European music: Baroque vs. Romantic and Classical music
Any non-contemporary orchestral music is often called 'classical' in a colloquial fashion. However, there are many varieties of music between the eras of the 15th century and our own besides what is technically associated with the classical period. Perhaps the most notable movement which laid the foundation for our own contemporary era of music is that of the Baroque period. Rather than naturalness, the Baroque stressed ornamentation, artificiality, and technique, including its use of the human voice. "Generally, the qualities most valued in the Baroque voice were agility, purity and clarity, even at the expense of the power which characterizes today's operatic voice" (Thornburgh 1). The predominant instruments besides the human voice were the harpsichord, violins, recorders, and trumpets, which gave Baroque music its unique sound.
Stylistically, Baroque music is notable for its use of the basso continuo and its intense, ornamental style. "The continuo, typically consisting of a harpsichord and a cello, provided the rhythmic and harmonic foundation of Baroque ensemble" (Thornburgh 1). Considerable leeway was given to musicians in terms of ornamentation or the "embellishment of the musical line, with devices such as trills, mordants and grace notes. Ornaments were rarely written out, and often were not even indicated, but simply left to the taste of the performer. Vibrato was considered an ornamental enhancement of a given note or musical moment, not the ubiquitous element of tone production which it has become today" (Thornburgh 1). The fact that these elements were not written out and the fact that the piano rather than the harpsichord is the dominant percussion instrument in modern orchestras is why there may be a very notable contrast between how Baroque music sounded to its contemporaries vs. how it sounds in modernity when reproduced by a 21st century orchestra.
The way in which the artist was conceptualized...
Music-Romantic Period 'ROMANTICISM' is a concept that can be easily recognized but is probably just as difficult to define. Like all other movements, Romanticism also emerged as a reaction to general idea, practices, social norms and political problems of the time. The general concept of romanticism sees music as an expression of intimate and sublime emotions. The period that can be categorized as romantic varies but generally covers the decades from
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In other words each music performance is different and the impulsiveness of each performance confirms the concept of indeterminate music. 6) Describe an Indonesian Gamelan. (Textbook p. 282-283) It said that Debussy, when he heard the Indonesian ensemble called gamelan was surprisingly delighted at its diverse and delicate timbers, and decided to use the elements in the impressionistic sound which he was working at developing. The gamelan, a distinctive Indonesian orchestra consisting
Suddenly Western Music no longer needed to follow all the old rules. Just as the abstract painters dispensed with the traditional canon of art at just the same time, so also men like Bartok and Stravinsky take a fresh look at what constituted good music. According to Bartok, the aesthetic success of this new homophonic-polyphonic music would depend upon the "harmonic entity" that results from the rise and fall of
From the research I know he was a ladies man. In Joan Peyser's book (The Memory of All That: The Life of George Gershwin) it is 1927 and Gershwin is discovered in bed with one of the attractive women from a show he and Harry Richman were working on. Caught with his shirt and pants still in his hand, Gershwin offered: "Mr. Richman, what can I say to you?
It has been established that in fact the infant is aware of sound from the 24th week. " in the sonic foreground of this sound environment is what has been described within the literature as a 'rhythmic "swooshing" of the blood as it rushes through the placental vessels" (Collins and Kuck, 1990, p.24). Some of the most significant findings about the affect and importance of music on the human mind
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