The Nationalistic trend in Russia and Czechoslovakia was one of the defining traits of the Romantic period in music. The main pivotal composers of this musical movement in Russia were Glinka and Mussorgsky, and Dvorak and Smetana in Bohemia; now known as Czechoslovakia. These composers used various different techniques to portray their countries through music. The “Mighty Five” were a group of influential Russian nationalistic composers who produced a specific kind of music. It includes Balakirev, Cui, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Borodin. These composers are essentially in my opinion the 'pioneers' of nationalist music. Nationalist composers employ symbolic imagery which evokes the nationalistic feel to their music. These are features …show more content…
This is perhaps the most clear feature which Glinka employed from folk music.
Glinka's opera, “Russlan and Ludmilla” was extremely important in that it showed other composers that they weren't musically bound by restrictions of the western world. This originality is highlighted in Glinka's use of modulations in “Russlan and Ludmilla” and “A Life for the Tsar” to keys which wouldn't have been expected in western music. In the overture to “A Life for the Tsar”, the oboe theme introduction starts in G minor, and modulates to F major in the fifth and sixth bar. There are also cadences on the flattened notes. This is a characteristic which became increasingly regular in the nationalistic style.
Finally, Glinka was one of the only emerging composers to make use of the whole-tone scale. Glinka used it in such a way as to give it a symbolic nationalist meaning. The whole tone scale is somewhat common in folk music, and therefore employed by Glinka as a nationalist characteristic. Glinka therefore succeeded in glorifying the Tsar regime and giving music nationalistic significance to something far greater than what was achieved by his
…show more content…
Despite this, the people of Czechoslovakia and Russsia were increasingly familiar with the music being composed. This comes back to the definition of music nationalism. It is about creating music which the people of that country are familiar with and can relate too. This music is therefore unique to the land of Bohemia and will mean more to the people of Czechoslovakia than other listeners, perhaps those from the western world. A composer who followed Smetana's nationalistic Czech style is Antonin Dvorak. Similar to that of Smetana, Dvorak employed the use of folk music for inspiration. He was a keen user of the pentatonic scale in his music. This five note scale is extremely popular in all kinds of musical language, especially folk music, Russian and Czech.
An example of this is Dvorak's Suite op.98, the opening of 1st movement:
Dvorak also used syncopation in his music. These rhythms added a Czech flavour to his music. Syncopation was particularly common in Bohemian dances. An example of this the opening of Dvorak's New World Symphony (No. 9 in E
Szabolcsi, Bence, Gyorgy Kroo. A Concise History of Hungarian Music. Budapest: Barrie and Rockliff, 1964.
Ethnomusicology: a short introduction is about describing the growing discipline of how ethnomusicology researchers are going about studying different music from around the world, looking for perceptions in both humanity and music. Ethnomusicologists believe that all people are musical, not just people that label themselves as “musicians” and that there is music in all beings. This thinking causes a lot of debate in which ethnomusicologists argue that we must first study all forms of music such as its Geographic’s and history in order to answer any questions. Not only are traditional forms of music acknowledged but also more contemporary musical forms.
The idea of world music developed in the 1960s among academics who were attempting to classify and trace the origins and inspirations of
Beethoven is viewed as a transitional figure between the classical and romantic eras and from 1800 to 1809 he write some of the most revolutionary compositions in the history of western music. This essay therefore will aim to discuss the numerous ways in which Ludwig Van Beethoven expanded the formal and expressive content of the high classical style he inherited.
Antonin Dvorak was one of the leading composers of the late Romantic period and one of many composers that utilized portions of music from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds in his compositions. The idea of Music Nationalism can be found in many of his works, especially in his Symphony no. 9 in E minor “from the New World”, which incorporates ideas from the American culture.
Miller, Terry E., Sharhriari, Andrew. World Music: A Global Journey. 3rd ed. New York & London: Routledge, 2012. Print.
