music history

Music History Study Guide

Medieval Time Period:  0-1400

• Music notation slowly evolved and became refined

Ex. Gregorian Chant (different notation: neumes, staff, clef) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBoEf3cqMRo 

Renaissance Time Period:  1400-1600

• Music was reformed as an art and entertainment form (secular music)

• Text painting was introduced:  a technique in which the style of the music reflects the lyrics

Ex. “Flow My Tears” (lute song) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3REIVlo2Ss 

*lute is similar to a modern day guitar

Baroque Time Period:  1600-1750

Listening (Rotation 2):

• Toccata and Fugue in d minor, Bach
  https://youtu.be/FHNLdHe8uxY?si=olufFiCmFGBmhvjm&t=10 

• Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 (mvmt. 1), Bach
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czsd13Mmcg0 

• Canon in D, Pachelbel
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wiRRv80ehM 

• Spring from “The Four Seasons,” Vivaldi
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3nSvIiBNFo 

• Hallelujah Chorus from “Messiah,” Handel https://youtu.be/IUZEtVbJT5c?si=c9sN-HRsC_KA0PfV&t=10 

MUSIC:

• Embellished/ornamented (ex. grace notes, trills)

• Composers treated as servants or workers rather than artists (often underpaid and overworked)

• Harpsichord was primary keyboard instrument. Harpsichord plucks strings instead of striking them like a piano.

• Polyphonic texture (many independent voices)

• Mirrored art and architecture in style and inspiration

Notable composers:

• Bach (well-known for pieces for organ, ex. Toccata and Fugue in d minor)

• Vivaldi (known for Four Seasons–musical symbolism)

• Handel (known for Messiah–Hallelujah Chorus)

• Pachelbel (Canon in D)

• Barbara Strozzi: First female composer to publish her music under her own name (vs. a pseudonym)

WORLD HISTORY:

Europe is going through major social, political, and economic crisis. There are wars on religion, inflation, witchcraft scares, and revolutions taking place throughout Europe. In response, European monarchs turn to absolutism—basically, taking more power away from local government and giving the monarch as much power as possible. The best example of this is Louis XIV.

As monarchs gained power, they wanted people to respect them more, so they were over the top in everything they did. Clothes and homes of monarchs were extremely embellished and fancy (just like the music!). When they commissioned art, they wanted it to be extravagant so that people would respect them and be in awe of them. Everything was about projecting the image that the King was better than the people in every way. Louis is a good example of this; everything he did was excessive.

ART:

• Baroque style of art was encouraged by officials in the Roman Catholic Church as a response to the Protestant Reformation. Church officials decided that art should reflect biblical themes in direct and emotional ways.

• Caravaggio—first big Baroque artist

• Known for chiaroscuro (light/dark or spotlight effect)

• Rembrandt—known for self-portraits and biblical themed paintings

ARCHITECTURE:

• Embellished buildings were used as a means to impress visitors and portray triumphant power and control

• Palaces were as impressive on the inside as they were on the outside. Built around lavishly landscaped courtyards, grand staircases, and reception rooms.

LITERATURE:

• Renaissance time period at the beginning – rediscovery of Greek and Roman literature

• Neoclassical literature by the end – Latin works (Alexander Pope)

• The changing between Protestant and Catholic as the national religion in England

• This is Shakespeare’s time period--Macbeth (English 1), Hamlet (AP Lit)

• Robinson Crusoe: First English novel  - set a writing standard of plot structure

Classical Time Period:  1750-1825

Listening (Rotation 2):

• Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Mozart
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czBSj6_6rkE 

• Marriage of Figaro Overture, Mozart
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OZCyp-LcGw 

• Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”), movement 3, Beethoven
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJPqrtFYqvc 

• “Surprise” Symphony, Haydn
  https://youtu.be/VOLy6JxEDLw?si=uSRrrzY6auZeb-tO&t=10 

• Symphony No. 5 (movement 1), Beethoven
  https://youtu.be/n3EiRynr1Us?si=Le6-FnyRFawzAZSg&t=8 

MUSIC:

• Less complicated than Baroque

• Predictable, regular phrase lengths, systematic/mathematical

• Composers treated as servants or workers rather than artists (often underpaid and overworked). A little better than the Baroque era.

