KDM DG1062 Musikhistoria, ht-14

David Thyrn
Monday 3 November 2014

Western Art Music History

An approach to Western Art Music

from the Antique Times to the 20th Century

In a strict sense, the history of Western Art Music begins in the Medieval Ages with
Christian Music. Nevertheless, artists and intellects from all times have taken inspiration in
the Greek and Roman Civilizations and the same applies for musicians.
The greek mythology attributed a divine origin to music that had as first interpreters
Gods like Apollo and Dionysos. In this obscure world, music had a magic power and it was
believed that it could cure diseases, purify the body and the spirit and change nature. To
Apollo, favorite son of Zeus, it was attributed the lyre and its larger variant, the zither, both
constructed with five a seven strings (later eleven). They were played as solo instrument but
were also used to accompany singers in the recitation of epic poems. Dionysos, god of wine,
of dance was worshiped with the use of the aulos, an instrument of simple or duple reed, a
lot of times with two tubes that was characterized by a strident and penetrating sound
associated with the type of poem, the dithyramb, that is supposed to be the origin of the
greek theatre.
In the Medieval Ages, the social classes were extremely divided being that peasants and
serfs constituted 90% of the population. In the France, emerges the tradition of troubadours
and trouvres in which they sung songs that dealt mainly with themes of chivalry and courtly
love. Most were metaphysical, intellectual, and formulaic. The instruments that accompanied
the voice were primarily the Lute, the Rebec, the Psaltery and some wind instruments like the
recorder and the bagpipe. The ecclesiastic side developed the neumatic notation that was
used to write patterns of relative pitches used in Gregorian chant. The most prominent of
the composers who contributed to the advance of polyphony and notation, later on in this
period, was Guillaume de Machaut.
The music of the Renascence was dominated by the church and its ceremonies. In that
sense, the Messe became the most important service and music one form of expressing

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devotion to God where a chorus of men and boys sung the parts of the Messe in polyphonic
singing. Some composers who improved this gender were Dufay, Ockeghem and Josquin des
Prez. The most important composer of this period was Palestrina, that also worked with
secular music, as the madrigals. By the end of this period, the opera was already in
development.
The Baroque Era starts about the beginning of the 17th Century (1600-1750). To cover
the needs of the bourgeois for public music, it were created locals in many cities with offices
for town musicians, and by the end of the 16th century which town had a conductor. The
music written resembled church music but was often easier for "less educated people. In this
period, we see the emergence of the gender concerto for solo instruments and some of those
become more prominent. The Violin, the Guitar, the Harpsichord, the Cornet and the
Clavichord were some that were specially used. One of the most important composers in the
first years was Vivaldi who wrote more than 500 concerts (about 230 for violin and orchestra),
46 operas, 90 sonatas and large amounts of sacred and chamber music. Later on, there were
two more composers that marked this period a singular and most important one in music
history: Johan Sebastian Bach, considered by many the best composer of all times, and Georg
Hndel.
About the middle of the 18th Century, the music started to be cultivated at home by the
bourgeois and a lot of them could read and play music. It was considered fashionable to have,
at least, a pianoforte at home in the music room to entertain. Women were taught the
pianoforte, and the harp in wealthier families, and it was one of the topics of an
accomplished woman to play and sing really well. For that motive, the music started to
become simpler, in some ways, and more expressive. One of the genders that emerged was
the ballad. On the other hand, there were developed the first symphonies, at the hand of
Haydn and the Operas of Mozart became really successful. In the passage of the century,
with the revolutions in all Europe and America, the ideal society based on freedom, equality
and fraternity brought a decline in the church that explained the undesirable and could not
be moved by reason. Beethoven expresses really well this feelings of destiny and revolution in
its music that is considered the transition between classical and romantic music.
These revolutions brought a new industrialized world to the 19th Century. The music
also changed, although the instruments used stayed mostly the same. Another development
that had an effect on music was the rise of the middle class. Composers, before this period,
lived on the patronage of the aristocracy. Many times their audience was small, composed

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mostly of the upper class and individuals who were knowledgeable about music. As it was,
composers turned their attention to the expression of intense feelings in their music. Schubert
and Schumann developed the lied, Chopin and Liszt were considered the piano virtuosos,
Berlioz wrote his program symphony and Mendelssohn brought back Bachs music. The
Opera saw a great modification, first with Verdi in Italia and after with Wagner in Germany.
In the early 20th century, many composers continued to work in forms and in a musical
language that derived from the 19th century. However, modernism in music became
increasingly prominent and important. Among the most important modernists were Scriabin,
Debussy, Mahler and Richard Strauss, who experimented with form, tonality and
orchestration. Vienna, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, became a multicultural
meeting place with a vibrant artistic and intellectual climate, although with a lot of rivalry
between the radical and conservative parties. Schnberg developed the twelve-tone system,
determining the equality of all tones, system adopted by his students Alban Berg and Webern.
In Russia, Stravinsky was writing his ballets, very modern in music, choreography and
settings.

Sign Count: 6037

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