary as repertoire
    stabilized and grew
  • accurate notation enabled growth of musical
    complexity
  • rise of secularism led to dramatic musical
    gesture and concept of music as expressive of
    emotions
  • increasingly complex and expressive music led to
    expansion of the Pythagorean system
  • expansion of (and problems with) Pythagorean
    system led to functional tonality and to equal
    temperament
  • functional tonality expressiveness led to the
    idea of music as dramatic musical structure

46
Beethovens Symphony No 5 in C Minor, Op.
67Tchaikovskys Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op.
74 (Pathétique)
  • Consider
  • Christopher Smalls idea of the meta-narrative
    of Western culture (i.e., a situation that is
    disturbed and then, somehow, reaches equilibrium)
  • is it possible for you experience these pieces
    (in whole or in part) as dramatic narratives?
  • if so, can you somehow describe the plot of
    the narratives?
  • are the plots the same or different?
  • if different, how are they different?
  • do the plots have anything at all to do with
    traditional Western concepts of masculinity and
    femininity?
  • do you have any thoughts or opinions about
    Smalls theory?
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