Vocal Music in Two Worlds

prelude

• musical life in the early classic period reflected the international culture that spread throughout europe during the enlightenment
• shared humanity mattered more than national and linguistic differences so the ideal musical style was made up of the best features from all nations
• galant style became the foundation for the classical style

where does classical music start

• pre 19th century - mozart duh, haydn is okay, then beethoven, then everyone else
• 19th century - bach is the father of all great german music and most great music is german
• early 20th century - did anyone write good music between bach and mozart? nah
• 20th century - hold up

general characteristics of the new style

• focus on melody
• periodicity - frequent resting points break the melodic flow into related segments
  • musical ideas were articulated through phrases that formed periods
  • creates a structure marked by frequent cadences and unified through small motivic correspondences
• musical rhetoric - terminology borrowed from rhetoric
  • compared melody to sentences or composition to a speech
• alberti bass
  • arpeggiated underlying chords in simple repeating pattern
• form
  • coherence, differentiation of material according to its function
  • beginning, middle, or ending gesture; levels of relative strength
• koch wrote the most thorough guide to melodic composition based on rhetorical principles
• division of melody into phrases and periods is supported by harmony and shaped by weaker and stronger cadences, slower harmonic rhythm animated with rhythmic devices such as alberti bass
• differentiation of musical material by function - each segment was recognizable as a beginning, middle, or ending statement
• understanding that emotions were constantly changing introduced contrasting moods within phrases, movements and themes

opera buffa

• more open to innovation because it didn’t have such a strong hold on tradition
• opera buffa
  • full length sung through, satirical, comic cast complemented by serious characters
  • dialogue in rapid and sparsely accompanied recitative
  • arias in galant style
  • plots entertained, served moral purpose
  • focused on normal people
  • stock characters - often parodied commedia dell’arte and aristocrats
• intermezzo
  • another form of italian comic opera with two or three contrasting or parodying musical interludes inserted between acts of a serious opera
  • alternating recitatives and arias
  • comic plots, two or three people, contrast the serious drama of the main plot
  • pergolesi - la serva padrona, relies heavily on humour, contrast, musical style is evolving to reflect humans’ internal dialogue
• comic opera took different forms in different countries
  • homegrown comic opera librettos were always written in the national tongue and musical idiom
  • comic opera librettos written in the national tongue
  • accentuated national musical idioms
  • historical significance - comic opera responded to widespread demand for naturalness and anticipated the trend toward musical nationalism
• opera comique
  • french opera buffa counterpart
  • consisted of pop music (vaudevilles) or simple melodies until an italian comic opera troupe visited paris and generated a mixed italian-french style (ariettes), which gradually replaced vaudevilles altogether
  • used spoken dialogue instead of recitative, dealt with social issues
  • gluck, gretry
• ballad opera
  • rose to popularity in england after the beggar’s opera by john gay
  • music consists of popular tunes (ballads) set to new words and a few numbers that parody familiar operatic airs
  • signaled a general reaction in england against foreign opera
  • the entire genre is just to make fun of opera seria
• german singspiel
  • success of english ballad opera inspired its revival
  • librettists adapted english ballad operas
  • translated or arranged french comic operas

the new world

• opera didn’t become popular in the new world for a while because settlers had little time for entertainment, resources were scarce, population was scattered
• puritans had disdain for theater and distrust of pleasure
• spanish colonies carried on theatrical productions
• early american music grew out of the religious traditions of settlers
  • villancicos in spanish colonies, french Catholic music in canada, english hymns in anglican churches in british north america
• puritans of new england
  • calvinist - metrical psalms, rhyming, easily singable
  • published psalm books - bay psalm book, first book published in north america
  • singing schools were established and the availability of singers invited composers to write new music
  • billings new england psalm singer
• moravians of pennsylvania and north carolina
  • cultivated sophisticated genres of german speaking protestants
  • concerted arias and motets in current styles
  • substantial sacred and secular music libraries
  • performed chamber music and symphonies

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