Western Musical Styles by Brett M Walker

Large Scale Forms

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 02:35:49 UTC

In this section let's look at defining for each other what are the major forms of music heard in music history. Such forms include

Opera
Oratorio
Broadway Musicals/Musical Theatre
Symphony
Concerto
String Quartet
Sonata
Waltz
March

Features of Baroque Music

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 02:41:19 UTC

Below are some of the features of Baroque Music:

Heavy ornamentation. This is part of that ornate sound listen out for mordents, trills and turns.
There tends to be a continuous flow - to music doesn't let up.
The texture is polyphonic. The different melodic lines and structures can be heard separately even though they are happening at the same time.
The development of basso continuo changed the way bass and melody interacted. This brought more expressive contrast to the music.
Focus on harmony.
Looking at sheet music it is likely there will be no original indications for dynamics for keyboard music. Keyboard instruments at this time couldn’t vary much in their volume. In contemporary editions the dynamics tend to be editorial suggestions to make them sound more varied when played on the piano.
Quick changes in volume
The use of the harpsichord continuo

Baroque Instruments

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 03:20:04 UTC

Common Instruments in this period were:

Violin, Viola, Cella (or Viol da Gamba), Bass
Harpsichord, Clavecin/piano and organ
Horn and Trumpet were sometimes used (mostly in G major or D major pieces)
Flute/recorders, oboes, and clarinets

Baroque Music Links

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 03:22:19 UTC

If you want some good listening for baroque music, try this YouTube playlist. Try to listen for the style features and the instruments highlighted in this section.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 03:23:19 UTC

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany to a family of composers and musicians. Believed to be one of the greatest composers in the history of music, Bach wrote compositions for choirs, orchestras and concertos.

Bach is one of the most significant and influential Baroque period composers. Bach created an approach to harmony that continued to be used until the late 1800s.

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 03:24:31 UTC

Born in Venice, Italy, Antonio Vivaldi is one of the most significant and well-known composers of the Baroque period. Learning to play the violin from a young age, Vivaldi was a talented musician who turned his attention to composing music and teaching.

Vivaldi wrote 46 operas and over 500 concertos. He is most well-known for his concertos, the 'The Four Seasons'.

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 03:25:57 UTC

Handel was also a German composer who became one of the most influential music composers during the Baroque period.

Becoming the director of the Royal Academy of Music in London, Handel is most well-known for his melodic musical compositions and operas.

Features of Classical Music

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 03:53:41 UTC

Some features of the classical period are:

Homophonic texture (more so than in the previous era)
Short memorable melodies
Dynamic contrasts (more extreme than before but not quite as big as what's to come)
Small orchestras (we nowhere the full symphony but not the money to have 30+ players)
Consonant/Diatonic Harmonies (everything sounds like it belongs to the scale and nothing is too dissonant or chromatic)

Classical Instruments

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 04:06:56 UTC

Common instruments heard in this period are

Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass
Flutes, Oboes, Clarinets, Bassoons
Horns and Trumpets
Timpani's (sometimes other percussion as well)
Piano

Classical Music Links

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 04:12:05 UTC

If you want some good listening for Classical music, try this YouTube playlist. Try to listen for the style features and the instruments highlighted in this section.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 04:16:52 UTC

Mozart was a prolific and influential composer of the

Classical Period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition resulted in more than 800 works of virtually every genre of his time. Many of these compositions are acknowledged as pinnacles of the symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral repertoire. Mozart is widely regarded as among the greatest composers in the history of Western music, with his music admired for its melodic beauty, its formal elegance and its richness of harmony and texture

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 04:20:27 UTC

Haydn was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led him to be called "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet"

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 04:23:31 UTC

Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire and span the transition from the Classical period to the Romantic era in classical music. His career has conventionally been divided into early, middle, and late periods. His early period, during which he forged his craft, is typically considered to have lasted until 1802. From 1802 to around 1812, his middle period showed an individual development from the styles of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and is sometimes characterized as heroic. During this time, he began to grow increasingly deaf. In his late period, from 1812 to 1827, he extended his innovations in musical form and expression.

Features of Romantic Era Music

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 04:24:39 UTC

Some common features of Romantic era music are:

Homophonic texture
Longer more lyrical melodies
Dynamic contrasts (bigger and more extreme than last time)
Large orchestras (I'm talking 50-100 people on stage)
Consonant/Diatonic Harmonies (everything sounds like it belongs to the scale and nothing is too dissonant or chromatic)
Dissonance and Chromaticism are more prevalent
- It's less about sounding good but converting human emotion by any means
Virtuosic playing
- With more people playing music at home we need to separate the professionals from the wannabes

Romantic Instruments

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 04:31:52 UTC

Common instruments in the romantic era were:

Violins (1 and 2), Viola, Cello, and Bass
Piccolo, Flute, Boa, Clarinet, and Bassoon
Piano and Harp
French Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, and Tuba
Timpani, and various other percussion instruments

Romantic Music Links

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 04:42:14 UTC

If you want some good listening for Romantic music, try this YouTube playlist. Try to listen for the style features and the instruments highlighted in this section.

