1.
String instrument
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String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when the performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the strings with their fingers or a plectrum—and others by hitting the strings with a wooden hammer or by rubbing the strings with a bow. In some keyboard instruments, such as the harpsichord or piano, with bowed instruments, the player rubs the strings with a horsehair bow, causing them to vibrate. With a hurdy-gurdy, the musician operates a wheel that rubs the strings. Bowed instruments include the string instruments of the Classical music orchestra. All of the string instruments can also be plucked with the fingers. Some types of string instrument are mainly plucked, such as the harp, in the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, string instruments are called chordophones. Other examples include the sitar, rebab, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, in most string instruments, the vibrations are transmitted to the body of the instrument, which often incorporates some sort of hollow or enclosed area. The body of the instrument also vibrates, along with the air inside it, the vibration of the body of the instrument and the enclosed hollow or chamber make the vibration of the string more audible to the performer and audience. The body of most string instruments is hollow, some, however—such as electric guitar and other instruments that rely on electronic amplification—may have a solid wood body. Archaeological digs have identified some of the earliest stringed instruments in Ancient Mesopotamian sites, like the lyres of Ur, the development of lyre instruments required the technology to create a tuning mechanism to tighten and loosen the string tension. During the medieval era, instrument development varied from country to country, Middle Eastern rebecs represented breakthroughs in terms of shape and strings, with a half a pear shape using three strings. Early versions of the violin and fiddle, by comparison, emerged in Europe through instruments such as the gittern, a four stringed precursor to the guitar and these instruments typically used catgut and other materials, including silk, for their strings. String instrument design refined during the Renaissance and into the Baroque period of musical history, violins and guitars became more consistent in design, and were roughly similar to what we use in the 2000s. At the same time, the 19th century guitar became more associated with six string models. In big bands of the 1920s, the guitar played backing chords. The development of guitar amplifiers, which contained a power amplifier, the development of the electric guitar provided guitarists with an instrument that was built to connect to guitar amplifiers. Electric guitars have magnetic pickups, volume control knobs and an output jack, in the 1960s, larger, more powerful guitar amplifiers were developed, called stacks
2.
Musical instrument classification
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Throughout history, various methods of musical instrument classification have been used. The most commonly used system divides instruments into string instruments, woodwind instruments, brass instruments and percussion instruments, the oldest known scheme of classifying instruments is Chinese and dates from the 3rd millennium BC. It grouped instruments according to the materials they are made of. However, the Chou-Li, an anonymous treatise compiled from sources in about the 2nd century BC, had the following order, metal, stone, clay, leather, silk, wood, gourd. The same order was presented in the Tso Chuan, attributed to Tso Chiu-Ming, more usually, instruments are classified according to how the sound is initially produced. The modern system divides instruments into wind, strings and percussion, the scheme was later expanded by Martin Agricola, who distinguished plucked string instruments, such as guitars, from bowed string instruments, such as violins. Classical musicians today do not always maintain this division, but distinguish between wind instruments with a reed and those where the air is set in motion directly by the lips, many instruments do not fit very neatly into this scheme. The serpent, for example, ought to be classified as a brass instrument, however, it looks more like a woodwind instrument, and is closer to one in many ways, having finger-holes to control pitch, rather than valves. Keyboard instruments do not fit easily into this scheme, for example, the piano has strings, but they are struck by hammers, so it is not clear whether it should be classified as a string instrument or a percussion instrument. Ottoman encyclopedist Hadji Khalifa also recognized the three classes in his Kashf al-Zunun an Asami al-Kutub wa al-Funun, a treatise on the origin. The division pervades Tboli thought about cosmology, social characters of men and women, victor-Charles Mahillon later adopted a system very similar to this. This scheme was taken up by Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs who published an extensive new scheme for classication in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie in 1914. Their scheme is used today, and is most often known as the Hornbostel-Sachs system. Electrophones, such as the guitar or electric bass, which produce sound through electricity and is required to be plugged in to an amplifier. Later Sachs added a category, electrophones, such as theremins. Modern synthesizers and electronic instruments fall in this category, within each category are many subgroups. The system has been criticised and revised over the years, in 1932, comparative musicologist André Schaeffner developed a new classification scheme that was exhaustive, potentially covering all real and conceivable instruments. The Kpelle of West Africa also use this system and they distinguish the struck, including both beaten and plucked, and the blown
3.
