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Sheet music
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Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms and/or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. The first printed sheet music made with a press was made in 1473. Sheet music is the form in which Western classical music is notated so that it can be learned and performed by solo singers or instrumentalists or musical ensembles. Many forms of traditional and popular Western music are commonly learned by singers and musicians by ear, Score is a common alternative term for sheet music, and there are several types of scores, as discussed below. Sheet music from the 20th and 21st century typically indicates the title of the song or composition on a page or cover, or on the top of the first page. If the song or piece is from a movie, Broadway musical, or opera, if the songwriter or composer is known, her or his name is typically indicated along with the title. Black market sheet music, such as illegal jazz fake books may or may not indicate the songwriter or composer, the type of musical notation varies a great deal by genre or style of music. In most classical music, the melody and accompaniment parts are notated on the lines of a staff using round note heads, the lyrics, if present, are written near the melody notes. However, music from the Baroque music era or earlier eras may have neither a tempo marking nor a dynamic indication. The singers and musicians of that era were expected to know what tempo and loudness to play or sing a song or piece due to their musical experience. In the contemporary music era, and in some cases before, composers often used their native language for tempo indications. These conventions of music notation, and in particular the use of English tempo instructions, are also used for sheet music versions of 20th. Popular music songs often indicate both the tempo and genre, slow blues or uptempo rock, pop songs often contain chord names above the staff using letter names, so that an acoustic guitarist or piano player can improvise a chordal accompaniment. In other styles of music, different musical notation methods may be used, in jazz, while most professional performers can read classical-style notation, many jazz tunes are notated using chord charts, which indicate the chord progression of a song and its form. Like popular music songs, jazz tunes often indicate both the tempo and genre, slow blues or fast bop, professional country music session musicians typically use music notated in the Nashville Number System, which indicates the chord progression using numbers. Chord charts using letter names, numbers, or Roman numerals are widely used for notating music by blues, R&B, rock music. Many guitar players and electric bass players learn songs and note tunes using tablature, tab is widely used rock music and heavy metal guitarists. Singers in many music styles learn a song using only a lyrics sheet
2.
Opera
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Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. In traditional opera, singers do two types of singing, recitative, a style and arias, a more melodic style. Opera incorporates many of the elements of theatre, such as acting, scenery. The performance is given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition, in the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe, attracting foreign composers such as George Frideric Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Christoph Willibald Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his operas in the 1760s. The first third of the 19th century saw the point of the bel canto style, with Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti. It also saw the advent of Grand Opera typified by the works of Auber and Meyerbeer, the mid-to-late 19th century was a golden age of opera, led and dominated by Richard Wagner in Germany and Giuseppe Verdi in Italy. The popularity of opera continued through the era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Giacomo Puccini. During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe, the 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism, Neoclassicism, and Minimalism. With the rise of recording technology, singers such as Enrico Caruso, since the invention of radio and television, operas were also performed on these mediums. Beginning in 2006, a number of opera houses began to present live high-definition video transmissions of their performances in cinemas all over the world. In 2009, an opera company offered a download of a complete performance. The words of an opera are known as the libretto, some composers, notably Wagner, have written their own libretti, others have worked in close collaboration with their librettists, e. g. Mozart with Lorenzo Da Ponte. Vocal duets, trios and other ensembles often occur, and choruses are used to comment on the action, in some forms of opera, such as singspiel, opéra comique, operetta, and semi-opera, the recitative is mostly replaced by spoken dialogue. Melodic or semi-melodic passages occurring in the midst of, or instead of, the terminology of the various kinds of operatic voices is described in detail below. Over the 18th century, arias were accompanied by the orchestra. Subsequent composers have tended to follow Wagners example, though some, the changing role of the orchestra in opera is described in more detail below
3.