Louis-Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 04:52:30 UTC

Berlioz was a French Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the Symphonie fantastique and Harold in Italy, choral pieces including the Requiem and L'Enfance du Christ, his three operas Benvenuto Cellini, Les Troyens and Béatrice et Bénédict, and works of hybrid genres such as the "dramatic symphony" Roméo et Juliette and the "dramatic legend" La Damnation de Faust.

Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828)

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 04:55:13 UTC

Schubert was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a vast oeuvre, including more than 600 secular vocal works (mainly lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of piano and chamber music. His major works include the art songs Erlkönig, Gretchen am Spinnrade, Ave Maria; the Trout Quintet, the unfinished Symphony No. 8 in B minor, the "Great" Symphony No. 9 in C major, the String Quartet No. 14 "Death and the Maiden", a String Quintet, the two sets of Impromptus for solo piano, the three last piano sonatas, the Fantasia in F minor for piano four hands, the opera Fierrabras, the incidental music to the play Rosamunde, and the song cycles Die schöne Müllerin, Winterreise and Schwanengesang.

akob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 – 1847)

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 04:57:46 UTC

Mendelssohn was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonies, concertos, piano music, organ music and chamber music. His best-known works include the overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream (which includes his "Wedding March"), the Italian Symphony, the Scottish Symphony, the oratorio St. Paul, the oratorio Elijah, the overture The Hebrides, the mature Violin Concerto, the String Octet, and the melody used in the Christmas carol "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing". Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words are his most famous solo piano compositions.

Robert Schumann ( 1810 – 1856)

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 04:59:22 UTC

Schumann was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. His teacher, Friedrich Wieck, a German pianist, had assured him that he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a hand injury ended this dream. Schumann then focused his musical energies on composing.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893)

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 05:01:34 UTC

Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the current classical repertoire, including the ballets Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, the 1812 Overture, his First Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, the Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, several symphonies, and the opera Eugene Onegin.

Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 05:03:32 UTC

Brahms was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the "Three Bs" of music, a comment originally made by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow.

Wilhelm Richard Wagner (1813 – 1883)

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 05:05:17 UTC

Wagner was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works. Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works in the romantic vein of Carl Maria von Weber and Giacomo Meyerbeer, Wagner revolutionized opera through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"), by which he sought to synthesize the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama. He described this vision in a series of essays published between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realized these ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).

Gustav Mahler (1860 – 1911)

hailbmw — 2023-12-15 05:08:53 UTC

Mahler was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer, he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century. While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established beyond question, his music gained wide popularity only after periods of relative neglect, which included a ban on its performance in much of Europe during the Nazi era. After 1945 his compositions were rediscovered by a new generation of listeners; Mahler then became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, a position he has sustained into the 21st century.

What is opera?

hailbmw — 2023-12-27 12:08:04 UTC

Opera refers to a dramatic art form, originating in Europe, in which the emotional content is conveyed to the audience as much through music, both vocal and instrumental, as it is through the lyrics. By contrast, in musical theatre an actor's dramatic performance is primary, and the music plays a lesser role. The drama in opera is presented using the primary elements of theatre such as scenery, costumes, and acting. However, the words of the opera, or libretto, are sung rather than spoken. The singers are accompanied by a musical ensemble ranging from a small instrumental ensemble to a full symphonic orchestra.

What is an Oratorio?

hailbmw — 2023-12-27 12:11:41 UTC

An oratorio is a large-scale musical composition on a sacred or semisacred subject, for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra. An oratorio's text is usually based on scripture, and the narration necessary to move from scene to scene is supplied by recitatives (speech-like singing) sung by various voices to prepare the way for arias (solos) and choruses (full choirs).

Unlike opera there is no costumes, acting, set design, or tappings of theatre. The entire religious story is communicated via operatic like singing.

Musical Theatre

hailbmw — 2023-12-27 12:14:14 UTC

Musical theatre is a genre of theatre where music plays a major role in moving the story forward. In addition to the actors, directors, designers, and others who are involved in any professional theatre production, musical theatre requires specialized artists and technicians.