Chordophone
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A chordophone is a musical instrument that makes sound by way of a vibrating string or strings stretched between two points. It is one of the four divisions of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification. What many would call string instruments are classified as chordophones, violins, guitars, lyres, and harps are examples. However, the word also embraces instruments that many would hesitate to call string instruments, such as the musical bow, Hornbostel-Sachs divides chordophones into two main groups, instruments without a resonator as an integral part of the instrument, and instruments with such a resonator. Most western instruments fall into the group, but the piano. Hornbostel and Sachs criterion for determining which sub-group an instrument falls into is that if the resonator can be removed without destroying the instrument, then it is classified as 31. This is not true of the violin, because the passes over a bridge located on the resonator box. Electric string instruments often have a pickup that produces a signal that can be amplified. The electric guitar is the most common example, but many other chordophones use pickups—including mandolins, violins, when a chordophone is played, the strings vibrate and interact with each other. There is usually something that makes the sound resonate, such as the body of a guitar or violin, the strings are set into motion by either plucking, strumming, by rubbing with a bow, or by striking. Common chordophones are the banjo, cello, double bass, dulcimer, guitar, harp, lute, piano, sitar, ukulele, viola and violin
4.
Bow (music)
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In music, a bow is a tensioned stick with hair affixed to it which is moved across some part of a musical instrument causing vibration, which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, such as the violin, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones. A bow consists of a specially shaped stick with other material forming a ribbon stretched between its ends, which is used to stroke the string and create sound, different musical cultures have adopted various designs for the bow. For instance, in some bows a single cord is stretched between the ends of the stick, in the Western tradition of bow making—bows for the instruments of the violin and viol families—a hank of horsehair is normally employed. The manufacture of bows is considered a craft, and well-made bows command high prices. Part of the bow makers skill is the ability to high quality material for the stick. Historically, Western bows have been made of wood from Brazil. Carbon fiber bows have become popular, and some of the better carbon fiber bows are now comparable to fine pernambuco sticks. For the frog, which holds and adjusts the near end of the horsehair, ebony is most often used, but other materials, often decorative, were used as well, such as ivory and tortoiseshell. Materials such as mother of pearl or abalone shell are used on the slide which covers the mortise. Sometimes Parisian eyes are used, with the circle of shell surrounded by a metal ring, near the frog is the grip, which is made of a wire, silk, or whalebone wrap and a thumb cushion made of leather or snakeskin. The tip plate of the bow may be made of bone, ivory, mammoth ivory, or metal, a bow maker or archetier typically uses between 150 and 200 hairs from the tail of a horse for a violin bow. Bows for other members of the family typically have a wider ribbon. There is a widely held belief among string players, neither proven nor disproven scientifically, lower quality bows often use nylon or synthetic hair. Rosin, or colophony, a hard, sticky substance made from resin, is applied to the bow hair to increase friction. In making a bow, the greater part of the woodworking is done on a straight stick. According to James McKean, the bow maker graduates the stick in precise gradations so that it is evenly flexible throughout and these gradations were originally calculated by François Tourte, discussed below. In order to shape the curve or camber of the bow stick, the maker carefully heats the stick in an alcohol flame, a metal or wooden template is used to get the models exact curve and shape while heating
5.
