The History of Music Styles

The Baroque musical period occurred throughout Europe from 1600 to 1750. The compositions during this period had certain characteristics. Some of these characteristics included unity of mood, continuity of rhythm and melody, and most compositions, in the middle to late Baroque period, included polyphonic textures (Kamien, 2011). Many musicians, such as Johann Sebastian Bach and Arcangelo Corelli, thrived during this period. They composed hundreds to thousands of compositions in various different musical forms and each piece holds the characteristics of the Baroque period uniquely. This paper will review the

Giovanni Gabrieli was a legendary composer of the 16th century. As the fundamental structure and ideas of the Catholic Church were being challenged by the Protestant Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, Gabrieli’s compositions were given the opportunity to be successful and influential to music in the coming centuries. His works helped to transform not only church music of the Catholic Church, but also secular music as well. Giovanni Gabrieli wrote significant works that ultimately shaped the rise of the symphony, including the development of purely instrumental works, the art of orchestration, and the concerto style. Without his innovations in composition, it is arguable that instrumental music would not have developed as quickly, or developed

The Classical time period, which spanned a length of seventy years, from 1750 to 1820, was very different in nature from its predecessor, the Baroque time period. The Baroque era featured works that were ornamentally elaborate, where the artists and composers centered their works on a big, bold style that was dramatic in its composition. Artists and composers transferred strong feelings of tension and emotion into their works and it was common for there to be some type of action or movement happening within the work. Those who lived in the Classical time period, valued simplicity and wanted to return to the ideals of the Greeks. Therefore, the Classical time period is characterized by clear structural clarity, simplicity, smoothness, and symmetry. However, though the works took a step back from the grand movement of the Baroque era, the composers and artists of the Classical time period did lay out a tuneful and elegant style in their music and art. Out of the Classical era came many renowned artists and composers, two of those whom are artist Sir Thomas Lawrence and composer Ludwig van Beethoven (“NYU”).

The Baroque and Classical periods are where we see the emergence of renowned composers like Handel, Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart and Beethoven. The music from these famous composers are some of the world’s most recognizable and beautiful classics of all time. Music of these eras are still being used in many of today’s movies and commercials. Musical characteristics developed from these eras are still used and heard presently in popular music.

Making a living as a composer could be broken down into two groups; there are those who work very hard and learn everything from the basics, and there are those who are natural prodigies. Compared to music nowadays, composers in the early ages seemed that they needed to be remarkable in order to be noticed by many people. Nowadays, people can simply make any kind of music they please and somehow people can make a trend out of it. Earlier composers had originality, which was everywhere, even if it meant going against the mainstream of the music components. Whether it is having dissonance in their music or creating a whole new style, each composer created their own signature style that the audience could point out and had differentiated composers

The Renaissance period occurred from 1400-1600. It can be separated into third smaller periods. The early, middle, and the late period, but for the sake of this paper, they will be referred to as stages to avoid confusion. This paper will compare two composers one from the early stage and another from the late stage. The early stage composer will be John Dunstable, and the late stage composer will be Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. The purpose of this paper is to compare these two composers’ composition style through the analysis of two of their works.

The difficulty of his breathing increased, less air came in with every breath, tightness filled his chest and lungs - this had to end. Antonio Vivaldi, known as “The Red Priest,” due to his hair color, attempted to give mass, but his bronchial asthma restricted him from doing his job well (Heller). He lost his ability to preach when the pain proved too much. So he returned to his first love: music. Antonio Vivaldi’s father, a barber-turned-professional-violinist in Venice, taught him to play the violin at a very young age. At ten years old, Vivaldi became his father’s substitute at St. Mark’s Orchestra (Getzinger). Thus, at an early age, he showed extraordinary promise. Years later, that promise came to fruition as he revolutionized Baroque music. Because Antonio Vivaldi’s compositions added warmth and a rhythmically textured sound to a rather ornamental Baroque style, his musical approach appealed to listeners and changed how everyone viewed concertos. His revolutionary style influenced other musicians and European society from his first composition in 1690 to his death in 1741. More than two centuries later, his music, best represented by The Four Seasons, continues to have an impact. When Vivaldi lost his ability to preach, he found a new but familiar voice through the violin and became the Baroque period’s most influential composer, changing the way Europeans, and even other composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, approached music.

