History of Music

1
History of Music

• Baroque
• And
• Classical

2
Baroque 1600-1750

• At the end of the 16th century, madrigal
  composers moved to extreme dissonances and
  rhythmic contrasts to illustrate emotional texts
• The Baroque period began as a reaction against
  the madrigal.
• The recitative was developed as a new solo
  singing style. This led to the stage and
  eventually to opera.
• The Baroque is characterized with extreme excess
  and extravagance.
• Baroque dualism is a constant theme throughout
  the Baroque era. It is the battle between
  freedom and strictness, extravagance and control.

3
Baroque musical characteristics

• Rhythm is more definite and regular.
• Bar lines begin to be used for the 1st time.
• The basso continuo is formed. This includes the
  bass voices or low sounding instruments and organ
  or harpsichord (chordal instrument allows for
  continuous chords). In general, the bass line is
  reinforced.
• Harmony evolves and musicians developed our
  modern major/minor system.
• Chords became a standard and used in a
  predictable and meaningful way. We being to have
  an established sense of tonality.

4
Opera

• Introduced around 1600
• Opera is drama set to music and singing is used
  instead of speech.
• Main genre of secular music during this time
• Art form that combined music, drama, dancing,
  poetry, scenery, and special effects.
• Became an important part of culture and
  entertainment.
• Opera alternated between the styles of recitative
  and aria.
• Listen Dido and Aeneas I(1689) by Henry Purcell.

5
Oratorio

• Sacred vocal music that includes a variety of
  styles and forms.
• Oratorio is basically opera using sacred subjects
  and are performed in concert form (no scenery,
  costumes, or gestures).
• Includes the participation of the choir
• May borrow from secular vocal music
• Listen Recitative, There were Shepherds and
  chorus, Glory to God by Handel from Messiah

6
Instrumental Music

• Instrumental music rises through the popularity
  of dance, virtuosity, and vocal music.
• The rise of instrumental music can also be
  associated with the development of instrument
  making technology.
• The first fortepianos are invented during this
  time and are the first to use hammer strokes not
  by plectra.
• Pipe organ technology continued to evolve and
  organ building becomes a craft.

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The Late Baroque

• The age of absolutism and the doctrine of the
  divine right of kings, the absolute rule of
  God-chosen monarchs. Absolutism can be seen in
  Baroque opera.
• It was the age of science when Newton and Leibniz
  invented calculus, Newton established his laws of
  mechanics and the theory of gravity.
• Music reflected the scientific attitude by tuning
  scales (or tempering) them with more precision.
• Music theorists were scientifically motivated to
  make checklists of musical devices and techniques
  that match with emotions.
• Art was used to impress as evidenced through King
  Louis XIV building the palace of Versailles.
• Composers were most likely to view themselves as
  servants striving to satisfy their masters.

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Late Baroque Styles

• Rhythm continued to be regular
• Dynamics composers rarely used loud (f) or soft
  (p) markings in their scores, but sudden dynamic
  contrasts were favored
• Melodies were ornate and complex
• Improvisations were used and often written down
  for musicians
• Polyphonic texture was standard along with the
  harmony of the basso continuo.
• Musical forms became clearer due to the patronage
  system. Formulas were used for composing due to
  the quick demand associated with the patronage
  system.
• To the modern listener music of the Baroque may
  seem impressive, but is typically comes off as
  impersonal.
• Baroque composers conveyed a range of emotions,
  but they usually did not convey their own
  personal feelings.
• The fugue, a polyphonic composition built on one
  theme (fugue subject) that appears over and over
  in each voice or instrument, is an important
  development in the Baroque.
• Listen Fugue in C-Sharp Major, from The
  Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I (1721)by Johann
  Sebastian Bach

9
The Baroque Orchestra

• The Baroque orchestra was formed and the core
  group of instruments were members of the violin
  family. A keyboard instrument was added for the
  continuo and woodwinds and brass instruments were
  sometimes added, but were not standard.
• The famous orchestra controlled by King Louis XIV
  in the late 17th century was called The Twenty
  Four Violins of the King (6 violins, 12 violas, 6
  cellos). Today this would be called a string
  orchestra.
• The concerto (orchestra and a soloist) and
  concerto grosso (orchestra and a small group of
  soloists) become important orchestral genres.
• Listen Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, for flute,
  violin, harpsichord, and orchestra (before 1721)
  by Johann Sebastin Bach.
• The use of movements within one work are seen.
  The movements help extend a composition. Typical
  late Baroque concertos have three movements. The
  first movement is in a fast tempo, the second is
  a contrast of the first (quieter and slower), and
  the third is usually faster than the first.

10
Making Money as a Composer in the Late Baroque

• There were three main ways a composer could earn
  a living
• The church as an organist or choirmaster who
  composes
• The Court working for a master
• The Opera House

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Baroque Composers

• Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) Italian composer
  proficient in most of the major genres of his
  time
• Henry Purcell (1659-1695) English composer and
  organist who wrote only one true opera but wrote
  other compositions for the stage
• Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) Italian composer
  and violinist who wrote solo sonatas, trio
  sonatas, and concertos
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) studied music
  from other composers, took his own style, and
  blended them
• George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) English
  Composer born in Germany who wrote music for all
  genres of his time
• Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) Italian opera
  composer
• Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) Italian composer and
  violinist known for concertos and opera
• François Couperin (168-1733) French composer,
  harpsichordist, and organist
• Jean Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) important
  French musician for the development of opera
• Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) the son of
  Alessandro Scarlatti who is known for his
  keyboard sonatas
• Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) brought music
  to the middle class by publishing music that
  could be played at home by novice musicians.

