Download Renaissance Music

Medieval Music
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Two main types : 1) Sacred (Church); 2) Secular (ordinary)
Broken into 8 modes (like the 8 notes in the Western scale)
Music first written down during this period
Gregory I standardized church music
Guido d’Arezzo creates the Western scale with names for notes
(similar to do, re mi, fa ..etc)
• Sacred types:
1) Church Modes – 6 main modes :Dorian, Phrygian, Aeolian,
Ionian, Mixolydian, Lydian
2) Gregorian Chant (plainchant) – no instruments
3) Organum – addition of a second melodic line (polyphony)
4) Masses – Parts of the church’s service that included song; the 5
main prayers that were sung were : Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus
and the Agnus Dei.
Medieval Music
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• Secular Medieval
Performed by troubadours and jongleurs
As popular as ‘pop’ music is today
Notated and written down
Ars Nova – new art style; secular music became
more popular than church music as it added
rhythm and syncopation
Chanson – the French innovation of popular
songs
Renaissance Music
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• The Main Characteristics of Renaissance Music:
Music still based on modes, but gradually more accidentals creep in.
Richer texture in four or more parts. Bass part is added below the tenor.
Blending rather than contrasting strands in the musical texture.
Harmony. Greater concern with the flow and progression of chords.
Church music. Some pieces were intended for 'a cappella' performance.
Mainly contrapuntal. Lots of imitation. Some church music was
accompanied by instruments - for example polychoral pieces in antiphonal
style (Antiphonal - Questions and Answers, Stereo Effect).
Secular music (non-religious music) There was lots of vocal pieces and
dances, and lots of instrumental pieces (However a lot of the
instrumentals were in a vocal style)
The timbres of Renaissance musical instruments caused many forming
families like: woodwinds, strings, keyboards, percussion, etc.
Famous Renaissance composers were Palestrina, Josquin,Weelkes, Byrd &
Monteverde
Renaissance Music
• Opera was invented in the Renaissance
• The first opera was titled Orfeo and was composed by
Monteverde
• During the Renaissance, vocal music was more important than
instrumental music and composers during that period wrote
music to enhance the meaning and emotion of the text
• Renaissance music is mostly polyphonic, and imitation among
the voices is common, with each voice presenting the same
melodic idea
• Renaissance choral music did not need instrumental
accompaniment and was thus also known as the "golden age"
of a capella choral music.
Baroque Key Terms
• Virtuoso – master musicians, especially singers, who perform
with great technical skills and had vivid personal styles
• Opera – originated in Italy in the 16th century, it consists of a
drama or play which is set to music, usually with an orchestra
accompanying the vocalists, including scenery, dancing and
sets
• Bel canto – “beautiful song” in Italian, a form of brilliant
singing which stresses purity, ease and evenness of tone in
opera
• Clavier – any musical instrument that has a keyboard
• Fugue – a composition in music for several instruments in
which a theme is introduced by one instrument and then
repeated by each instrument that enters the piece so that a
complicated interweaving of themes, variations, imitations
and echoes result
Baroque Key Terms
• Subject – the main theme in music
• Countersubject – in music, in the fugue, a contrasting variant
to the subject; played in tandem with the subject, either
below or above it
• Episode – a short transitional section played between the
subject and the countersubject; used in fugal composition
• Trill – the rapid alternation of two notes, a step apart; used as
a musical embellishment
• Oratorio – a choral work based on religious events or scripture
employing singers, choruses and orchestra but without
scenery or staging and performed usually in a church or a
concert hall
Baroque Key Terms
• Refrain – a recurring musical passage or phrase; called
ritornello in Italian
• Sonata – an instrumental composition, usually in 3 or 4
movements
• Concerto – a composition for one or more soloists and
orchestra, usually in a symphonic form in 3 contrasting
movements
• Program music – instrumental music that depicts a narrative,
portrays a setting, or suggests a sequence of events; often
based on other sources, such as a poem or play
• Tremolo – the rapid repetition of two pitches in a chord so as
to produce a tremulous effect
Baroque Music
Notes
• Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi are more familiar
composers that earlier ones and some of their music
has been used in movies and television commercials
• The birth of the orchestra with @ 20 members
• The full development of opera
• The organ was the key instrument
• Instrumental music becomes as important as vocal
music in the Baroque period
Age of Reason Key Terms
• Mezzotint – also called half tone; early type of color print,
made with a metal plate, characterized by subtle changes in
color and shading; with clear definition of lines
• Aquatint – early type of color print, made with a metal plate,
which attempted to replicate the effect of watercolors
• Solipsism – the sense that only one’s self exists or can be
