Music History & Literature - Praxis 5113

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries of Music

• Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (1988)

  • 10 Volumes. Authoritative resource on ethnomusicology and world music

• New Grove (1879)

  • over 20 volumes

  • Definitive source for Western music

  • available online

• Oxford Music Online

  • Web source encompassing multiple reference works

• Encyclopedia of Popular Music (1989)

  • Pop, rock, jazz, etc.

  • Intended as pop counterpart for New Grove

Periodical Databases

• JSTOR: Digital archive with 32 scholarly journals. Full back runs of journal content

• Music Index Online: music periodicals and literature from 1973-now. 655 international musical journals

• International Index of Music Periodicals: Over 425 scholarly and pop journals

• Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals: 19th and 20th century music history and culture. Over 200 historical music periodicals

Répertoire International des Sources Musicales Online

• Paris, 1952; non-profit. Documents musical sources from around the world

• 3 Series

  • Series A: arranged by composer

    • A/I: printed music

    • A/II: music manuscripts

  • Series B: arranged by topic

  • Series C: index of music libraries and international archives

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature

• International database covering global scholarship on all aspects of music

• Historical and ethnomusicology, instruments/voice, music therapy, dance

• Books, catalogs, articles, theses, films, recordings, reviews, etc.

• Entries include: original language title, english title, abstract, bibliography

• 780,000 entries, 117+ languages, 1967-present

• Subscription required, regularly updated

Characteristics of Music in Medieval Era

• Sacred: gregorian chant, masses

• Secular: dances, songs by troubadors and trouvéres

• Gregorian chant: free flowing, no meter, melismatic, monophonic, unaccompanied

• Polyphony development: organum using parallel motion; masses used nonimitative polyphony

• Motet: most important polyphonic form of era, sacred, and secular

• Later medieval secular: drone accompaniment, regular meter, syncopation, polyphony, harmony

Musical Importance of the Mass

• Central role in Roman Catholic Worship

• Ordinary of Mass: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei

• Musical advancements (polyphony and refined notation) applied to masses

• Machant’s Mese de Notre Dame is first known complete mass setting

• Renaissance mass composers: Dufay, Josquin, Palestrina

• Classical/Romantic mass composers: Hadyn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Weber, Berlioz, Verdi, Wagner, Fauré

• 20th century mass composers: Hindemith, Stravinsky, Bernstein

Medieval vs Renaissance Motet

• Medieval motet

  • emerged from organum and clasulae.

  • featured tenor line from plainchant

  • tenor had repeated rhythmic pattern

  • Texture was polyphonic but rhythmically complex

  • Upper voices had lively rhythms, sometimes in different languages, textually independent from tenor

• Renaissance motet

  • Became genre instead of strict form

  • Polyphonic setting of any sacred latin text

  • Imitative counterpoint; homophony; 4 part harmony; texts unified and sacred

  • Style became more refined and expressive

Polyphony, Homophony, Monophony

• Polyphony

  • Many independent melodic lines

  • All parts have equal interest

  • Rhythms move independently

  • Ex. renaissance motets, fugues

• Homophony

  • 1 main melody, all parts move together rhythmically, melody + accompaniment

  • Ex. hymns, pop songs with chord accompaniment

• Monophony

  • single melody no accompaniment

  • Ex. Gregorian chant

Characteristics of Baroque Music That Classical Composers Rejected and Reacted Against

• Homophony over polyphony, simplicity over complexity

• natural singable melodies

• slower harmonic rhythms

• clear phrase and period structures

• Introduction of stylistic contrasts within a single piece

Nationalism

• Part of Romantic Era, late 19th to early 20th century

• Music exposed national/regional character of a place. Composers used folk music

• Russia: Glinka, Borodin, Balakirev, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov

• Czech: Smetana, Dvorak, Janacek

• Norway: Grieg

• Finland: Sibelius

• England: Elgar, Vaughn Williams, Holst

• Spain: Albenie, Granados, de Falla

• Hungary: Bartok, Kodaly

• US: Ives, Harris, Gershwins, Copland

19th Century Debate Over Program and Absolute Music

• Program: non-musical ideas/images. Romantic Era. Includes program symphonies, symphonic poems, character pieces with descriptive titles.

