Music Eras –

1. Middle Ages (450-1450 AD)

Composers –

 Leonin
 Perotim

Also known as: Dark Ages, Medieval

Gregorian Chant
Sacred Music – Music only played in Church
Secular – Music for enjoyment; not affiliated with the church
Monophonic Music – 1-line melody music
Polyphonic – Multiple-line melody music
Homophonic – Multiple lines same rhythm
A Cappella – Vocal only music
Motet – 4-6 Voices
Troubadours – Traveled from town to play for the rich and were paid by Nobles, they
entertained by singing, dancing, magic, playing instruments
Jongleurs – Traveling entertainers who played for the poor (Street Performers)

Life in the Middle Ages

Social Classes –

 Peasants – common folk. Farmers, Live stalkers

 Nobles – Lived within walls. Nicer clothes, Law enforcement. Royalty
 Clergy – Religious stakeholders. Archduke, Bishop, Pope, Priest

World Events

 Christianity was adopted by the Roman Empire – 400s

 Fall of Roman Empire – 476 AD
  Gunpowder Discovered by China – 500 AD
 Marco Polo Travels to Europe – 1200 AD
 Magna Carta was Written – 1215 AD

Education only offered by churches

Liturgical Vocalists were the most important position in the Church
Women were not allowed to attend church
After 1100AD the most prominent instrument was the Organ
Pope Gregory helped organize music for the Church (Pope from 590-604)
One of the early composers of polyphonic music was Leonin
Perotim studied under Leonin, was famous for writing Motet
Motet was considered one of the most important forms of polyphonic music
Plain Chant = Gregorian Chant (Pope Gregory)

2. Renaissance (1450-1600)
Composers –

 Palestrina – Music director for St. Peters

 Josquin Des Prez – Ave Maria.
 Gabriele – Bridged the gap between Renaissance and Baroque periods
 Thomas Weekles – Organist/Church compose. Known as one of the finest
composers of English Madrigals

Also known as: Rebirth, New Age

Homophonic Music – Multiple Lines, Same Rhythm (Chopsticks)
Secular Music – Became popular during this period
Mass for the Dead – Requiem
Humanism - The dominant intellectual movement that concentrated on human life and its
accomplishments
Council of Trent – Helped strengthen the power of the church
Ballet – a simple type of music with a dance like quality
Word Painting – Musical representation of a poem

Josquin De Prez
Born in what is now Belgium in 1440
Spent most of like in Italy
Worked for Louis XII of France
Held several church positions
(Compositions – Masses, Motets, Secular Vocal Music)
Influential for others to start composing
Helped develop Counter Point (Putting one melody against another)

Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina

Lived 1525-1594
Devoted himself to music for the Catholic Church
Music Director for St. Peters
Music – Very serene and reflects on the emphasis of a more spiritual music
Church authorities used his music as an example for how church music should have been
Most famous Mass – Pope Marcellus Mass

Music of the Renaissance

Often described as Gentle and Flowing
Motet became popularized
A Mass has 5 parts

Art & Literature

Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare
Leonardo Da Vinci – Painted Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, Scientist, Philosopher, and Engineer
Michelangelo – Painted the Sistine Chapel
Machiavelli – Wrote a book called “The Prince”

World Events
Martin Luther – Led the Protestant Reformation 1517

Printing Press – Allowed composers to give more music 1454

Guttenberg – Made the Printing Press

Magellan – Circumnavigated the world in 1519

Christopher Columbus – Thought he discovered India 1492

Copernicus – Devolved “Modern Astronomy” 1543

3. Baroque (1600-1750)
Composers –

 J.S. Bach – Air with variations

 George Handel – Fugue in G minor

Bizarre, Flamboyant, Ornamented

Music Fills the space with action and movement
Jobs were Painters, Sculptures, Architect
Rembrandt (An artist) Expanded color, Detail, Ornament and depth of totally structured worlds
In church music made worship more attractive with the use of emotional and theatrical
qualities.
Middle Class helped develop the Baroque style music
Music was filled with rationalism, sensitivity, materialism, and spirituality

3 periods
Early Period – (1600-1640) One of the revolutionary periods in music history.
Music in Italy - Extreme emotion in text ruled the music
Words are projected more clearly using symphonic accompaniment
In the late era polyphonic music returned
Dissonance became important
Voices were accompanied by instruments with separation in parts