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Classical1750-1820

• This intellectual movement, the Enlightenment,
  focused on the advancement of science and
  reasoning. People of the time valued
  intelligence, sensitivity, and humor.
• Intelligence was used to solve scientific
  problems and problems associated with morality,
  education and politics.
• Fascination with the natural and the good
  life
• For many, religion stopped being a tremendous
  force during this era.
• Time of the Declaration of Independence and the
  Federalist Papers
• The introduction of the coffee house and public
  concerts
• Arts were seen as a way to contribute to an
  improved quality of life. They were intended to
  please not teach or impress like in the Baroque
  era.
• Music strived for clarity, restraint, and balance
• Composers wrote Masses and operas, but majority
  of the compositions were instrumental.
• Primary genres included were the symphony,
  sonata, chamber music, opera, solo concerto.

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How it started

• A reaction against the extravagance of the
  Baroque
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a self-taught composer
  who started an attack on the complex and
  artificial aspects of Baroque opera. Attacking
  the primary genre placed all of the music from
  the Baroque in question.
• The people of the classical era wanted opera that
  would portray real people in real life.

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Other Movements in Art

• Neoclassicism A movement in visual arts that
  supports the return to simple and natural values
  and an opposition to the complexity of the
  Baroque and the extreme lightness of the Rococo.
• Rococo period between Baroque and Classical in
  which paintings, decoration, furniture, and
  jewelry were done in an extremely light style.
• The Novel A new literary type that depicted
  contemporary life and feelings.

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Style Features

• Rhythm flexible rhythm, the tempo and meter are
  constant throughout a movement, but the rhythms
  differ rhythm gives a feelings of less
  predictable movement that is more exciting than
  the regular rhythms of the Baroque.
• Dynamics become more specific and passages begin
  to be marked by composers with f, p, ff, and mf
  there was a desire for variety in a pleasant way
  within predictability. Composers worked degrees
  of volume with the crescendo and diminuendo.
• Melody simple melodies were preferred
• Texture Homophony was the principal texture but
  counterpoint continued in a natural way to
  create tension major turning point because
  polyphony previously dominated

16
Classical Music Forms

• Standard patterns for composition
• Sonata form
• Minuet form
• Rondo
• Theme and variations Form

17
Classical Orchestra

• The orchestra became standard during the
  Classical era and helped form the foundation of
  the symphony orchestra later in time.
• The core of the Classical orchestra continued to
  be the violins, violas, and cellos.
• Woodwinds and brass instruments were given
  specific and regular parts. The woodwind
  instruments that were included were flutes,
  oboes, clarinets, and bassoons. The brass
  instruments were French horns, and trumpets. The
  timpani was also given a regular role in this
  orchestra.

18
Public Concerts

• Concerts were not a new idea and in the past they
  were conducted in a variety of places
• However, in the Classical era concerts became an
  important aspect of music
• In 1748, the 1st hall in Europe specifically for
  concerts was built
• The rise of the concert allowed orchestral music
  to reach the public and therefore it grew in
  prestige and importance.
• Concert series allowed another way for composers
  to earn a living, but the main ways for composers
  to earn money continued to be the church, the
  court, and the opera house.

19
The Symphony

• Popular in the Classical era because it fit the
  needs of society at the time including public
  concerts
• Symphony movements contrast in tempo and are
  composed according to different forms
• Opening movement fast to moderate tempo and
  sonata form
• Slow movement slow to very slow tempo without a
  standard form
• Minuet (and trio) moderate tempo in minuet form
• Closing movement fast to very fast tempo in
  sonata or rondo form
• Listen Haydn, Symphony No. 88 in G, first
  movement through fourth movement (play
  beginnings)

20
Other Classical Genres

• Sonata In this period, a piece for one to two
  instruments. Sonatas were not intended for
  concerts, but were meant for private performance
  by novice musicians.
• Listen Piano Sonata in B-Flat, K. 570 (1787),
  Mozart (three movements)
• Concerto idea from the Baroque era continued to
  be refined, virtuosity included, but Classical
  orchestra was more flexible.
• String Quartet for four instruments (two
  violins, one viola, and one cello) with four
  movements like the symphony
• Opera Buffa Comic opera in which singers had to
  act, sing, and be funny. The flexibility of the
  Classical style was a perfect fit with the comedy
  of opera buffa. Ensembles are also a part of
  opera buffa.
• Listen Don Giovanni (1787), Mozart

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Composers

• Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) helped develop
  the symphony and style for the string quartet but
  considered himself a vocal music composer
• Wolfgang Mozart (1756-1791) helped develop the
  style for the string quartet, solo piano
  concerto, and contributed to many genres of his
  time.
• Christoph Willibald von Gluck (1714-1787)
  composer associated with Vienna and Paris who
  used classical ideals to reform opera

22
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

• Roots in the Classical era, committed to the
  principles of Classicism
• Three Periods
• First period until 1800 his music was in a
  Classical style like Haydn and Mozart
• Second period 1800-1818 was a time of heroic
  works like Eroica and his Fifth Symphony
• Third period 1818-1827 was a time characterized
  as more abstract and introspective. He mainly
  composed intimate genres like piano sonatas and
  string quartets. (Period most like Romanticism).
• Student of Haydn
• Mood of excitement and urgency by increasing
  musical elements
• Higher and lower registers
• Stronger syncopations and accents
• Dissonances with strong resolutions
• Expanded the orchestra and new demands on
  instruments
• Stretched classical forms

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References

• Kerman, Joseph, and Gary Tomlinson. Listen. 4th
  ed. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 2000.
• Stolba, K. Marie. The Development of Western
  Music. 3rd ed. Boston McGraw-Hill, 1998.