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

Ancient Greek Music: Key Characteristics

1. Music and Dance: Art Dissemination

Music and poetry were the primary means to disseminate art.

2. Heterophonic Monody Texture

Instruments introduced small heterophonic ornaments, imitating the melody.

3. Music System Based on Modal Scales

Tetrachords are four sounds that overlap on the octave. Two tetrachords combine to form descending modal scales, creating an ethos.

Ethos: Scale Tone Distribution and Feeling

The distribution of tones and semitones in the scale caused different feelings:

• Dorian mode: Sublime
• Phrygian mode: Mild
• Lydian mode: Tears and sorrow
• Mixolydian mode: Passionate

4. Alphabetic Code for Pitch and Metric Feet for Rhythm

Letters were used to reflect pitch. Metric feet were combinations of long... Continue reading "Ancient and Medieval Music Traditions" »

Literary Baroque Aesthetic

The main themes of the Baroque are:

• Epic, romantic, and mythological legacy of the Renaissance
• Religious-political and moral disillusionment removed from the Baroque
• Picaresque and satire, social withdrawal or disenchantment
• Historical or legendary national

Differences Between Renaissance and Baroque

Renaissance:

• Joy of life and reality of this life
• Exaltation
• Optimism in the world and of man
• Harmony, natural elegance, and simplicity
• Balance and life as simplicity

Baroque:

• Problem of fugacity and the shelf
• Anxiety and pessimism
• Devalues human life and human nature
• Contrast and exuberance
• More difficulty and complexity
• Dynamism and movement

Conceptismo and Culteranismo

Conceptismo: Cares more about content with rhetorical figures such... Continue reading "Baroque Literature: Themes, Styles, and Poetry" »

Introduction to the Renaissance Era

The term Renaissance refers to the arts of the 15th and 16th centuries. It was not a sudden 'rebirth' or a complete break from previous periods, but rather a stylistic evolution that emerged from the Ars Nova stage. Humanism was the cultural movement that defined the entire Renaissance. After a long period of theocentrism, humanity became interested in science, nature, the cultivation of the arts, and the expression of emotions.

Religious Vocal Music of the Renaissance

During the Renaissance, the Church experienced internal strife that fractured the unity of Catholicism. Despite this, its musical tradition continued, with polyphony reaching its maximum splendor. This period is often known as 'the Golden Age

Music History: Middle Ages and Renaissance

Prehistoric Music Origins

Musicology

Musicology investigates all aspects related to the origins of music.

Preservation

No musical notation from this era is preserved, only potentially related, indecipherable symbols or hieroglyphics.

Music in the Middle Ages (c. 476 - 1400)

Historical Context

The Middle Ages began with the fall of the Roman Empire and lasted nearly 1000 years. In ancient Greece, music was considered a gift from the gods (Apollo was the god of music). However, during the Middle Ages in Europe, Gregorian chant was the dominant form of recorded music for a long period.

The Holy Inquisition: A judicial institution created by the Papacy during the Middle Ages, tasked with identifying individuals... Continue reading "Medieval and Renaissance Music: Chant, Polyphony, and Dance" »

Poem 17: Pain's Constant Companionship

This short poem is composed of 8 lines with an irregular combination of 11 and 7 syllables. It features assonance rhyme in pairs, with the odd lines remaining unrhymed. This structure aligns with the metric of the *silva arromanzada* or assonance. The poem emphasizes how, on the shores of Sar, pain always accompanies Rosalía. This suggests that the sufferer, filled with pain, is never truly alone, as pain is a constant companion. This concept echoes the existential idea, previously explored, that man is a being thrown into the world, unaware of their fate, a fate that nevertheless possesses meaning.