Range (music)
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In music, the range of a musical instrument is the distance from the lowest to the highest pitch it can play. For a singing voice, the equivalent is vocal range, the range of a musical part is the distance between its lowest and highest note. The terms sounding range, written range, designated range, duration range, a piccolo, for example, typically has a sounding range one octave higher than its written range. The designated range is the set of notes the player should or can achieve while playing, all instruments have a designated range, and all pitched instruments have a playing range. Timbre, dynamics, and duration ranges are interrelated and one may achieve registral range at the expense of timbre, the designated range is thus the range in which a player is expected to have comfortable control of all aspects. The duration range is the difference between the shortest and longest rhythm used, dynamic range is the difference between the quietest and loudest volume of an instrument, part or piece of music. Although woodwind instruments and string instruments have no upper limit to their range. Brass instruments, on the hand, can play beyond their designated ranges. Notes lower than the brass instruments designated range are called pedal tones, the playing range of a brass instrument depends on both the technical limitations of the instrument and the skill of the player. Classical arrangements seldom make woodwind or brass instruments play beyond their designed range, string musicians play the bottom of their ranges very frequently, but the top of a string instruments range is rather fuzzy, and it is unusual for a string player to exceed the designated range. It is quite rare for wind musicians to play the extremes of their instruments, the most common exception is that in many 20th century works, pedal tones are called for in bass trombones. This chart uses standard numberings for octaves where middle C corresponds to C4, in the MIDI language middle C is referred to as MIDI note number 60. The lowest note that an organ can sound is C−1. However, if acoustic combination counts, the lowest note is C−2, *This chart only displays down to C0, though some pipe organs, such as the Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ, extend down to C−1. Also, the frequency of the subcontrabass tuba is B♭−1
6.
Musical instrument
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A musical instrument is an instrument created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument, the history of musical instruments dates to the beginnings of human culture. Early musical instruments may have used for ritual, such as a trumpet to signal success on the hunt. Cultures eventually developed composition and performance of melodies for entertainment, Musical instruments evolved in step with changing applications. The date and origin of the first device considered an instrument is disputed. The oldest object that some refer to as a musical instrument. Some consensus dates early flutes to about 37,000 years ago, many early musical instruments were made from animal skins, bone, wood, and other non-durable materials. Musical instruments developed independently in many populated regions of the world, however, contact among civilizations caused rapid spread and adaptation of most instruments in places far from their origin. By the Middle Ages, instruments from Mesopotamia were in maritime Southeast Asia, development in the Americas occurred at a slower pace, but cultures of North, Central, and South America shared musical instruments. By 1400, musical instrument development slowed in areas and was dominated by the Occident. Musical instrument classification is a discipline in its own right, Instruments can be classified by their effective range, their material composition, their size, etc. However, the most common method, Hornbostel-Sachs, uses the means by which they produce sound. The academic study of instruments is called organology. Once humans moved from making sounds with their bodies—for example, by using objects to create music from sounds. Primitive instruments were designed to emulate natural sounds, and their purpose was ritual rather than entertainment. The concept of melody and the pursuit of musical composition were unknown to early players of musical instruments. A player sounding a flute to signal the start of a hunt does so without thought of the notion of making music. Musical instruments are constructed in an array of styles and shapes
7.