  • Ex. Don Quixote, Danse Macabre, Symphonie Fantastique

• Absolute: instrumental with no external associations, pure musical structure without storytelling, viewed as superior in form and depth

• Program argued music needs external forces for full expression; absolute argued music can stand alone as pure art form

  • Modern scholars see divide as less rigid, that musical meaning can be multidimensional and interpretive

Impact of Valved Horns and Trumpets

• Pre 19th Century: restricted to overtone series. Horns used hand stopping and crooks to access more pitches but inconsistent tone and volume. Trumpets lacked this flexibility due to length

• Invention of valves and keys allowed them to play chromatically across full range; enabled more expressive/versatile playing

• Orchestra: composers wrote more complex/prominent parts. Brass became essential. Resulted in richer sound in 19th century

• Composers: Wagner, Strauss, Stravinsky, Mahler

Impressionist Movement

• Parallels with painters. Avoid strict harmonic rules. Emphasized tone color and fluid texture, lacked clear structure/climaxes, melodies centered on 1 pitch

• Created a sensory experience.

• Composers: Debussy, Ravel, Bartok, Messiaen, Ligeti, Crumb

Schoenberg

• 1874-1951

• Austrian composer and painter

• Developed 12-tone technique (dodecaphony)

• All 12 pitches equal. Organized into tone row. Pitches vary in range and duration. Marked radical departure from tonal centers and traditional harmony

• 20th Century influence: Babbitt, Boulez, Wuorinen, Webern, Stockhausen, Burg, Nono, Sessions

Neoclassical Movement

• Reaction to late romantic and early modern music

  • Romantic had been emotional extremes (Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Mahler)

  • Early 20th century rejected tonality (Schoenberg, Boulez, Berg)

• Neoclassicism was reaction to emotion (romantic era) and atonality (modern). Sought to return order, restraint, balance of the 18th century

• Neoclassical: restraint/lighter, clear structures, transparent melody, homage to past styles

• Composers: Hindemith, Stravinsky, Strauss, Prokofiev, de Falla, Coplan

Minimalist Movement

• Began in 1960s as reaction against narrative, goal-oriented, and representational music of earlier. Emerged from experimental music practices

• Emphasis on process rather than progressing towards climax/resolution

• Minimal number of notes, instruments, and focal points. Creates “wall of sound”. Consonant harmonies, repeated patterns/drones, interlocking rhythms, gradual changes, continuous form, hypnotic effect

• Composers: Reich, Riley, Glass, Adams, Young

Latin Jazz

• Emerged in late 1940s, blending Afro Latin rhythms and instruments with American Jazz

• Afro Cuban Jazz: mambo, habanera. Bepop jazz elements, syncopated bass lines based on 2-3 or 3-2 clave patterns

• Afro Brazilian Jazz:

  • samba: influenced by european and american elements

  • Bossa Nova style: laid back vocal, textural complexity, bossa clave rhythm

• Composers: Banza, Pozo, Grillo (Machito), Hanely, Gillespie, Jobim, Gilberto

Bossa Nova Movement

• Began in 1950s Rio, Brazil combining Brazil Samba and American Jazz

• Laidback singing, complex jazz harmonies, bossa clave (syncopated rhythm in duple meter)

• Features acoustic guitar, bass, drums, piano, vocals

• Composers: Jobim, Gilberto, de Moraes, Mendes, Menescal, Leão

• Famous songs: Chega de Saudade, Girl from Ipanema, Desafinado, Corcovado, Aguas de Marco, Mas Que Nada

Blues

• Rooted in African work songs brought to US in 19th and early 20th centuries

• Flourished post-emancipation, especially in Mississippi Delta and East Texas

• Call and response; unaccompanied voice and distinct accompaniment styles from African traditions

• 12-Bar Blues: I I I I IV IV I I V IV I I

• Use of blues scale with lowered 3rd and dominant 7th (blues notes

• Moans, growls, cries in vocals and instruments

• Melancholy/emotional depth

• Composers: Jefferson, Patton, Blake, McTell, Leadbelly, White, Broonzy, Waters, King, Walker

Leitmotif

• A recurring musical theme representing a person, place, idea, or emotion in a musical drama

• Recognizable by melody, harmonic progression, or rhythm

• Opera:

  • aids in character development and narrative structure

  • reinforces onstage action and recalls prior characters/events

  • can be transformed thematically or combined with other leitmotifs to reflect plot changes

  • Most closely linked to Wagner’s operas; prefrred the terms “grundthema” or “hauptmotiv”

Evolution of Harmonic Language

• Pre-Wagner: dominated by diatonicism and basic voice leading; strong tonal functions and clear resolutions

• Mid 19th century: chromaticism and common tone relationships; root progressions were less emphasized

• Wagner’s Influence:

  • “Tristan Chord”: tritone (F, B, D#, G#) avoids traditional resolution, moving to equally chromatic dissonances