When compared to other forms of of art combining drama and music, musical theatre largely focuses on musical materials that reflect current musical tastes (or current at the time of composition)

What is a Symphony?

hailbmw — 2023-12-27 12:20:41 UTC

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning common today: a work usually consisting of multiple distinct sections or movements, often four. Symphonies are almost always scored for an orchestra consisting of a string section, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments which altogether number about 30 to 100 musicians.

While symphonies have evolved since their initial conception in the mid 1700s. They have taken on a standard 4 movement form with each moment using certain musical forms.

Movement 1: Fast (often in Sonata Form)

Movement 2: Slow movement (form is TBD)

Movement 3: Lively tempo (Either a minuet or scherzo with trio)

Movement 4: Fast (either a rondo, or sonata)

What is a Concerto?

hailbmw — 2023-12-27 12:24:51 UTC

A concerto is a piece of orchestral music where a soloist is accompanied by the entire orchestra. This form os music started in the baroque period and typically has 3 movements.

Movement 1: Fast (in sonata Form)

Movement 2: Slow (Form is TBD)

Movement 3: Fast and Lively (Form is also TBD)

What is a Sonata

hailbmw — 2023-12-27 12:27:02 UTC

Now a sonata, not the be confused with Sonata Form (life is confusing), is a style of music in which a soloist is accompanied by a piano (piano sonatas don't need accompaniment). Much like a concerto there are 3 movements.

Movement 1: Fast (in sonata Form)

Movement 2: Slow (Form is TBD)

Movement 3: Fast and Lively (Form is also TBD)

What is a string quartet

hailbmw — 2023-12-27 12:29:17 UTC

A string quartet is a group of 4 string players (2 violins, 1 viola, and 1 cello) who play rather complex interwoven music. The music is very similar to a miniature version of a symphony. Much like the symphony, a string quartet has 4 movements.

Movement 1: Fast (often in Sonata Form)

Movement 2: Slow movement (form is TBD)

Movement 3: Lively tempo (Either a minuet or scherzo with trio)

Movement 4: Fast (either a rondo, or sonata)

What is a Waltz

hailbmw — 2023-12-27 12:33:13 UTC

A waltz is a type of dance music in 3/4 time. This dance is known for it's rise and fall motion (or down-up-up). Waltzes often are composed using long lyrical melodies and fast tempos. These fast tempos often mean that composers only use one chord per measure.

What is a march?

hailbmw — 2023-12-27 12:36:42 UTC

A march is a type of military music that is used for walking. This means that most songs have either 2 or 4 beats per measure and the first beat is always the strongest beast of the song. By having its beginnings in the military, marches often feature lots of brass instruments (like trumpets) and percussion instruments. When listening to a march you will hear that there are often 2 different melodies that are quite contrasting (one can be major and the other minor)

Features of 20th Century Music

hailbmw — 2024-09-23 07:06:22 UTC

Common Features are:

Chromatic and atonal melodies

Highly Complex Rhythms

Serialism (Compositional Techniques)

Impressionism (Music meant to leave an impression)

Electronic Music (Pre-recorded parts or electronic instruments joining the orchestra)

New Scales and Modes (Whole-Tone Scales)

Expanded instruments (Ethnic/Cultural Instruments)

Impressionism

hailbmw — 2024-09-23 07:14:54 UTC

Impressionist music is music made to convey a specific mood/imagery.

Parallelism

Tonal/Atonal/Chromaticism

Melodies are long

Homophonic

Composers:

Claude Debussy: Orchestral and Piano

Maurice Ravel: Orchestral

Erik Satie: Piano

Expressionsim

hailbmw — 2024-09-23 07:17:26 UTC

Dissonant highly contrasting music meant to convey inner themes (usually darker emotions)

Serialism (12-tonal, minimalism)

atonal/chromatic

homophonic

polyrhythmic

Composers:

Arnold Schoenberg

Anton Webern

Alban Berg

Features of Jazz Music

hailbmw — 2024-09-23 07:21:32 UTC

Common Features are:

Improvisation

Swing Rhythms

Syncopated Rhythms

(occasional polyrhythms)

Lots of brass instruments (in orchestral jazz you have jazz instruments like the saxophone joining a traditional orchestra)

Composers

hailbmw — 2024-09-23 07:23:12 UTC

George Gershwin: Jazz composer of swing jazz and orchestral jazz. Known for songs like American in Paris, Rhapsody in Blue, and the opera Porgy and Bess.

Duke Ellington: Swing Jazz composer who brought swing music to big bands and even had his music orchestrated for jazz orchestras.

hailbmw — 2024-10-17 07:20:44 UTC

hailbmw — 2024-10-17 07:21:35 UTC