Cello
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The cello or violoncello is a bowed or plucked string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. The strings from low to high are generally tuned to C2, G2, D3 and A3 and it is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin and viola and the double bass. The cello is used as a musical instrument, as well as in chamber music ensembles, string orchestras, as a member of the string section of symphony orchestras. It is the second-largest and second lowest bowed string instrument in the symphony orchestra. Cello parts are written in the bass clef, but both tenor clef and treble clefs are used for higher-range parts, both in orchestral/chamber music parts and in solo cello works. A person who plays the cello is called a cellist or violoncellist, in a small Classical ensemble, such as a string quartet, the cello typically plays the bass part, the lowest-pitched musical line of the piece. In orchestra, in Baroque era and Classical music period, the cello plays the bass part. In Baroque era music, the cello is used to play the basso continuo bassline, in a Baroque performance, the cello player might be joined by other bass instruments, playing double bass, viol or other low-register instruments. The name cello is a contraction of the Italian violoncello, which means little violone, in modern symphony orchestras, it is the second largest stringed instrument. Thus, the name contained both the augmentative -one and the diminutive -cello. By the turn of the 20th century, it had become common to shorten the name to cello and it is now customary to use cello without apostrophe as the full designation. Viol is derived from the viola, which was derived from Medieval Latin vitula. Cellos are tuned in fifths, starting with C2, followed by G2, D3 and it is tuned in the same intervals as the viola, but an octave lower. Unlike the violin or viola but similar to the double bass, the cello is most closely associated with European classical music, and has been described as the closest sounding instrument to the human voice. The instrument is a part of the orchestra, as part of the string section. A large number of concertos and sonatas have been written for the cello, among the most well-known Baroque works for the cello are Johann Sebastian Bachs six unaccompanied Suites. The Prelude from the First Suite is particularly famous, romantic era repertoire includes the Robert Schumann Concerto, the Antonín Dvořák Concerto as well as the two sonatas and the Double Concerto by Johannes Brahms. The cello is increasingly common in traditional music, especially Scottish fiddle music
8.
Viol
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All members of the viol family are played upright between the legs like a modern cello, hence the Italian name viola da gamba was sometimes applied to the instruments of this family. This distinguishes the viol from the violin family, the viola da braccio. A player of the viol is commonly known as a gambist, violist /ˈvaɪəlɪst/, violist shares the spelling, but not the pronunciation, of the word commonly used since the mid-20th century to refer to a player of the viola. It can therefore cause confusion if used in print where context does not clearly indicate that a player is meant, though it is entirely unproblematic. Vihuelists began playing their instruments with a bow in the second half of the 15th century. An influence in the playing posture has been credited to the example of Moorish rabab players, the viol is unrelated to the much older Hebrew stringed instrument called a viol. This ancient harp-like instrument was similar to the kinnor or nabla, Stefano Pio argues that a re-examination of documents in the light of newly collected data indicates an origin different from the vihuela de arco from Aragon. According to Pio, the viol had its origins and evolved independently in Venice, the fifth string, already present in some specimens of these violette as a drone, was incorporated into the neck when they were expanded in size. This was then surpassed by a string, named basso. Initially the family of shared common characteristics but differed in the way they were played. The increase in the dimensions of the viola determined the birth of the viol, Viols most commonly have six strings, although many 16th-century instruments had only four or five strings. Viols were strung with gut strings of lower tension than on the members of the violin family, gut strings produce a sonority far different from steel, generally described as softer and sweeter. Viols are fretted in a similar to early guitars or lutes, by means of movable wrapped-around. A low seventh string was added in France to the bass viol by Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe, whose students included the French gamba virtuoso. Also, the painting Saint Cecilia with an Angel by Domenichino shows what may be a seven-string viol. Viols were first constructed much like the vihuela de mano, with all surfaces, top, back, however, some viols, both early and later, had carved tops, similar to those more commonly associated with instruments of the violin family. The ribs or sides of early viols were usually quite shallow, rib depth increased during the course of the 16th century, finally coming to resemble the greater depth of the classic 17th-century pattern. The flat backs of most viols have a sharply angled break or canted bend in their close to where the neck meets the body
9.