Libretto
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A libretto is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term libretto is also used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as the Mass, requiem and sacred cantata. Libretto, from Italian, is the diminutive of the word libro, sometimes other language equivalents are used for libretti in that language, livret for French works and Textbuch for German. A libretto is distinct from a synopsis or scenario of the plot, in that the libretto contains all the words and stage directions, while a synopsis summarizes the plot. The relationship of the librettist to the composer in the creation of a work has varied over the centuries, as have the sources. In the context of a modern English language musical theatre piece, Libretti for operas, oratorios and cantatas in the 17th and 18th centuries generally were written by someone other than the composer, often a well-known poet. Metastasio was one of the most highly regarded librettists in Europe and his libretti were set many times by many different composers. Another noted 18th-century librettist was Lorenzo Da Ponte, who wrote the libretti for three of Mozarts greatest operas, as well as for other composers. Eugène Scribe was one of the most prolific librettists of the 19th century, providing the words for works by Meyerbeer, Auber, Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini and Verdi. The French writers duo Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy wrote a number of opera and operetta libretti for the likes of Jacques Offenbach, Jules Massenet. Arrigo Boito, who wrote libretti for, among others, Giuseppe Verdi and Amilcare Ponchielli, the libretto is not always written before the music. Some composers wrote their own libretti, Richard Wagner is perhaps most famous in this regard, with his transformations of Germanic legends and events into epic subjects for his operas and music dramas. Hector Berlioz, too, wrote the libretti for two of his works, La Damnation de Faust and Les Troyens. Alban Berg adapted Georg Büchners play Woyzeck for the libretto of Wozzeck, sometimes the libretto is written in close collaboration with the composer, this can involve adaptation, as was the case with Rimsky-Korsakov and his librettist Belsky, or an entirely original work. In the case of musicals, the music, the lyrics, thus, a musical such as Fiddler on the Roof has a composer, a lyricist and the writer of the book. In rare cases, the composer writes everything except the dance arrangements - music, lyrics and libretto, Other matters in the process of developing a libretto parallel those of spoken dramas for stage or screen. A famous case of the latter is Wagners 1861 revision of the original 1845 Dresden version of his opera Tannhäuser for Paris, since the late 19th century some opera composers have written music to prose or free verse libretti. The libretto of a musical, on the hand, is almost always written in prose
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Symmetry
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Symmetry in everyday language refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, symmetry has a precise definition, that an object is invariant to any of various transformations. Although these two meanings of symmetry can sometimes be told apart, they are related, so they are discussed together. The opposite of symmetry is asymmetry, a geometric shape or object is symmetric if it can be divided into two or more identical pieces that are arranged in an organized fashion. This means that an object is symmetric if there is a transformation that moves individual pieces of the object, an object has rotational symmetry if the object can be rotated about a fixed point without changing the overall shape. An object has symmetry if it can be translated without changing its overall shape. An object has symmetry if it can be simultaneously translated and rotated in three-dimensional space along a line known as a screw axis. An object has symmetry if it does not change shape when it is expanded or contracted. Fractals also exhibit a form of symmetry, where small portions of the fractal are similar in shape to large portions. Other symmetries include glide reflection symmetry and rotoreflection symmetry, a dyadic relation R is symmetric if and only if, whenever its true that Rab, its true that Rba. Thus, is the age as is symmetrical, for if Paul is the same age as Mary. Symmetric binary logical connectives are and, or, biconditional, nand, xor, the set of operations that preserve a given property of the object form a group. In general, every kind of structure in mathematics will have its own kind of symmetry, examples include even and odd functions in calculus, the symmetric group in abstract algebra, symmetric matrices in linear algebra, and the Galois group in Galois theory. In statistics, it appears as symmetric probability distributions, and as skewness, symmetry in physics has been generalized to mean invariance—that is, lack of change—under any kind of transformation, for example arbitrary coordinate transformations. This concept has one of the most powerful tools of theoretical physics. See Noethers theorem, and also, Wigners classification, which says that the symmetries of the laws of physics determine the properties of the found in nature. Important symmetries in physics include continuous symmetries and discrete symmetries of spacetime, internal symmetries of particles, in biology, the notion of symmetry is mostly used explicitly to describe body shapes. Bilateral animals, including humans, are more or less symmetric with respect to the plane which divides the body into left
5.