Sergei Rachmaninoff is considered to be the final, magnificent composer of the Romantic era in Russian classical music, ushering forward its traditions into the twentieth century. His four concertos are a reflection of his development as a composer and pianist, with regard to maturity and compositional style. The evolution of music during the late nineteenth century to early twentieth century had no significant effect on Rachmaninoff; rather he continued to produce ingenious works reflective of his Russian upbringing and the Romantic era.
Miller, Terry, and Andrew Shahriari. World Music: A Global Journey. New York, London: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, 2006.
World music may sound as simple as its name suggests, however the world music phenomenon expresses a deeper story that many people seem to miss. There is so much that makes up a world music genre, but what we hear about it is not always the easiest to decipher and generally comes from powerful and large organisations, where not all of it is explained thoroughly. A lot of their understanding comes from what they are only interested in and most important stories and factors are either ignored or incomplete (Stokes 2003, p. 297). Not receiving the full picture, gives us a limited understanding of world music and its sub genres. Different genres of music over the globe have been shaped in many ways by influences such as the; historical and traditional root, people and their culture, migration, globalisation, politics and commodification. Nueva Canción is one example of a world music genre that has been influenced in such ways, and of which has a strong historical and political story worthy to be recognised. This essay will focus on the way the genre, Nueva Canción has become a significant genre of world music, by exploring the influences stated previously.
The following examples come from Mozart's Symphony No. 25 in G minor, which you might remember as the music for the opening scene of movie Amadeus.
Some may say music is just music; a song is just a song. However, music plays an enormous role in our psychology, because a single song has the ability to bring about many kinds of thoughts and emotions in the listener. Music is subtly one of the main factors in which people identify with certain groups and establish their belonging in society. It shapes people’s perspectives on how the world functions and the roles they play within it. Music can function the same way in a culture; it can reflect many of the culture’s values and ideologies. Music can have many effects on culture and the people’s idea of who they think they are within that culture. Music can serve in a way that promotes cultural identity and pride, yet it could also play a role in the separation of social and economical identities in within cultures.
This world is a big place. It is very diverse, in culture, beliefs, traditions, and even music. Music is an important part of this world; not just pop music and what many first world countries are used to, but music of the world as well, such as melodies in Cuba or Africa. These two countries share many characteristics in their music, despite being two very different places. From the melody, to the rhythm, and even the instruments and cultural practices, the countries of Cuba and Africa have both very similar traits in their music.
Throughout the semester, various styles of music and the aspects of culture associated with these styles have been analyzed. Musical elements such as dynamics, texture, form, timbre, melody, instruments, etc., have been used to thoroughly explore each kind of music from different areas of the world, with an emphasis in music from Africa, India and Indonesia. These aspects of music go far beyond just music itself. Culture also plays a huge role in music and the accompanying musical elements. Each country and culture has a different style and distinctiveness that add to what makes the music of that certain culture unique. Music in Africa may differ dramatically from music in Indonesia or India not only due to those certain elements but also due to how it is interpreted by people and what it represents for those people. In addition to this, what one may consider music in one culture may not be music to another. These differences have been made apparent in the several demonstrations that we have been exposed to in class.
Other societal practice during romanticism is the Romantic Opera. In comparison to the classical and baroque opera, romantic opera has a continuous flow of music in each scene and soon, people pay less attention to tenors and pays equal attention to choruses. To name a few of many composers for romantic operas, Wagner and Bizet are known for their works for romantic opera during the romantic era. Romantic music is also influenced by folk music, tunes, rhythms and themes as many romantic composers wrote nationalist music, which is inspired from folk dances and songs, during the romantic period (http://absoluteastronomy.com). Another factor that contributed to romantic music in defining its traits is the instrumentation.
Traditional Chinese music is based on five tone scale, uses musical instrument to produce unique sounds that affect the variation in tone quality, beat rhythm and embellishments that are very different from western music. Modern Chinese music more frequently employs music lyric to evoke feelings. Like Modern Western music that can be classified according to genre, namely, classical music, country music, pop music, modern Chinese music follows this classification