• Piano replaced harpsichord as primary keyboard instrument

Notable composers:

• Mozart (child prodigy–started composing when he was 5 years old, died while writing Requiem K. 626)

• Requiem = song for the dead

• K = Kochel = chronological catalog of Mozart’s music (vs. Opus, Number)

• Haydn (Father of Symphony and String Quartet)

• Nicknamed “Papa Haydn”--mentored other composers

• Practical joker

• Member of Vienna Boy Choir

• Father of the Symphony and String Quartet

• Symphony = multi-movement work for large ensemble

• Concerto = work for solo instrument with ensemble accompaniment

• Sonata = work for solo instrument with piano accompaniment

• Chevalier de Saint-Georges (AKA Joseph Bologne)

• First “classical” composer of African origins

• Born to a wealthy plantation owner and his African slave (scandal)

• Former US president named him “the most accomplished man in Europe”

• Was more popular than Mozart during this time (Mozart envied Saint-Georges)

• Rumored that Mozart stole musical ideas from him and based a villainous black character in an opera on Saint-Georges

• Beethoven* (Classical and Romantic)

WORLD HISTORY: Europe is experiencing changes as far as the scientific revolution, the enlightenment, and political revolutions.

• Scientific revolution pushes for logic and reason and examining the world around you in a very systematic way.

• The enlightenment applies that thinking to the world around you—for example, applying rational, scientific thinking to how we act as humans. There’s a big focus on the logic of human interactions, what our natural rights are as humans, how we best respond to leadership, etc.

• Major political revolutions during this time are the American Revolution and the French Revolution. Both pushed for an abandonment of the traditional monarchy and more rights delivered to the lower class. France’s revolution is much less successful than ours in the sense that they struggled for a long time to establish a system of government they actually wanted to stick with.

LITERATURE:

• Satirical writing – Jonathan Swift – Gulliver’s Travels (some seniors may read this) and “A Modest Proposal”

• Satirically writing about political figures and politics 

• The French Revolution and American Revolution

• Beginning of Industrial Revolution

Romantic Time Period:  1825-1900

Listening (Rotation 2):

• 1812 Overture, Tchaikovsky
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2W1Wi2U9sQ 

• Revolutionary Etude, Chopin
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1uLrHq9TDg 

• Ride of the Valkyries, Wagner
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGU1P6lBW6Q 

• Liebestraum No. 3, Liszt
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBOa-2b4uQQ 

• Clair de Lune, Debussy
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNcsUNKlAKw 

MUSIC:

• Expressive music, music expresses emotion

• Composers treated with respect as artists; composers wrote music because they wanted to rather than because they had to

• Nationalism—pride for one’s country

• Programmatic music—music that tells a story (vs. absolute music)

Notable composers:

• Tchaikovsky (known for Nationalism, ex. 1812 Overture, and Ballets, ex. Nutcracker, Swan Lake)

• Chopin (known for piano works)

• Wagner (Known for his operas, developed “leitmotif”, a musical theme that represents a certain character in an opera, notoriously anti-Semitic views)

• Liszt (Developed piano recital as we know it today)

• George Bridgetower (African-European composer and virtuoso violinist)

• Beethoven dedicated a violin sonata to Bridgetower, but withdrew the dedication over a falling out (Bridgetower made a rude remark about one of Beethoven’s friends)

• Bridgetower died in poverty and his name was forgotten

• Beethoven* (Classical and Romantic)

• Rachmaninoff

• Schumann

• Debussy* (Romantic and Contemporary)

• Fanny Mendelssohn (sister of Felix Mendelssohn)

• Clara Schumann (wife of Robert Schumann)

• Guadalupe Olmedo

WORLD HISTORY:

• Industrial Revolution led to cramped, dirty quarters and a hard life.

• European imperialism: expanding control into Africa and Asia

• Nationalism. Citizens in Western civilizations are constantly being told how great they are, and how they need to spread their thinking and way of life to “uncivilized” nations.