• Tristan und Isolde: pioneered harmonic suspension, full chromaticism, dense polyphony, rich orchestral color. Set stage for collapse of traditional tonality

  • Influenced composers Bruckner, Mahler, and Schoenberg

Organum (Medieval)

• One of the earliest forms of polyphony, based on a cantus firmus

• Early, began with improvised voices that duplicated chant melody at fixed intervals

  • Parallel organum at octave or 5th below. Adjustments made to avoid tritones

• Later introduced contrary and oblique motion between lines. Free organum features sustained tenor line and decorative upper voices with varying phrase lengths

• In 12th century, discant style: more rhythmic equality between voices; further complexity and independence of lines

• By 13th century, motet replaced organum as dominant polyphonic genre

Classic Greek Tragedy

• shaped structure and themes of modern opera and theatre. Early operas were attempts to revive Greek drama

• Plot: central to tragedy

• Character: display moral and personal traits

• Thought: reveal themes and motivations

• Diction: clear and purposeful

• Melody: subordinate to text

• Spectacle: refers to visual elements

• Legacy: foundation of Western drama, including opera libretti

Opera Seria vs Opera Buffa

• Opera Seria:

  • Tragic, historical, noble. Reflect Enlightenment ideals — clarity and morals

  • Usually 3 acts, alternating recitatives and arias

  • Typically 6-7 characters (2-4) main

  • Virtuosic singing (de Capo arias)

  • Italian

  • Composers: Handel, Gluck, early Mozart

• Opera Buffa

  • humorous, lighthearted, to entertain with satire

  • Less formal. Includes spoken dialogue, not recitatives

  • Broader social range in characters and larger casts

  • Livelier music, ensemble numbers, comic effects

  • Local vernacular (often Italian)

  • Composers: Pergolesi, Rossini, later Mozart

Authentic Musical Modes

• Ionian: no change; same as major scale

• Dorian: flat 3, flat 7; natural minor with raised 6th

• Phrygian: flat 2, flat 3, flat 6, flat 7; natural minor with lowered 2nd

• Lydian: raised 4; major scale with raised 4th

• Mixolydian: flat 7; major scale with lowered 7th

• Aeolian: flat 3, flat 6, flat 7; natural minor scale

• Locrian: flat 2, flat 3, flat 5, flat 6, flat 7; natural minor with lowered 2nd and 5th

Classic Sonata Form

• Exposition

  • 1st theme in tonic

  • Bridge modulates to new key

  • 2nd theme in dominant (or relative major/minor)

  • may end with closing theme in new key

• Development

  • manipulates themes

  • moves through various keys

  • Introduces tension via fragmentation, sequence, counterpoint

  • ends with retransition to tonic

• Recapitulation

  • Restores stability

  • 1st theme in tonic

  • 2nd theme in tonic

  • more balanced and unified than exposition

• Coda (optional)

  • brings final closure and reinforces tonic key

Classic Symphonic Form

4 movements

1. Fast tempo, usually sonata allegro form (exposition, development, recapitulation)

2. Slow, often ABA (ternary) or theme and variations

3. Dance form, minuet and trio or scherzo

4. Fast, often Rondo (ABACADA…) or sonata rondo form

Operas vs Oratorios

• Both: large scale works with dramatic, musical, narrative elements; soloists, chorus, ensembles, and orchestras

• Opera: late 16th century. Theatrically staged. Secular plots. Daphne, Barber of Seville, Madame Butterfly, Marriage of Figaro, La Traviata, Carmen

• Oratorio: 17th century, not staged; religious/ethical plots; popular during lent (operas were banned); Messiah, Creation, Elijah

Waltz Form

• Since 18th century, triple meter, lively, waltz means “turn about”, emphasis on downbeat, beats 2&3 give “floating sensation”

• Early waltz: 2 simple, repeated 8-measure phrases

• Evolved waltz: intro material, extended phrases, a coda. More complex/varied

• Became widely popular in ballrooms across Europe; Viennese Waltz

• Composers: Lanner, Strauss (the Waltz King), Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, Tchaikovsky

Changes Giving Rise to Renaissance Movement

• End of major events: Hundred Years War, Fall of Byzantine Empire, End of Great Schism

• Rise of political/social changes: reformation conflicts, European colonialism expansion, middle class growth

• Displaced Byzantine scholars brought Greek writings to Western Europe; reintroduction of Greek plays, history, and philosophy

