1.
The Musical Offering
–
The Ricercar a 6, a six-voice fugue which is the highpoint of the entire work, was put forward by the musicologist Charles Rosen as the most significant piano composition in history. This ricercar is also called the Prussian Fugue, a name used by Bach himself. The composition features in the section of Douglas Hofstadters Pulitzer Prize winning book Gödel, Escher. The collection has its roots in a meeting between Bach and Frederick II on May 7,1747, the meeting, taking place at the Kings residence in Potsdam, came about because Bachs son Carl Philipp Emanuel was employed there as court musician. Frederick wanted to show the elder Bach a novelty, the fortepiano, the King owned several of the experimental instruments being developed by Gottfried Silbermann. He did so, but Frederick then challenged him to improvise a fugue on the same theme. The public present thought this was just a malicious caprice by the King, intent upon humiliating philosophers, Bach answered that he would need to work the score and send it to the King afterwards. He then returned to Leipzig to write out the Thema Regium, Two months after the meeting, Bach inscribed the piece Regis Iussu Cantio Et Reliqua Canonica Arte Resoluta, the first letters of which spell out the word ricercar, a well-known genre of the time. The thema regium appears as the theme for the first and last movements of Sonata No. Humphrey F. Sassoon has compared the theme issued by Frederick II to the theme of an A minor fugue by George Frideric Handel, published in Six fugues or voluntarys for organ or harpsichord. Sassoon notes that Handels theme is much shorter than the Kings, nevertheless, the Ricercar a 6 is longer and incomparably more complex than Handels fugue. The ricercars and canons have been realised in various ways, the ricercars are more frequently performed on keyboard than the canons, which are often played by an ensemble of chamber musicians, with instrumentation comparable to that of the trio sonata. The Canones super Thema Regium are also played together. These compositions are called the riddle fugues, the performer is/are supposed to interpret the music as a multi-part piece, while solving the riddle. The canon per tonos pits a variant of the theme against a two-voice canon at the fifth. However, it modulates and finishes one whole tone higher than it started out at and it thus has no final cadence. Among the theories about external sources of influence, Michael Marissen’s is the best-founded, marissen sees an incongruity between the official dedication to Frederick the Great and the effect of the music, which is often melancholy, even mournful. The trio sonata is a sonata da chiesa, whose style was at odds with Frederick’s secular tastes
The Musical Offering
–
Contents
2.
Johann Sebastian Bach
–
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. Bachs compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor and his music is revered for its technical command, artistic beauty, and intellectual depth. He is now regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. Bach was born in Eisenach, in the duchy of Saxe-Eisenach and his father Johann Ambrosius Bach was the director of the town musicians, and all of his uncles were professional musicians. His father probably taught him to play the violin and harpsichord, apparently at his own initiative, Bach attended St. Michaels School in Lüneburg for two years. He received the title of Royal Court Composer from Augustus III in 1736, Bachs health and vision declined in 1749, and he died on 28 July 1750. Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, the capital of the duchy of Saxe-Eisenach, in present-day Germany and he was the son of Johann Ambrosius Bach, the director of the town musicians, and Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt. He was the eighth and youngest child of Johann Ambrosius, who taught him violin. His uncles were all musicians, whose posts included church organists, court chamber musicians. One uncle, Johann Christoph Bach, introduced him to the organ, Bachs mother died in 1694, and his father died eight months later. The 10-year-old Bach moved in with his eldest brother, Johann Christoph Bach, there he studied, performed, and copied music, including his own brothers, despite being forbidden to do so because scores were so valuable and private and blank ledger paper of that type was costly. He received valuable teaching from his brother, who instructed him on the clavichord, also during this time he was taught theology, Latin, Greek, French and Italian at the local gymnasium. By 3 April 1700 Bach and his schoolfriend Georg Erdmann–who was two years Bachs elder–were enrolled in the prestigious St. Michaels School in Lüneburg, some two weeks travel north of Ohrdruf and their journey was probably undertaken mostly on foot. His two years there were critical in exposing Bach to a range of European culture. In addition to singing in the choir, he played the Schools three-manual organ and he came into contact with sons of aristocrats from northern Germany, sent to the highly selective school to prepare for careers in other disciplines. While in Lüneburg, Bach had access to St. Johns Church and possibly used the famous organ from 1553. His role there is unclear, but it probably included menial, non-musical duties, despite strong family connections and a musically enthusiastic employer, tension built up between Bach and the authorities after several years in the post. Bach was dissatisfied with the standard of singers in the choir and he called one of them a Zippel Fagottist
Johann Sebastian Bach
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Portrait of Bach, aged 61, by
E. G. Haussmann, 1748
Johann Sebastian Bach
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Johann Ambrosius Bach, Bach's father
Johann Sebastian Bach
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St. George's Church in Eisenach, where Bach was baptised. Portal inscription: "
Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott ".
Johann Sebastian Bach
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Organs Bach played in Arnstadt
3.
Music
–
Music is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound organized in time. The common elements of music are pitch, rhythm, dynamics, different styles or types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements. The word derives from Greek μουσική, Ancient Greek and Indian philosophers defined music as tones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmonies. Common sayings such as the harmony of the spheres and it is music to my ears point to the notion that music is often ordered and pleasant to listen to. However, 20th-century composer John Cage thought that any sound can be music, saying, for example, There is no noise, the creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of music vary according to culture and social context. There are many types of music, including music, traditional music, art music, music written for religious ceremonies. For example, it can be hard to draw the line between some early 1980s hard rock and heavy metal, within the arts, music may be classified as a performing art, a fine art or as an auditory art. People may make music as a hobby, like a teen playing cello in a youth orchestra, the word derives from Greek μουσική. According to the Online Etymological Dictionary, the music is derived from mid-13c. Musike, from Old French musique and directly from Latin musica the art of music and this is derived from the. Greek mousike of the Muses, from fem. of mousikos pertaining to the Muses, from Mousa Muse. In classical Greece, any art in which the Muses presided, Music is composed and performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, or as an entertainment product for the marketplace. With the advent of recording, records of popular songs. Some music lovers create mix tapes of their songs, which serve as a self-portrait. An environment consisting solely of what is most ardently loved, amateur musicians can compose or perform music for their own pleasure, and derive their income elsewhere. Professional musicians sometimes work as freelancers or session musicians, seeking contracts and engagements in a variety of settings, There are often many links between amateur and professional musicians. Beginning amateur musicians take lessons with professional musicians, in community settings, advanced amateur musicians perform with professional musicians in a variety of ensembles such as community concert bands and community orchestras. However, there are many cases where a live performance in front of an audience is also recorded and distributed. Live concert recordings are popular in classical music and in popular music forms such as rock, where illegally taped live concerts are prized by music lovers
Music
–
A painting on an Ancient Greek vase depicts a music lesson (c. 510 BC).
Music
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Jean-Gabriel Ferlan performing at a 2008 concert at the collège-lycée Saint-François Xavier
Music
–
The composer
Michel Richard Delalande, pen in hand.
Music
–
Funk places most of its emphasis on rhythm and
groove, with entire songs based around a
vamp on a single chord. Pictured are the influential funk musicians
George Clinton and
Parliament Funkadelic in 2006.
4.
Counterpoint
–
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between voices that are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradition, strongly developing during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period, the term originates from the Latin punctus contra punctum meaning point against point. Counterpoint generally involves musical lines with strongly independent identities, Counterpoint has been used to designate a voice or even an entire composition. In each era, contrapuntally organized music writing has been subject to rules—sometimes strict ones, chords are the simultaneous soundings of notes, whereas harmonic, vertical features are considered secondary and almost incidental when counterpoint is the predominant textural element. Counterpoint focuses on melodic interaction—only secondarily on the produced by that interaction. In the words of John Rahn, It is hard to write a beautiful song and it is harder to write several individually beautiful songs that, when sung simultaneously, sound as a more beautiful polyphonic whole. The way that is accomplished in detail is, some examples of related compositional techniques include, the round, the canon, and perhaps the most complex contrapuntal convention, the fugue. All of these are examples of imitative counterpoint, Species counterpoint generally offers less freedom to the composer than other types of counterpoint and therefore is called a strict counterpoint. The student gradually attains the ability to free counterpoint according to the given rules at the time. The idea is at least as old as 1532, when Giovanni Maria Lanfranco described a concept in his Scintille di musica. Zacconi, unlike later theorists, included a few extra contrapuntal techniques, a succession of later theorists quite closely imitated Fuxs seminal work, often with some small and idiosyncratic modifications in the rules. The following rules apply to melodic writing in each species, for each part, if the final is approached from below, then the leading tone must be raised in a minor key, but not in Phrygian or Hypophrygian mode. Thus, in the Dorian mode on D, a C♯ is necessary at the cadence, permitted melodic intervals are the perfect fourth, fifth, and octave, as well as the major and minor second, major and minor third, and ascending minor sixth. The ascending minor sixth must be followed by motion downwards. The three notes should be from the triad, if this is impossible, they should not outline more than one octave. In general, do not write more than two skips in the same direction, if writing a skip in one direction, it is best to proceed after the skip with motion in the other direction. The interval of a tritone in three notes should be avoided as is the interval of a seventh in three notes, there must be a climax or high point in the line countering the cantus firmus. This usually occurs somewhere in the middle of exercise and must occur on a strong beat, an outlining of a seventh is avoided within a single line moving in the same direction
Counterpoint
–
This is an example of a double passing tone in which the two middle notes are a dissonant interval from the cantus firmus. A fourth and a diminished fifth.
Counterpoint
–
Extract from
Fugue no. 17 in A-flat major,
BWV 862, from book 1 of
The Well-Tempered Clavier by
Bach Play (
help ·
info)
Counterpoint
–
This is an example of a descending double neighbor figure against a cantus firmus.
Counterpoint
–
This is an example of an ascending double neighbor figure against a cantus firmus.
5.
Musical composition
–
People who create new compositions are called composers in classical music. In popular music and traditional music, the creators of new songs are usually called songwriters, with songs, Composition is the act or practice of creating a song or other piece of music. In popular music and traditional music, songwriting may involve the creation of an outline of the song, called the lead sheet. In classical music, orchestration is typically done by the composer, in some cases, a pop or traditional songwriter may not use written notation at all, and instead compose the song in her mind and then play, sing and/or record it from memory. In jazz and popular music, notable recordings by influential performers are given the weight that written or printed scores play in classical music. Although a musical composition often uses musical notation and has a single author, a piece of music can also be composed with words, images, or, since the 20th century, with computer programs that explain or notate how the singer or musician should create musical sounds. A more commonly known example of chance-based music is the sound of wind chimes jingling in a breeze, although in the 2000s, composition is considered to consist of the manipulation of each aspect of music, according to Jean-Benjamin de Laborde, Composition consists in two things only. The first is the ordering and disposing of several sounds. in such a manner that their succession pleases the ear and this is what the Ancients called melody. The second is the rendering audible of two or more simultaneous sounds in such a manner that their combination is pleasant and this is what we call harmony, and it alone merits the name of composition. In classical music, a piece of music exists in the form of a composition in musical notation or as a live acoustic event. Since the invention of recording, a classical piece or popular song may also exist as a recording. If music is composed before being performed, music can be performed from memory, by reading written musical notation, compositions comprise a huge variety of musical elements, which vary widely from between genres and cultures. Popular music genres after about 1960 make extensive use of electric and electronic instruments, such as electric guitar, electric and electronic instruments are used in contemporary classical music compositions and concerts, albeit to a lesser degree than in popular music. Music from the Baroque music era, for example, used only acoustic and mechanical such as strings, brass, woodwinds, timpani and keyboard instruments such as harpsichord. A 2000s-era pop band may use electric guitar played with electronic effects through a guitar amplifier, different musical styles permit singers or performers to use various amounts of musical improvisation during the performance of a composed song or piece. In free jazz, the performers may play without any sheet music, improvisation is the act of composing musical elements spontaneously during the performance, as opposed to having a composer write down the music beforehand. Improvisation was an important skill during the Baroque music era, instrumentalists and singers were expected to be able to improvise ornaments, during the classical period, solo instrumentalists were expected to be able to improvise virtuostic cadenzas during a concerto. During the Romantic music era, composers began writing out ornaments and cadenzas, in contemporary classical music, some composers began writing pieces which indicate that the performer should improvise during certain sections
Musical composition
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People composing music
Musical composition
–
Scherzo in A flat (
Borodin) Play (
help ·
info)
6.
Voice (music)
–
A part is a strand or melody of music played by an individual instrument or voice within a larger work. Parts may be referred to as a part or an inner part. Part-writing is the composition of parts in consideration of harmony and counterpoint, in the context of polyphonic composition the term voice may be used instead of part to denote a single melodic line or textural layer. The term is generic, and is not meant to imply that the line should necessarily be vocal in character, allen Forte defines a voice thus, By voice we mean the succession of notes performed by a single human voice or single-line instrument. Codex Calixtinus contains the earliest extant decipherable part music, part writing is derived from four-voice chorales written by J. S. The late baroque era composer wrote a total of 371 harmonized chorales, today most students reference Albert Riemenschneiders 1941 compilation of Bach chorales. Part writing is a technique that involves writing a piece of music for one or more parts. Briefly, it, may be defined as Part-writing and it has also been defined, happily, as the art of combining melodies. In other words, laws of combination, and laws of progression, individual, in musical forms, a part may refer to a subdivision in the structure of a piece. This is for example the case in the widely used ternary form, in this form the first and third parts are musically identical, or very nearly so, while the second part in some way provides a contrast with them. In this meaning of part, similar terms used are section, strain, or turn
Voice (music)
7.
