history of classical music - essay
DESCRIPTION
An essay made as a requirement to graduate from LIA, explaining in a brief way, how classical music history is.TRANSCRIPT
The History of Classical Music
Friedrich Nietzsche once said “Without music, life would be an error.” As we
know, music is influencing every aspect of human’s life. It becomes a business
commodity, a medium to express feeling, a way to show love, a universal language to
talk, or just as a simple entertainment only. One of the most long-lasting music is
classical music and people used to love it so much. But nowadays, people start to think
that classical music is not interesting and has a boring history. They also think that
classical music has only one single style. Actually, classical music has some period and
each period has its very own style and characteristic.
First, we need to know the beginning of classical music. The oldest music that we
call classical music was created in the time of medieval music. Generally, the time frame
applied to Medieval Music is from the fall of the Roman Empire (486 AD) to the
beginning of the Renaissance (1400). In this era, music was both sacred and secular. The
simplicity of chant, with unison voice and natural declamation, is most common. The
earliest surviving sources of chant showing musical notation are from the early ninth
century, but since creating musical manuscripts was very expensive, due to the expense
of parchment, and the huge amount of time necessary for a scribe to copy it all down,
only very rich institutions were able to create manuscripts which survived to the current
time. Many of the instruments used during the Medieval Period still exist today; the pan-
flute, cornett (an ancestor of the trumpet), recorder, lute, mandolin, and last but not least,
the dulcimer. Some of the most well-known composers from this era were Hildegard von
Bingen, Guillaume de Machaut, Perotin, and Jaufre Rudel.
The coming period after medieval period was renaissance period. Renaissance or
"rebirth", a period of significant changes in history including music. This period began
approximately in 1400 and ended around 1600. Significant changes occurred to church
music such as the chorale, hymns that were meant to be sung by a congregation. Its
earliest form was monophonic and then evolved to four part harmony. During the period,
secular music had an increasingly wide distribution, with a wide variety of forms. Music
printing had been invented, and printing made music more widely available, so much
more has survived from this era than from the preceding medieval period. The
instruments used in this period were the ones used in medieval period, with some
additions like clavichord, harpsichord, and organ. Some of the musicians were Giovanni
Pierluigi da Palestrina, Orlande de Lassus, and William Byrd.
The next period was baroque, around 1600 to 1750. The word "baroque" came
from the Italian word "barocco" which means bizarre pearl. This word is really fit with
the style of baroque music because in general baroque is similar to jazz music. Its
similarity with jazz is in the using of variety of improvisation on the performers’ part.
During the Baroque period, the musical form known as “opera” emerged and composers
began to indicate the “tempo”. Operas were derived from ancient Greek tragedy and there
was often an overture at the beginning, then a solo part coming and both an orchestra and
chorus are present. Aside from the opera, composers also wrote numerous sonatas,
concerto grosso and choral works. Other forms of music like the canons and fugues also
involved during this time. Instruments used were brass, strings, especially violins,
harpsichord, organ and cello. Some of the composers in this period were Johann
Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Antonio Vivaldi.
During 1750 and 1820, it was time for classic period. The music in this era had
lighter texture than baroque music and it was also less complicated. Melodies tend to be
shorter than those of Baroque, with clear-cut phrases and clearly marked cadences.
Sonata form develops, and becomes the most important design. It was used to build up
the first movement of most large-scale works, but also other movements, and single
pieces (such as overtures). Playing of chords, even if they interrupted the melodic
smoothness of a single part, became a much more prevalent feature of music. Orchestra
increased in size and range, as harpsichord was replaced with piano, violins were
accompanied by violas, and basses were used by some composers. The most popular
composers from this era were Wolfgang Amadi Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and
Joseph Haydn.
The last period was romantic period which took place between 1830 and 1900.
The use of the term romantic music applied to music which is thought to evoke a soft or
dreamy atmosphere. Romantic music struggled to increase emotional expression and
power to describe these deeper truths, while preserving or even extending the formal
structures from the classical period. Music was used to tell a story or to express an idea in
this period. There was an increasing focus on melodies and themes, as well as an
explosion in the composition of songs. In opera performance by this time, arias, choruses,
recitatives and ensemble pieces often couldn’t easily be distinguished from each other in
the continuous, through-composed music. The virtuoso piano recital became particularly
popular, and often included improvisations on popular themes, and the performance of
shorter compositions as well as longer works such as the sonatas of Beethoven and
Mozart. Romantic music orchestra used a large number of instruments, contained wind
instruments, brass instruments, keyboard instruments, and even voice choir. The famous
musicians from this era were Franz Schubert, Johann Strauss, Johannes Brahms, and
Frederic Chopin.
In short, the music we called classical music is not only a plain boring music, but
a very interesting music which also has an interesting history. That’s why I love to listen,
play, and learn about classical music very much.