• Renaissance art emphasized humanism, clarity/balance, clean form

• Music: greek modes, clarity in vocal lines, harmonic consonance, imitative counterpoint, more expression

• Invention of printing press made music widely available and helped spread music to the growing middle class

Baroque Music (1600-1750)

• Influenced by rationalism. Objective expression of emotions. Each piece/movement typically conveyed a single affect

• Thorough bass (basso continuo) was central, Players read from figured bass and improvised harmonies. Ornamentation heavily used (trills, mordents, grace notes)

• Composers: Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, Corelli, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Couperin, Rameau, Telemann, Handel, Bach, Purcell

Influence of African Song and Dance on Latin American Music

• Call and response, repetition and improv, polyrhythms, African instruments: congas, rattles, thumb pianos, claves, drum ensembles

• Styles influenced by it:

  • Calypso (Trinidad): steel drum band, witty/lively, Caribbean

  • Rumba (Cuba): conga drums/sticks, 3 part form, fast polyrhythms, improv verses, call and response

  • Merengue (Dominican Republic and Haiti): duple meter, tambora (double head drum), Guayo (metal scraper)

Pre-Colombian Indigenous Musical Culture of South America

• Centered on Inca and Aztec civilizations. Primary information from Spanish Conqueror’s records circa 16th century. Music was part of public ceremonies, professional music culture, musician-specific education

• Musicians were employed by rulers for composing and performing. Mistakes could result in death

• No known notation, very little known about sound/style

• Instruments: huehuetl, teponaztli, gourd rattles, clay jingles, bone rasps, panpipes, flutes, wood and conch shell trumpets, ocarinas

Mambo

• 1940s Cuba, influenced by Afro Cuban Music, Mexican, and US styles, European dances and African rhythms

• Gained popularity in Latin America then U.S., ballroom dance staple, especially NYC

• Double bass, bongo, tumbadora, trumpets, guitar, voice

• Moderate-fast tempos, rhythmic riffs, cowbells emphasize syncopation, Conga drum used open tones, unaccented strokes, strongly accented strokes

Early Broadway Songwriters and American Musical Theater

• 1920s Songwriters: Berlin, Kern, both Gershwins, Arlen, Hammerstein, Rodgers, Porter

• Tin Pan Alley: located in NYC where composers produced music for working class reaction against upperclass parlor music. Drew from Jazz and African American styles

• Early broadway shows featured loosely connected songs, dances, vaudeville numbers

• Tin Pan Alley songs relied on Broadway for popularity

• Showboat (1927) by Kern and Hammerstein: first complete broadway musical with cohesive plot

Appalachian Music

• Appalachian mountain region in Eastern US. Influenced by Irish, Scottish, and English. Immigrants (18th century) brought ballads, dance tunes, fiddle traditions

• African American influence: banjo, rhythmic drive, blues notes, group singing

• Heavy ornamentation, improv, rhythmic and melodic focus, upbeat tempos

• Banjo, mandolin, guitar, autoharp, fiddle, dulcimer, dobro

Early Jazz Music

• 1890s-1910s. New Orleans was earliest form

• Cultural influence:

  • Black church, improv, storytelling, call and response, vocal inflections, blues progressions

  • Marching band: strict rhythms and multithematic material

  • Ragtime: rhythmic styles

  • Debussy and Ravel: inspired pianistic and harmonies

  • Latin Influence: syncopation and claves from Latin song and dance forms

• Interplay between instruments, improv, syncopated rhythms

Waltz vs Mazurka

• Waltz:

  • origin in south Germany and Austria

  • Emphasis on downbeat

  • evolved into more complex in art music with intro and coda

  • Faster tempo

• Mazurka:

  • origin in Mazovia in Poland

  • Emphasis on 2nd or 3rd beat

  • More basic structure

  • Stylistic variation

  • Oberta were livelier

  • Kujawiak were slower, melancholy

  • Conventional, militant aesthetic

• Both

  • In ¾ time

  • Consist of 2 or 4 repeated 8-measure sections

Importance of Arab Culture in the Development of North Africal Music (Maghrib)

• Arabic-Islamic rule dominated the Maghrib from 7th-16th centuries

• Jewish and Muslim refugees from al-Andalus brought Arab-Andlusian music traditions to North African from 11th century