Musical theme
–
In music, a subject is the material, usually a recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is based. In forms other than the fugue this may be known as the theme, a subject may be perceivable as a complete musical expression in itself, separate from the work in which it is found. In contrast to an idea or motif, a subject is usually a phrase or period. The Encyclopédie Fasquelle defines a theme as Any element, motif, Thematic changes and processes are often structurally important, and theorists such as Rudolph Reti have created analysis from a purely thematic perspective. Fred Lerdahl describes thematic relations as associational and thus outside his cognitive-based generative theorys scope of analysis, Music based on a single theme is called monothematic, while music based on several themes is called polythematic. Most fugues are monothematic and most pieces in sonata form are polythematic, in the exposition of a fugue, the principal theme is announced successively in each voice – sometimes in a transposed form. In some compositions, a subject is announced and then a second melody, sometimes called a countersubject or secondary theme. Music without subjects/themes, or without recognizable, repeating, and developing subjects/themes, is called athematic, examples include the pre-twelve-tone or early atonal works of Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Alban Berg, and Alois Hába. Schoenberg once said that, intoxicated by the enthusiasm of having freed music from the shackles of tonality, in fact, I … believed that now music could renounce motivic features and remain coherent and comprehensible nevertheless. Examples in the works of later composers include Polyphonie X and Structures I by Pierre Boulez, Sonata for Two Pianos by Karel Goeyvaerts, and Punkte by Karlheinz Stockhausen. In a fugue, when the first voice has completed the subject, and the voice is playing the answer. The countersubject usually contrasts with the subject/answer phrase shape, in a fugue, a countersubject is the continuation of counterpoint in the voice that began with the subject, occurring against the answer. It is not usually regarded as a feature of fugue. Attacco Cell Figure Formula composition Leitmotif Thematic transformation Benward, Bruce, Music in Theory and Practice, eighth edition, vol. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie, the Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham. Une nouvelle grammaire musicale, prémices et premiers essais / A New Musical Grammar, Principles, la Scena Musicale 6, no.3. Lerdahl, Fred. Cognitive Constraints on Compositional Systems, Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press. Encyclopédie de la musique,3 vols, Music and Discourse, Toward a Semiology of Music, translated by Caroline Abbate
Musical theme
–
First theme of
Haydn's Sonata in G Major,
Hob. XVI: G1, I,
mm. 1–12 Play (
help ·
info) (Benward & Saker 2009, p. 136)
8.
Imitation (music)
–
In music, imitation is the repetition of a melody in a polyphonic texture shortly after its first appearance in a different voice. The melody may vary through transposition, inversion, or otherwise, imitation helps provide unity to a composition. When a phrase recurs exactly as before, it is called strict imitation, a round is thus an example of strict imitation. Repetition is defined as the repetition of a phrase or melody often with variations in key, rhythm, different authors define imitation somewhat differently, Real imitation An imitation with no modifications except for the usual diatonic adjustment of half and whole steps. The exact transposition of a melody at different pitch levels, imitation The repetition of a melody or melodic group in close succession, but in a different voice, the repetition of a melody at a different pitch level in a polyphonic texture. Imitation The restatement in close succession of figures in different voices in polyphonic textures. In counterpoint, imitation occurs in a voice, usually at a different pitch. A short phrase treated imitatively is called an attacco, in European classical music, imitative writing was featured heavily in the highly polyphonic compositions of the Renaissance and Baroque eras. A more improvisatory form of imitation can be found in Arab, in pop music a much clichéd form of imitation consists of a background choir repeating — usually the last notes — of the lead singers last line. Melodic pattern Sequence Canon Fugue Call and response Stretto Augmentation Diminution Retrograde
Imitation (music)
–
Example of a tonal answer in
J.S. Bach's Fugue no. 16 in G minor, BWV 861, from the
Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1. (Listen) The first note of the subject, D, (in red) is a prominent dominant note, demanding that the first note of the answer (in blue) sounds as the tonic, G, rather than A.
Imitation (music)
–
Imitation first at the octave then at the M6 in
Bartók 's "Chromatic Invention", Mikrokosmos, vol. III, no. 91, mm. 1-4 Play (
help ·
info).
9.
Exposition (music)
–
In musical form and analysis, exposition is the initial presentation of the thematic material of a musical composition, movement, or section. The use of the term implies that the material will be developed or varied. In sonata form, the exposition is the very first major section, incorporating at least one important modulation to the dominant or other secondary key and presenting the principal thematic material. In a fugue, the exposition is the statement of the subject in imitation by the voices, especially the first such statement. The term is most widely used as a convenience to denote a portion of a movement identified as an example of classical tonal sonata form. The exposition typically establishes the musics tonic key, and then modulates to, and ends in, if the exposition starts in a minor key, it typically modulates to the relative major key, or less commonly, the minor dominant. There are many exceptions—for example the exposition of the first movement of Beethovens Waldstein Sonata modulates from C major to the mediant E major, the exposition in classical symphonies is typically repeated, although there are many examples where the composer does not specify such a repeat. If the movement starts with a section, this introduction is not usually analysed as being part of the movements exposition. In many works of the Classical period and some of the Romantic era and this is something which is not always done in concert from the 20th Century onwards. A fugue usually has two sections, the exposition and the body. In the exposition, each voice plays its own adaptation of the theme, in either a subject or an answer, the exposition usually ends on either a I or V chord, and is then followed by the body
Exposition (music)
–
Exposition
Haydn's Sonata in G major,
Hob. XVI: G1, I, mm. 1-28 Play (
help ·
info).
10.
Development (music)
–
In classical music, musical development is a process by which a musical idea is communicated in the course of a composition. It refers to the transformation and restatement of initial material, development is often contrasted with musical variation, which is a slightly different means to the same end. Development is carried out upon portions of material treated in many different presentations and combinations at a time, listeners may apprehend a tension between expected and real results, which is one element of surprise in music. In sonata form, the section is called the development. Typically, in section, material from the exposition section is developed. In some older texts, this section may be referred to as free fantasia, according to the Oxford Companion to Music there are several ways of developing a theme. These include, The division of a theme into parts, each of which can be developed in any of the ways or recombined in a new way. Similarly, two or more themes can be developed in combination, in cases, themes are composed with this possibility in mind. Alteration of pitch intervals while retaining the original rhythm, rhythmic displacement, so that the metrical stress occurs at a different point in the otherwise unchanged theme. Sequence, either diatonically within a key or through a succession of keys, the Scherzo movement from Beethovens Piano Sonata No.15 in D major, Op 28 shows a number of these processes at work on a small scale. Developing variation Fugue#Development Secondary development Sequence
Development (music)
–
Development in
Haydn's sonata in G major,
Hob. XVI: G1, I, mm. 29-53 Play (
help ·
info).
11.
Tonic (music)
–
The triad formed on the tonic note, the tonic chord, is thus the most significant chord in these styles of music. More generally, the tonic is the pitch upon which all other pitches of a piece are hierarchically referenced, scales are named after their tonics, thus the tonic of the scale of C is the note C. Simple folk music and traditional songs may begin and end on the tonic note, in very much conventionally tonal music, harmonic analysis will reveal a broad prevalence of the primary harmonies, tonic, dominant, and subdominant, and especially the first two of these. The tonic is often confused with the root, which is the note of a chord. The root of a chord is different from the tonic, because different types of chords have root notes. It is also represented with the Roman numeral I, two parallel keys have the same tonic. For example, in both C major and C minor, the tonic is C, however, relative keys have different tonics. For example, C major and A minor share a key signature that feature no sharps or flats, thus a pitch center may function referentially or contextually in an atonal context, often acting as axis or line of symmetry in an interval cycle. Pitch centricity was coined by Arthur Berger in his Problems of Pitch Organization in Stravinsky
Tonic (music)
–
Tonic (I) in
ii-V-I turnaround on C, found at the end of the
circle progression Play (
help ·
info)
12.
Recapitulation (music)
–
In music theory, the recapitulation is one of the sections of a movement written in sonata form. The recapitulation occurs after the development section, and typically presents once more the musical themes from the movements exposition. This material is most often recapitulated in the key of the movement. In some sonata form movements, the recapitulation presents an image of the movements exposition. However, many sonata form movements, even early examples, depart from this simple procedure, the composer of a sonata form movement may disguise the start of the recapitulation as an extension of the development section
Recapitulation (music)
–
Recapitulation.
Haydn's Sonata in G Major,
Hob. XVI: G1, I, mm. 58-80 Play (
help ·
info).
13.
Middle Ages
–
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
Middle Ages
–
The
Cross of Mathilde, a
crux gemmata made for
Mathilde, Abbess of Essen (973–1011), who is shown kneeling before the Virgin and Child in the
enamel plaque. The body of Christ is slightly later. Probably made in
Cologne or
Essen, the cross demonstrates several medieval techniques:
cast figurative sculpture,
filigree, enamelling, gem polishing and setting, and the reuse of Classical
cameos and
engraved gems.
Middle Ages
–
A late Roman statue
depicting the four Tetrarchs, now in
Venice
Middle Ages
–
Coin of
Theodoric
Middle Ages
–
Mosaic showing
Justinian with
the bishop of
Ravenna, bodyguards, and courtiers
14.
Canon (music)
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In music, a canon is a contrapuntal compositional technique or texture that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration. The initial melody is called the leader, while the imitative melody, the follower must imitate the leader, either as an exact replication of its rhythms and intervals or some transformation thereof. Repeating canons in which all voices are identical are called rounds—Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Why are some composers fascinated with canons, Canons are not unlike puzzles and other brainteasers, from just a few rules, you can achieve so much. Plus, canons have the appeal of any puzzle, there is the initial challenge, the mystery of solving it, and the feeling of satisfaction you get from completing it. Accompanied canon is a canon accompanied by one or more independent parts which do not take part in imitating the melody. Only in the 16th century did the word canon begin to be used to describe the strict, imitative texture created by such a procedure. The word is derived from the Greek κανών, Latinised as canon, which means law or norm and this rule was usually given verbally, but could also be supplemented by special signs in the score, sometimes themselves called canoni. Canons featured in the music of the Italian Trecento and the 14th century music of France, a famous example from Italy is “Tosto che l’Alba” by Gheraldo da Firenze. In both France and Italy, canons were often used to illustrate hunting songs. The Italian word for hunting is “caccia”, the French word “chace. ”A well-known French Chace is the anonymous “Se je chant”. ”Guillaume de Machaut also used the 3-voice “chace” form in movements from his masterpiece Le Lai de la Fontaine. Referring to the setting of the stanza of this work. Like the Trinity itself, a well-wrought chace can be far more than the sum of its parts, and this particular chace is possible Machaut’s greatest feat of subtilitas. In Dufay’s song “Resvelons nous, amoureux”, the two voices are in canon, but the upper part is what David Fallows describes as a “florid top line”. Bach and Handel featured canons in their works,2, Beethoven’s works feature a number of passages in canon. The following comes from his Symphony No,4, Antony Hopkins describes the above as “a delightfully naïve canon. ”An even subtler example comes from Beethoven’s Piano Sonata 29 Op.106. Wilfrid Mellers describes the section of the scherzo movement, as “mysterious”, with a metrical ambiguity that “makes the melodic phrases irregular. ”When the tune is repeated, it is “now in the left hand. In canon with the bass line. ”Mellers concludes, “Here contrapuntal oneness serves to control any airy floating in the asymmetry, it is not merely the wide-spread texture that sounds hollow
Canon (music)
–
Contrived example of a canon in three voices at the unison, two beats apart. Play (
help ·
info)
15.
Renaissance
–
The Renaissance was a period in European history, from the 14th to the 17th century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It started as a movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe. This new thinking became manifest in art, architecture, politics, science, Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the recycled knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century. In politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy, the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th century. Other major centres were northern Italian city-states such as Venice, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, the word Renaissance, literally meaning Rebirth in French, first appeared in English in the 1830s. The word also occurs in Jules Michelets 1855 work, Histoire de France, the word Renaissance has also been extended to other historical and cultural movements, such as the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century. The Renaissance was a movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism, however, a subtle shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life. In addition, many Greek Christian works, including the Greek New Testament, were back from Byzantium to Western Europe. Political philosophers, most famously Niccolò Machiavelli, sought to describe life as it really was. Others see more competition between artists and polymaths such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello, and Masaccio for artistic commissions as sparking the creativity of the Renaissance. Yet it remains much debated why the Renaissance began in Italy, accordingly, several theories have been put forward to explain its origins. During the Renaissance, money and art went hand in hand, Artists depended entirely on patrons while the patrons needed money to foster artistic talent. Wealth was brought to Italy in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries by expanding trade into Asia, silver mining in Tyrol increased the flow of money. Luxuries from the Eastern world, brought home during the Crusades, increased the prosperity of Genoa, unlike with Latin texts, which had been preserved and studied in Western Europe since late antiquity, the study of ancient Greek texts was very limited in medieval Western Europe. One of the greatest achievements of Renaissance scholars was to bring this entire class of Greek cultural works back into Western Europe for the first time since late antiquity, Arab logicians had inherited Greek ideas after they had invaded and conquered Egypt and the Levant. Their translations and commentaries on these ideas worked their way through the Arab West into Spain and Sicily and this work of translation from Islamic culture, though largely unplanned and disorganized, constituted one of the greatest transmissions of ideas in history
Renaissance
–
David, by
Michelangelo (
Accademia di Belle Arti,
Florence) is a masterpiece of Renaissance and world art.
