The History of Chamber Music
What is chamber music?
It is ensemble instrumental music for up to about ten performers with
typically one performer to a part.
Since circa 1450, there has been instrumental music designed for
private playing. These pieces used many instruments and (in Germany)
it was common that the folk songs would contain 2-3 countermelodies to
expand and elaborate the whole, and to arrange the outcome for groups
of instruments. Although the pieces were never written for particular
instruments, we can, through art/paintings, reasonably guess that the
viol was a predominant early chamber music instrument.
A more important source of later chamber music is to be found in the
arrangements of sixteenth-century chansons (songs of French origin
composed usually for four voices on a variety of secular texts), some
for voices and lute, and others for lute alone. A generic convention
of a chanson was that they used to use contrasting metres and also
contrasts in musical texture; the effect of the whole was that of a
short composition in several even shorter sections. That sectional
form retained in the arrangements later became a striking feature.
The Chanson
The chanson travelled to Italy about 1525, became known as canzona,
and was transcribed for organ. The earliest transcriptions differed
from the French arrangements in treating the original chanson with
greater freedom, adding ornaments and flourishes, and sometimes
inserting new material. Soon original canzonas for organ, modelled on
the transcriptions, and for small instrumental ensembles, were
composed. One such type, characterised by elaborate fi...
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smaller roles in the field: the string trio (violin, viola, cello),
string quintet (quartet plus a second viola), and string sextet
(quintet plus a second cello) are chief among them.
Finally, works for individual combinations exist in considerable
number after about the 1780s. Representative compositions of that
non-standard group include the clarinet quintets (string quartet and
clarinet) by Mozart (K. 581) and Brahms (Opus 115); the Septet, Opus
20 (violin, viola, cello, bass, clarinet, bassoon, and horn), by
Beethoven; the Octet, Opus 166 (as in the septet plus a second
violin), the Trout Quintet, Opus 114 (violin, viola, cello, bass, and
piano and the String Quintet in C Major 0 us 163 violins viola and two
cello all by Schubert; and the Horn Trio, Opus 40 (violin, horn, and
piano), by Brahms.
Rachel M. Harper’s The Myth of Music intentionally weaves together 1960s era jazz music and a poor African American family via metaphor and allusion to show a deep familiar bond between father and daughter.
The clarinet is a woodwind instrament consisting of a cylindrical wood, metal, or ebonite pipe with a bell-shaped opening at one end and a mouthpiece at the other end, to which a thin reed is attached. The clarinet has five different sections, the mouthpiece, the barrel, the upper section, the lower section, and the bell. The length of the entire instrument is 60 cm long. The mouthpiece section consists of a slotted cylinder, to which a reed is attached by a metal clamp called a ligature. The mouthpiece plugs into the next section which is a barrel. The barrel is simply a connecting cylinder to which the mouthpiece and the upper section plugs into. The upper section is a cylindrical pipe consisting of 4 holes and 9 keys placed in different locations along the pipe. On the back of the pipe there is a hole and a key that is used by the thumb. The lower section plugs into the upper section and is also connected via a special bridge key. This piece consists of 3 holes and 8 keys. On the inward facing side of the pipe, there is a protruding piece of metal called a thumb rest, which supports the entire clarinet. The bell plugs into the lower section. It consists of a cylinder that flares out into a bell shape and ends the clarinet.
How would a clarinetist go about searching for a piece from the Medieval to the very end of the Baroque period? Well, that clarinetist should first realize that the repertoire from this timeframe is incredibly difficult to find on the internet. Not only that, the clarinet did not come into existence until around the 1700s, which would give it a mere fifty years in order to develop any sort of solo literature. So, how would one go about looking for early music to perform?
Music has evolved too many different forms that we recognize today. We trace this development throughout time. Beginning in the middle ages, we have seen advancement from the Gregorian chant all the way to the Jazz of the 20th century. The current events, politics, religion, technology and composers can shape musical eras during time. Here I will look at the middle ages, renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic and twentieth century periods. I hope that a better understanding can be reached to why, when, where and who are the reasons for musical evolution.