Viola
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The viola is a string instrument that is bowed or played with varying techniques. It is slightly larger than a violin and has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century it has been the middle or alto voice of the family, between the violin and the cello. The strings from low to high are generally tuned to C3, G3, D4. In the past, the viola varied in size and style as did its names, the Italians often used the term, viola da braccio meaning literally, of the arm. Brazzo was another Italian word referring to the viola which the Germans adopted in the form, the French had their own names, Cinquiesme was a small viola, Haute Contre was a large viola and Taile meant Tenor. In the modern era, the French use the term Alto, the viola had enjoyed popularity in the heyday of five-part harmony up until the eighteenth century, taking three lines of the harmony and occasionally playing the melody line. Music that is written for the viola differs from that of most other instruments in that it uses the alto clef. Viola music switches to the treble clef when there are sections of music written in a higher register to make the notes easier to read. The viola often plays the voices in string quartets and symphonic writing. The viola occasionally plays a major, soloistic role in orchestral music, examples include Don Quixote by Richard Strauss and Harold en Italie by Hector Berlioz. In the earlier part of the 20th century, more composers began to write for the viola, encouraged by the emergence of specialized soloists such as Lionel Tertis and William Primrose. English composers Arthur Bliss, York Bowen, Benjamin Dale, Frank Bridge, Benjamin Britten and Ralph Vaughan Williams all wrote substantial chamber, many of these pieces were commissioned by, or written for Lionel Tertis. William Walton, Bohuslav Martinů, Toru Takemitsu, Tibor Serly, Alfred Schnittke, Paul Hindemith wrote a substantial amount of music for viola, including the concerto Der Schwanendreher. The concerti by Paul Hindemith, Béla Bartók, and William Walton are the big three of viola repertoire, the viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size violas body is between 25 mm and 100 mm longer than the body of a violin, with an average length of 41 cm. Small violas typically made for children typically start at 30 cm, for a child who needs a smaller size, a fractional-sized violin is often strung with the strings of a viola. Unlike the violin, the viola does not have a full size. The body of a viola would need to measure about 51 cm long to match the acoustics of a violin, there have been several experiments intended to increase the size of the viola, in the interest of improving the instruments sound
10.
Violin
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The violin is a wooden string instrument in the violin family. It is the smallest and highest-pitched instrument in the family in regular use, smaller violin-type instruments are known, including the violino piccolo and the kit violin, but these are virtually unused in the 2010s. The violin typically has four strings tuned in fifths, and is most commonly played by drawing a bow across its strings. Violins are important instruments in a variety of musical genres. They are most prominent in the Western classical tradition and in varieties of folk music. They are also used in genres of folk including country music and bluegrass music. Electric violins are used in forms of rock music, further. The violin is sometimes called a fiddle, particularly in Irish traditional music and bluegrass. The violin was first known in 16th-century Italy, with further modifications occurring in the 18th and 19th centuries. In Europe it served as the basis for stringed instruments used in classical music, the viola. According to their reputation, the quality of their sound has defied attempts to explain or equal it, many of these trade instruments were formerly sold by Sears, Roebuck and Co. and other mass merchandisers. A person who makes or repairs violins is called a luthier or violinmaker, the parts of a violin are usually made from different types of wood and on the use of a pickup and an amplifier and speaker). Violins can be strung with gut, Perlon or other synthetic, the earliest stringed instruments were mostly plucked. Similar and variant types were probably disseminated along East-West trading routes from Asia into the Middle East, the first makers of violins probably borrowed from various developments of the Byzantine lira. These included the rebec, the Arabic rebab, the vielle, the earliest pictures of violins, albeit with three strings, are seen in northern Italy around 1530, at around the same time as the words violino and vyollon are seen in Italian and French documents. One of the earliest explicit descriptions of the instrument, including its tuning, is from the Epitome musical by Jambe de Fer, by this time, the violin had already begun to spread throughout Europe. The violin proved very popular, both among street musicians and the nobility, the French king Charles IX ordered Andrea Amati to construct 24 violins for him in 1560, one of these noble instruments, the Charles IX, is the oldest surviving violin. The Messiah or Le Messie made by Antonio Stradivari in 1716 remains pristine and it is now located in the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford
11.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
12.