Renaissance
–
Renaissance
Renaissance
–
Leonardo da Vinci 's
Vitruvian Man (c. 1490) shows clearly the effect writers of Antiquity had on Renaissance thinkers. Based on the specifications in
Vitruvius '
De architectura (1st century BC), Leonardo tried to draw the perfectly proportioned man.
Renaissance
–
Portrait of a young woman (c. 1480-85) (
Simonetta Vespucci) by
Sandro Botticelli
16.
Subject (music)
–
In music, a subject is the material, usually a recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is based. In forms other than the fugue this may be known as the theme, a subject may be perceivable as a complete musical expression in itself, separate from the work in which it is found. In contrast to an idea or motif, a subject is usually a phrase or period. The Encyclopédie Fasquelle defines a theme as Any element, motif, Thematic changes and processes are often structurally important, and theorists such as Rudolph Reti have created analysis from a purely thematic perspective. Fred Lerdahl describes thematic relations as associational and thus outside his cognitive-based generative theorys scope of analysis, Music based on a single theme is called monothematic, while music based on several themes is called polythematic. Most fugues are monothematic and most pieces in sonata form are polythematic, in the exposition of a fugue, the principal theme is announced successively in each voice – sometimes in a transposed form. In some compositions, a subject is announced and then a second melody, sometimes called a countersubject or secondary theme. Music without subjects/themes, or without recognizable, repeating, and developing subjects/themes, is called athematic, examples include the pre-twelve-tone or early atonal works of Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Alban Berg, and Alois Hába. Schoenberg once said that, intoxicated by the enthusiasm of having freed music from the shackles of tonality, in fact, I … believed that now music could renounce motivic features and remain coherent and comprehensible nevertheless. Examples in the works of later composers include Polyphonie X and Structures I by Pierre Boulez, Sonata for Two Pianos by Karel Goeyvaerts, and Punkte by Karlheinz Stockhausen. In a fugue, when the first voice has completed the subject, and the voice is playing the answer. The countersubject usually contrasts with the subject/answer phrase shape, in a fugue, a countersubject is the continuation of counterpoint in the voice that began with the subject, occurring against the answer. It is not usually regarded as a feature of fugue. Attacco Cell Figure Formula composition Leitmotif Thematic transformation Benward, Bruce, Music in Theory and Practice, eighth edition, vol. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie, the Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham. Une nouvelle grammaire musicale, prémices et premiers essais / A New Musical Grammar, Principles, la Scena Musicale 6, no.3. Lerdahl, Fred. Cognitive Constraints on Compositional Systems, Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press. Encyclopédie de la musique,3 vols, Music and Discourse, Toward a Semiology of Music, translated by Caroline Abbate
Subject (music)
–
First theme of
Haydn's Sonata in G Major,
Hob. XVI: G1, I,
mm. 1–12 Play (
help ·
info) (Benward & Saker 2009, p. 136)
17.
Coda (music)
–
Coda is a term used in music primarily to designate a passage that brings a piece to an end. Technically, it is an expanded cadence and it may be as simple as a few measures, or as complex as an entire section. The presence of a coda as an element in a movement is especially clear in works written in particular musical forms. Codas were commonly used in both form and variation movements during the Classical era. In a sonata movement, the recapitulation section will, in general, follow the exposition in its thematic content. In works in form, the coda occurs following the last variation. For one famous example, see Symphony No.8, codetta has a similar purpose to the coda, but on a smaller scale, concluding a section of a work instead of the work as a whole. A typical codetta concludes the exposition and recapitulation sections of a work in sonata form, following the second theme, thus, in the exposition, it usually appears in the secondary key, but, in the recapitulation, in the primary key. The codetta ordinarily closes with a cadence in the appropriate key. If the exposition is repeated, the codetta is also, but sometimes it has its ending slightly changed, cauda, a Latin word meaning tail, edge or trail is the root of coda and is used in the study of conductus of the 12th and 13th centuries. The cauda was a long melisma on one of the last syllables of the text, conducti were traditionally divided into two groups, conductus cum cauda and conductus sine cauda, based on the presence of the melisma. Thus, the cauda provided a role, also similar to the modern coda. Many songs in rock and other genres of music have sections identifiable as codas. A coda in these genres is sometimes referred to as an outro, while in jazz, modern church music, in music notation, the coda symbol, which resembles a set of crosshairs, is used as a navigation marker, similar to the dal Segno sign. It is used where the exit from a section is within that section rather than at the end. The instruction To Coda indicates that, upon reaching that point during the final repetition, for example, this can be used to provide a special ending for the final verse of a song. Coda Da capo Epilogue Repeat sign Transition Fade This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
Coda (music)
–
Coda sign
18.
Ricercar
–
A ricercar is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. The term means to search out, and many serve a preludial function to search out the key or mode of a following piece. A ricercar may explore the permutations of a motif. For example, Ricercar sopra Benedictus might develop motifs from a motet titled Benedictus, the term is also used to designate an etude or study that explores a technical device in playing an instrument, or singing. In its most common usage, it refers to an early kind of fugue. However the term has a more varied historical usage. In the sixteenth century, the word ricercar could refer to types of compositions. The second type of ricercar, the imitative, contrapuntal type, was to prove the more important historically, marco DallAquila was known for polyphonic ricercars. Examples of both types of ricercars can be found in the works of Girolamo Frescobaldi, e. g. in his Fiori musicali, gödel, Escher, Bach, An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter, which includes a section entitled Six-part Ricercar. Ricercar, Fugue, Counterpoint in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ISBN 1-56159-174-2 Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. ISBN 0-393-09530-4 Manfred Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era, ISBN 0-393-09745-5 Ursula Kirkendale, The Source for Bachs Musical Offering, Journal of the American Musicological Society 33, 99-141. The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, ed, cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press,1986. ISBN 0-674-61525-5 Arthur J. Ness, Ricercar, Harvard Dictionary of Music, fourth edition, edited by Don Michael Randel, cambridge, Belknap Press for Harvard University Press,2003. The dictionary definition of ricercar at Wiktionary Petrucci Music Library Ricercar Collection
Ricercar
–
Subject of Bach's six-part ricercar from his
Musical Offering.
19.
Johann Jakob Froberger
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Johann Jakob Froberger was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. Among the most famous composers of the era, he was influential in developing the form of the suite of dances in his keyboard works. His harpsichord pieces are highly idiomatic and programmatic, only two of Frobergers many compositions were published during his lifetime. Froberger forbade publication of his manuscripts, restricting access to his patrons and friends. After his death the manuscripts went to his patroness Sibylla, Duchess of Württtemberg, Johann Jakob Froberger was baptized on 19 May 1616 in Stuttgart. The exact date of his birth is unknown and his family came from Halle, where his grandfather Simon lived and his father Basilius was born. In 1599 Basilius moved to Stuttgart and became a tenor in the Württemberg court chapel, at some point before 1605 he married Anna Schmid, who came from a Schwabian family living in Stuttgart. By the time Johann Jakob was born, his fathers career was already flourishing, of his eleven children with Anna, four became musicians, and so it is likely that Johann Jakob received his first music lessons from his father. Little is known about his education, though. Basilius Frobergers music library probably also helped in Johann Jakobs education, the Hofkapelle Stuttgart was disbanded in 1634 in the wake of the Protestants defeat in the Battle of Nördlingen. In 1637 Basilius Froberger, his wife and one of his daughters died of plague, Johann Jakob and his brother Isaac sold their fathers music library to the Württemberg court, the same year Johann Jakob became court organist in Vienna, assisting Wolfgang Ebner. In June he was granted a leave and a stipend to go to Rome to study under Frescobaldi, Froberger spent the next three years in Italy and, like many other musicians who went to study there, apparently converted to Catholicism. He returned to Vienna in 1641 and served as organist and chamber musician until the fall of 1645 and it was previously thought that Froberger went to study under Giacomo Carissimi, but recent research shows that he most probably studied with Athanasius Kircher in Rome. If so, Frobergers intention must have been acquiring mastery of composition of the prima pratica. Sometime during 1648–49 Froberger might have met Johann Kaspar Kerll, in 1649 Froberger travelled back to Austria. On his way back he stopped in Florence and Mantua to show the arca musurgica, in September he arrived in Vienna and demonstrated the arca musurgica to the Emperor, an avid amateur musician, he also presented him with Libro Secondo, a collection of his own compositions. Also in September, Froberger played before William Swann, an English diplomat, following the Empress Maria Leopoldines death in August the courts musical activities were suspended. Froberger left the city and travelled widely for the four years, likely entrusted by the Emperor with some extra-musical duties in the fields of diplomacy
Johann Jakob Froberger
–
The fourth suite from one of the Vienna manuscripts.
Johann Jakob Froberger
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One of the toccatas from the Vienna manuscripts.
Johann Jakob Froberger
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Allemande faite en passant le Rhin dans une barque en grand péril. Note the 26 numbered passages with explanations of each.
20.
Johann Pachelbel
–
Johann Pachelbel was a German composer, organist, and teacher who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. Pachelbels music enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, he had many pupils and his became an model for the composers of south. Today, Pachelbel is best known for the Canon in D, as well as the Chaconne in F minor, the Toccata in E minor for organ, and the Hexachordum Apollinis and he preferred a lucid, uncomplicated contrapuntal style that emphasized melodic and harmonic clarity. Pachelbel explored many variation forms and associated techniques, which manifest themselves in various diverse pieces, Johann Pachelbel was born in 1653 in Nuremberg into a middle-class family, son of Johann Pachelbel, a wine dealer, and his second wife Anna Maria Mair. The exact date of Johanns birth is unknown, but since he was baptized on September 1, during his early youth, Pachelbel received musical training from Heinrich Schwemmer, a musician and music teacher who later became the cantor of St. Sebaldus Church. Some sources indicate that Pachelbel also studied with Georg Caspar Wecker, organist of the church and an important composer of the Nuremberg school. In any case, both Wecker and Schwemmer were trained by Johann Erasmus Kindermann, one of the founders of the Nuremberg musical tradition, financial difficulties forced Pachelbel to leave the university after less than a year. In order to complete his studies he became a student, in 1670. The school authorities were so impressed by Pachelbels academic qualifications that he was admitted above the normal quota. Pachelbel was also permitted to study music outside the Gymnasium and his teacher was Kaspar Prentz, once a student of Johann Caspar Kerll. Prentz left for Eichstätt in 1672, at the time, Vienna was the center of the vast Habsburg empire and had much cultural importance, its tastes in music were predominantly Italian. Several renowned cosmopolitan composers worked there, many of them contributing to the exchange of musical traditions in Europe, in particular, Johann Jakob Froberger served as court organist in Vienna until 1657 and was succeeded by Alessandro Poglietti. Georg Muffat lived in the city for some time, and, most importantly, while there, he may have known or even taught Pachelbel, whose music shows traces of Kerlls style. Pachelbel spent five years in Vienna, absorbing the music of Catholic composers from southern Germany and Italy. In some respects, Pachelbel is similar to Haydn, who too served as a musician of the Stephansdom in his youth. In 1677, Pachelbel moved to Eisenach, where he found employment as court organist under Kapellmeister Daniel Eberlin, in the employ of Johann Georg I and he met members of the Bach family in Eisenach, and became a close friend of Johann Ambrosius and tutor to his children. However, Pachelbel spent only one year in Eisenach, in 1678, Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Jena, Johann Georgs brother, died and during the period of mourning court musicians were greatly curtailed. He requested a testimonial from Eberlin, who wrote one for him, describing Pachelbel as a perfect, with this document, Pachelbel left Eisenach on May 18,1678
Johann Pachelbel
–
St. Sebaldus Church in Nuremberg, which played an important role in Pachelbel's life.
Johann Pachelbel
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Predigerkirche, the Erfurt church, where Pachelbel worked for 12 years, starting in 1678.
Johann Pachelbel
–
Pachelbel's autograph letter
Johann Pachelbel
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Pachelbel's tomb at the St. Rochus Cemetery (Rochuskirchhof) in Nuremberg
21.
