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Elements of Music
Timbre
• Refers to the quality of sound– Banjo sounds different than a
guitar– Everyone’s voice has a different
timbre– Timbre makes instruments/voices
sound different from each other
Rhythm
• The way music paces itself and moves through time– Similar to a stream (can flow
smooth, slow, fast, choppy, etc)– Rhythm is totally dependant on
the mood that a composer wants to express.
Tempo
• Aspect of rhythm; pace at which the rhythm moves– Largo- very slow– Adagio- slow– Andante- moderately slow– Allegretto- moderately fast– Allegro- fast– Presto- very fast
Renaissance Music1400-1600
Counterpoint
• Dominant musical technique before Renaissance was plainchant (Gregorian Chant)
• Counterpoint refers to many things going on in a musical piece at once
• Precursor to the fugue and jazz music
Palestrina (1526-1594)
• Most famous piece is Pope Marcellus Mass
• Regarded as “savior of church music”
• Saved use of counterpoint
Baroque Music1600-1750
Changes from Renaissance
• Composers wrote for specific voices and instruments
• Music was big, grand, ornate (typical of any artistic creation in the Baroque Era)
• Modern music language began to develop
Fugue
• Based on Interwoven melodies• Master of fugue is Johann S. Bach• 3 voices (motif, subject,
exposition)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
• Born in Germany• Stopped
composing church music around 1730
• Wrote several arias, fugues, and sonatas
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
• Most famous composition is The Four Seasons
• Favorite music type was the concerto
• Wrote 94 operas in his life
“Classical” (Enlightenment) Music
1720-1827
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart(1756-1791)
• Musical genius; Composing @ 5 yrs. old; from a musical family
• Most famous piece is Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
• Many opera for Frederick the Great
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
• Developed the symphony
• Best friends with Mozart
• Most famous writing is Symphony No. 94 in G Major
Ludwig Von Beethoven (1770-1827)
• Studied under Mozart, Haydn, and Salieri
• Most famous piece is Symphony No. 5
• Came from a musical family
• Totally deaf by 1820; diagnosed 1790
Romantic Music1760-1870
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
• Wrote 13 operas; helped people understand German culture
• Also wrote book concerning opera theory
• Famous opera is the Ring Cycle
Peter I. Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
• Professor of Music @ Moscow Conservatory
• Music noted for beautiful yet blue melodies
• Most famous composition is 1812 Overture
Impressionist Music
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
• Music depends heavily on imbedded visual images
• Most famous piece is Prelude to an Afternoon of a Faun
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
• Liked abstract, logical structure
• Associated with Debussy because of the type of music
• Worked with Russian ballet choreographers
Modern Music1900-present
Folk Music
• Music with which the people of a nation or ethnic group specifically identify themselves
• Taught through performance• Most commonly the music of
social and economic lower classes and of rural populations
Popular Music
• Music produced and sold to a broad audience (country, jazz, soul, rock, movie music, and musical comedies)
• Shaped by social, economic, and technological forces
• Closely linked to social identity of its performers and audience
Jazz Music
• Developed by African-Americans in late 1800s early 1900s in New Orleans, LA
• Characterized by heavy improvisation (no 2 performances are exactly alike when live)
• Heavy syncopation
Duke Ellington (1899-1974)
• Jazz composer, orchestrator, bandleader, and pianist
• Greatest composer of jazz music
Duke Ellington (1899-1974)
• Personally created the pieces his band members played and designed his pieces for specific players.
• Composed about 2000 works• Most famous piece is It Don’t Mean
a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing); swing dancing became an obsession in the USA
Duke Ellington (1899-1974)
• Expanded his jazz orchestra size from 12-18 members over time. 18 is the accepted number in a jazz band now.
• Characteristics of Ellington’s music:1. Muted brass instruments2. High, wailing clarinets3. His unique piano playing
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
• Studied law at Univ. of St. Petersburg
• Influenced by Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov
• Russian Composer
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
• Wrote for the Ballet Russes of Sergei Diaghilev
• His music for The Firebird won immediate success for its orchestration and use of Russian folk song melodies
• The music for The Rite of Spring was not well received by the audience or the dancers
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
• The effects of WWI on Russia and the influence of jazz music can be heard in his compositions Rag-time and Piano Rag-Music
• Came to Hollywood, CA in 1939 where he wrote Circus Polka which was to be dance by circus elephants
• Believed if a person only wrote one type of music they were going “backwards.”
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
• Born in Brooklyn• American composer• Bridged gaps
between jazz and classical music
• Pianist and song promoter for publishing company at 16 yrs. old
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
• Paul Whitehead asked him to write a song. He wrote Rhapsody in Blue for piano and jazz band.
• Wrote a tone poem called An American In Paris
• Also published a political satire titled Of Thee I Sing which was the first musical comedy to win a Pulitzer Prize
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
• Wrote an opera titled Porgy and Bess that heavily draws on the idioms of black folk music, jazz, Tin Pan Alley, and classical music to produce a work of unique character that is Gershwin’s masterpiece
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
• Originally influenced by French Impressionist composers
• Switched to his folk music style around the 1930s
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
• In the 1930s, he began to include more melodic and lyrical music, often drawing on American folk music
• Most famous piece is Appalachian Spring. Wrote this for a ballet of the same title for Martha Graham
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
• Other compositions:– Lincoln Portrait – Billy the Kid– Rodeo– El salon Mexico– Fanfare for the Common Man– Music for movie Of Mice and Men
based on book by John Steinbeck