Music : Periods

1.1

Periods of Music

1.1.1

Baroque (1600 – 1750)

3 composers – Bach, Handel, Vivaldi (Purcell)

Key Features

-          use of ornamentation e.g. trills, mordent, turn

-          baroque instruments e.g. harpsichord

-          basso continuo – harpsichord playing a single line bassline and cello or double bass playing chords

-          contrapuntal textures – melody lines moving independently of each other

-          terraced dynamics – sudden changes of dynamics

-          melody made of short melodic phrases called motifs

1.1.2

Classical (1750 – 1820)

3 composers – Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven

Key Features

-          regular and consistent phrasing marked by cadences

-          Alberti bass

-          Functional harmony

-          Melody dominated homophony

-          Sonata Form

1.1.3

Romantic (1820 – 1910)

3 composers – Chopin, Schumann, Brahms

Key Features

-          Adventurous harmonies and modulations

-          Freer structure and form

-          Use of rubato

-          Larger range of dynamics

-          Nationalism in Music

-          Use of 7^th, 9^th and 11th

1.1.4

20^th Century (1910 – 2000)

Key Features

-          Expressionist : Schoenberg, Webern

       Disjunct (large intervals between notes)

       Dissonance (lack of harmony among notes, clash)

       Angular melodies

       Extreme contrast of dynamics

       Atonal (has no key or tonal centre)

-          Minimalist : Glass, Reich

       Metamorphosis (changes are made over time to melody until it changes into something new)

       Additive and Subtractive Melodies (adding or subtracting a note)

       Phase shifting (parts are played simultaneously but slightly out of synchronisation)