Girolamo Frescobaldi
–
Girolamo Alessandro Frescobaldi was a musician from Ferrara, one of the most important composers of keyboard music in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. A child prodigy, Frescobaldi studied under Luzzasco Luzzaschi in Ferrara, but was influenced by a number of composers, including Ascanio Mayone, Giovanni Maria Trabaci. Girolamo Frescobaldi was appointed organist of St. Peters Basilica, a point of power for the Capella Giulia from 21 July 1608 until 1628. Frescobaldis printed collections contain some of the most influential music of the 17th century and his work influenced Johann Jakob Froberger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Henry Purcell, and countless other major composers. Pieces from his collection of liturgical organ music, Fiori musicali, were used as models of strict counterpoint as late as the 19th century. Frescobaldi was born in Ferrara, Italy and his father Filippo was a man of property, possibly an organist, since both Girolamo and his half-brother Cesare became organists. Frescobaldi studied under Luzzasco Luzzaschi, a composer of madrigals. Composers who visited Ferrara during the period included numerous important masters such as Claudio Monteverdi, John Dowland, Orlande de Lassus, Claudio Merulo, in his early twenties, Frescobaldi left his native Ferrara for Rome. Reports place Frescobaldi in that city as early as 1604, and he was the church organist at Santa Maria in Trastevere, recorded as “Girolamo Organista”, from January to May of that year. He was also employed by Guido Bentivoglio, the Archbishop of Rhodes and it was Frescobaldis only trip outside Italy. Although the court at Brussels was musically among the most important in Europe at the time, while abroad, Frescobaldi was elected on 21 July 1608 to succeed Ercole Pasquini as organist of St. Peters Basilica in Rome. Frescobaldi remained in Flanders, however, through the summer and did not return to Rome until 29 October and he took up his duties on 31 October and held the position, albeit intermittently, until his death. He also joined Enzo Bentivoglios musical establishment after the latter settled in Rome in 1608, a scandal involving competition between Bentivoglio and the Medici family eventually forced him to leave his position. Between 1610–13 Frescobaldi began to work for Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini and he remained in his service until after the death of Cardinal Aldobrandini in February 1621. On 18 February 1613 he married Orsola Travaglini, known as Orsola del Pino, the couple had five children, Francesco, Maddalena, Domenico, Stefano, and Caterina. In October 1614, Frescobaldi was approached by an agent of the Duke of Mantua, Frescobaldi was given such a good offer he agreed to enter his employ. However, at his arrival in Mantua the reception was so cold that Frescobaldi returned to Rome by April 1615 and he continued publishing his music, two editions of the first book of toccatas and a book of ricercars and canzonas appeared in 1615. In addition to his duties at the Basilica and the Aldobrandini establishment, Frescobaldi took pupils, the period from 1615-28 was Frescobaldi’s most productive time
Girolamo Frescobaldi
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Girolamo Frescobaldi
Girolamo Frescobaldi
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Ferrara, Frescobaldi's birthplace, in 1600
Girolamo Frescobaldi
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Facsimile of Aria detta la Frescobalda (1627), the earliest known set of variations on an original theme
Girolamo Frescobaldi
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Commemorative plaque at the birthplace of Girolamo Frescobaldi
22.
Dieterich Buxtehude
–
Dieterich Buxtehude was a Danish-German organist and composer of the Baroque period. His organ works represent a part of the standard organ repertoire and are frequently performed at recitals. He composed in a variety of vocal and instrumental idioms. Today, Buxtehude is considered one of the most important composers in Germany of the mid-Baroque and he is thought to have been born with the name Diderich Buxtehude. His parents were Johannes Buxtehude and Helle Jespersdatter and his father originated from Oldesloe in the Duchy of Holstein, which at that time was a part of the Danish Monarchy. Scholars dispute both the year and country of Dieterichs birth, although most now accept that he was born in 1637 in Helsingborg, Skåne and his obituary stated that he recognized Denmark as his native country, whence he came to our region, he lived about 70 years. Others, however, claim that he was born at Oldesloe, later in his life he Germanized his name and began signing documents Dieterich Buxtehude. His father — Johannes Buxtehude — was the organist at St. Olafs church in Helsingør, Dieterich was employed as an organist, first in Helsingborg, and then at Helsingør. St. Mary’s in Helsingør is the church where Buxtehude was employed that still has the organ in its original location. Buxtehudes last post, from 1668, was at the Marienkirche, there he succeeded Franz Tunder and followed in many of the footsteps of his predecessor. He married Tunders daughter Anna Margarethe in 1668 – it was not uncommon practice that a man marry the daughter of his predecessor in his occupation, Buxtehude and Anna Margarethe had seven daughters who were baptized at the Marienkirche, however, his first daughter died as an infant. After his retirement as organist at St Olafs Church, his father joined the family in Lübeck in 1673, Johannes died a year later, and Dieterich composed his funeral music. Dieterichs brother Peter, a barber, joined them in 1677, in 1703, Handel and Mattheson both traveled to meet Buxtehude, who was by then elderly and ready to retire. He offered his position in Lübeck to Handel and Mattheson but stipulated that the organist who ascended to it must marry his eldest daughter, both Handel and Mattheson turned the offer down and left the day after their arrival. In addition to his duties, Buxtehude, like his predecessor Tunder. His surviving church music is praised for its musical qualities rather than its progressive elements. The bulk of Buxtehudes oeuvre consists of music, which covers a wide variety of styles, and organ works. Chamber music constitutes a part of the surviving output, although the only chamber works Buxtehude published during his lifetime were fourteen chamber sonatas
Dieterich Buxtehude
–
The only surviving portrait of Buxtehude, playing a
viol, from A musical party by
Johannes Voorhout (1674)
Dieterich Buxtehude
–
Memorial plaque at
Buxtehude House in
Helsingør
Dieterich Buxtehude
–
This is
Buxtehude House. The spire of
St. Olaf's is in the background.
Dieterich Buxtehude
–
Another person in the same Voorhout painting, once was thought to be Buxtehude. But research reported by Snyder (2007) has questioned this.
23.
Sonata form
–
Sonata form is a musical structure consisting of three main sections, an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle of the 18th century, while it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement. In addition, the standard definition recognizes that an introduction and a coda may be present, each of the sections is often further divided or characterized by the particular means by which it accomplishes its function in the form. Accordingly, there is a body of theory on what unifies and distinguishes practice in the sonata form. According to the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, sonata form is the most important principle of form, or formal type. Although the Italian term sonata often refers to a piece in sonata form, conversely, in the late 18th century or Classical period, the title sonata is typically given to a work composed of three or four movements. Nonetheless, this multi-movement sequence is not what is meant by sonata form, the definition of sonata form in terms of musical elements sits uneasily between two historical eras. Perhaps the most extensive description of the sonata-form type of movement may have been given by the theorist H. C. Seen in this way, sonata form was closest to binary form, the model of the form that is often taught currently tends to be more thematically differentiated. Marx may be the originator of the sonata form. This model was derived from study and criticism of Beethovens piano sonatas, a sonata-allegro movement is divided into sections. Each section is felt to perform functions in the musical argument. It may begin with an introduction, which is, in general, in terms of structure, introductions are an upbeat before the main musical argument. The first required section is the exposition, the exposition presents the primary thematic material for the movement, one or two themes or theme groups, often in contrasting styles and in opposing keys, connected by a modulating transition. The exposition typically concludes with a theme, a codetta. The exposition is followed by the development where the harmonic and textural possibilities of the material are explored. The movement may conclude with a coda, beyond the final cadence of the recapitulation, the term sonata form is controversial and has been called misleading by scholars and composers almost from its inception. Its originators implied that there was a set template to which Classical and Romantic composers aspired, however, sonata form is currently viewed as a model for musical analysis, rather than compositional practice
Sonata form
24.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
–
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. Born in Salzburg, he showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood, already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, while visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame, during his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death. The circumstances of his death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons and he composed more than 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers, Ludwig van Beethoven composed his own early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote, posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 to Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria, née Pertl and this was the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, an ecclesiastic principality in what is now Austria, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. He was the youngest of seven children, five of whom died in infancy and his elder sister was Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed Nannerl. Mozart was baptized the day after his birth, at St. Ruperts Cathedral in Salzburg, the baptismal record gives his name in Latinized form, as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He generally called himself Wolfgang Amadè Mozart as an adult, Leopold Mozart, a native of Augsburg, Germany, was a minor composer and an experienced teacher. In 1743, he was appointed as fourth violinist in the establishment of Count Leopold Anton von Firmian. Four years later, he married Anna Maria in Salzburg, Leopold became the orchestras deputy Kapellmeister in 1763. During the year of his sons birth, Leopold published a textbook, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule. When Nannerl was 7, she began lessons with her father. Years later, after her brothers death, she reminisced, He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was ever striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good. In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and he could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time. At the age of five, he was composing little pieces
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
–
Mozart c. 1780, detail from portrait by
Johann Nepomuk della Croce
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
–
Anonymous portrait of the child Mozart, possibly by
Pietro Antonio Lorenzoni; painted in 1763 on commission from Leopold Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
–
Mozart's birthplace at Getreidegasse 9, Salzburg
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
–
The Mozart family on tour: Leopold, Wolfgang, and Nannerl. Watercolor by
Carmontelle, ca. 1763
25.
Ludwig van Beethoven
–
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he one of the most famous. His best-known compositions include 9 symphonies,5 piano concertos,1 violin concerto,32 piano sonatas,16 string quartets, his great Mass the Missa solemnis, and one opera, Fidelio. At the age of 21 he moved to Vienna, where he began studying composition with Joseph Haydn and he lived in Vienna until his death. By his late 20s his hearing began to deteriorate, and by the last decade of his life he was almost completely deaf. In 1811 he gave up conducting and performing in public but continued to compose, many of his most admired works come from these last 15 years of his life. Beethoven was the grandson of Ludwig van Beethoven, a musician from the town of Mechelen in the Duchy of Brabant in the Flemish region of what is now Belgium, who at the age of twenty moved to Bonn. Ludwig was employed as a singer at the court of the Elector of Cologne, eventually rising to become, in 1761. The portrait he commissioned of himself towards the end of his life remained proudly displayed in his grandsons rooms as a talisman of his musical heritage. Ludwig had one son, Johann, who worked as a tenor in the musical establishment and gave keyboard. Johann married Maria Magdalena Keverich in 1767, she was the daughter of Johann Heinrich Keverich, Beethoven was born of this marriage in Bonn. There is no record of the date of his birth, however. Of the seven children born to Johann van Beethoven, only Ludwig, the second-born, caspar Anton Carl was born on 8 April 1774, and Nikolaus Johann, the youngest, was born on 2 October 1776. Beethovens first music teacher was his father and he later had other local teachers, the court organist Gilles van den Eeden, Tobias Friedrich Pfeiffer, and Franz Rovantini. Beethovens musical talent was obvious at a young age, some time after 1779, Beethoven began his studies with his most important teacher in Bonn, Christian Gottlob Neefe, who was appointed the Courts Organist in that year. Neefe taught Beethoven composition, and by March 1783 had helped him write his first published composition, Beethoven soon began working with Neefe as assistant organist, at first unpaid, and then as a paid employee of the court chapel conducted by the Kapellmeister Andrea Luchesi. His first three piano sonatas, named Kurfürst for their dedication to the Elector Maximilian Friedrich, were published in 1783, Maximilian Frederick noticed Beethovens talent early, and subsidised and encouraged the young mans musical studies. Maximilian Fredericks successor as the Elector of Bonn was Maximilian Francis, the youngest son of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, echoing changes made in Vienna by his brother Joseph, he introduced reforms based on Enlightenment philosophy, with increased support for education and the arts
Ludwig van Beethoven
–
Portrait by
Joseph Karl Stieler, 1820
Ludwig van Beethoven
–
Beethoven's birthplace at Bonngasse 20, now the
Beethoven House museum
Ludwig van Beethoven
–
Prince-Elector's Palace (Kurfürstliches Schloss) in Bonn, where the Beethoven family had been active since the 1730s
Ludwig van Beethoven
–
A portrait of the 13-year-old Beethoven by an unknown Bonn master (c. 1783)
26.
Dmitri Shostakovich
–
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Russian pianist and composer of the Soviet period. He is regarded as one of the composers of the 20th century. Shostakovich achieved fame in the Soviet Union under the patronage of Soviet chief of staff Mikhail Tukhachevsky, nevertheless, he received accolades and state awards and served in the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. A polystylist, Shostakovich developed a voice, combining a variety of different musical techniques into his works. Shostakovichs orchestral works include 15 symphonies and six concerti and his chamber output includes 15 string quartets, a piano quintet, two piano trios, and two pieces for string octet. His solo piano works include two sonatas, an set of preludes, and a later set of 24 preludes and fugues. Born at Podolskaya street in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Shostakovich was the second of three children of Dmitri Boleslavovich Shostakovich and Sofiya Vasilievna Kokoulina, Shostakovichs paternal grandfather, originally surnamed Szostakowicz, was of Polish Roman Catholic descent, but his immediate forebears came from Siberia. When his term of exile ended, Szostakowicz decided to remain in Siberia and he eventually became a successful banker in Irkutsk and raised a large family. His son, Dmitri Boleslavovich Shostakovich, the father, was born in exile in Narim in 1875 and studied physics and mathematics in Saint Petersburg University. He then went to work as an engineer under Dmitri Mendeleev at the Bureau of Weights, in 1903 he married another Siberian transplant to the capital, Sofiya Vasilievna Kokoulina, one of six children born to a Russian Siberian native. Their son, Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, displayed significant musical talent after he began lessons with his mother at the age of nine. In 1918 he wrote a march in memory of two leaders of the Kadet party, murdered by Bolshevik sailors. In 1919, at the age of thirteen, he was allowed to enter the Petrograd Conservatory, then headed by Alexander Glazunov, Shostakovich also attended Alexander Ossovskys history of music classes. Steinberg tried to guide Shostakovich in the path of the great Russian composers and he also suffered for his perceived lack of political zeal, and initially failed his exam in Marxist methodology in 1926. His first major achievement was the First Symphony, written as his graduation piece at the age of nineteen. After graduation, Shostakovich initially embarked on a career as concert pianist and composer. He nevertheless won a mention at the First International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1927. He explained the disappointment at the competition to suffering from appendicitis and he later had his appendix removed in April 1927
Dmitri Shostakovich
–
Dmitri Shostakovich in 1950
Dmitri Shostakovich
–
Birthplace of Shostakovich (now School No. 267). Commemorative plaque at left
Dmitri Shostakovich
–
Shostakovich in 1925
Dmitri Shostakovich
–
Muddle instead of music, article published on Pravda on January 18, 1936, harshly criticizing Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.
