Western Music History A Study of Baroque Essay Example For Students

Western Music History: A Study of Baroque Essay Music, much like most of what human beings have declared to be a form of art, has gone through thousands of years of evolution that it now no longer resembles much of what its pioneers intended to be. Indeed, the definition of music in itself along with its performance and significance may vary according to different cultures and social contexts. It is this ambiguity that has allowed music to traverse not only physical boundaries but also to build bridges between gaps, whether it be culturally or even through a metaphysical period of time and space. It was, however, not always o black-and-white during the days of early musical revolution; it was even less of the case when it came to classical music. For the remainder of this thesis, I would like to bring attention to four composers who I felt not only helped music evolve in terms of style, but also change the way the world will look at them, forever. First, let us begin by defining what the various styles of classical music is, as well as their evolutions. Early Western classical music is divided into medieval, renaissance and baroque, the last of which is where this thesis will be delving into first before going along the timeline. Mozart and Beethoven biographer Maynard Solomon has said that while the arguably two most famous composers of all time have helped popularize classical music amongst the general masses through various means of media, it is without a doubt that without the likes of Bach and his peers, there would have been no Gustavo Mailer or Richard Strauss. That would take place centuries after most of these composers have passed on. Nevertheless, how exactly did the composers of back then affect not only music, but people in general now? Richard Tarsuss from the University of California argued that John Adams opera The Death f Cliffhanger was romanticism terrorists, and Australian-American composer Melissa Dungy has been frowned upon for using wordings from controversial speeches against neo-Baroque styled music for politically charged pieces. Did classical music really have a hand in the political or socio-economic scene of their time period? Let us take a look. Going not only in chronological order but also in terms of musical evolution, the first to come up would be a man known the world over by his last name: Johann Sebastian Bach. Such is the legacy of the man that after over 200 years of his death, his middle ND surname would be taken as the stage name of rock/metal band Skid Rows frontal. While most people would assume a composer is merely someone who sits at a piano, Bach was in reality an organist, harpsichordist, violist and violinist. A pioneer of the Baroque period, Bach began musical tutelage under his father, a Western Music History: A Study of Baroque and Classical Period Music By Samisens young Johann Sebastian had to live with his brother Johann Christopher from the tender young age of 9 after his parents had passed away. Through his brother, who has an organ player in church and had himself studied under Johann Peaceable, Bach began learning the clavichord before being given a scholarship to study music at the age of 14. This would later prove invaluable as it exposed him to a wider aspect of European culture, whilst rubbing shoulders with the sons of noblemen. Once free from his studies at SST. Michaels School in Lundeberg, Bach came into the employment of several churches and even one Duke Johann Ernst from Whimper. His dissatisfaction with his employers led him to seek a Job at SST. Ballasts, where not only did he have better working conditions, but it is also where e met his future wife Maria Barbara Bach. After convincing the church and city government to renovate the organ at the church, he in turn wrote his first hit Got sit mien K ¶nigh, Bow71- for the inauguration of the new council. In 1723, Bach began to get seriously busy and began rewriting his and other composers composition, this is a common practice in those days, it is known that Bachs technique of imitating and improvising is nearly as creative as an original composition. It was between 1722 and 1742 when Bach would write The Well-Tempered Clavier to demonstrate a technique ladled equal temperament, which meant that all adjacent notes will have an identical frequency ratio, and doing so in all 24 major and minor keys. Due to this, most classically trained pianists can find their way between an F# and a b, which are two different notes although they are the same inharmoniously. Indeed, after his death, Beethoven called Bach the original father of harmony'(Schuster, 1903). Through the history of the United States there hav EssayIt should be noted that his funeral was a grand affair, with entrance being restricted to ticket holders, as well as Mozart Requiem being Chopin was known for employing a rubout style of playing into his work, a style that was also prevalent in the works of Mozart before him. Fellow Romantic era composer Robert Schumann also noted that Chopin had a strong sense of Polish nationalism in IM; he once said in a review of Chopping concertos in 1836 that Now that the Poles are in deep mourning , their appeal to us artists is even stronger if the mighty autocrat in the north could know that in Chopping works, in the simple strains of his mazurka, there lurks a dangerous enemy, he would place a ban on his music. Chopping works are cannon buried in flowers! (Schumann, 1988). Last but not least, the composer who is considered to have bridged the gap between late 19th century and early 20th century Western classical music: Claude Debuss y. Along with fellow composer Maurice Ravel, Debussy was one of the most prominent and influential composers of Impressionist music. Hailing from France, Debussy is the only one of the four composers Vive mentioned that came from a non-musical background; his father owned a shop which sold china and crockery, and his mother was a seamstress. He began taking violin lessons at the age of seven, who in turn drew the attention of supposed Chopin student Marie Matt © De Belleville. At the age of 10, he enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire, where he spent 11 years studying and truck up a friendship with fellow student Isadora Philipp, who after Debussy death would be asked for advice on how to play his pieces. Although he played pieces by Beethoven, Schumann and Chopin in public, Debussy did not like to conform to the teachings of the Academy, instead using dissonance techniques and intervals which were considered unorthodox. Perhaps much too far ahead for his time, Debussy became very close to the patroness of famous Russian composer Tchaikovsky, who in turn regarded Debussy work as lacking unity. After exposure to late composer Richard Wagers work, he then set about working on his style: a sensory component to his music and striking harmonies. His initial works, including the now famous Claim De Lune, shows his usage of Parthian modal composition as well as scales not usually employed in the style of music in that day and age. His usage of parallel chords, whole-tone and pentatonic scales as well as unprepared modulations would be essential to Jazz music decades later. He also drew inspiration from other forms of art, such as literature and even from something as odd as mathematics. Indeed, he myself described his composition set of 12 piano à ©tudes simply titled ?à ©tudes as a warning to pianists not to take up the musical profession unless they have remarkable hands. Claude Debussy died of rectal cancer on 25 March 1918, occurring whilst bombs rained down on Paris during World War l. His influence amongst classical composers such as B ©la Bart ¶k, Igor Stravinsky and George Gershwin notwithstanding, he also reached the hearts and minds of Jazz composers such as Miles Davis, Theologies Monk, Duke Elongating and Herb Hancock. Models, and because Miles was influenced by Debussy, who was influenced by Wilhelm Wagner, who in turn was influenced by Mozart, does that make Mozart the belligerent of vulgar words and music? Studies have indicated that toddlers that listen to the works of Mozart in their sleep are more likely to develop a high Q, although this is still inconclusive. Theres been no proof that any of these composers, although in the employment of nobility and people with clout in the political scene, have had a direct hand in influencing what it was back then, and what it is today. We can, however, still argue as to whether or not Western classical music is any good; in which case I would like to point out that from its humble fledgling time circa the 1 sass, it still survives till now. Now that is something worth looking up. Bibliography 1. List, F. And Birdhouse,J. 1913. Life of Chopin. London: W. Reeves. 2. Rose, S. 2011. The musician in literature in the age of Bach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 3. Schuster, B. 1903. Die Musk. Berlin: M. Hess. 4. Solomon, M. 1995. Mozart. New York, NY: HarperCollinsPublishers. 5. Villas, L. , Obrien, M. And Obrien, G. 1973. Claude Debussy, his life and works. New York: Dover Publications.