known
• Causality – the idea that one event causes another; the
relation between cause and effect
• Style galant – a style of music developed by French Rococo
composers and characterized by graceful and simple melodies
Age of Reason Key Terms
• Sonata form – a musical form that consists of 3 or 4 sections
that vary in key, tempo and mood
• Symphony – a long and complex sonata, usually written in 3 or
4 movements, for large orchestras; the first, third and fourth
movements are traditionally fast while the 2nd is slow
• Key – a tonal system consisting of 7 tones in fixed relationship
to a keynote or tonic. (do,re,mi,fa,so,la,ti)
• Tempo – the speed at which a composition is to be played
• Mood – the emotional impact of a composition on the
feelings of a listener
Age of Reason Key Terms
• Scherzo – Italian for joke; a quick and lively instrumental
composition or movement found in sonatas and symphonies
• Theme and variations – a technique in which a musical idea is
stated and then repeated in variant versions with modifications and
embellishments
• Tone color – the quality of a sound, determined by overtones, used
for providing contrasts
• Serenade – a lighthearted musical piece, intended to be performed
outdoors in the evening
• Minuet and trio – a Classical music form, based on
2 French court
rd
dances of the same names; often placed in the 3 section of
symphonies
• Art song – also called a lied in German; a lyric song with melody
performed by a singer and instrumental accompaniment usually
provided by a piano, made popular by Schubert
• Idee fixe – fixed idea in French; a recurring musical theme that is
associated with a person or concept
Classical Music 1750-1810
• Most important classical composers were
Mozart, Haydn and early Beethoven
• Gluck and Mozart wrote most of the Classical
Era’s operas
• The symphony played in sonata format in 4
movements becomes the key form
• The piano is invented and allows for a greater
range of emotion and sounds
Classical Music 1750-1810
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• The Main Characteristics of Classical Music
Less complicated texture than Baroque (more homophonic).
Emphasis on beauty, elegance and balance.
More variety and contrast within a piece than Baroque (dynamics,
instruments, pitch, tempo, key, mood and timbre).
Melodies tend to be shorter than those in baroque, with clear-cut
phrases, and clearly marked cadences.
The orchestra increases in size and range. The harpsichord falls out
of use. The woodwind becomes a self-contained section.
The piano takes over, often with Alberti bass accompaniment.
Importance was given to instrumental music - sonata, trio, string
quartet, symphony, concerto.
Sonata form was the most important design.
Romantic Era Music
• Mainly from 1850 – 1920
• Unlike Classical composers, Romantic composers
aimed for a store powerful expression of emotion,
often revealing their innermost thoughts and feelings
• Romantic music is not just about the emotion of
love, it can also be about hate or death (positive or
negative feelings)
• As Romantic composers widened the range of their
musical material, we find richer harmonies, more
passionate melodies, and greater use of
chromaticism. (Chroma is Greek for color).
• There was an enormous increase in the size of the
orchestra
Romantic Era Music
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• Some themes of Romantic Era Music include:
Far off lands
The distant past
Dreams
Night and moonlight
Rivers, lakes and forests
Nature and the seasons
The joy and pain of love
Fairy tales
The supernatural
Magic
Romantic Era Music
• Types of Romantic Era Musical Pieces
• The German Lied- A type of song which began to
develop in the Romantic period for solo voice and
piano. There were two types:
• (1) Strophic - same music for every verse
• (2) Through-composed - different music for each
verse. The voice and words fit very closely together
(reflect each other)
• The piano is more than just an accompaniment in
these compositions, it is a partner to the voice
• Schubert is perhaps the greatest composer of
German Lieds
Romantic Era Music
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• Music for Piano
As the piano developed into a wider range instrument more pieces were
written for it including:
The most famous piano composers of the time were: Schubert,
Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Brahms
sonatas (for one instrument, or a soloist with one accompanying
instrument.), and short pieces such as the:
waltz
mazurka
polonaise
mood and character pieces:
– the impromptu
– the romance
– the song without words . the prelude
– the noctume
– the ballade
– the intermezzo
– the rhapsody
Romantic Era Music
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• Programme Music
There are three main types of programme music for
orchestra:
The Programme Symphony - e.g. The Symphonie Fantastique
(About a young man who is in love. He dreams about her, and
she becomes a melody in his mind. This melody is an ‘idee
fixe’, it keeps coming round again, a recurring theme. It is by
Berlioz)
The Concert Overture - It is a one movement programme
piece for orchestra, intended for performance at a concert.
E.g. Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, Romeo and Juliet
The Symphonic Poem (The Tune Poem) - It was invented by
Liszt. It is a one movement programme piece for orchestra.
