Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Music

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

The Movement

The Metronome: A device that measures the speed of the pulse.

Directions of movement are words written in the score that suggest movement.

• Variable: progressive change in speed — ritardando, accelerando.
• Regulated at a constant speed: slow, adagio, andante, moderato, allegro, vivace.

The character: the intention and feeling of a musical piece: mysterious, exciting, funereal...

Electrophone Instruments

They produce sound by means of an amplified electrical signal.

• Electronic: generate the vibration through an electric oscillator — for example, electric bass or synthesizer.
• Electroacoustic: transform the physical vibration of an instrument using an electric transducer (for example, an electromagnetic guitar pickup).

Popular Music

Popular... Continue reading "Musical Movement, Electrophone Instruments & Forms" »

Religious Theater Cycles and Drama Types

The most important theater cycles include the Passion of the Lord, the Assumption of the Virgin, and the Procession of Corpus Christi.

The Christmas Cycle

• The Shepherds: A representation of Jesus featuring Sibyl pastors.
• Cant: A reminder performed on the ranch.

The Easter Series

• Les Passions: Works that capture the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ.

Cycle of the Assumption of Mary

• The Mystery of Elche: A significant dramatization of the Assumption.

The Procession of Corpus Christi

This cycle involves various art forms including dance and "hors d'oeuvres." These are representations of biblical topics often referred to as Castles Rocks.

The Mystery of Elche (15th Century)

This is the dramatization of the... Continue reading "Evolution of Religious Theater and Renaissance Literature" »

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" »

Ludwig van Beethoven: A Titan of Classical Music

Born in Bonn in 1770, Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna in 1827. He composed 9 symphonies, known for innovative orchestration and instrument distribution. Beethoven began suffering from hearing loss in 1798 and was a student of Christian Gottlob Neefe.

Key Works and Innovations

• In 1803-1804, he composed the Eroica Symphony (Symphony No. 3), initially dedicated to Napoleon. He later withdrew the dedication when Napoleon crowned himself emperor, as Beethoven, a staunch republican, was outraged. He then rededicated it to 'the memory of a great man'.
• Composed 32 piano sonatas, often played in their original keys.
• Notable symphonies include the Pastoral (Symphony No. 6), Symphony No. 7 (which Richard

The Classical Period in Poetry: 16th-18th Centuries

Defining the Classical Series in Poetry

The Classical Series refers to a significant three-century period (16th, 17th, and the first half of the 18th century) during which poetry waged a fierce battle to break free from the restrictions imposed by more dogmatic poetic rules. This long period marked a transformation, after which poetry became a subject of literary study and criticism.

Poetic Revival in the 16th Century

The 16th century focused on the resurrection of a poetic culture that had been diluted by moral and religious influences during the later centuries of the Middle Ages.

Humanism: A Bridge to Modern Poetics

Humanism, as a movement that opened up man's unforeseen possibilities, combined... Continue reading "Classical Poetry's Evolution: From Humanism to Aristotelianism (16th-18th Centuries)" »