Lyre
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The lyre is a string instrument known for its use in Greek classical antiquity and later periods. The lyre is similar in appearance to a small harp but with distinct differences, the word comes via Latin from the Greek, the earliest reference to the word is the Mycenaean Greek ru-ra-ta-e, meaning lyrists and written in the Linear B script. The lyres of Ur, excavated in ancient Mesopotamia, date to 2500 BC, the earliest picture of a lyre with seven strings appears in the famous sarcophagus of Hagia Triada. The sarcophagus was used during the Mycenaean occupation of Crete, the recitations of the Ancient Greeks were accompanied by lyre playing. The lyre of classical antiquity was ordinarily played by being strummed with a plectrum, the fingers of the free hand silenced the unwanted strings in the chord. However, later lyres were played with a bow in Europe, one example from Wales that has been resurrected recently is the crwth. In organology, lyres are defined as yoke lutes, being lutes in which the strings are attached to a yoke which lies in the plane as the sound-table. A classical lyre has a body or sound-chest, which. Extending from this sound-chest are two raised arms, which are hollow, and are curved both outward and forward. They are connected near the top by a crossbar or yoke, an additional crossbar, fixed to the sound-chest, makes the bridge which transmits the vibrations of the strings. They were stretched between the yoke and bridge, or to a tailpiece below the bridge, according to ancient Greek mythology, the young god Hermes stole a herd of sacred cows from Apollo. In order not to be followed, he made shoes for the cows which forced them to walk backwards, Apollo, following the trails, could not follow where the cows were going. Along the way, Hermes slaughtered one of the cows and offered all, from the entrails and a tortoise/turtle shell, he created the Lyre. Apollo, figuring out it was Hermes who had his cows, Apollo was furious, but after hearing the sound of the lyre, his anger faded. Apollo offered to trade the herd of cattle for the lyre, hence, the creation of the lyre is attributed to Hermes. Other sources credit it to Apollo himself, locales in southern Europe, western Asia, or north Africa have been proposed as the historic birthplace of the genus. The instrument is played in north-eastern parts of Africa. Some of the cultures using and developing the lyre were the Aeolian and Ionian Greek colonies on the coasts of Asia bordering the Lydian empire, some mythic masters like Musaeus, and Thamyris were believed to have been born in Thrace, another place of extensive Greek colonization
6.
Petrarch
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Francesco Petrarca, commonly anglicized as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar and poet in Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarchs rediscovery of Ciceros letters is often credited with initiating the 14th-century Renaissance, Petrarch is often considered the founder of Humanism. In the 16th century, Pietro Bembo created the model for the modern Italian language based on Petrarchs works, as well as those of Giovanni Boccaccio, Petrarch would be later endorsed as a model for Italian style by the Accademia della Crusca. Petrarchs sonnets were admired and imitated throughout Europe during the Renaissance and he is also known for being the first to develop the concept of the Dark Ages. This standing back from his time was possible because he straddled two worlds—the classical and his own modern day, Petrarch was born in the Tuscan city of Arezzo in 1304. He was the son of Ser Petracco and his wife Eletta Canigiani and his given name was Francesco Petracco. The name was Latinized to Petrarca, Petrarchs younger brother was born in Incisa in Val dArno in 1307. Dante was a friend of his father, Petrarch spent his early childhood in the village of Incisa, near Florence. He spent much of his life at Avignon and nearby Carpentras. He studied law at the University of Montpellier and Bologna with a lifelong friend, because his father was in the profession of law he insisted that Petrarch and his brother study law also. Petrarch however was interested in writing and Latin literature and considered these seven years wasted. Additionally he proclaimed that through legal manipulation his guardians robbed him of his small property inheritance in Florence and he protested, I couldnt face making a merchandise of my mind, as he viewed the legal system as the art of selling justice. Petrarch was a letter writer and counted Boccaccio among his notable friends to whom he wrote often. After the death of their parents, Petrarch and his brother Gherardo went back to Avignon in 1326 and this work gave him much time to devote to his writing. With his first large work, Africa, an epic in Latin about the great Roman general Scipio Africanus. On April 8,1341, he became the poet laureate since antiquity and was crowned by Roman Senatori Giordano Orsini. He traveled widely in Europe, served as an ambassador, and has called the first tourist because he traveled just for pleasure. During his travels, he collected crumbling Latin manuscripts and was a mover in the recovery of knowledge from writers of Rome
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Sonnet