During the Baroque period, instrumental music was written for every conceivable size of ensemble. On the smaller side, the Baroque sonata offers one of the finest examples of chamber music. Two types of sonata are found during this period: the sonata da chiesa (church sonata), and the sonata da camera (chamber sonata). The sonata da chiesa was more somber, while the sonata da camera was, much like the suite, usually comprised of dance forms. The gigue from Corelli's Sonata for 2 violins and lute is a fine example of the sonata da camera
Current western classical music did not occur overnight. It was a long process that had its beginnings in the sacred music of the Middle Ages. War, disease, famine, political unrest and advancements in science brought changes, to not only how music was perceived, but also in how it was presented, giving modern western classical music its rich history today.
This essay, as the title suggests, will be about the origins of jazz music. Starting from the roots when African slaves arrived in North America, they helped the development and the emergence of early jazz a great deal. It is also important to not forget the significance of the Congo Square which kept the music alive in New Orleans, never letting it die out. Then, continuing on with the slavery theme, the essay will talk about why and how jazz music appeared in its widely considered birth place, New Orleans. Also, as early jazz developed into different styles, the text will mainly be focusing on its two most prominent ancestors: ragtime and blues. Additionally, jazz would not exist as it is known today without the assistance of some of the
Music is an important aspect of every society. Music can tell stories, release emotions, build bridges and break down barriers, but above all music is entertaining. There are various forms of music but not many have as rich a history as gospel music. The importance of gospel music has been relevant in American music for more than a century and its importance to society is still relevant to this day (See Appendix A). Gospel music helped slaves escape to freedom and paved the way for other styles of music. It promotes a spirit of hope and provided an outlet to worship God. So how exactly has Gospel music impacted today’s society?
Getting it's name from art history, the classic period in music extends from 1740 to 1810 and includes the music of Haydn, Mozart, the first period of Beethoven, and Bach's sons. The classical period of music coordinated harmony, melody, rhythm, and orchestration more effectively then earlier periods of music.
Butterworth, Oliver, Michael Evans, and Frank Wibut, perfs. Piano Trio Op. 17. Dartington Piano Trio. Brown, Mark, 1988. Florida College's Classical Music Library. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
Music has shaped the lives of people throughout history. Even in its earliest forms, music has included use of instruments. One of the oldest musical instruments known is a variation of the flute; the original flute is thought to date back nearly 67,000 years ago. Tonight we are going to move throughout the eras with a history of instrumental music. This concert will begin with the Renaissance Era and continue through time until we have reached modern instrumental music.
Bie, Oscar. A History of the Pianoforte and Pianoforte Players. trans. by E. E. Kellett
John Warrack, author of 6 Great Composers, stated, “Any study of a composer, however brief, must have as its only purpose encouragement of the reader to greater enjoyment of the music” (Warrack, p.2). The composers and musicians of the Renaissance period need to be discussed and studied so that listeners, performers, and readers can appreciate and understand the beginnings of music theory and form. The reader can also understand the driving force of the composer, whether sacred or secular, popularity or religious growth. To begin understanding music composition one must begin at the birth, or rebirth of music and the composers who created the great change.
The History of the Harpsichord The harpsichord was the most important keyboard instrument in European music history from the 16th through the first half of the 18th century. It originated and evolved from the monochord, which is a primitive instrument invented in the sixth century BC by Pythagoras. Their precise origins are a matter of debate, although it is known that they have existed since the 15th century; there are clear references of the harpsichord in the literature of that period. After several stages in the evolution of the monochord, including the organistrum, the bowed monochord, the chekker, and the keyed monochord, the clavichord finally came into existence.
Most of the early music that we have today still in print is primarily sacred music. This music, for the most part, is in the form of sections of the Mass, such as the Gloria, Kyrie and Agnus Dei. Most people of the Middle Ages were poor peasants who worked all day for meager wages and had no idle time lounging the way the upper classes did. Therefore, there are few extant secular compositions of music from this era. The rise of a new middle class, however, gave financial freedom for some people to spend time and money on entertainment in the form of music and dance. Thus, the rise of the middle classes also gave way to the rise in composition and performance of secular music, which became the music of choice for composers of that day.