Music In The 1600-1900's

Historical and Musical events before the 1600 during the medieval and renaissance time Historical • 1487 Battle of Stoke • 1500 Pharaoh Thutmose III was born • 1509 Henry VII Dies • 1536 Anne Boylen was Executed • 1587 Mary, Queen of scots Dies Musical • 1452 Birth of Leonardo Da Vinci • 1538Various tunings were recorded by Juan Bermudo • 1598 The first Italian opera is produced: Jacopo Peris “Dafne”

The Jazz Age was a cultural movement that took place in America during the 1920 's (also known as "the Roaring Twenties") from which both jazz music and dance emerged. This movement matched with both the equally phenomenal introduction of mainstream radio and the conclusion of World War I. The 1920s was the decade that marked the beginning of the modern music era. Some of the popular music genres were Jazz, Dance Bands, Blues, and Broadway. The decade marked the beginning of independent record companies, smaller operations that weren’t afraid to take a chance on music and artists that the bigger companies shied away from.

During the 1900s, passion of composing music arose and encouraged many young teens to create garage bands and elder to perceive music as career. Famous musicians like Robert Johnson, Bill Monroe, and Elvis Presley were seeking the same. Although many were composing songs, most of them adapted their own versions from many which created a list of similarities and differences between them. Most commonly similar were themes or forms yet some differentiated in delivery style or instrumentation. Many artists got more creative and used similar instruments but give a twist into the sound play. This can be seen in the script or heard in the audio of the songs “Walkin’ Blues” and “Blue Moon of Kentucky” like many others.

The Classical period of music has also been called the “Rococo” period. The Classical time period was between the 18th and 19th centuries. Spanning the years of 1750-1820. The transition from the Baroque period to the Classical took the music from polyphonic to homophonic where even though it seems like that would make the music less complex we look at a whole different type of complexity. The music typically contained two different melodies and a contrast in sections. This made the chords in the music much more defined and the tonal part of the music became more defined. The Classical period had a significant influence on several aspects of music. Chamber music had a sonata form. This means it had an exposition, a transition, and a recapitulation. Composition in the Classical time was mainly dominated by eclecticism which made the music more diverse. Concerto was driven at first by the Italians. They started the idea of the solo concerto. Orchestration was mainly developed during this musical time period. This is partly due to some of the most talented musicians that lived during this time. They did a lot of work in making the orchestra mainly string instruments. Some of these being the violin, viola, cello, and the contrabass, just to name a few. All of these things had a great influence in the way the music made the transition from the Baroque period to the Classical period.

Music is present in every culture’s past, present, and future. It has been around since 500 B.C. and was especially important in the Elizabethan Era. There were reinventions of music as it was widespread and popular. Without this essential time in history, modern music may have been completely different from what we have today. This era brought new uses for music, styles of compositions, new instruments, and the uprising of popular composers.

Although art and music before the Enlightenment era provided an outlet for emotionally intense and dramatic performances which people looked to for entertainment, the Enlightenment period in Europe from the 16th to 18th centuries created a turning point for art and music by adding a level of complexity, a sense of balance, and by incorporating ideas from reality into the art piece which embellished the fine arts genre throughout Europe.

The 1930’s was a decade of extremely hard times, following the stock market crash and an extreme depression. In spite of the tremendous hardships in America during this decade, it also became a time of great music that is still remembered today. Jazz music was highly popular in this time, and Billie Holiday was a famous jazz performer. She stood out from many other musicians because of her intense and passionate performances. Jazz arose from “unacceptable” segments of society, but quickly grew like wildfire. We often think of the 1930’s as the decade that jazz became civilized, and famous throughout popular culture through the work of pioneering artists like Billie Holiday. People did not own televisions or cable, so radio was their main source of entertainment, and music during this decade was both up beat and a source of relaxation. “Strange Fruit” defied musical category because it was considered too artsy to be folk, and too explicitly political to fit into jazz. This is why “Strange Fruit” became such a powerful phenomenon. Many other artists later took on this song, changing the genre but still portraying the same message. Nina Simone dramatized “Strange Fruit” in the context of the Civil Rights Movement. More important artists like Jeff Buckley, Rene Marie, Labor Camp Orchestra, and many others made their own rendition on the song, still leaving all of their audiences moved by the powerful imagery of the lyrics.

To begin with , the 18th century was the Classical era. In which music had order, symmetry, and formal restraint. Composers such as Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven began creating music that pulled away from music that was mainly created for churches. This secular music they created became entertainment for the aristocrats and the nobility. A composer by the name of Johann Stamitz  organized one of  preliminary forms of the classical orchestra. This orchestra consisted of the string section, the woodwind section, the brass section, and the percussion section. The largest of the orchestra was called a symphony.

Ludwig Von Beethoven was a very important transitional figure between the Classical and Romantic eras. Beethoven’s early work was heavily influenced by Mozart and Haydn. He had a very great influence on the composers of the Romantic era. Beethoven emphasised the emotional expression in music, which is a key characteristic of Romanticism.

For as long as mankind has walked on this earth, music has been an important part of our culture and lifestyles. Each walk of life beats to a different drum. Different cultures use music for many aspects of their lives; for religious purposes, for celebrations, for comfort, for sorrow, for relaxation, for sports, for dances, for energy, for learning, for sleeping, and for sexual experiences. Everyone uses music for something. Music connects with people and reaches them in ways that words simply cannot. Music is a representation of what feelings sound like. It expresses emotion and brings that characteristic out from within us; it tells us a story. Every generation has its’ own sound and different music styles have emerged and become

Music is an art that has united people all over the world for centuries and centuries. Evolving throughout the years, music is split up into many different genres. These genres have derived from diverse time periods and cultures throughout the years. Jazz and Country music both originated in the early 1900s, but have had lasting impacts on completely different cultures. The detailed elements of each piece are dissimilar, but are equally effective in providing entertainment for each audience.

Music has evolved too many different forms that we recognize today. We trace this development throughout time. Beginning in the middle ages, we have seen advancement from the Gregorian chant all the way to the Jazz of the 20th century. The current events, politics, religion, technology and composers can shape musical eras during time. Here I will look at the middle ages, renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic and twentieth century periods. I hope that a better understanding can be reached to why, when, where and who are the reasons for musical evolution.

The World With a Little Jazz Can you imagine a genre that would appeal to everyone? How about a style of music that would help bring different ethnic groups together? Well, in the beginning of the 1920’s, one genre in particular had an outbreak that would change the United States forever. Jazz music modified the world with its groovy beats, calming instruments and powerful vocalists. “The 1920’s or the Jazz Age, were years of change as America recovered from World War 1 and embraced new ways of behaving and thinking” (Benson, Brannen, Jr. and Valentine Vol. 7).

Some of the most well known composers came to be in the in the classical music period. Ludwig van Beethoven was one of the composers, along with other greats of the time like Haydn and Mozart, which helped to create a new type of music. This new music had full rich sounds created by the new construction of the symphony orchestra.

Music has become such an important part of people’s lives today. One cannot walk down the street without seeing earbuds in a person’s ears or hearing the bass to a radio in someone’s car. But how did music become such an important and constant part of the lives of so many? What do artists have to go through to reach their audience? At the beginning of musical development from the medieval Georgian chant to the arias of Mozart and fugues of Beethoven, people could only listen to music in a live setting. This is how most performers would make their money. According