Vocal Music Essay

Some of the great composers during this time were Franz Josef Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,

When I was in fifth grade, I was caught between two worlds, playing a woodwind or string instrument. If I played a woodwind instrument I would have to blow in it to make music, but string instruments are played with a bow to make music. After much thought, I decided that the violin was the best instrument for me, because it has a beautiful, unique sound, plus the possibilities are never-ending. I could receive a compliment from a teacher, or even get accepted to the symphony.

With means to express oneself, helps one overcome the difficulties of life. This approach represents the entire nature of the hip hop culture, especially when dealing with social justice issues. Today, the hip hop culture association revolves around raps (lyrics) and the rappers which reflect how consumers receive messages about social justice issues. Unlike breaking and graffiti, the music/lyrics penetrate society more. However, for this analysis, the focus will rely on a visual element with a connection to hip hop music. Even though a music video would make sense as a visual means of expression, this analysis has more interest in the cover art that goes with a hip hop album. Also, this focus will lead to the question of how important is art

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.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was one of the archetypal classical composers, along with Franz Haydn. He composed over 600 works, including choral, symphonic,

This paper discusses Mozart's life, his compositions and his importance to the world and the world of music. It explains how Mozart's music is still some of the most popular classical music played today and his life is still studied because his music is so well known and liked.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven are two of the greatest composers ever to write music. Both men lived in the early 18th and 19th century, but their music and influences are still felt today. The men faced similar experiences, yet they both lead very different lives. All together the pieces that these men composed amounts to over 300 published, and unpublished works of art. The people of their time period often had mixed feelings about these men, some “complained that Mozart’s music presented them with too many ideas and that his melodies moved from one to the next faster than audiences could follow, yet the ideas themselves seem effortless and natural, clear and

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.

     Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s style unlike anyone else. Mozart was a master of counterpoint, fugue, and the other traditional compositional points of his day. He is also considered the best melody writer the world has ever known. Wolfgang perfected the grand forms of symphony, opera string quartet, and concerto made the classical period. “Mozart’s music is characterized by lucid ease and distinction of style....”2 Wolfgang wrote over 600 works which consisted of 21 stage and opera works, 15 masses, over 50 symphonies, 25 piano concertos, 12 violin concertos,27 concert arias, 17 piano sonatas, 26 string quartets, and many more. His operas range from comic baubles to tragic pieces. In his Requiem it illustrates the supreme vocal sounds in any of his work.

Like the previous eras, Opera continued to be one of the most important music genre is the 19th century, especially in Italy, German and France. Opera served as a form of entertainment for the people of higher social class. Opera music was also popular among the people of other social classes due to the availability of transcribed opera music for them to enjoy in salons or homes of the middle class. This genre was extensively explored and developed by the Italians and Germans. This paper will discuss how Italian and German opera were developed by comparing each composer’s distinctive compositional traits.

There were also stricter demands of the solo singers. The two mid eighteenth century composers, Jomelli and Traetta played a big part in the reform of Italian opera in the late 18th century by influencing the French towards opera of a more international flavour.

Rossini is probably the most popular composer of this era. His works are many and are extremely popular. Rossini was born in Pesaro in 1792 and on December15th, 1815 when he was only twenty-three years old, he signed a contract to write an opera for a theater in Rome (Weaver, 11). His childhood friend, Gertrude Righetti Giorgi, premiered as Rosina in Rossin’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, on opening night for the Nobile Teatro di Torre Argentina (Weaver, 19). Il barbiere di Siviglia went on to become one of the more famous operas of Rossini’s. This opera went through many struggles, however, because of the similar story

Several of his twenty-two operas gained worldwide recognition soon after his death, and they still please audiences all over the world. The Marriage of Figaro (1786) and Don Giovanni (1787) are operas he composed with words in Italian. The Magic Flute (1791) has German words. Each of these contains arias (beautiful melodies for singers), recitative (Rapidly sung dialogue), ensembles in which several people sing at the same time, and choruses. The orchestra provides an ever-changing expressive accompaniment. The drama ranges from comedy to tragedy. Mozart wrote over forty symphonies, many of which are performed today. Some originally were overtures (orchestral introductions) for operas, and last only a few minutes. His later symphonies, which are the most popular, are full-length orchestral compositions that last twenty to thirty minutes. Most of them consist of four sections. Mozart’s last and most famous symphony, Number 41 (1788), is nicknamed the Jupiter.

Jean-Philippe Rameau, George Frederic Handel, and Christoph Willibald Gluck were the most significant opera composers of the first two-thirds of the 18th century. However, their works were surpassed by the brilliant operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In the early 19th century, Gioacchino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti dominated Italian opera. In the later 19th century the greatest works were those of Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner. Wagner, with his bold innovations, became the most influential operatic figure since Monteverdi. Richard Strauss and Giacomo Puccini wrote the most popular late 19th- and early 20th-century operas. Though the death of Puccini in 1924 is often cited as the end of grand opera, new and often experimental works—by composers such as Alban Berg, Benjamin Britten, Gian Carlo Menotti, John Adams, and Philip Glass—continued to be produced to critical acclaim. Opera entered the 21st century as a vibrant and global art form.

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”).