Music History

Musical Eras Medieval ( ) Renaissance ( ) Baroque ( ) Classical ( ) Romantic ( ) 20 th -century ( ) Contemporary (1970-Present)

“Classical” Music We use classical to refer to all orchestral repertoire, but when we’re speaking within the field of orchestral music, we are actually talking specifically about the years It was called that because at the time there was a revival of interest in the ancient cultures of Greece and Rome. Because of that it is also more properly referred to as “neo-classical”.

Medieval ( ) It does not sound like the movies!! It was very simple, and most of our modern instruments had yet to be invented. Much of the music is characterized by an instrumental drone, and a melismatic vocal part Let’s listen to a composer from the era, Perotin, or as he preferred to call himself, Peritonus.

Medieval ( ) The music staff was formalized by an Italian monk, Guido d’Arezzo in the early 1000s The first line was: Ut queant laxis, resonare fibris, Mira gestorum, famuli tuorum, Solve pollute, labii reatum, Sancte Iohannes. In 1600, “ut” was changed in most countries to the easier to articulate “do” So we owe a HUGE thank you to the medieval music theorists!

Renaissance ( ) Renaissance means “new birth” Instrumental music is still not particularly popular Polyphony (multiple melodies) began to be used, and motets (pieces with polyphony and usually unaccompanied) were very common Here’s an example of a motet by Palestrina

Baroque ( ) Instrumental music FINALLY becomes important! HURRAY!! What you need to know: Bach Oh, and Handel too The instruments string family had just been perfected Although bows were different than our modern ones, this is much of the reason for the style that we play Baroque music Harmony developed, and composers used triads and seventh chords You may know Handel by his “Water Music”

Baroque ( ) Bach Most famous composer from the Baroque era Wrote new music for church service every week Had a HUGE family with some other famous composers in it Played the organ

Classical ( ) Marked by less complex harmony than that of the Baroque era Very clear melody with harmony accompaniment Symphonies (and symphony orchestras) developed through this time Notoriety was given to composers Composers made their living through the patronage system Haydn won the lottery on that deal Mozart was one of the first to try to sell his music independently

Classical ( ) Mozart Most famous composer from the time Child prodigy Composed his first symphony at 12 Haydn Prolific composer that wrote over 100 symphonies Known for using his music to make jokes Remember the Surprise Symphony

Romantic ( ) Started with Beethoven Instrumental music reigned The age of the virtuoso Paganini Liszt Nationalist composers Chopin – Poland, Liszt – Hungary, Grieg – Norway, Sibelius – Finland, Wagner – Germany, Elgar – England, Berlioz – French, Strauss – Austria, Sousa – United States Famous composers Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Schubert, Foster, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Mahler, Debussy

Romantic ( ) Enormous variety Debussy Foster Brahms all of these happened at the same!!!! It’s insane!!! Modern bows created by Torte

20 th - century Everything got weird... Composers Stravinsky Schoenberg Shostakovich Ravel Rachmaninoff Gershwin Charles Ives Even more variety in styles than the Romantic era

Contemporary (1970-present) Movie themes John Williams Hans Zimmer Michael Giacchino