Notes, abstracts, papers, exams and problems of Music

Music Religiosa:

Gregorian Song: El repertori broad de música religiosa incluye el canto gregoriano y se ha convertido en la canción oficial de la Iglesia Católica. Características: monódico, ritmo libre, es modal (la música reconoce que cada voz tiene su propio carácter) y cultural, saludable, melismático, numático, silábico, homofónico, responsorial, antiphonal, y canto ambitus.

- Monódico: 1a voz. Polifónico: 2 o más voces.

- Numática: La notación que sirve para representar la música en la antigüedad consistía en signos gráficos que representaban una o más notas. Nota: La notación cuadrada se utiliza para el canto gregoriano (líneas de cuatro) con la primera línea como referencia (números-notas).

- Notación Mensural:

• Item 2

The Intangible Art of Music

Music is an intangible art that is transmitted through the air and does not remain as other arts do. Little is known of the writing of music in ancient civilizations, with information gleaned from archaeological remains.

The Origins of Musical Notation

Musical notation has its origins in the monasteries of the Middle Ages, where the Greek theory of music was collected. Alphabetic writing can be represented as ABC, and diastematic notation as Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La. A score is a graphical representation of a musical composition.

The Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is the historical period that begins with the fall of the Roman Empire and lasts until the fifteenth century.

Medieval Church Music

Church music consisted of... Continue reading "Medieval Music History: Origins to the Mystery of Elche" »

1950s: Social Poetry

Poets felt the need to provide critical testimony of the reality and adopt an attitude of commitment to the situation that existed in Spain. Cantos Iberians by Gabriel Celaya and I Ask for Peace and the Word by Blas de Otero, published in 1955, stand out.

As for the themes, we must highlight the issue of Spain, social injustice, and alienation. The language is clear, and the tone is colloquial.

1960s: Poetry of Knowledge

By the end of the 1950s, a group of poets emerged seeking further elaboration of poetic language and a shift from the collective to the personal. They defended the idea of the poem as an act of knowledge.

• Barcelona Group: Jose Agustin Goytisolo, Jaime Gil de Viedma, among others.
• Madrid Group: Claudio Rodriguez,

Organum

Organum, a foundational form of early Western polyphony, reached its height in the Notre Dame School of Paris, the heart of the Ars Antiqua (primarily between the 11th and 12th centuries). It involves parallel repetition of a melody, typically at a perfect fifth interval. This sacred vocal music genre enhanced musical passages by adding a second voice.

Organum Types

• Parallel Organum: An added voice (vox organalis) doubles the plainchant at a parallel fifth below. Fifths were considered perfect and beautiful, and each voice could be inflected to an octave.
• Free Organum: Showcased greater melodic independence, giving rise to the term contrapunctum.
• Discantus (11th Century): The vox organalis and main voice move in contrary motion.
• Florid/Melismatic

Nineteenth-Century Theater

The influence of Romanticism during the Renaixença (Catalan Revival) broke with the conventions of Neoclassical theater, which had established stringent regulations, rejecting any deviation from accepted models. Authors sought freedom, expressed in the following features:

• Disappearance of boundaries between dramatic genres.
• Mixing of prose and verse.
• Rejection of the classical three unities (place, time, action).
• Wider range of situations and characters.

Romantic Drama Characteristics

• Love: This is the most important theme. It's presented as an absolute passion that obeys no laws and stops at nothing. It's a love aspiring to an impossible perfect realization, leading inevitably to a tragic end.
• The Hero: The main character

Billie Joe Armstrong was born in Piedmont, California, and raised in Rodeo, California, as the youngest of six children to Andrew Armstrong and Ollie Jackson. His father died of esophageal cancer on September 10, 1982, when Billie was just ten years old. The song "Wake Me Up When September Ends" is a memorial to his father.

Armstrong and Mike Dirnt got one of their first gigs at Rod's Hickory Pit during their early years; their first gig was in Davis, a college town. Armstrong's interest in music started at a young age. He attended Hillcrest Elementary School in Rodeo, where a teacher encouraged him to record a song titled "Look For Love." Armstrong attended John Swett High School, also in Crockett, and later Pinole Valley High School, in Pinole,... Continue reading "Billie Joe Armstrong: Life, Career, and Green Day's Success" »

Baroque Secular Music (17th Century)

Spain

Secular music in 17th-century Spain incorporated innovations from the new theatrical school of Lope de Vega and Gongora. New poetic genres emerged, such as the *romance*, which was much more varied than its 15th-century predecessor, featuring changes in metrics. The *letrilla* also appeared, with a greater measure than its predecessor. The *carol*, and most significantly, the *streak*, showcased diverse and constantly changing rhythms.

Musically, composers sought to reflect these rhythmic changes in their settings of the text. The traditional vocal quartet (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass) was often reduced by eliminating the tenor or bass. Composers emphasized the rhythmic syncopation characteristic... Continue reading "Baroque Secular Music in 17th-Century Spain and England" »

Johann Sebastian Bach represents the culmination of the Baroque period, and his death marks a turning point in music history. He was the main proponent of the cantata, a musical form performed and sung in Lutheran worship before the sermon. Bach's innovation was to create characters, recitatives, and arias for liturgical music, as seen in his early cantatas, effectively adding a narrative to a drama. The late 17th-century reforms of the Lutheran church allowed for the use of madrigal poetry in liturgical music. Bach never called his works "cantatas," but rather "spiritual harmony," "motets," or "church music," intended to encourage the faithful.

Bach's Cantata Development Across Cities

There are several periods in Bach's life regarding the development... Continue reading "Johann Sebastian Bach: Master of the Sacred Cantata" »

Machiavelli and *The Prince*

Niccolò Machiavelli was born in Florence. In his youth, he received training in the humanities and then carried out political functions. His most important work was *The Prince*. The book constitutes an exclusive relationship for the measures to hold the reins of government that the ruling must follow. Machiavelli reserves the right to use force and will if the state requires it.

*Arcadia*: Renaissance Pastoral Novel

*Arcadia*, a Renaissance pastoral novel, was published in Valencia. It accounts for the life of young Sincere who, after a disappointment in love, left Naples and moved to the nation's Arcadia, where peace is called Peloponnese. However, a terrible dream leads him back to Naples, where he learns of the... Continue reading "Renaissance Literature and Philosophy: Key Concepts" »

Renaissance (15th-16th Centuries)

History

Civil society flourishes during the Renaissance, with a focus on nature, humans, and discovery. Power resides with influential bourgeois families. The Catholic and Protestant churches separate.

Art

Inspired by ancient Greece and Rome, Renaissance art emphasizes balance, beauty, and proportion. Painting, sculpture, and architecture thrive. Advanced mathematics contributes to sophisticated architecture. Owning instruments and employing skilled musicians becomes a status symbol among the ruling class.

Music

Polyphony and expressive music triumph. Vocal and instrumental music flourish. Songbooks compile songs and dances. Musicians hold esteemed positions in church chapels and courts, traveling and exchanging... Continue reading "Renaissance and Baroque Music, Art, and History" »