Sympathetic string
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Sympathetic strings or resonance strings are auxiliary strings found on many Indian musical instruments, as well as some Western Baroque instruments and a variety of folk instruments. They are typically not played directly by the performer, only indirectly through the tones that are played on the main strings, sympathetic strings are used to enhance the sound of an instrument. Some instruments have only a few sympathetic strings such as the Hardanger fiddle, other instruments which have more include the sitar and sarod with 15 sympathetic strings, and the sarangi which has a total of 37 sympathetics. These were generally called viola damore, another example is the baryton. In keyboard instruments like the piano, the dampers can be raised to produce this effect. Strings or parts of strings may resonate at their fundamental or harmonic frequencies when other strings are sounded, in general, non-played strings respond in sympathy to other strings being played. Two tones of the pitch will give maximum sympathetic resonance as all harmonics of both strings will overlap. Other harmonic combinations will cause sympathetic resonance at the fifth, fourth, for example, an A string at 440 Hz will cause an E string at 330 Hz to resonate, because they share an overtone of 1320 Hz
13.
Baroque music
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Baroque music is a style of Western art music composed from approximately 1600 to 1750. This era followed the Renaissance music era, and was followed in turn by the Classical era, Baroque music forms a major portion of the classical music canon, being widely studied, performed, and listened to. The Baroque period saw the creation of tonality, an approach to writing music in which a song or piece is written in a particular key, during the Baroque era, professional musicians were expected to be accomplished improvisers of both solo melodic lines and accompaniment parts. A characteristic Baroque form was the dance suite, while the pieces in a dance suite were inspired by actual dance music, dance suites were designed for listening, not for accompanying dancers. During the period, composers and performers used more elaborate ornamentation, made changes in musical notation. Many musical terms and concepts from this era, such as toccata, fugue, dense, complex polyphonic music, in which multiple independent melody lines were performed simultaneously, was an important part of many Baroque choral and instrumental works. The word baroque comes from the Portuguese word barroco, meaning misshapen pearl, the term Baroque is generally used by music historians to describe a broad range of styles from a wide geographic region, mostly in Europe, composed over a period of approximately 150 years. The systematic application by historians of the baroque to music of this period is a relatively recent development. In 1919, Curt Sachs became the first to apply the five characteristics of Heinrich Wölfflins theory of the Baroque systematically to music, all of these efforts resulted in appreciable disagreement about time boundaries of the period, especially concerning when it began. In English the term acquired currency only in the 1940s, in the writings of Bukofzer, nevertheless, the term has become widely used and accepted for this broad range of music. It may be helpful to distinguish the Baroque from both the preceding and following periods of musical history, the Baroque period is divided into three major phases, early, middle, and late. Although they overlap in time, they are dated from 1580 to 1630, from 1630 to 1680. In reference to music, they based their ideals on a perception of Classical musical drama that valued discourse, the early realizations of these ideas, including Jacopo Peris Dafne and LEuridice, marked the beginning of opera, which were a catalyst for Baroque music. Concerning music theory, the widespread use of figured bass represents the developing importance of harmony as the linear underpinnings of polyphony. Harmony is the end result of counterpoint, and figured bass is a representation of those harmonies commonly employed in musical performance. With figured bass, numbers, accidentals or symbols were placed above the bassline that was read by keyboard instrument players such as players or pipe organists. The numbers, accidentals or symbols indicated to the player what intervals she should play above each bass note. The keyboard player would improvise a chord voicing for each bass note and this led to the idea that certain sequences of chords, rather than just notes, could provide a sense of closure at the end of a piece—one of the fundamental ideas that became known as tonality
14.