Music during the Baroque era was regarded as a powerful form of communication that could invoke any emotion in the audience members. This philosophical belief was derived from a revival of the ideas of the Greco-Roman culture. As a result of these ideas, composers believed that they could also affect their listeners through the power of melody, harmony, rhythm, and stylistic details. The emphasis on communication was reflected in the major styles and components that were used throughout Baroque compositions. Baroque music is characterized by the composers’ attention to detail, such as contrast in dynamics, ornamentation, and the emphasis on bass line. These characteristics of the Baroque era of music are reflected in Antonio Vivaldi’s compositions. Known as one of the most popular pieces in Baroque repertoire, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons reveals how composers of the Baroque period used different techniques, such as ritornello and contrast, to invoke emotion through the powerful communication of music. The Four Seasons perfectly represents the Baroque period because of Vivaldi 's style, techniques, and theme.

Within this short summer session we as a class have gone over a multitude of musical works from the early Middle Ages and Renaissance times to the 20th century and beyond. I was already familiar with some of the selections, but personally connected to specific ones. There is a four part selection that I would like to dive into for your enjoyment. Each selection is from different time periods. The artists that will be covered are Vivaldi, Mozart, Berlioz and McCartney.

In this essay I am going to look at the way that classical, in particular baroque, music has affected music of the 20th century. To do this I have chosen three beatles songs and compared them directly to music by Bach and Beethoven. I hope to find many correlations between the two pieces of music in each case.

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.

After The Reformation in the early sixteenth century -Europe was in a deep confusion. This confusion produced misery and armed violence in an unimagined scale until then. Important changes started to happen in Europe during the second half of the sixteenth century, especially in the perceptions and sensibilities toward the arts -music was one of these important changes. A complexity of musical developments emanated from the second half of the sixteenth century, influencing and at times determining the new directions of music after the turn of the century. During the second half of the sixteenth century there were a bewildering variety of experimentations and innovative approaches to composing. This reflects the the turmoil among composers and theorists as they confronted the challenges to the previously accepted principles of contrapuntal style, the ars perfecta of the Franco-Flemish polyphony, and the burgeoning innovative attemps to create a new style or styles of greater musical expressivity. The result of these experiments was the baroque, which is the consequence of Renaissance culture. A feature of some seventeenth-century music is the use of

There were several genres of the A Middle Ages as well as the Renaissance. During the Renaissance period, the vast majority of the musical moved from the church to the courts. Composers were more open to experimentation, and had more imaginative opportunity and basically were no longer afraid of the churches response. In this time frame the church had less control over musical movement and this allowed the composers to go in their own direction with minimum consequences. In this time frame the Kings, Princes and other prominent members of the courts had a greater amount of an impact over the music, yet the church still attempted to keep the music pure and basically the same. Thus more composers utilized musical instruments in their compositions.

The history of American music begins with a fundamental process of exchange through all different social lines, where diverse cultures meet, and mix. Music has and always will be defined as sounds that are arranged in a particular pattern that are played to be meaningful and pleasurable. The chronology of music began in the Medieval period, when chanting was introduced into the Church. Music has then moved its way through many stages: renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic and leading up to 20th century American music. American 20th century music is made up of a diverse number of styles that are reflected by cultural traditions and the era’s of the past. Immigrants from Spain, France, England, Germany and Ireland all contributed and brought their own unique styles to the forefront, hence creating American music. African Americans created influential musical traditions that include rhythm and improvisation that were later combined with European traditions and other indigenous music.

The baroque period of music commenced in the year 1600 and ended around 1750 (Fuller – “Baroque”). Its texture was mainly polyphonic (Fuller – “Classical”). Polyphonic means that two or more different melodies are played simultaneously (McComb). This provides an energetic rhythm, long melodies, and many ornaments. The most famous composers of this time period were Vivaldi, Corelli, Monteverdi, Purcell, Handel, J.S. Bach, and Couperin. Many new styles of music were introduced, such as operas, sonatas, oratorios, suites, fugues, and concertos. Orchestras began to develop, but it was not until the classical period when orchestral music was perfected (Fuller – “Baroque”).