27.
Dominant (music)
–
The dominant is sung as so in solfege. The dominant function has the role of creating instability that requires the tonic for resolution, in very much conventionally tonal music, harmonic analysis will reveal a broad prevalence of the primary harmonies, tonic, dominant, and subdominant, and especially the first two of these. The scheme I-x-V-I symbolizes, though naturally in a very summarizing way, for example, in the C major scale, the dominant is the note G, and the dominant triad consists of the notes G, B, and D. In music theory, the dominant triad is a triad, symbolized by the Roman numeral V. It is, however, a triad, denoted v. For instance, in G-B♭-D, the B♭ is sharpened to B natural, a dominant seventh chord is a chord built upon the dominant of a major diatonic scale. It contains a major triad and a seventh of the root of the triad. An example is G7 in C major, G-B-D-F, with G being both the dominant of C major and the root of the major triad G-B-D, and F being the seventh of the root. In a general context, the dominant seventh is denoted V7, a cadential dominant chord followed by a tonic chord is denominated as authentic cadence. If the roots are in the bass and the tonic is in the highest voice, the dominant key in a given musical composition is the key whose tonic is a perfect fifth above the tonic of the main key of the piece. Put another way, the key whose tonic is the dominant scale degree in the main key, if, for example, a piece is written in the key of C major, then the key of C is the tonic key. The key of G major is the dominant key since it is based on the dominant note for the key of C major, with a key signature of one sharp, G major features one more sharp than C major. In sonata form in major keys, the subject group is usually in the dominant key. Even with the widest roaming modulations in the development, the dominant key exerts influence, the movement to the dominant was part of musical grammar, not an element of form. Almost all music in the century went to the dominant, before 1750 it was not something to be emphasized, afterward. This means that every eighteenth century listener expected the movement to the dominant in the sense that would have been puzzled if did not get it, it was a condition of intelligibility. Dominant also refers to a relationship of musical keys, for example, relative to the key of C major, the key of G major is the dominant key. Music which modulates often modulates into the dominant, modulation into the dominant key often creates a sense of increased tension, as opposed to modulation into subdominant, which creates a sense of musical relaxation
Dominant (music)
–
The second to last chord in this example is built on the dominant (V) and found here in the
circle progression on C: I-IV-vii o -iii-vi-ii-V-I Play (
help ·
info)
28.
Well-Tempered Clavier
–
The Well-Tempered Clavier, BWV 846–893, is a collection of two series of Preludes and Fugues in all 24 major and minor keys, composed for solo keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the German of Bachs time Clavier was a name indicating a variety of keyboard instruments, most typically a harpsichord or clavichord –. The modern German spelling for the collection is Das wohltemperierte Klavier, some 20 years later Bach compiled a second book of the same kind, which became known as The Well-Tempered Clavier, Part Two. Modern editions usually refer to both parts as The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I and The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, the collection is generally regarded as being among the most influential works in the history of Western classical music. Each set contains twenty-four pairs of preludes and fugues, the first pair is in C major, the second in C minor, the third in C♯ major, the fourth in C♯ minor, and so on. The rising chromatic pattern continues until every key has been represented, the first set was compiled in 1722 during Bachs appointment in Köthen, the second followed 20 years later in 1742 while he was in Leipzig. The C♯ major prelude and fugue in book one was originally in C major – Bach added a key signature of seven sharps, although the Well-Tempered Clavier was the first collection of fully worked keyboard pieces in all 24 keys, similar ideas had occurred earlier. His contemporary Johann Heinrich Kittel also composed a cycle of 12 organ preludes in successive keys, Fischer was published in 1702 and reissued 1715. It is a set of 20 prelude-fugue pairs in ten major and nine minor keys, Bach knew the collection and borrowed some of the themes from Fischer for the Well-Tempered Clavier. Finally, a lost collection by Johann Pachelbel, Fugen und Praeambuln über die gewöhnlichsten Tonos figuratos and it was later shown that this was the work of a composer who was not even born in 1689, Bernhard Christian Weber. It was in written in 1745–50, and in imitation of Bachs example. Bachs title suggests that he had written for a tuning system in which all keys sounded in tune. The opposing system in Bachs day was meantone temperament in which keys with many accidentals sound out of tune, Bach would have been familiar with different tuning systems, and in particular as an organist would have played instruments tuned to a meantone system. There is debate whether Bach meant a range of temperaments, perhaps even altered slightly in practice from piece to piece. During much of the 20th century it was assumed that Bach wanted equal temperament, internal evidence for this may be seen in the fact that in Book 1 Bach paired the E♭ minor prelude with its enharmonic key of D♯ minor for the fugue. This represents an equation of the most tonally remote enharmonic keys where the flat, any performance of this pair would have required both of these enharmonic keys to sound identically tuned, thus implying equal temperament in the one pair, as the entire work implies as a whole. However, research has continued into various unequal systems contemporary with Bachs career, accounts of Bachs own tuning practice are few and inexact. The three most cited sources are Forkel, Bachs first biographer, Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, who received information from Bachs sons and pupils, and Johann Kirnberger, one of those pupils
Well-Tempered Clavier
–
Title page of Das Wohltemperierte Clavier
Well-Tempered Clavier
–
A flat major (As-dur) fugue from the second part of Das Wohltemperierte Clavier (manuscript)
29.
Key (music)
–
In music theory, the key of a piece is a group of pitches, or scale upon which a music composition is created in classical, Western art, and Western pop music. Notes and chords other than the tonic in a piece create varying degrees of tension, the key may be in the major or minor mode, although major is assumed in a phrase like this piece is in C. Popular songs are usually in a key, and so is classical music during the common practice period, longer pieces in the classical repertoire may have sections in contrasting keys. Methods that establish the key for a piece can be complicated to explain. The key signature is not always a reliable guide to the key of a written piece, occasionally, a piece in a mode such as Mixolydian or Dorian is written with a major or minor key signature appropriate to the tonic, and accidentals throughout the piece. Pieces in modes not corresponding to major or minor keys may sometimes be referred to as being in the key of the tonic. A piece using some type of harmony, resolving e. g. to A. An instrument may be said to be in a key, an unrelated usage referring to the pitches considered natural for that instrument. For example, modern trumpets are usually in the key of B♭, a key relationship is the relationship between keys, measured by common tones and nearness on the circle of fifths. The key usually identifies the tonic note and/or chord, the note and/or major or minor triad that represents the point of rest for a piece. For example, the key of G includes the following pitches, G, A, B, C, D, E, and F♯, and its corresponding tonic chord is G—B—D. Most often at the beginning and end of traditional pieces during the common practice period, a key may be major or minor. Music can be described as being in the Dorian mode, or Phrygian, languages other than English may use other key naming systems. Although many musicians confuse key with scale, a scale is a set of notes typically used in a key, while the key is the center of gravity. All of these notes and chords, however, are used in patterns that serve to establish the primacy of the tonic note. Cadences are particularly important in the establishment of key, even cadences that do not include the tonic note or triad, such as half cadences and deceptive cadences, serve to establish key because those chord sequences imply a unique diatonic context. Short pieces may stay in a single key throughout, more elaborate pieces may establish the main key, then modulate to another key, or a series of keys, then back to the original key. In the Baroque it was common to repeat a phrase of music, called a ritornello
Key (music)
–
Perfect authentic cadence (V-I [here in
V7 -I form] with roots in the bass and tonic in the highest voice of the final chord):
ii-V7-I progression in C Play (
help ·
info).
30.
Countersubject
–
In music, a subject is the material, usually a recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is based. In forms other than the fugue this may be known as the theme, a subject may be perceivable as a complete musical expression in itself, separate from the work in which it is found. In contrast to an idea or motif, a subject is usually a phrase or period. The Encyclopédie Fasquelle defines a theme as Any element, motif, Thematic changes and processes are often structurally important, and theorists such as Rudolph Reti have created analysis from a purely thematic perspective. Fred Lerdahl describes thematic relations as associational and thus outside his cognitive-based generative theorys scope of analysis, Music based on a single theme is called monothematic, while music based on several themes is called polythematic. Most fugues are monothematic and most pieces in sonata form are polythematic, in the exposition of a fugue, the principal theme is announced successively in each voice – sometimes in a transposed form. In some compositions, a subject is announced and then a second melody, sometimes called a countersubject or secondary theme. Music without subjects/themes, or without recognizable, repeating, and developing subjects/themes, is called athematic, examples include the pre-twelve-tone or early atonal works of Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Alban Berg, and Alois Hába. Schoenberg once said that, intoxicated by the enthusiasm of having freed music from the shackles of tonality, in fact, I … believed that now music could renounce motivic features and remain coherent and comprehensible nevertheless. Examples in the works of later composers include Polyphonie X and Structures I by Pierre Boulez, Sonata for Two Pianos by Karel Goeyvaerts, and Punkte by Karlheinz Stockhausen. In a fugue, when the first voice has completed the subject, and the voice is playing the answer. The countersubject usually contrasts with the subject/answer phrase shape, in a fugue, a countersubject is the continuation of counterpoint in the voice that began with the subject, occurring against the answer. It is not usually regarded as a feature of fugue. Attacco Cell Figure Formula composition Leitmotif Thematic transformation Benward, Bruce, Music in Theory and Practice, eighth edition, vol. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie, the Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham. Une nouvelle grammaire musicale, prémices et premiers essais / A New Musical Grammar, Principles, la Scena Musicale 6, no.3. Lerdahl, Fred. Cognitive Constraints on Compositional Systems, Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press. Encyclopédie de la musique,3 vols, Music and Discourse, Toward a Semiology of Music, translated by Caroline Abbate
Countersubject
–
First theme of
Haydn's Sonata in G Major,
Hob. XVI: G1, I,
mm. 1–12 Play (
help ·
info) (Benward & Saker 2009, p. 136)
31.
Invertible counterpoint
–
In music theory, the word inversion has several meanings. There are inverted chords, inverted melodies, inverted intervals, the concept of inversion also plays a role in musical set theory. An interval is inverted by raising or lowering either of the notes using displacement of the octave so that retain their names. Under inversion, perfect intervals remain perfect, major intervals become minor and vice versa, augmented intervals become diminished, traditional interval names add together to make nine, seconds become sevenths and vice versa, thirds become sixes and vice versa, and fourths become fifths and vice versa. Thus a perfect fourth becomes a fifth, an augmented fourth becomes a diminished fifth, and a simple interval and its inversion. A chords inversion describes the relationship of its bass to the tones in the chord. For instance, a C major triad contains the tones C, E and G, its inversion is determined by which of these tones is the bottom note in the chord. The term inversion is used to categorically refer to the different possibilities. In texts that make this restriction, the position may be used instead to refer to all of the possibilities as a category. A root-position chord Play is sometimes known as the parent chord of its inversions. For example, C is the root of a C major triad and is in the bass when the triad is in position, the 3rd. The following chord is also a C major triad in root position, the rearrangement of the notes above the bass into different octaves and the doubling of notes, is known as voicing. In an inverted chord, the root is not in the bass, the inversions are numbered in the order their bass tones would appear in a closed root position chord. In the second inversion Play, the bass is G—the 5th of the triad—with the root and the 3rd above it, forming a 4th and a 6th above the bass of G, respectively. This inversion can be either consonant or dissonant, and analytical notation sometimes treats it differently depending on the harmonic, for more details, look at Second inversion Third inversions exist only for chords of four or more tones, such as 7th chords. In a third-inversion chord Play, the 7th of the chord is in the bass position, each numeral expresses the interval that results from the voices above it. For example, in root-position triad C-E-G, the intervals above bass note C are a 3rd and a 5th, giving the figures 5-3. If this triad were inverted, the figures 6-3 would apply, due to the intervals of third and sixth appearing above bass note E. Figured bass is similarly applied to 7th chords, certain arbitrary conventions of abbreviation exist in the use of figured bass
Invertible counterpoint
–
Inversion example from Bach's
The Well-Tempered Clavier Play top (
help ·
info) Play bottom (
help ·
info). The melody on the first line starts on A, while the melody on the second line is identical except that it starts on E and when the first melody goes up the second goes down an equal number of diatonic steps, and when the first goes down the second goes up an equal number of steps.
32.