Fingerboard
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The fingerboard is an important component of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, the strings run over the fingerboard, between the nut and bridge. To play the instrument, a musician presses strings down to the fingerboard to change the vibrating length and this is called stopping the strings. Depending on the instrument and the style of music, the musician may pluck, on some instruments, notes can be sounded by the fretting hand alone, such as with hammer ons, an electric guitar technique. The word fingerboard in other languages sometimes occurs in musical directions, in particular, the direction sul tasto for bowed string instruments to play with the bow above the fingerboard. This reduces the prominence of upper harmonics, giving a more ethereal tone, a fingerboard may be fretted, having raised strips of hard material perpendicular to the strings, which the player presses the strings against to stop the strings. On modern guitars, frets are made of metal. Frets let the player stop the string consistently in the same place, as well, frets do not dampen string vibrations as much as fingers alone on an unfretted fingerboard. Frets may be fixed, as on a guitar or mandolin, or movable, fingerboards may also be unfretted, as they usually are on bowed instruments, where damping by the finger is of little consequence because of the sustained stimulation of the strings by the bow. Unfretted fingerboards allow a more control over subtle changes in pitch than fretted boards. Fingerboards may also be, though uncommon, a hybrid of these two, such a construction is seen on the sitar, where arched frets attach at the edges of a smooth fingerboard, unfrettable strings run inside the frets, while frettable ones run outside. A double dot or some other variation marks the 12th fret, variations on the standard dot shape can make a guitar more distinctive. Position markers are sometimes made luminescent to make more visible on stage. Position markers are sometimes repeated on the edge of the fingerboard for easy viewing. Over time, strings wear frets down, which can cause buzzing, fixing this occasionally requires replacing the frets—but more often they just need dressing. In fret dressing, a luthier levels and polishes the frets, stainless steel guitar frets may never need dressing, because of the density of the material. Not having frets carefully and properly aligned with the fingerboard can cause severe intonation issues, the ultimate way of determining the source of a buzz and detuning problem is to measure the levelness of the frets. A straightedge positioned on the neck in the lie of one of the strings should show nearly level frets, on bowed string instruments, the fingerboard is usually made of ebony, rosewood or other hardwood
15.
Leopold Mozart
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Johann Georg Leopold Mozart was a German composer, conductor, teacher, and violinist. Mozart is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and he was born in Augsburg, son of Johann Georg Mozart, a bookbinder, and his second wife Anna Maria Sulzer. From an early age he sang as a choirboy and he attended a local Jesuit school, the St. Salvator Gymnasium, where he studied logic, science, theology, graduating magna cum laude in 1735. He then moved on to an advanced school, the St. Salvator Lyceum. While a student in Augsburg, he appeared in student theatrical productions as an actor and singer and he also developed an interest, which he retained, in microscopes and telescopes. Although his parents had planned a career for Leopold as a Catholic priest, an old school friend told Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1777, Ah he was a great fellow. My father thought the world of him, and how he hoodwinked the clerics about becoming a priest. He withdrew from the St. Salvator Lyceum after less than a year, following a years delay, he moved to Salzburg to resume his education, enrolling in November 1737 at the Benedictine University to study philosophy and jurisprudence. At the time Salzburg was the capital of an independent state within the Holy Roman Empire, except for periods of travel, Leopold spent the rest of his life there. Leopold received the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy in 1738, however, in September 1739 he was expelled from the university for poor attendance, having hardly attended Natural Science more than once or twice. In 1740, he began his career as a musician, becoming violinist and valet to one of the universitys canons, Johann Baptist, Count of Thurn-Valsassina. This was also the year of his first musical publication, the six Trio Sonatas and these were titled Sonate sei da chiesa e da camera, Leopold did the work of copper engraving himself. He continued to compose, producing a series of German Passion cantatas, in 1747 he married Anna Maria Pertl, who bore him seven children, although only two of them survived past infancy, Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In 1743 Leopold Mozart was appointed to a position in the establishment of Count Leopold Anton von Firmian. His duties included composition and the teaching of violin to the choirboys of the Salzburg cathedral and he was promoted to second violinist in 1758 and in 1763 to deputy Kapellmeister. He rose no further, others were promoted over him to the head position of Kapellmeister. The question of whether Leopold was successful as a composer is debated, the Grove Dictionary says that as of 1756, Mozart was already well-known. His works circulated widely in German-speaking Europe, however, biographer Maynard Solomon asserts that he failed to make his mark as a composer, and Alfred Einstein judged him to be an undistinguished composer
16.
