music history

Origin and history of music

There are many theories regarding when and where music originated. Many agree that music began even before man existed. Historiographers point out that there are six periods of music and each period has a particular style of music that greatly contributed to what music is today.

What is music?

Dictionaries and encyclopedia's define music as:

"an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner"

It is also defined as:

"any pleasing and harmonious sound" and "the sounds produced by singers or musical instruments".

Medieval / Middle Ages

Music during the Middle Ages is characterized by the beginning of musical notation as well as polyphony.

During this time, there were two general types of music styles:

  1. The monophonic
  2. The polyphonic

Monophonic Music

  • The simplest of textures, consisting of melody without accompanying harmony.
  • Recognized as just one note at a time OR with the same note duplicated at the octave 
    • (ie. when men and women sing together)
  • Music in which all the notes sung are in unison is called monophonic
  • Monophony may not have underlying rhythmic textures, and must consist of only a melodic line.
  • "The dominant mode of the European vernacular genres as well as of Latin song."
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdyg7nYiMJM

Polyphonic

  • Polyphonic is a texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody
  • Western Musical Tradition
    • refers to music of the late middle ages and renaissance. 
  • "Pitch-against-Pitch/ Point-against-Point/Sustained Pitch" 
    • Each part being written generally against one other part
    • All parts modified if needed in the end

Point-against-point

  • Conception is opposed to  "successive composition" where voices were written in an order with each new voice fitting into the whole so far constructed, which was previously assumed.
  • Musica enchiriadis and Scolica enchiriadis
    • both dating from c.900 are usually considered the oldest extant of written examples of polyphony.
    • Two-voice note-against-note embellishments of chants using parallel octaves, fifths, and fourths.
    • Rather than being fixed works, they indicated ways of improvising polyphony during performance.
    • Winchester Troper  from c.1000 is the oldest extant example of notated polyphony for chant performance.

polyphonic Texture


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jGkGvTJK7A

The Middle Ages

  • After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th  century A.D., Western Europe entered a time known as "The Dark Ages"
  • Christian Church came to dominate Europe, administering justice , instigating "Holy" Crusades against the East, establishing universities and generally believed to have collected and generally dictating the destiny of Music, Art and Literature.
  • Music was known as Gregorian Chant which was approved music of the church
  • Much Later, University at Notre Dame in Paris saw the creation of Organum
  • Secular Music was performed throughout Europe by troubadours and trouveres of France.
  • Guillaume de Machaut

The Renaissance

  • 1420 - 1600
    • Renaissance = "REBIRTH"
  • Josquin des Prez
    • Flemish Style
  • Giovanni da Palestrina
    • Polyphonic Traditions reached culmination
  • Secular music thrived during this period and instrumental and dance music was performed.
  • English Madrigal
    • John Dowland, William Byrd, Thomas Morley

The Baroque Age

  • Composers rebelled against the styles that were prevalent during the high renaissance.
  • Greatest composer of this period:
    • Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Early 17th Century 
    • Genre of OPERA was first created by a group of composers in Flourance, Italy.
      • Claudio Monteverdi.
  • Dances became formalized into instrumental suites and were composed by virtually all composers of the era.
  • Vocal/Choral music = supreme during this age
    • German-born composer George Frideric Handel

Classical Period

  • 1750-1820
    • Classical Greece
    • Viennese Style
    • Extravagance of Baroque Opera was undertaken by Christoph von Gluck
    • Johann Stamitz contributed greatly to the growth of the orchestra and developed the idea of the Orcastral Symphony. 
    • Symphonies, Sonatas, and string quartets 
      • Franz Joseph Haydn
      • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
      • Ludwig van Beethoven

Romantic Era

  • 1820-1900
    • Felix Mendelssohn (German)
    • Robert Schumann (German)
    • Frederic Chopin (Polish)
    • Hector Berlioz (French)
    • Franz Liszt (Hungarian)
  • Opera Composers like Carl Maria von Weber turned to German folk stories for the stories of their operas
  • Italians looked to the literature of the time and created what is known as Bel  canto opera  (beautiful singing)
  • 19th century 
    • Non Germanic countries began looking for ways in which they might express the musical soul of their homelands

Romantic Era Continued

  • Others developed highly personal harmonic language and melodic style which distinguishes their music from that of the Austro-Germanic Traditions
  • Continued modification and enhancement of existing instruments
  • Invention of new instruments 
    • led to the further expansion of the symphony orchestra
    • late romantic composers took advantage of the new sounds and instrument combinations
  • Two Giants of this era:
    • Johannes Brahms (German)
    • Peter Ilyich Tchiakovsky (Russian)

The Twentieth Century

  • Different modes of expression
  • Arnold Schoenberg 
    • explored unusual and unorthodox harmonies and tonal schemes
  • Claude Debussy (French)
    • fascinated by Eastern Music and the whole-tone scale.
    • created a style of music named after the movement in French painting called impressionism
  • Edgard Varese (Avant-garde)
    • explored manipulation of rhythms rather than the usual melodic/harmonic schemes

the Twentieth century continued

  • While many composers throughout the 20th century experimented in new ways with traditional instruments, other composers remained true to the traditional forms of music history
  • New and eclectic styles of musical trends boasted numerous composers whose harmonic and melodic styles an average listener can still easily appreciate and enjoy
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