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A sonnet is a poem in a specific form which originated in Italy, Giacomo da Lentini is credited with its invention. The term sonnet is derived from the Italian word sonetto, by the thirteenth century it signified a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure. Conventions associated with the sonnet have evolved over its history, writers of sonnets are sometimes called sonneteers, although the term can be used derisively. The sonnet was created by Giacomo da Lentini, head of the Sicilian School under Emperor Frederick II, guittone dArezzo rediscovered it and brought it to Tuscany where he adapted it to his language when he founded the Siculo-Tuscan School, or Guittonian school of poetry. Other Italian poets of the time, including Dante Alighieri and Guido Cavalcanti, wrote sonnets, other fine examples were written by Michelangelo. The structure of a typical Italian sonnet of the included two parts that together formed a compact form of argument. First, the octave, forms the proposition, which describes a problem, or question, followed by a sestet, typically, the ninth line initiates what is called the turn, or volta, which signals the move from proposition to resolution. Even in sonnets that dont strictly follow the structure, the ninth line still often marks a turn by signaling a change in the tone, mood. Later, the abba, abba pattern became the standard for Italian sonnets, for the sestet there were two different possibilities, cde, cde and cdc, cdc. In time, other variants on this scheme were introduced. Petrarch typically used an abba, abba pattern for the octave, in English, both the English or Shakespearean sonnet, and the Italian Petrarchan sonnet are traditionally written in iambic pentameter. Early twentieth-century American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay also wrote mostly Petrarchan sonnets, on His Blindness by Milton, gives a sense of the Petrarchan rhyme scheme, Most Sonnets in Dantes La Vita Nuova are Petrarchan. Chapter VII gives sonnet O voi che per la via, with two sestets and two quatrains, and Ch. VIII, Morte villana, with two sestets and two quatrains and it was written by Paolo Lanfranchi da Pistoia and is addressed to Peter III of Aragon. It employs the rhyme scheme a-b-a-b, a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d-c-d and this poem is historically interesting for its information on north Italian perspectives concerning the War of the Sicilian Vespers, the conflict between the Angevins and Aragonese for Sicily. It congratulates Robert of Naples on his recent victory, there are also two poorly regarded sonnets by the Italian Dante de Maiano. By the late 17th century poets on increasingly relied on stanza forms incorporating rhymed couplets, and by the 18th century fixed-form poems – and, in particular, the resulting versification – less constrained by meter and rhyme patterns than Renaissance poetry – more closely mirrored prose. The Romantics were responsible for a return to many of the poems used during the 15th and 16th centuries. The sonnet however was used until the Parnassians brought it back into favor
8.
Cithara
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The cithara or kithara was an ancient Greek musical instrument in the lyre or lyra family. In modern Greek the word kithara has come to mean guitar, the kithara was a professional version of the two-stringed lyre. As opposed to the lyre, which was a folk-instrument. The kitharas origins are likely Asiatic, the barbiton was a bass version of the kithara popular in the eastern Aegean and ancient Asia Minor. In the Middle Ages, cythara was used generically for stringed instruments including lyres. The use of the name throughout the Middle Ages looked back to the original Greek cithara, the kithara had a deep, wooden sounding box composed of two resonating tables, either flat or slightly arched, connected by ribs or sides of equal width. At the top, its strings were knotted around the crossbar or yoke or to rings threaded over the bar, the other end of the strings was secured to a tail-piece after passing over a flat bridge, or the tail-piece and bridge were combined. The kithara was played primarily to accompany dances and epic recitations, rhapsodies, odes and it was also played solo at the receptions, banquets, national games, and trials of skill. The music from this instrument was said to be the lyre for drinking parties and is considered an invention of Terpander, aristotle said that these string instruments were not for educational purposes but for pleasure only. The kithara was the instrument, generally known as taking a great deal of skill. Sappho is closely associated with music, especially string instruments like the kithara and she was a woman of high social standing and composed songs that focused on the emotions. A Greek mythology story goes that she ascended the slopes of Mount Parnassus where she was welcomed by the Muses. She wandered through the grove and came upon the cave of Apollo. The sacred nymphs danced while she stroked the strings with much talent to bring forth sweet musical melodies from the resonant kithara, Music and Image in Classical Athens, New York, Cambridge University Press Schlesinger, Kathleen. MMA staff, The Kithara in Ancient Greece | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, retrieved 2016-10-25 Hagel, Stefan, Ancient Greek Music, Oeaw. ac. In its recording DEuripide aux premiers chretiens, musique de lantiquité grecque et romaine, pictures of its instruments can be seen on their website
9.