Tonality
–
Tonality is a musical system that arranges pitches or chords to induce a hierarchy of perceived relations, stabilities, and attractions. In this hierarchy, the pitch or triadic chord with the greatest stability is called the tonic. The root of the chord is considered to be the key of a piece or song. Thus a piece in which the chord is C major is said to be in the key of C. Simple folk music songs often start and end with the tonic note, the most common use of the term. is to designate the arrangement of musical phenomena around a referential tonic in European music from about 1600 to about 1910. Contemporary classical music from 1910 to the 2000s may practice or avoid any sort of harmony in almost all Western popular music remains tonal. Harmony in jazz music includes many, if not all, tonal characteristics, All harmonic idioms in popular music are tonal, and none is without function. Tonality is a system of tones in which one tone becomes the central point for the remaining tones. The other tones in a piece are all defined in terms of their relationship to the tonic. In tonality, the tonic is the tone of complete relaxation and stability, the cadence in which the dominant chord or dominant seventh chord resolves to the tonic chord plays an important role in establishing the tonality of a piece. Tonal music is music that is unified and dimensional, the term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840. According to Carl Dahlhaus, however, the term tonalité was only coined by Castil-Blaze in 1821, major-minor tonality is also called harmonic tonality, diatonic tonality, common practice tonality, functional tonality, or just tonality. This sense also applies to the tonic/dominant/subdominant harmonic harmonic constellations in the theories of Jean-Philippe Rameau as well as the 144 basic transformations of twelve-tone technique, any rational and self-contained theoretical arrangement of musical pitches, existing prior to any concrete embodiment in music. For example, Sainsbury, who had Choron translated into English in 1825, while tonality qua system constitutes a theoretical abstraction from actual music, it is often hypostatized in musicological discourse, converted from a theoretical structure into a musical reality. As a term to contrast with modal and atonal, implying that tonal music is discontinuous as a form of expression from modal music on the one hand. Musical phenomena arranged or understood in relation to a referential tonic, Musical phenomena perceived or preinterpreted in terms of the categories of tonal theories. In major and minor harmonies, the fifth is often implied. To function as a tonic, a chord must be either a major or a minor triad, dominant function requires a major-quality triad with a root a perfect fifth above the affiliated tonic and containing the leading tone of the key
Tonality
–
Perfect authentic cadence (IV–V–I progression, in four-part harmony) in C major Play (
help ·
info). "Tonal music is built around these tonic and dominant arrival points [cadences], and they form one of the fundamental building blocks of musical structure" (Benjamin, Horvitz, and Nelson 2008, 63).
33.
Quarter note
–
A quarter note or crotchet is a note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note. Often, musicians say that a crotchet is one beat, but this is not always correct, as the beat is indicated by the time signature of the music. Quarter notes are notated with a filled-in oval note head and a straight, the stem usually points upwards if it is below the middle line of the stave or downwards if it is on or above the middle line. However, the direction may differentiate more than one part. The head of the note also reverses its orientation in relation to the stem, in Unicode, the symbol is U+2669. A related value is the quarter rest and it denotes a silence of the same duration as a quarter note. It typically appears as the symbol, or occasionally, as the older symbol, the note derives from the semiminima of mensural notation. The word crotchet comes from Old French crochet, meaning hook, diminutive of croc, hook. However, because the hook appeared on the note in the later white notation. The quarter note is played for half the length of a half note and it is one beat in a bar of 44. The term quarter note is a calque of the German term Viertelnote, the Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Serbian and Slovak names mean quarter and quarters pause
Quarter note
34.
Section (music)
–
In music, a section is a complete, but not independent musical idea. Types of sections include the introduction or intro, exposition, recapitulation, verse, chorus or refrain, conclusion, coda or outro, fadeout, bridge or interlude. In sectional forms such as binary, the unit is built from various smaller clear-cut units in combination. Some well known songs consist of one or two sections, for example Jingle Bells commonly contains verses and choruses. It may contain auxiliary members such as an introduction and/or outro, a section is, a major structural unit perceived as the result of the coincidence of relatively large numbers of structural phenomena. An episode may also refer to a section, a passage is a musical idea that may or may not be complete or independent. For example, fill, riff, and all sections, musical material is any musical idea, complete or not, independent or not, including motifs. Song structure Period Phrase Repetition and repeat sign
Section (music)
–
Rhythm changes bridge (B section of an
AABA form) in the key of C. Play (
help ·
info)
35.
Musical development
–
In classical music, musical development is a process by which a musical idea is communicated in the course of a composition. It refers to the transformation and restatement of initial material, development is often contrasted with musical variation, which is a slightly different means to the same end. Development is carried out upon portions of material treated in many different presentations and combinations at a time, listeners may apprehend a tension between expected and real results, which is one element of surprise in music. In sonata form, the section is called the development. Typically, in section, material from the exposition section is developed. In some older texts, this section may be referred to as free fantasia, according to the Oxford Companion to Music there are several ways of developing a theme. These include, The division of a theme into parts, each of which can be developed in any of the ways or recombined in a new way. Similarly, two or more themes can be developed in combination, in cases, themes are composed with this possibility in mind. Alteration of pitch intervals while retaining the original rhythm, rhythmic displacement, so that the metrical stress occurs at a different point in the otherwise unchanged theme. Sequence, either diatonically within a key or through a succession of keys, the Scherzo movement from Beethovens Piano Sonata No.15 in D major, Op 28 shows a number of these processes at work on a small scale. Developing variation Fugue#Development Secondary development Sequence
Musical development
–
Development in
Haydn's sonata in G major,
Hob. XVI: G1, I, mm. 29-53 Play (
help ·
info).
36.
Pachelbel
–
Johann Pachelbel was a German composer, organist, and teacher who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. Pachelbels music enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, he had many pupils and his became an model for the composers of south. Today, Pachelbel is best known for the Canon in D, as well as the Chaconne in F minor, the Toccata in E minor for organ, and the Hexachordum Apollinis and he preferred a lucid, uncomplicated contrapuntal style that emphasized melodic and harmonic clarity. Pachelbel explored many variation forms and associated techniques, which manifest themselves in various diverse pieces, Johann Pachelbel was born in 1653 in Nuremberg into a middle-class family, son of Johann Pachelbel, a wine dealer, and his second wife Anna Maria Mair. The exact date of Johanns birth is unknown, but since he was baptized on September 1, during his early youth, Pachelbel received musical training from Heinrich Schwemmer, a musician and music teacher who later became the cantor of St. Sebaldus Church. Some sources indicate that Pachelbel also studied with Georg Caspar Wecker, organist of the church and an important composer of the Nuremberg school. In any case, both Wecker and Schwemmer were trained by Johann Erasmus Kindermann, one of the founders of the Nuremberg musical tradition, financial difficulties forced Pachelbel to leave the university after less than a year. In order to complete his studies he became a student, in 1670. The school authorities were so impressed by Pachelbels academic qualifications that he was admitted above the normal quota. Pachelbel was also permitted to study music outside the Gymnasium and his teacher was Kaspar Prentz, once a student of Johann Caspar Kerll. Prentz left for Eichstätt in 1672, at the time, Vienna was the center of the vast Habsburg empire and had much cultural importance, its tastes in music were predominantly Italian. Several renowned cosmopolitan composers worked there, many of them contributing to the exchange of musical traditions in Europe, in particular, Johann Jakob Froberger served as court organist in Vienna until 1657 and was succeeded by Alessandro Poglietti. Georg Muffat lived in the city for some time, and, most importantly, while there, he may have known or even taught Pachelbel, whose music shows traces of Kerlls style. Pachelbel spent five years in Vienna, absorbing the music of Catholic composers from southern Germany and Italy. In some respects, Pachelbel is similar to Haydn, who too served as a musician of the Stephansdom in his youth. In 1677, Pachelbel moved to Eisenach, where he found employment as court organist under Kapellmeister Daniel Eberlin, in the employ of Johann Georg I and he met members of the Bach family in Eisenach, and became a close friend of Johann Ambrosius and tutor to his children. However, Pachelbel spent only one year in Eisenach, in 1678, Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Jena, Johann Georgs brother, died and during the period of mourning court musicians were greatly curtailed. He requested a testimonial from Eberlin, who wrote one for him, describing Pachelbel as a perfect, with this document, Pachelbel left Eisenach on May 18,1678
Pachelbel
–
St. Sebaldus Church in Nuremberg, which played an important role in Pachelbel's life.
Pachelbel
–
Pachelbel's autograph signature from his 1695 letter to Gotha city authorities
Pachelbel
–
Predigerkirche, the Erfurt church, where Pachelbel worked for 12 years, starting in 1678.
Pachelbel
–
Pachelbel's autograph letter
37.
Inversion (music)
–
In music theory, the word inversion has several meanings. There are inverted chords, inverted melodies, inverted intervals, the concept of inversion also plays a role in musical set theory. An interval is inverted by raising or lowering either of the notes using displacement of the octave so that retain their names. Under inversion, perfect intervals remain perfect, major intervals become minor and vice versa, augmented intervals become diminished, traditional interval names add together to make nine, seconds become sevenths and vice versa, thirds become sixes and vice versa, and fourths become fifths and vice versa. Thus a perfect fourth becomes a fifth, an augmented fourth becomes a diminished fifth, and a simple interval and its inversion. A chords inversion describes the relationship of its bass to the tones in the chord. For instance, a C major triad contains the tones C, E and G, its inversion is determined by which of these tones is the bottom note in the chord. The term inversion is used to categorically refer to the different possibilities. In texts that make this restriction, the position may be used instead to refer to all of the possibilities as a category. A root-position chord Play is sometimes known as the parent chord of its inversions. For example, C is the root of a C major triad and is in the bass when the triad is in position, the 3rd. The following chord is also a C major triad in root position, the rearrangement of the notes above the bass into different octaves and the doubling of notes, is known as voicing. In an inverted chord, the root is not in the bass, the inversions are numbered in the order their bass tones would appear in a closed root position chord. In the second inversion Play, the bass is G—the 5th of the triad—with the root and the 3rd above it, forming a 4th and a 6th above the bass of G, respectively. This inversion can be either consonant or dissonant, and analytical notation sometimes treats it differently depending on the harmonic, for more details, look at Second inversion Third inversions exist only for chords of four or more tones, such as 7th chords. In a third-inversion chord Play, the 7th of the chord is in the bass position, each numeral expresses the interval that results from the voices above it. For example, in root-position triad C-E-G, the intervals above bass note C are a 3rd and a 5th, giving the figures 5-3. If this triad were inverted, the figures 6-3 would apply, due to the intervals of third and sixth appearing above bass note E. Figured bass is similarly applied to 7th chords, certain arbitrary conventions of abbreviation exist in the use of figured bass
Inversion (music)
–
Inversion example from Bach's
The Well-Tempered Clavier Play top (
help ·
info) Play bottom (
help ·
info). The melody on the first line starts on A, while the melody on the second line is identical except that it starts on E and when the first melody goes up the second goes down an equal number of diatonic steps, and when the first goes down the second goes up an equal number of steps.
38.
Permutation (music)
–
In music, a permutation of a set is any ordering of the elements of that set. A specific arrangement of a set of entities, or parameters, such as pitch, dynamics. These may produce reorderings of the members of the set, or may simply map the set onto itself, order is particularly important in the theories of compositional techniques originating in the 20th century such as the twelve-tone technique and serialism. Analytical techniques such as set theory take care to distinguish between ordered and unordered collections, in traditional theory concepts such voicing and form include ordering. For example, many forms, such as rondo, are defined by the order of their sections. The permutations resulting from applying the inversion or retrograde operations are categorized as the prime forms inversions and retrogrades, likewise, applying both inversion and retrograde to a prime form produces its retrograde-inversions, which are considered a distinct type of permutation. Permutation may be applied to sets as well. However, the use of operations to such smaller sets do not necessarily result in permutation of the original set. One technique facilitating twelve-tone permutation is the use of values corresponding with musical letter names. The first note of the first of the primes, actually prime zero, is represented by 0, prime zero is retrieved entirely by choice of the composer. To receive the retrograde of any prime, the numbers are simply rewritten backwards. To receive the inversion of any prime, each value is subtracted from 12. The retrograde inversion is the values of the numbers read backwards. In that regard, a permutation is a combinatorial permutation from mathematics as it applies to music. Cyclical permutation is the maintenance of the order of the tone row with the only change being that of the initial pitch-class. A secondary set may be considered a cyclical permutation beginning on the member of a hexachordally combinatorial row
Permutation (music)
39.