Liszt used a device called thematic transformation ( a basic
theme that is continually being changed in mood and
character, like the ‘idee fixe’). Liszt wrote a thematic piece
called Hamlet. Other examples are: Danse Macabre (by SaintSaens), Vltava (by Smetana), A Night on the Bald Mountain (by
Mussorgsky), The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (by Dukas)
Romantic Era Music
• Incidental Music
It is music specially composed to be heard at certain
points during the performance of a play. (To set the
mood, to cover the scenery changed or as
background music)
• Suites
These are several pieces of incidental music gathered
together, intended for a play, e.g. Swan Lake,
Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker (All three by
Tchaikovsky), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (by
Mendelssohn), Peer Gynt (by Grieg)
Romantic Era Music
• The Concerto
Changes were made to the form of the Concerto during the
Romantic period. Instead of a double-exposition, there was
now a single exposition, usually with the soloist entering
immediately, sharing the themes with the orchestra. The
cadenza was now written out by the composer. Other changes
included:
• Different numbers of movements were used by different
composers (Mendelssohn wrote pieces with three
movements, Liszt did pieces with one movement.
• Larger orchestra
• Growth of the virtuoso
• More excitement and ‘drama.’ More ‘competition’ between
the orchestra and the soloist.
• Piano and violin became the main Concerto instruments
Romantic Era Music
• 19th Century Nationalism
By the middle of the 19th Century, music was dominated by
Germany. However, composers from other countries began to
feel they should break away. They used folk tunes, dance
rhythms and local legends for this purpose. Some examples of
19th Century Nationalism are:
• Russia:
• Mussorgsky - A Night on the Bare Mountain
• Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade
• Borodin - Prince lgor
• Bohemia:
• Smetana - Ma Vlast (Vltava)
• Norway:
• Grieg - Peer Gynt
Romantic Era Music
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• Major Composers of Romantic Era:
Beethoven
Brahms
Schubert
Smetana
Berlioz
Tchaikovsky
Mendelssohn
Dvorak
Chopin
Grieg
Schumann
Rimsky-Korsakov
Liszt
Elgar
Wagner
Mahler
Verdi
Richard Strauss
Puccini
Rossini
Romantic Era Music
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• The Main Characteristics of Romantic Music
Freedom of form and design. It was more personal and
emotional.
Song-like melodies (lyrical), as well as many chromatic
harmonies and discords.
Dramatic contrasts of dynamics and pitch.
Big orchestras, due mainly to brass and the invention of the
valve.
Wide variety of pieces (i.e. songs up to five hour Wagner
operas)
Programme music (music that tells a story)
Shape was brought to work through the use of recurring
themes.
Great technical virtuosity.
Nationalism (a reaction against German influence)
Orchestra
Modern Key Terms
• Forte – Italian for ‘loud or strong’; play loudly in music
• Pavane – 16th & 17th c. English court dance of Italian origin;
the dance is performed by couples to stately music
• Atonality – the absence of a key note or tonal center in music
and the use of the tones of the scale impartially
• Cadenza – a virtuoso passage in music for a solo instrument or
voice meant to be or at least sound improvised
• Rondeau – A French verse form consisting of 10 or 13 lines,
that repeats itself overlapping usually
Modern Key Terms
• Syncopation – the technique of accenting the weak beat when
a strong beat is expected in music
• Jazz – instrumental and vocal music which originated in the
African American community that combined African, African
American and Western musical forms and traditions
• Ragtime – instrumental music popularized by African
Americans with a strongly syncopated rhythm and a lively
melody
• Blues – type of music that appeared @ 1900 from rural
African American culture, originally based on work songs and
religious spirituals; expresses feelings of loneliness and
hopelessness
• Naturalism – late 19th century literary movement inspired by
the methods of science and the insights of sociology;
concerned with the objective depiction of the ugly side of
industrial society
Jazz Age
• Jazz - A music created mainly by black Americans in the early
20th century through an amalgamation of elements drawn
from European-American and tribal African music
• A unique type of music, it cannot safely be categorized as folk,
popular, or art music, though it shares aspects of all three
• It has had a profound effect on international culture, not only
through its considerable popularity, but through the
important role it has played in shaping the many forms of
popular music that developed around and out of it
Jazz Age
• Three main characteristics of jazz
• One is the phenomenon of swing.
• The second is what may be called "individual code“; those subtle factors
that make a jazz player instantly recognizable to knowledgeable listeners;
although some players can be identified by their ways of shaping melody,
with most, the individual code is expressed in more subtle qualities such
as timbre, sharpness of attack, length of decay, vibrato, pitch variations,
and various distortions produced by throat tones, mutes, and other
techniques and devices
• The third important characteristic of jazz is its ecstatic function. Jazz
usually takes place in the context of an actual or simulated jam session,
which has some aspects of a ritual.
Jazz Age
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Types of Jazz:
1) Ragtime
8) Dixieland Revival
2) New Orleans
9) New Orleans Revival
3) Dixieland
10) Bebop
4) Chicago
11) Hard Bop
5) Boogie
12) Cool
6) Swing
13) Smooth
7) Kansas City 14) Modern
Off course there are Latin, European and
African versions