Aulos
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An aulos or tibia was an ancient Greek wind instrument, depicted often in art and also attested by archaeology. An aulete was the musician who performed on an aulos, the ancient Roman equivalent was the tibicen, from the Latin tibia, pipe, aulos. There were several kinds of aulos, single or double, the most common variety was a reed instrument. Archeological finds, surviving iconography and other evidence indicate that it was double-reeded, like the modern oboe, a single pipe without a reed was called the monaulos. A single pipe held horizontally, as the flute, was the plagiaulos. A pipe with a bag to allow for sound, that is a bagpipe, was the askaulos. Like the Great Highland Bagpipe, the aulos has been used for martial music and it was the standard accompaniment of the passionate elegiac poetry. It also accompanied physical activities such as wrestling matches, the broad jump, plato associates it with the ecstatic cults of Dionysus and the Korybantes, banning it from his Republic but reintroducing it in Laws. It appears that some variants of the instrument were loud, shrill, sometimes a second strap was used over the top of the head to prevent the phorbeiá from slipping down. Aulos players are depicted with puffed cheeks. The playing technique almost certainly made use of breathing, very much like the Sardinian launeddas and Armenian duduk. Nevertheless, such musicians could achieve fame, the Romano-Greek writer Lucian discusses aulos playing in his dialogue Harmonides, in which Alexander the Greats aulete Timotheus discusses fame with his pupil Harmonides. Timotheus advises him to impress the experts within his profession rather than seek popular approval in big public venues, if leading musicians admire him, popular approval will follow. However, Lucian reports that Harmonides died from excessive blowing during practicing, in myth, Marsyas the satyr was supposed to have invented the aulos, or else picked it up after Athena had thrown it away because it caused her cheeks to puff out and ruined her beauty. But Apollo and his lyre beat Marsyas and his aulos, and since the pure lord of Delphis mind worked in different ways from Marsyass, he celebrated his victory by stringing his opponent up from a tree and flaying him alive. King Midas was cursed with donkeys ears for judging Apollo as the lesser player, Marsyass blood and the tears of the Muses formed the river Marsyas in Asia Minor. This tale was a warning against committing the sin of hubris, or overweening pride, some of this is a result of 19th century AD classical interpretation, i. e. Apollo versus Dionysus, or Reason opposed to Madness. In the temple to Apollo at Delphi, there was also a shrine to Dionysus, and his Maenads are shown on drinking cups playing the aulos, so a modern interpretation can be a little more complicated than just simple duality
10.
Poetry
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Poetry has a long history, dating back to the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. Early poems evolved from folk songs such as the Chinese Shijing, or from a need to retell oral epics, as with the Sanskrit Vedas, Zoroastrian Gathas, and the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Ancient attempts to define poetry, such as Aristotles Poetics, focused on the uses of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and comedy. Later attempts concentrated on such as repetition, verse form and rhyme. From the mid-20th century, poetry has sometimes been more generally regarded as a creative act employing language. Poetry uses forms and conventions to suggest differential interpretation to words, devices such as assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve musical or incantatory effects. The use of ambiguity, symbolism, irony and other elements of poetic diction often leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations. Similarly figures of such as metaphor, simile and metonymy create a resonance between otherwise disparate images—a layering of meanings, forming connections previously not perceived. Kindred forms of resonance may exist, between verses, in their patterns of rhyme or rhythm. Some poetry types are specific to cultures and genres and respond to characteristics of the language in which the poet writes. Much modern poetry reflects a critique of poetic tradition, playing with and testing, among other things, in todays increasingly globalized world, poets often adapt forms, styles and techniques from diverse cultures and languages. Some scholars believe that the art of poetry may predate literacy, others, however, suggest that poetry did not necessarily predate writing. The oldest surviving poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, comes from the 3rd millennium BCE in Sumer. An example of Egyptian epic poetry is The Story of Sinuhe, other forms of poetry developed directly from folk songs. The earliest entries in the oldest extant collection of Chinese poetry, the efforts of ancient thinkers to determine what makes poetry distinctive as a form, and what distinguishes good poetry from bad, resulted in poetics—the study of the aesthetics of poetry. Some ancient societies, such as Chinas through her Shijing, developed canons of poetic works that had ritual as well as aesthetic importance, Classical thinkers employed classification as a way to define and assess the quality of poetry. Later aestheticians identified three major genres, epic poetry, lyric poetry, and dramatic poetry, treating comedy and tragedy as subgenres of dramatic poetry, Aristotles work was influential throughout the Middle East during the Islamic Golden Age, as well as in Europe during the Renaissance. English Romantic poet John Keats termed this escape from logic Negative Capability and this romantic approach views form as a key element of successful poetry because form is abstract and distinct from the underlying notional logic
11.
Music
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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
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