Diminution
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In Western music and music theory, diminution has four distinct meanings. Diminution may be a form of embellishment in which a note is divided into a series of shorter, usually melodic. Diminution may also be the device where a melody, theme or motif is presented in shorter note-values than were previously used. Diminution is also the term for the shortening of the value of individual note-shapes in mensural notation. A minor or perfect interval that is narrowed by a semitone is a diminished interval. Donington describes the consequences of failing to add necessary figuration as disastrous, silvestro Ganassi Opera Intitulata Fontegara Diego Ortiz, Nel qual si tratta delle Glose Giovanni Maffei, Delle lettere del Sr. Gio. For Heinrich Schenker, all foreground is diminution, all diminution must be secured firmly to the total work by means which are precisely demonstrable and organically verified by the inner necessities of the voice-leading. This conception has been essential to Schenkers theory from some of his earliest writings, in Schenkerian analysis a diminution is an elaboration by which an event formed of notes of longer value is expressed in notes of smaller value. A melody or series of notes is diminished if the lengths of the notes are shortened, diminution is thus the opposite of augmentation, a melody originally consisting of four crotchets for example, is diminished if it later appears with four quavers instead. In mensural notation, diminution of the duration of note shapes is the most common function of coloration, diminution may also be achieved by a sign of proportion. An interval is diminished if a minor or perfect interval is narrowed by a chromatic semitone, a diminished fifth interval is a chromatic semitone narrower than the perfect fifth, and a diminished seventh interval is a chromatic semitone narrower than the minor seventh. Diminished intervals are used in jazz, art and Heavy Metal music. A diminished unison is unthinkable, and the diminished 2d and 9th are of no practical use, in the theory of harmony it is known that a diminished interval needs to be resolved inwards, and an augmented interval outwards. Augmented intervals have a rather over-tense quality, while diminished intervals are experienced as rather cramped, therefore, one may call the former luciferic in tendency and the latter ahrimanic. If a perfect or major interval is made one-half step larger it becomes augmented, if a perfect or minor interval is made one-half step smaller it becomes diminished. Most nonharmonic tones are dissonant and create intervals of a second, fourth, diminished or augmented intervals are also considered dissonant. The standard abbreviations for diminished intervals are dX, such that a diminished third = d3, a diminished triad consists of two superposed minor thirds, and thus contains a diminished fifth. In classical repertoire the usual symbol is the degree, °, in lead sheets and popular music books it is usually written Cdim or C°
Diminution
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Extract from
Diego Ortiz 's El Primo Libro … Nel qual si tratta delle Glose depicting rhythm and generic intervals. Observe the diminution (i.e. division) process suggested by the composer, in reference to the rhythmic figures in the upper and lower musical parts.
40.
Augmentation (music)
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In Western music and music theory, the word augmentation has three distinct meanings. Augmentation is a device where a melody, theme or motif is presented in longer note-values than were previously used. A major or perfect interval that is widened by a semitone is an augmented interval. A melody or series of notes is augmented if the lengths of the notes are prolonged, augmentation is thus the opposite of diminution, a melody originally consisting of four quavers for example, is augmented if it later appears with four crotchets instead. The music of Johann Sebastian Bach provides examples of this application, other ratios of augmentation, such as 1,3 and 1,4, are also possible. A motif is also augmented through expanding its duration, an interval is augmented if it is widened by a chromatic semitone. Thus an augmented fifth, for example, is a semitone wider than the perfect fifth. The standard abbreviations for augmented intervals are AX, such that an augmented third = A3, a good example of this can be seen in the left hand part of Chopins famous E minor prelude Op.28, No.4. Many of the chord sequences change with the top or bottom note augmenting or diminishing the next chord as the music progresses, an augmented chord is one which contains an augmented interval, almost invariably the 5th of the chord. An augmented triad is a major triad whose fifth has been raised by a chromatic semitone, List of musical intervals List of pitch intervals Prelude in E minor, Op.28, No.4 at The Mutopia Project
Augmentation (music)
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Dotted notes and their equivalent durations. The curved lines, called
ties, add the note values together.
41.
Sequence (music)
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In music, a sequence is the restatement of a motif or longer melodic passage at a higher or lower pitch in the same voice. It is one of the most common and simple methods of elaborating a melody in eighteenth and nineteenth century classical music, sometimes sequential passages combine more than one of the above characteristics. In the third and fourth bars of the “Air” from J. S, the non-diatonic sequence tends to modulate to a new tonality or to cause temporarily tonicisation. Although stereotypically associated with Baroque music, and especially the music of Antonio Vivaldi, the device of sequence epitomises both the goal-directed and the hierarchical nature of common-practice tonality. Whether dull or masterly, however, the emphasis is on the process rather than the material itself. Ritornellos and the amplification from melodies to Baroque lyrics are built from sequences. There are many types of sequences, each with a unique pattern, descending fifths sequences, also known as circle of fifths sequences, are the most commonly used types of sequences, singular extended in some works of Claudio Monteverdi and Heinrich Schütz. It usually consists of a series of chords whose bass or root notes follow a pattern of descending fifths, for example, if a descending fifths sequence in C major starts with the note C, the next note will be F, a perfect fifth below the first note. The next few notes will be B, E, A, D and so on, the ascending fifths sequence, contrary to the descending fifths sequence, consists of a pattern of ascending fifths. It is much less common than the descending fifths sequence, the descending 5-6 sequences, also known as descending third sequences, consist of a series of chords whose root notes descend by a third each sequential repetition. The sequence is almost never unadorned as shown above, but is filled in with intervening chords. The standard way of filling in this descending thirds pattern is to interpolate a first inversion chord in between each of these descents by thirds. The result is a line that moves down continuously stepwise, resulting in a figured bass of 5-6, and therefore. An important subtype of the descending 5-6 sequence is the root position variant, also known as the Pachelbel sequence, due to the use of this sequence in Pachelbels Canon. The Pachelbel sequence changes the first inversion chords in the descending 5-6 sequence to root position chords, resulting in a pattern that moves down a fourth. The ascending 5-6 sequence, like the ascending sequence, adorns a stepwise ascent. It follows a root movement pattern of down a third followed by a movement up a fourth. This is often accomplished through an alternation of root position and first inversion chords, the figured bass is the same as the descending 5-6 sequence, but the bass itself follows an ascending pattern rather than a descending pattern
Sequence (music)
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For the unrelated genre of Gregorian chant, see
Sequence (poetry). For the means of triggering musical notes, see
Music sequencer.
Sequence (music)
42.
Cadence (music)
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In Western musical theory, a cadence is a melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of resolution. A harmonic cadence is a progression of two chords that concludes a phrase, section, or piece of music, a rhythmic cadence is a characteristic rhythmic pattern that indicates the end of a phrase. A cadence is labeled more or less weak or strong depending on its sense of finality, harmonic rhythm plays an important part in determining where a cadence occurs. Cadences are strong indicators of the tonic or central pitch of a passage or piece, edward Lowinsky proposed that the cadence was the cradle of tonality. In music of the common practice period, cadences are divided into four types according to their progression, authentic, plagal, half. Typically, phrases end on authentic or half cadences, and the terms plagal, each cadence can be described using the Roman numeral system of naming chords, Authentic cadence, V to I. A seventh above the root is added to create V7. The The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians says, This cadence is a microcosm of the tonal system and it is virtually obligatory as the final structural cadence of a tonal work. A perfect cadence is a progression from V to I in major keys and this is generally the strongest type of cadence and often found at structurally defining moments. This strong cadence achieves complete harmonic and melodic closure and it has to be noted that Beethoven in particular gets so much mileage out of this cadence as for it to become one of his most characteristic and recognizable musical thumbprints. The Diabelli Variations and the C major climax of the movement of the Opus 132 String Quartet - even though it is described as being in Lydian mode on F - are two powerful examples. Imperfect authentic cadence, best divided into three categories,1. Root position IAC, similar to a PAC, but the highest voice is not the tonic, inverted IAC, similar to a PAC, but one or both chords is inverted. Leading tone IAC, the V chord is replaced with the viio/subV chord, evaded cadence, V42 to I6. Because the seventh must fall step wise, it forces the cadence to resolve to the less stable first inversion chord, usually to achieve this a root position V changes to a V42 right before resolution, thereby evading the cadence. Half cadence, any cadence ending on V, whether preceded by II, ii, vi, IV, with the addition of motion in the upper part to the sixth degree, it becomes the Landini cadence. Lydian cadence, The Lydian half-cadence is similar to the Phrygian-half, involving iv6-V in the minor, the difference is that in the Lydian-half, the whole iv6 is raised by a half-step. In other words, the Phrygian-half begins with the first chord built on scale degree P4, Burgundian cadences, Became popular in Burgundian music
Cadence (music)
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Perfect authentic cadence (V–I with roots in the bass parts and tonic in the highest voice of the final chord):
ii–V–I progression in C major, four-part harmony (Benward & Saker 2003, p.90.). Play (
help ·
info)
43.
Quarter-note
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A quarter note or crotchet is a note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note. Often, musicians say that a crotchet is one beat, but this is not always correct, as the beat is indicated by the time signature of the music. Quarter notes are notated with a filled-in oval note head and a straight, the stem usually points upwards if it is below the middle line of the stave or downwards if it is on or above the middle line. However, the direction may differentiate more than one part. The head of the note also reverses its orientation in relation to the stem, in Unicode, the symbol is U+2669. A related value is the quarter rest and it denotes a silence of the same duration as a quarter note. It typically appears as the symbol, or occasionally, as the older symbol, the note derives from the semiminima of mensural notation. The word crotchet comes from Old French crochet, meaning hook, diminutive of croc, hook. However, because the hook appeared on the note in the later white notation. The quarter note is played for half the length of a half note and it is one beat in a bar of 44. The term quarter note is a calque of the German term Viertelnote, the Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Serbian and Slovak names mean quarter and quarters pause
Quarter-note
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A quarter note/crotchet with stem pointing up, a quarter note with stem pointing down, and a quarter rest
44.
Stretto
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The term stretto comes from the Italian past participle of stringere, and means narrow, tight, or close. It applies in a succession of statements of the subject in a fugue. In stretto, the subject is presented in one voice and then imitated in one or more other voices, the subject is therefore superimposed upon itself contrapuntally. In music the Italian term stretto has two meanings, In a fugue, stretto is the imitation of the subject in close succession. 1 in C major, BWV846, of Johann Sebastian Bachs The Well-Tempered Clavier, in non-fugal compositions, a stretto is a passage, often at the end of an aria or movement, in faster tempo. Examples include, the end of the last movement of Beethovens Fifth Symphony,3, measures 16,17 and 18, of his Prelude No.4 in E minor, and measure 25 of his Etude Op.10, No. Music theory The dictionary definition of stretto at Wiktionary
Stretto
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Example of stretto from Bach's Fugue no. 1, Well Tempered Clavier, Book I, BWV 846, mm. 21-23. (subjects in blue).
45.
Mass in B minor structure
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The Mass in B minor is Johann Sebastian Bachs only setting of the complete Latin text of the Ordinarium missae. Towards the end of his life, mainly in 1748 and 1749, he finished composing new sections and compiling it into a complex and he added a few new compositions, but mostly derived movements from cantata movements, in a technique known as parody. Similar to architecture of the period, Bach achieved a symmetry of parts, with the profession of faith in the center, Bach scored the work for five vocal parts. While some choral movements are for four parts, the Sanctus is scored for six voices. Bach called for an instrumentation of brass, woodwinds and strings. The Mass was Bachs last major artistic undertaking, the reason for the composition is unknown. Scholars found no occasion for which the work may have been intended. Bach expanded the Missa of 1733 to a Missa tota from 1748 to 1749, in these last years, he added three choral movements for the Credo, its opening Credo in unum Deum, Confiteor and Et incarnatus est. The Sanctus was originally an individual movement composed for Christmas 1724 in Leipzig, most other movements of the mass are parodies of music from earlier cantatas, dating back as far as 1714. Wenk points out that Bach often used parody to bring a composition to a level of perfection. The original musical sources of movements are known, for others they are lost. Bach selected movements that carried a similar expression and affekt, Bach quoted Gregorian chant twice, in the Credo in unum Deum as a theme and in the Confiteor as a cantus firmus embedded in complex polyphony. Bach achieved a symmetry of the parts, with the profession of faith in the center and the movement Crucifixus in its center. Markus Rathey, Associate Professor of Music History at the Institute of Sacred Music at the Yale School of Music, sees a similarity to architecture of the period, Bach knew buildings in that style, for example Schloss Friedrichsthal in Gotha, built in 1710. Rathey continues, The symmetry on earth mirrors the symmetric perfection of heaven, the purpose of art at this time—in architecture, the visual arts, and music—was not to create something entirely new, but to reflect this divine perfection, and in this way to praise God. We find such a symmetric outline in many pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach,19, the parts Kyrie, Gloria and Credo are all designed with choral sections as the outer movements, framing an intimate center of theological significance. Bach made an effort to incorporate all styles that were available to him. He had composed the Sanctus in 1724, and the Missa in 1733, when he compiled the Mass, he used these parts, added the Credo, including new compositions, and concluded with Osanna, which is normally part of the Sanctus
Mass in B minor structure
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Autograph of the title page of the first book, Missa
Mass in B minor structure
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Johann Sebastian Bach holding his Riddle Canon, BWV 1076, by
Elias Gottlob Haussmann, 1746
Mass in B minor structure
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Schloss Friedrichsthal
Mass in B minor structure
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Players of the Baroque orchestra
L'arpa festante rehearsing the Gloria in
St. Martin, Idstein, natural trumpets and timpani on the right, flauti traversi in the background
46.