Middle – (1640-1680)
Music spread from Italy to every country in Europe
Major and Minor scales became the basis of composition
Importance of instrumental music
Violin family was the most important

Late – (1680-1750)
Aspects of harmony were developed
Instrumental and Vocal music were equally music
Most of the well-known music came from here
Unity and mood were expressed in music
Rhythm – One rhythm is heard throughout the entire piece, the beat or pulse is emphasized
Melody – Opening melody is heard again and again, Character of music is constant, elaborate
and ornamental.
Joy, Greif, and Agitation were the most popular moods of music
Certain melodic patterns were associated with moods
Terraced - dynamics was most popular, stepwise dynamics. No crescendos of decrescendos.
Main Keyboard Instruments – Harp, Organ, Clavichord.
Clavichord – Developed in Germany, meant for amateurs. Hit with a brass hammer instead of a
felt one on the string
Texture –
Religious Music – Heaven was associated with high notes, Hell with low notes
Baroque Orchestra – 10-30 musicians, Instruments were flexible and varies from piece to piece.
Baroque Trumpet – No valves. Rapid, Complex, Melodic Lines. High register is called clarino
register. They were the aristocrats of the orchestra, because it was very difficult and they were
associated with royalty. When POW were exchanged the trumpeters were treated like military
officers.
Baroque Musical form – You have Movements which are part of a large ensemble. Each
movement has its own identity. Each movement has its own theme and a definite end.
1st movement – Fast
2nd Movement – Slow
3rd Movement – Quick and Light
3 Main forms – ABA, AB, and Continuous (AB)
Music in the Baroque society –

 High demand for new music.

 High class developed large palaces and large quart entertainment.
 Entertainment was a necessity and was used to not be bored.
 Music was an escape from everything.
 Size of orchestra was based on wealth.
 Music directors supervised performances and wrote the music. They were also in charge of
discipline, and upkeep of instruments and library.
 Anything written by the director will be performed.
 Pay and prestige was high
 Music Director was a high class servant.
o Kings as Musicians
 Fredrick the Great – King of Prussia, and Flutist.
Music in Church

 Many Churches has their own orchestra

 Most ordinary citizens only heard music in church
 Few public concerts
 Normal people were not allowed in palaces.
 Church musicians were paid less and of lower status
 Their pay was sometimes wood and grain instead
Town Musicians
 
 Would often play with amateurs in music society’s
 Some earned money by writing operas for commercial opera houses.
 In Venice 6 Opera houses that performed at the same time
 Most music schools were in orphanages etc.
How to get a job.

 Perform and submit compositions

 Voluntarily donate money
 Marry the daughter of a retiring musician
 Composers were very important part of society.
 You could work in courts, churches, towns, and commercial opera houses.
Operas

 Sang to an orchestral accompaniment

 Fusion of music, acting, poetry, dance, and scenery & costume
 Has emotion and excitement
 To this day the most powerful form of music theater
 Characters and plot are revealed through song
 Music makes the plot more believable by depicting mood
 The flow of the music carries the plot forward and sometimes the music is the drama
 Operas involve singing and acting at the same time
 On stage.
o Solo singers
o secondary soloists
o chorus
o dancers
 Extras don’t sing, but they add effect
 Involve scenery lighting and special stage machinery
 Illusions of fire, floods, storms and supernatural effects
 Orchestra Pit
o Instruments and conductor
o Several hundred people making special sounds
 Meant for a high social status
 Libretto (Text) – Usually written by the librettist and set to music by the composer
Comic and Serious Operas

 May contain some spoken dialogue, but is mostly sung entirely

 Main voice range are divided more finely
  Vocal Ranges
o Coloratura – Soprano, very high rapid scales
o Lyric Soprano – Light and graceful charm
o Dramatic – Full & Powerful, Intensity
o Basso Buffo – Comic roles and rapid high bass
o Basso Profundo – Very low, powerful and distinct
 They have 1-5 acts
Fugue

 Is meant for a group or solo

 Several different things/variations
o Theme – Main Melody
o Retrograde – The melody backwards
o Inversion – Upside-down melody
o Retrograde inversion – Upside-down backwards melody
o Dim – Make shorter (change whole notes to half notes)
o Augmentations – make it bigger (change half notes to whole notes)
J.S. Bach