• Romanticism vs. realism

• Romanticism: attraction to the exotic and unfamiliar, recent advancements (telegraph, electric light, battery, etc.). Individualism and feelings (ex. Frankenstein)

• Realism: painting a portrait (literally and figuratively) of the world around you without romanticizing the tough times (ex. Oliver Twist)

LITERATURE:

• Romantic and Victorian time period bridge this musical time period

• Romantic: focus on nature and expressing ideas and thoughts; more sentimental; social idealism; accepting and adapting to change - Frankenstein

• Victorian: less sentimental; more patriotic as Queen Victoria really helped to stabilize the society and push for improvements in living standards; “uptight” prudish – separation of good and evil within as well as societal norms – Jekyll and Hyde

• The Awakening (AP Lang)

Contemporary Time Period:  1900-present

Listening (Rotation 2):

• Someone to Watch Over Me, Gershwin
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kh4ffPyj-g 

• Fanfare for the Common Man, Copland
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdqjcMmjeaA 

• Take the ‘A’ Train, Ellington
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2G1fKYFgVU 

• Somewhere, Bernstein
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoO7o5tNwIw 

• Pierrot Lunaire, Schoenberg
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkF5HY3QLTk 

MUSIC:

• Experimentalism: composers were trying new things

• John Cage and the “prepared piano”

• Atonality: no real tonal center

• Minimalism

• Aleatoric/chance music

• 4’33”-- the performer doesn’t make a sound for 4 minutes and 33 seconds

• Improvisation

• Jazz, Pop, Wind Band (invention of saxophone and euphonium), Rock

Notable composers:

• Gershwin (Introduced elements of jazz into classical music, ex. Rhapsody in Blue)

• Copland (known for American folk and popular music, ex. Appalachian Spring, Fanfare for the Common Man)

• Bernstein (known for West Side Story, also a conductor, educator, pianist)

• George Walker (Lots of “firsts”: First Black person to win Pulitzer Prize for Music, First black graduate of the Curtis Institute, first black musician to play New York’s Town Hall in the same year, first black recipient of a doctorate from the Eastman School, first black faculty member to receive tenure at Smith College)

• Wrote a piece dedicated to Chevalier de Saint-Georges

• Florence Price (First Black woman to have her music performed by a major symphony orchestra)

• William Grant Still (Lots of “firsts”: First African-American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra, the first to have a symphony performed by a leading orchestra, the first to have an opera performed on national TV)

• Debussy* (Romantic and Contemporary)

• Schoenberg, Ravel, Mahler, Webern

• Cage (4’33”, prepared piano)

• Ethel Smyth (also a member of the women’s suffrage movement)

• Amy Beach (first American female composer to gain recognition as a composer)

• Nadia and Lili Boulanger

Jazz

• Born in early 1900s in New Orleans, LA

• African/African-American roots

• Struggle, need of free expression, oppression

• Elements:

• Winds/rhythm

• Swing rhythm

• Improvisation

• Eras of Jazz:

• Dixieland (~1900-1930s)

• banjo, clarinet

• Group improvisation

• Ex. “When the Saints Go Marching In,” performed by Louis Armstrong

• Swing (~1935-1946)

• Big band, saxophone included

• Latin jazz

• Individual improv

• Ex. “It Don’t Mean a Thing,” Duke Ellington

• Bebop (~1940-1950s)

• Soloists, technical virtuosity, fast tempos

• Ex. “Confirmation,” Charlie Parker

• Contemporary (~1950s-present)

• Cool, funk, avant garde

• Influence on pop, hip-hop, rap

• Ex. “Kind of Blue,” John Coltrane

• Notable jazz artists:

• Wynton Marsalis--first jazz musician to win Pulitzer Prize for Music

• Scott Joplin--King of Ragtime (“The Entertainer,” “Maple Leaf Rag”)

• Ella Fitzgerald

• Louis Armstrong

• Duke Ellington

• Count Basie

• Charlie Parker

• John Coltrane

• Miles Davis

WORLD HISTORY:

Major events: World Wars I and II, the Great Depression (worldwide), the Cold War…

Urban populations struggle with class issues—communism and socialism become more popular as a response to the social inequality that industrialization created. Women gain rights (slowly) worldwide, and the every day person finally has enough financial stability to spend money on leisure. Equality movements, voting rights, etc.

LITERATURE:

• All the wars have some influence on all of these books (WWI and WWII in particular)

• Civil Rights Movement

• Great Depression and Prohibition

• English 1: To Kill a Mockingbird - 1960

• English 2: The Alchemist - 1988

• English 3/AP Lang: Their Eyes were Watching God - 1936

• AP Lang: Beloved - 1987