Mass in B Minor
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The Mass in B minor by Johann Sebastian Bach is a musical setting of the complete Ordinary of the Latin Mass. The work was one of Bachs last compositions, not completed until 1749, much of the Mass gave new form to vocal music that Bach had composed throughout his career, dating back to 1714, but extensively revised. To complete the work, in the late 1740s Bach composed new sections of the Credo such as Et incarnatus est and it was unusual for composers working in the Lutheran tradition to compose a Missa tota and Bachs motivations remain a matter of scholarly debate. The Mass was never performed in its entirety during Bachs lifetime, since the nineteenth century it has been widely hailed as one of the greatest compositions in musical history, and today it is frequently performed and recorded. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach archived this work as the Great Catholic Mass, on 1 February 1733, Augustus II the Strong, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Elector of Saxony, died. Five months of mourning followed, during all public music-making was suspended. Bach used the opportunity to work on the composition of a Missa and his aim was to dedicate the work to the new sovereign Augustus III, a Catholic, with the hope of obtaining the title Electoral Saxon Court Composer”. The petition did not meet immediate success, but Bach eventually got his title. In the last years of his life, Bach expanded the Missa into a setting of the Latin Ordinary. It is not known what prompted this creative effort, however, the building was not completed until 1751 and Bachs death in July 1750 prevented his Mass from being submitted for use at the dedication. Instead, Johann Adolph Hasses Mass in D minor was performed, the chronology of the Mass in B minor has attracted extensive scholarly attention. Recent literature suggests, In 1724, Bach composed a Sanctus for six parts for use in the Christmas service. Bach revised it when he reused it in the Mass, changing its initial meter from ₵ to C and it is possible that the Kyrie was meant as mourning music for Augustus II, and the Gloria as celebratory of the accession of Augustus III. Bach re-used two movements from the Gloria in a cantata for Christmas Day, gregory Butler argues that at the same service, Bach also used the 1724 Sanctus, and that this revisiting of the 1733 Missa suggested further development to the composer. In the last three years or so of his life, Bach wrote/assembled the Symbolum Nicenum and the remainder of the work, many scholars, including Christoph Wolff, believe he did so in 1748–49. This dating in part reflects the scholarship of Yoshitake Kobayashi, who dates the Symbolum Nicenum section to August –October 1748 based on Bachs increasingly stiff, Wolff among others argues that the Et incarnatus est movement was Bachs last significant composition. The words had been included in the duet, but then Bach decided to treat them as a separate movement for the choir, giving the words extra weight. C. P. E. Bach later reported that he performed this Magnificat in 1749 in Leipzig at a Marian festival, during the lifetime of his now-deceased father
Mass in B Minor
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Mass in B Minor
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Autograph of the first page of
Symbolum Nicenum, beginning with the
Gregorian chant Credo in the tenor
Mass in B Minor
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Autograph score of the
Benedictus, aria for tenor and obligato flute
47.
Pedal point
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In tonal music, a pedal point is a sustained tone, typically in the bass, during which at least one foreign, i. e. dissonant harmony is sounded in the other parts. A pedal point sometimes functions as a tone, placing it in the categories alongside suspensions, retardations. Pedal points have a tonal effect, pulling the harmony back to its root. When a pedal point occurs in a other than the bass. Pedal points are usually on either the tonic or the dominant tones, the pedal tone is considered a chord tone in the original harmony, then a nonchord tone during the intervening dissonant harmonies, and then a chord tone again when the harmony resolves. A dissonant pedal point may go against all harmonies present during its duration, being almost more like an added tone than a nonchord tone, or pedal points may serve as atonal pitch centers. The term comes from the organ for its ability to sustain a note indefinitely, the pedal keyboard on an organ is played by the feet, as such, the organist can hold down a pedal point for lengthy periods while both hands perform higher-register music on the manual keyboards. A double pedal is two pedal tones played simultaneously, an inverted pedal is a pedal that is not in the bass Mozart included numerous inverted pedals in his works, particularly in the solo parts of his concertos. An internal pedal is a pedal that is similar to the inverted pedal, a drone differs from a pedal point in degree or quality. A pedal point may be a tone and thus required to resolve, unlike a drone, or a pedal point may simply be a shorter drone. There are numerous examples of points in European classical music. Pedal points often appear in early baroque music alla battaglia, notably prolonged in Heinrich Schützs Es steh Gott auf, pedal points are somewhat problematic on the harpsichord, which has only a limited sustain capability. Often the pedal note is repeated at intervals. A pedal tone can also be realized with a trill, this is common with inverted pedals. Another method of producing a pedal point on the harpsichord is to repeat the pedal point note on every beat. ”An example is the Prelude in D flat, Op.28,15, which, like the Purcell, features one repeated note throughout. The term pedal point is used to describe a bass note that is held for a long period in orchestral music. Pedal points for orchestral music are performed by the double basses with the bow. The openings of the first two operas of Wagners cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen feature pedal notes, for a very long passage there is not only no modulation but no change of chord
Pedal point
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Pedal tone example. Play (
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info)
48.
Requiem (Mozart)
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The Requiem Mass in D minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed in Vienna in 1791 and left unfinished at the composers death on December 5 the same year. It cannot be shown to what extent Süssmayr may have depended on now lost scraps of paper for the remainder, Walsegg probably intended to pass the Requiem off as his own composition, as he is known to have done with other works. This plan was frustrated by a benefit performance for Mozarts widow Constanze. The Requiem is scored for 2 basset horns in F,2 bassoons,2 trumpets in D,3 trombones, timpani, violins, viola, the vocal forces include soprano, contralto, tenor, and bass soloists and an SATB mixed choir. Süssmayr’s completion divides the Requiem into fourteen movements, I, Sequentia Dies irae Tuba mirum Rex tremendae Recordare Confutatis Lacrymosa IV. Offertorium Domine Jesu Hostias V. Sanctus VI, communio Lux aeterna All sections from the Sanctus onwards are not present in Mozarts manuscript fragment. Mozart may have intended to include the Amen fugue at the end of the Sequentia, the Introitus is in D minor and finishes on a half-cadence that transitions directly into Kyrie. The Kyrie is a fugue, with one subject setting the words Kyrie eleison. The movement Tuba mirum opens with a trombone solo accompanying the bass, at the time of Mozarts death on 5 December 1791, only the first two movements Requiem aeternam and Kyrie were completed in all of the orchestral and vocal parts. The Sequence and the Offertorium were completed in skeleton, with the exception of the Lacrymosa, the vocal parts and the continuo were fully notated. What remained to be completed for these sections were mostly accompanimental figures, inner harmonies, the eccentric count Franz von Walsegg commissioned the Requiem from Mozart anonymously through intermediaries. Joseph von Eybler was one of the first composers to be asked to complete the score, in addition, a striking similarity between the openings of the Domine Jesu Christe movements in the requiems of the two composers suggests that Eybler at least looked at later sections. After this work, he felt unable to complete the remainder, the task was then given to another composer, Franz Xaver Süssmayr. Some people consider it unlikely, however, that Mozart would have repeated the two sections if he had survived to finish the work. Other composers may have helped Süssmayr, others have pointed out that in the beginning of the Agnus Dei the choral bass quotes the main theme from the Introitus. Another controversy is the suggestion that Mozart left explicit instructions for the completion of the Requiem on little scraps of paper, the extent to which Süssmayrs work may have been influenced by these scraps if they existed at all remains a subject of speculation amongst musicologists to this day. The completed score, initially by Mozart but largely finished by Süssmayr, was dispatched to Count Walsegg complete with a counterfeited signature of Mozart. Despite the controversy over how much of the music is actually Mozarts and this acceptance is quite strong, even when alternative completions provide logical and compelling solutions for the work
Requiem (Mozart)
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Title in Mozart's autograph
Requiem (Mozart)
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Bars 1–5 of the Lacrymosa
Requiem (Mozart)
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Mozart's manuscript with missing corner
Requiem (Mozart)
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Biography
49.
Well-tempered Clavier
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The Well-Tempered Clavier, BWV 846–893, is a collection of two series of Preludes and Fugues in all 24 major and minor keys, composed for solo keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the German of Bachs time Clavier was a name indicating a variety of keyboard instruments, most typically a harpsichord or clavichord –. The modern German spelling for the collection is Das wohltemperierte Klavier, some 20 years later Bach compiled a second book of the same kind, which became known as The Well-Tempered Clavier, Part Two. Modern editions usually refer to both parts as The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I and The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, the collection is generally regarded as being among the most influential works in the history of Western classical music. Each set contains twenty-four pairs of preludes and fugues, the first pair is in C major, the second in C minor, the third in C♯ major, the fourth in C♯ minor, and so on. The rising chromatic pattern continues until every key has been represented, the first set was compiled in 1722 during Bachs appointment in Köthen, the second followed 20 years later in 1742 while he was in Leipzig. The C♯ major prelude and fugue in book one was originally in C major – Bach added a key signature of seven sharps, although the Well-Tempered Clavier was the first collection of fully worked keyboard pieces in all 24 keys, similar ideas had occurred earlier. His contemporary Johann Heinrich Kittel also composed a cycle of 12 organ preludes in successive keys, Fischer was published in 1702 and reissued 1715. It is a set of 20 prelude-fugue pairs in ten major and nine minor keys, Bach knew the collection and borrowed some of the themes from Fischer for the Well-Tempered Clavier. Finally, a lost collection by Johann Pachelbel, Fugen und Praeambuln über die gewöhnlichsten Tonos figuratos and it was later shown that this was the work of a composer who was not even born in 1689, Bernhard Christian Weber. It was in written in 1745–50, and in imitation of Bachs example. Bachs title suggests that he had written for a tuning system in which all keys sounded in tune. The opposing system in Bachs day was meantone temperament in which keys with many accidentals sound out of tune, Bach would have been familiar with different tuning systems, and in particular as an organist would have played instruments tuned to a meantone system. There is debate whether Bach meant a range of temperaments, perhaps even altered slightly in practice from piece to piece. During much of the 20th century it was assumed that Bach wanted equal temperament, internal evidence for this may be seen in the fact that in Book 1 Bach paired the E♭ minor prelude with its enharmonic key of D♯ minor for the fugue. This represents an equation of the most tonally remote enharmonic keys where the flat, any performance of this pair would have required both of these enharmonic keys to sound identically tuned, thus implying equal temperament in the one pair, as the entire work implies as a whole. However, research has continued into various unequal systems contemporary with Bachs career, accounts of Bachs own tuning practice are few and inexact. The three most cited sources are Forkel, Bachs first biographer, Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, who received information from Bachs sons and pupils, and Johann Kirnberger, one of those pupils
Well-tempered Clavier
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Title page of Das Wohltemperierte Clavier
Well-tempered Clavier
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A flat major (As-dur) fugue from the second part of Das Wohltemperierte Clavier (manuscript)
50.
BWV 552
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The Clavier-Übung III, sometimes referred to as the German Organ Mass, is a collection of compositions for organ by Johann Sebastian Bach, started in 1735–36 and published in 1739. It is considered Bachs most significant and extensive work for organ, containing some of his musically most complex and technically most demanding compositions for that instrument. In its use of forms, motet-style and canons, it looks back to the religious music of masters of the stile antico, such as Frescobaldi, Palestrina, Lotti. At the same time, Bach was forward-looking, incorporating and distilling modern baroque musical forms, the chorale preludes range from compositions for single keyboard to a six-part fugal prelude with two parts in the pedal. November 25,1736 saw the consecration of a new organ, built by Gottfried Silbermann, in a central and symbolic position in the Frauenkirche, the following week, on the afternoon of December 1, Bach gave a two-hour organ recital there, which received great applause. Bach was used to playing on church organs in Dresden, where since 1733 his son, Bach was later to complain that the temperament on Silbermann organs was not well suited to todays practice. Clavier-Übung III is the third of four books of Bachs Clavier-Übung and it was his published music for organ, the other three parts being for harpsichord. Bach started composing after finishing Clavier-Übung II—the Italian Concerto, BWV971, Bach used two groups of engravers because of delays in preparation,43 pages by three engravers from the workshop of Johann Gottfried Krügner in Leipzig and 35 pages by Balthasar Schmid in Nuremberg. The final 78-page manuscript was published in Leipzig in Michaelmas 1739 at the high price of 3 Reichsthaler. Bachs Lutheran theme was in keeping with the times, since already that year there had been three bicentenary Reformation festivals in Leipzig, in translation, the title page reads Third Part of Keyboard Practice, consisting of various preludes on the Catechism and other hymns for the organ. Apart from BWV676, all the material was newly composed, although Clavier-Übung III is acknowledged to be not merely a miscellaneous collection of pieces, there has been no agreement on whether it forms a cycle or is just a set of closely related pieces. As with previous works of this type by composers such as François Couperin, Johann Caspar Kerll and Dieterich Buxtehude. Bachs complex musical style had been criticized by some of his contemporaries, the composer, organist and musicologist Johann Mattheson remarked in Die kanonische Anatomie, It is true, and I have experienced it myself, that quick progress. With artistic pieces can engross a sensible composer so that he can sincerely and secretly delight in his own work. But through this self-love we are led away from the true purpose of music, until we hardly think of others at all. Really we should not only our own inclinations, but those of the listener. I have often composed something that seemed to me trifling, I made a mental note of this, and wrote more of the same, although it had little merit when judged according to artistry. Until 1731, apart from his celebrated ridiculing in 1725 of Bachs declamatory writing in Cantata No.21, Matthesons commentary on Bach had been positive
BWV 552
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Johann Sebastian Bach, 1746
BWV 552
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Canaletto: the market place and Frauenkirche in
Dresden, c 1750
BWV 552
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Reconstruction of the facade of the
Silbermann organ in the
Frauenkirche, Dresden on which Bach performed on December 1, 1736, a week after its dedication
BWV 552
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Title page of Clavier-Übung III
Listen )
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"Fugue". The American Cyclopædia. 1879.
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