 Bach’s father, grandfather, and great grandfather were all church organists or town
musicians
 Bach was a father to 20 children
o 4 of them became composers
 Birthplace was Eisenbach
 Both of his parents died when he was 9 years’ old
 Older brother raised him
 When Bach was 15 he moved away and began supporting himself
 When he was 18 he became a church organist
 In 1708 he became a court organist
 He was a concert master there for 9 years
 He quit because he didn’t get promoted
 His boss was so mad that Bach quit that he threw him in jail for a month
 Between 1717-1723 he conducted a small orchestra of 18 players
 He composed the Brandenburg Concertos during that time
 Became the music director at St. Thomas church in Leipzig, Germany
 He was a director for 4 churches at once
 He taught 55 students, teaching organ and composition
 In the 1740s Bach’s eyesight began to deteriorate
 During that time, he still taught, conducted, and composed music
 In 1750, Bach was completely blind
  He died in 1750
 Bach’s music was largely unpublished for several years after his death
 Music is now used for music theory
 He wrote every type of music, except operas

Woodwinds, Brass, and Percussion

3 main woodwinds – Flute, Recorder, Oboe.
3 main brass – Trombone, Trumpet, Horn.
1 Percussion – Timpani.
Trumpets and Timpani were used for festive music

Monteverdi
Lived – (1567-1643)
Compassion and Dramatic Contrast

17th Century
Galileo – (1664-1542)
Sir Isaac Newton – (1642-1727)

Transition – Enlightenment 1730-1770

4. Classical (1750-1820)
Prominent Composers of the Classical Period

 Mozart – Marriage of Figaro

 Beethoven – 5th Symphony
 Haydn – Surprise Symphony fr
 Christoph Gluk
 Muzio Clementi

Transition – Enlightenment 1730-1770

Pre-Classical Period
Believed in progress and not customs/traditions
The middle class struggled for rights (again)
French and American revolutions
Vienna was a classical center for Europe
Vienna had the 4th largest populated area in Europe
Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven all came to perform in Vienna
Musical Characteristics

 Fluctuation in mood
o Gradual or Sudden
 Wide range of emotion
 Flexible rhythms
 Unexpected pauses
 Syncopation
 Gradual or Sudden changes in dynamics
 Melody was tuneful and easy to remember
Dynamics and the Piano

 Piano could express different

 Piano could make crescendos and decrescendos
 Was invented in 1709
 By 1775 it replaced the harpsicord
Classical Orchestra

 4 standard sections
o Strings
 4 instruments
 Violin
 Cello
 Viola
 Stringed Bass
o Brass
 2 instruments
 Trumpet
 Horn
o Woodwind
  4 Instruments
 Flutes
 Clarinets
o Were added because of great new tone color and rapid notes
 Oboe
 Bassoon
o Percussion
 3 Instruments
 Timpani
 Snare Drum
 Bass Drum
 st
1 Violin – Melody
 Woodwind – Melodic line
 Brass – Harmony
Classical Music Form

 4 movements in classical symphony

 Varied in tempo
 1st Movement
o Fast
 nd
2 Movement
o Slow
 rd
3 Movement
o Dance-Like
 th
4 Movement
o Fast
 Always a brief pause between movements

Styles

 Rococo
o style that is more intimate
o Light colors
o Curved lines
o Graceful ornaments
o Early 18th century
o Was obsolete by the late 18th century
Bach’s Sons

 C.P. Bach
o 1714-1788
 J.C. Bach
o 1735-1782
Outdoor Music

 Light and popular in tone

 Small street bands
 Haydn and Mozart both created outdoor music
Symphony

 The first movement of a symphony is called a sonata

 Sonata has 3 main sections
o Exposition – This is where the main theme is presented and is always repeated
o Development –
o Recapitulation – Where theme returns and is subject to change
Theme and Variation

 Theme is repeated over and over again

 Every time it is repeated they alter it
Composers and Symphonies

 Haydn wrote 104 symphonies

 Mozart wrote 41
 Beethoven wrote 9
Concerto

 3 movement work
 Mozart and Beethoven preferred piano concertos
o They were 20-45 minutes
 Tempos for movements
 Movements went Fast, Slow, then Fast again
 Cadenza was added to a structure
 Cadenza is a slow, unaccompanied show piece
 Fermata was added to it
 Composers started to write exactly what they wanted in their music
5. Romantic (1820-1900)
Composers –

 Rossini – William Tell Overture

 Strauss -
 Tchaikovsky – 1812 Overture

6. 20th Century (1900-Present)

John Phillip Sousa – Stars and Stripes Forever
Bartok – Minimalistic Music
Jazz