Poem 18: The Transience of Life

This poem features lines of five, six, ten, and twelve syllables, distributed... Continue reading "Rosalía de Castro's Poems: Analysis of Structure & Themes" »

Characteristics of the Classical Music Era

• The Realm of Melody: Emphasis on symmetry, with favorite models being 8 measures (divided into periods of 4 and sub-periods of 2) and 6 beats (3+3).
• Tonal Language: Tonal hierarchy featuring I, V, and IV chords.
• Harmonic Filling: Use of harmonic tones to emphasize scales, arpeggios, etc.
• Alberti Bass: Accompaniment featuring a broken chord or arpeggiated figure, where the notes of the chord are presented in a specific order, usually low, high, middle, high.

Key Composers of the Classical Period

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

A master of character and aristocratic taste, despite drawing inspiration from popular works. He composed oratorios, including The Creation and The Seven Last Words of Christ, and 104 symphonies.... Continue reading "Classical Music Era: Composers, Forms, and Masterpieces" »

Romanticism in Music

Romanticism feels a passion for everything that is distant, magical, and unreal. Romantic music, leaving the balance of classicism for a direct and passionate expression of feelings and emotions. Music occupies a place of honor in this period; it is more abstract than others.

Musical Forms

• Vocal Music: Opera, Mass, Oratorio, Lied.
• Instrumental Music: Symphony, Symphonic Poem, Sonata, Concerto, Trio, Quartet, Quintet.

Symphonic Poem

A symphonic poem is a work of a genre that develops from a fact of imagination.

The Orchestra

Instruments: Percussion, drums, trumpets, horns, trombones, tuba, harp, clarinet, bassoon, oboe, violins, and basses.

The Lied

A Lied is a song in a romantic style and with a very stylized German language, interpreted... Continue reading "Romanticism in Music: Characteristics and Evolution" »

Romanticism in Europe: First Half 19th Century

Key Features

• Individualism: Focus on the self.
• Rebellion: Spirit of freedom, breaking rules.
• Idealism: Emphasis on love, honor, friendship.
• Irrationalism: Focus on sentiments and passion.
• Evasion and Exoticism: Interest in distant lands (space) and the Middle Ages (time).
• Exalted Rhetoric: Grandiloquent language.
• Originality.

Romantic Poetry

Expresses love, melancholy, sadness, disappointment, dreams, and the exaltation of solitude.

Features:

• Grandiloquent language.
• Use of classical forms (silva, octave, quatrain) and some new ones.
• Polymetry (use of various meters).
• Common themes: love, freedom, death, nature, the past.

Narrative poetry was cultivated with compositions in verse, often historical, legendary, allegorical,... Continue reading "European Romanticism: Literature and Key Figures" »

Post-Romanticism: An Overview

The post-Romanticism movement emerged in the latter half of the nineteenth century as a reaction to Romanticism, flourishing particularly in France.

Writers and artists rebelled against bourgeois lifestyles, demanding freedom and individuality.

Post-Romantic Poetry

In poetry, unlike novels and drama which embraced realism, a romantic spirit persisted. However, the focus shifted from narrative to lyricism, becoming more personal and intimate. Rhetoric decreased while lyricism increased, with love and passion for the world as prominent themes. Metrics evolved, exploring new sounds and embracing a plurality of poetic ideas.

Post-Romantic poetry represents a transition, a conflict between Romanticism and Realism. Its proponents... Continue reading "Post-Romanticism: A Transition from Romanticism to Realism" »

Renaissance Motets and Masses

Evolution of Polyphony

Early Motets

Motet styles varied depending on the season. Isorhythmic motets, less common in later years, were prominent in the early period. In homophonic motets, all voices are equal. The imitative motet became the most important and innovative style.

Masses

Masses shared similarities with motets. Several masses, like the L'homme armé Mass and the L'homme armé Mass with isorhythm in the upper voice, were based on the popular tune "L'homme armé." Another example is the Missa Hercules dux Ferrariae, where the cantus firmus is derived from an acronym of the title.

Secular Music

Secular music production flourished in France and Italy. In Italy, works were sometimes attributed to the pseudonym... Continue reading "Renaissance Motets and Masses: Evolution of Polyphony" »