Essay about The History of Music

“Medieval motets tended to be isorhythmic; that is, they employed repeated rhythmic patterns in all voices—not only the cantus firmus—which did not necessarily coincide with repeating melodic patterns.”2 This new isorhythmic principle, brought on mostly by the composer Machaut, was used not only in the tenor voice but also rather with much more freedom in the upper voice parts. The application of discant over a cantus firmus marked the beginnings of this new revolutionary style, the motet, in Western music. The key motet composers in the medieval period were few in number; Phillip de Vitry and Machaut were one of the earliest composers to institute the isorhythmic technique, which set the style for other medieval composers like Willelmus de Winchecumbe. Guillaume de Machaut was a more famous named late-medieval composer to institute the discant which caught on in other music styles and only helped to evolve the motet into its later stylings. These composers helped carry the motet to the new Flemish motet style.

1. How is the history of European and Arabic cultural contact reveal through musical characteristics in places such as Spain and Bulgaria?

The Baroque Era started in 1600 and lasted till 1750. Some of the famous composers from the Baroque Era include Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Handel, and JS Bach. Music in Baroque society became amusement for aristocrats, modern orchestra began to evolve, and the idea of opera are beginning to develop. In many Baroque pieces the use of a Basso Continuo, which is played by two instruments typically a keyboard and a member of the strings family was found in many pieces during this time. The Baroque period can be characterized with clear and distinct meter, repeated rhythmic patterns, homophonic texture, and terraced dynamics. The Baroque is also classified by its distinct genres including Fugue, Solo Concerto, and Cantata. The Ritornello form being introduced had an impact on Baroque music because it is outlined using harmonic progressions, key modulations, and motives from the main theme in order to give character to a piece.

Music during the Baroque period was diverse and composers began to rebel against the styles that were popular during the Renaissance. In the Baroque era music was driven by the text and the emotions behind it. Vocal and sacred music developed greatly during the Baroque period. During the mid-17th century the Italian phenomenon opera dominated most of the theatres in Europe. Sacred music was deeply influenced by the opera, contributing to the development of the oratorio and cantata genre. The opera, oratorio, and cantata contain musical similarities; among all three genres they feature recitative, soloist orchestras, and duet arias.

Beginning with fall of Rome in 476a.d. the first half of this millennium is referred to as the “dark ages”. In society, all power flowed from the king with the approval of

One of the greatest composers of music, even though it was only slightly notated at the time, was Guillaume de Machaut (d. 1377), “one of the undisputed pinnacle geniuses of Western music…” His most famous piece was the four-voice Mass of Notre Dame, which maintained his reputation through the changes in fashion (Roberge). After almost a millennium’s worth of music was composed and contributed, the style of music began to change with the next era.

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.

During the renaissance, Europe went through many changes politically, socially, and psychologically. Most of this change was due to the reformation of the church, and the humanist movement. The humanist movement focuses on revisiting Greek ideas, and the church supported these thinkers, artists, and musicians (Oxford). The church slowly became morphed with politics, to the point where the church was also the law. Different churches wanted to attract new patrons, so they tried to impress others through the use of art and music, and no longer just their words.

There is no disputing that society is influenced by its choices of entertainment. Some ways in which people are influenced are positive, but others are harmful. In the society we live in, the harmful ways always outnumber the positive. If we gravitated toward the positive forms of entertainment a little more often than the negative, then our society would have fewer problems. Popular music has a negative effect on society and endorses a lack of creativity.

The Renaissance and Baroque era entailed very different characteristics, due to the Renaissance composers writing more freely and being more individual then those of the Baroque era where they followed more ‘rules’ and experimented less. This essay will show the difference in two pieces by different composers, even though they were written less than a century apart.

Opera was created in Florence during the 17th century and became very popular during this time period. Opera contained singing the text instead of speaking it during a play. Mostly everyone in

Zadok the Priest is a piece by George Frideric Handel from the Baroque Era, and Missa Papae Marcelli "Gloria" is a piece by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina from the Renaissance Era.Baroque music broke away from the harshness of the Medieval and early Renaissance style with new emphasis on the use of vocal and instruments. Many musical forms were born out of this era including opera. Some composers of this time were Tomaso Albinoni ,Antonio Vivaldi, Johann David Heinichen,George Frideric Handel, Domenico Scarlatti , and Johann Sebastian Bach.The church was the most important place where Baroque and Renaissance were playing as a serve in the church . There are many changes happened between the renaissance and baroque period : The first crucial distinction is the texture the shift from the imitative polyphony in the renaissance era to treble-bass polarity,monody and the development of basso continuo . The second crucial distinction is the tone of the baroque music was of development of tonal architecture and formal principles; baroque, binary, ternary, fugue, etc. while the form of renaissance music was much of the systematic point imitation and Cantus Firmus structures.The third crucial distinction is the Baroque musical genres include both vocals and instrumentals, with the only difference being they were quite larger in number of categories than those of in the renaissance era . The fourth crucial distinction is Renaissance music consisted of smooth regular flow of

The Baroque Period (1600-1750) was mainly a period of newly discovered ideas. From major new innovations in science, to vivid changes in geography, people were exploring more of the world around them. The music of the baroque period was just as extreme as the new changes. Newly recognized composers such as Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, and Monteverdi were writing entirely new musical ideas and giving a chance for new voices to be heard that were normally not thought of sounds. Their musical legacy is still recognized today, and is a treasured discovery of outstanding compositions being reiterated with every performance of them.

So whilst some parts of the world stayed traditionalist, other parts were taking music to the next step. Western cultures have used music for almost every aspect of life. Music was used for entertainment, religion, war cries and important ceremonies. Some countries have unfortunately lost their culture and heritage thanks to more developed countries trying to expand their empires. A good example of this is when the indigenous Mexican people were murdered in their homeland by the invading Spanish – and replaced the traditional drums and flutes with more vibrant shakers and trumpets. It is no doubt that the way upper countries have acted has greatly affected the distribution of music worldwide.

The popular culture of music has changed dramatically over the course of sixty five years. Since this time, new genres of music have been introduced, existing genres have changed, and fixed stereotypes have been associated with certain genres of music. Music has become a major part of popular culture, and is portrayed almost everywhere in first world societies, including on television, radio, at shopping centers, sporting events and in every area of popular culture. Music has become a major part of popular culture, and continues to strive and develop into more and diverse areas of culture.