Secular Music in the Colonies and Early Republic

ballads

- narrative songs, usually in strophic form (the same music repeated for different verses), that tell a story - often dramatic, historical, or legendary

- they were a primary form of oral history and entertainment

- can be poetic form and a musical form

- has new verses and exaggerated theme

- focuses on romantic events

ballads main features

- they follow a rhyme scheme of ABAB

- slow tempo

- narrative story

- quatrain (4 lines in a stanza)

broadside ballads

- songs sung to traditional ballad melodies with new verses

- verses commented on new events

- printed on sheets called broadsides and folk on the marketplace

- made popular songs widely accessible but were known as cheap commercial goods

- exaggerated subjects and themes

popular themes of broadside ballads

- current events, politics, disasters, moral warnings, popular gossip, colonial settlement, Indian War, dissatisfaction with british rules, crime, love, and religion

- loyalists and patriots -> during revolutionary period, these became powerful tools for propaganda, & both british loyalists and american patriots wrote new lyrics to popular tunes to disseminate their political views and rally public support

dance

- arguably the most important social musical event int eh early colonies, serving as a vital space for courtship community bonding, and class distinction

important historical characters of dance

- it has had an erotic dimensions (thus efforts have been made to control it) since 1600s

- associated with social class ( it served as a marker of social class) since 1600s

- music was practical and functional for this

- often performed by small ensembles and featured easily recognizable, rhythmic melodies

religious views towards dance

- in putanism, dances were originally denounced as instruments of the devil

- most anglicans considered dancing as secular affairs but were not against it

- within anglo-american culture, the shakes (celibate sect founded in the late eighteenth-century england) were known for their sacred dancing

- african religious (brought to North America by salves) was considered dance as movements essential to their religious practices

- american indian relied on music and dance to connect with the spiritual realm

important types of dance and their characteristics

-couples dances

- minuet

- country dances

couples dances/minuet (french origin)

- light dance

- movements are performed and taught by professions (not something you can do without learning)

- directly associated with the upper class and mobility

country dances

- grew in popularity in the 1700s

- longways -> a line of men face a line of women, & collectively they raced patterns of movements

- conveyed the social class of the dances (middle/lower class of society)

- not as highly stylized and movements are as formal/proper as minuet

country dance music

- steady, driving tempo

- duple meter: either 2/4, or compound

- regular phases or predictable length

- binary form

- country dance tunes are interchangeable and can be used for different sets of steps

binary form

- two repeated sections of eight bars (called strains: AABB)

making music in early american homes

- played an important role in the life of middle-class americans

- music masters gave lessons in singing and parlor instruments

- people who had the financial means to take lessons could become competent armature performers

armature

- amare: to love

- someone who pursued music for the love of it

military music

- military brands played a crucial role in daily life, public ceremony, and on the battlefield

- a rare example of secular institution support of music making in the eighteenth century

purpose of military music

- moral building (boost morale and forget hardship of marches)

- camp duties (signaling and regulate movements and camp duties)

- public ceremonies recreation

reveille

- signaled soldiers to wake up

- used to bugle and drums

tattoo

- signaled to close off taverns and go back to the barracks

retreat

- signaled the end of the day, accompanied the colors and honoring the flag

- used bugle

field music

- refers to the functional signals and marching music required on the battlefield

- fifes and drums

- performed by regiment musicians

- portable and loud

- controlling loud movement

- enhancing ceremonies

harmoniemusik

- pairs of wind instruments

- involved polished musicians

- less loud and portable

- harmonized sound made by upper- lower- and middle-register instruments

- offered wider possibilities

- mostly used for recreation purposes

concerts

- concert halls did not exist before the 18th century

- boston concert hall hosts the first known public concert

benefit concerts

- one-time events

- concerts intended to turn a profit for performers

subscription concerts

- a series of events

- allowed organizers to hedge their bets

charity benefit concerts

- to raise money for a worthy cause

musical societies concerts

- to promote the art

- membership, dues acted as a subscription that musical performances

theater music

- offered by theater companies

- they toured cities with singers and players

- these companies enhances the musical lives of the communities

theater programs

- typically lasted between four or five hours

- ended with an afterpiece

- started with a long work such as tragedy

- included musical interludes and encores

- straight plays began with an overture

ballad opera (The Begger's Opera)

- spoken plates with songs that featured familiar melodies

- in three acts

- written by John Gay: poet and dramatist

- music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepush: a german composer

pasticcia

- an operatic musical work assembled from new and pre-existing compositions

Comic Opera (Love in a Village)

- spojen play with a large amount of specifically composed music

- the opera follows a pair of genteel young lovers who disguise themselves as servants in order to avoid the marriages their parents have arranged for them

- this work refleted many of the middle-class values slowly overtaking 18th-century british culture, and which were increasingly being reflected in the "new" genre of the novel (indeed, Jan Austen is know to have attended Love in a Village multiple times)

- it is often seen as the sentimental counterpart of John Gay's famous ballad-opera, The Begger's Opera