• Quranic chant: introduced vocal techniques and melodic patterns

• Integrated lyricism with harp and lute

• Common instruments: gimbri, drums, and metal castanets

• Created fusion of Arabic, Berber, and African musical traditions

• Influenced melodic modes, rhythm patterns, and instrumentation in North Africa

West African Musical Traditions

• Used in praise, ceremonies, work, and expressing national identities

• Births, adulthood initiations, marriage, death

• Court musicians maintained oral traditions. Lute, long trumpet, fiddle, drum

• South Ghana: used bell patterns. Senegal, Niger, some Ghana: used talking drum

• Ceremonial: singing, drumming, dancing. Induce trance, possession, speak to spirits

• Praise: prominent in 20th century. Evolved through Ghanaian highlife music, blending guitar with Akan music

Djembe

• Origin in Mali Empire circa 1230 AD

• Used by local west African groups, popular in Western culture after 1950s

• Hollowed out wood, rope-tuned and skin-covered. Produces many pitches depending on hand striking and drum position. Large sound relative to size

• Used for speech-like communication. Part of traditional African ensemble with lead djembe and other dancers

• Polyrhythms, lead djembe improvs and follows dancers’ movements. Musicians form circle with dancers inside

Use of Dialogue in African Musical Forms and Rhythm

• Dialogue/call and response: response can come from musician, instrument, group, or different register from a solo performer

• Soloists create dialogue through phrases, whistles, percussive sounds

• Influenced blues, jazz, hiphop, rock, gospel

Traditional African Music

• Call/response form

• Polyrhythms, syncopation, offbeat phrasing, cyclic form

• Cyclic form phrases with set number of beats repeated indefinitely, enter the cycle anytime and often improvise

• Instruments jingle, buzz, rattle; mbira, dagbamba, drums, xylophone, harp, lute

Kabuki

• Japanese theater from Edo period (1600s) originally performed by females and now only by males

• Kesho (makeup); white oshiroi base, bold kunadori colors

• 3 types of Kabuki plays

  1. Jidai-mono (historical)

  2. Sewamono (domestic dramas)

  3. Shosagoto ( dance pieces)

• Structure of a kabuki play (4 parts):

  1. Deha – introduction:

     • Oki and michiyuki introduce mood and characters.

  2. Chuha – emotional development:

     • Kudoki and monogatari build the plot and emotion.

  3. Odoriji – dance component.

  4. Iriha – conclusion:

     • Chirashi and dangire present the musical finale and end the plot.

Middle Eastern Maqam System of Melodic Organization

• Resembles western modes but is confined to lower tetrachord, note based on equal temperament

• Over 30 maqamat, each defining melodic contour, pitches used, hierarchical development of scene

• 5ths are tuned by 3rd harmonic, others vary depending on maqam, intervals may include quartertones, semitones, microtones

• Musicians typically compose and improvise in a single maqam. Modulate to other maqamat, returning to original

• Due to subtle microtonal variations, Middle Eastern music is melodic, rarely harmonic

Traditional Chinese Musical Instruments

• Pipa:

  • Pear-shaped, plucked lute with 4 strings and a bent neck.

  • silk thread.

  • Standard tuning: A–d–c–a, allowing full chromatic scale.

  • solo or in ensembles.

  • since the 7th century.

• Erhu:

  • Two-stringed bowed lute.

  • Bow sits between the strings.

  • Sound box traditionally covered with snakeskin; bow made of horsehair.

  • solo instrument.

• Yangqin:

  • Trapezoidal hammered dulcimer.

  • solo and in ensembles.

• Dizi:

  • Transverse bamboo flute.

  • Includes a membrane hole that gives a nasal, buzzing quality.

  • folk, operatic, and orchestral music.

Australian Aboriginal Musical Instruments

• Digeridoo: most well known, wooden tube slightly flared. Buzz lips to produce low pitch drone. Used to accompany songs/storytelling

• Bull-roarer: wooden slat attached to cord. Whirl in circular motion after winding cord to produce pulsing, low pitched roar

• Gumleaf: eucalyptus leaf held taut against lip. Simple wind valve function. Similar to whistling. Considered primitive

Role of Music in Australian Aboriginal Culture

• Primary means to preserve history— songs recorded family histories, laws, geography, and customs. Music believed to originate from spiritual realm. New songs from visions/dreams. Music in daily activities, children encouraged to sing during tasks. Ceremonial music for spiritual rituals to invoke ancestral spirits or purify items of deceased. Secular songs include gossip songs about relationships/the community

• Oral tradition

Polynesian Nose Flute

• Common across Pacific Islands, except Australia and New Zealand

• Made from bamboo, played with one nostril while other is held shut

• Soft sound for intimate settings

• Used in courtship and lovemaking for its enticing tone. In Tonga, used to awaken chiefs. Believed to possess magical/spiritual qualities