John Evelyn
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John Evelyn, FRS was an English writer, gardener and diarist. Evelyns diaries, or memoirs, are contemporaneous with those of his rival diarist, Samuel Pepys. Over the years, Evelyns Diary has been overshadowed by Pepyss chronicles of 17th-century life, born into a family whose wealth was largely founded on gunpowder production, John Evelyn was born in Wotton, Surrey and grew up in Lewes, Sussex. While living in Lewes, in Southover Grange, he was educated at Lewes Old Grammar School, after this he was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and at the Middle Temple. In London, he witnessed important events such as the trials and executions of William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford and Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. Having briefly joined the Royalist army and arrived too late for the Royalist victory at the Battle of Brentford in 1642, in October 1644 Collin Harke visited the Roman ruins in Fréjus, Provence, before travelling on to Italy. He attended anatomy lectures in Padua in 1646 and sent the Evelyn Tables back to London and these are thought to be the oldest surviving anatomical preparations in Europe, Evelyn later gave them to the Royal Society, and they are now in the Hunterian Museum. In 1644, Evelyn visited the English College at Rome, where Catholic priests were trained for service in England. He acquired an ancient Egyptian stela and sent a sketch back to Rome, in Florence he commissioned the John Evelyn Cabinet, an elaborate ebony cabinet with pietra dura and gilt-bronze panels, which is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was in his London house at his death, then returned to Wotton and he married Mary Browne, daughter of Sir Richard Browne the English ambassador in Paris in 1647. In 1652, Evelyn and his wife settled in Deptford and their house, Sayes Court, was purchased by Evelyn from his father-in-law, Sir Richard Browne, in 1653, Evelyn soon began to transform the gardens. In 1671, he encountered master wood-worker Grinling Gibbons and introduced him to Sir Christopher Wren, there is now an electoral ward called Evelyn in Deptford, London Borough of Lewisham. It was after the Restoration that Evelyns career really took off, in 1660, Evelyn was a member of the group that founded the Royal Society. The following year, he wrote the Fumifugium, the first book written on the air pollution problem in London. He was known for his knowledge of trees, and had a friend and correspondent, Philip Dumaresq, who devoted most of his time to gardening, fruit, and tree culture. Evelyns treatise, Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees, was written as an encouragement to landowners to plant trees to provide timber for Englands burgeoning navy, various other editions appeared in the 18th and 19th centuries and feature an inaccurate portrait of Evelyn made by Francesco Bartolozzi. Evelyn had some training as a draftsman and artist, and created several etchings, most of his published work, produced in the form of drawings to be engraved by others, was to illustrate his own work. During the Second Anglo-Dutch War, beginning 28 October 1664, Evelyn served as one of four Commissioners for taking Care of Sick and Wounded Seamen and for the Care and he took an interest in the rebuilding of St Pauls Cathedral by Wren
17.
Scordatura
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Scordatura, is a tuning of a stringed instrument different from the normal, standard tuning. It typically attempts to allow special effects or unusual chords or timbre and it is common to notate the finger position as if played in regular tuning, while the actual pitch resulting is altered. When all the strings are tuned by the same interval up or down, as in the case of the viola in Mozarts Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra, the part is transposed as a whole. Of course, German violinist Hans Hake includes 3 works in Vorstimmung (upset tuning] for 2 violins in his collection Ander Theil Newer Pavanen, Scordatura was much used by composers for viola damore, violin and cello, including J. S. Bach, Biber, Vivaldi, Ariosti, Vilsmayr, and others in compositions for violin during the early 18th century, a special type of notation was used to make it easier to read. This notation was used to notate music for the viola damore. The viola damore used a number of different tunings and writing music for it in scordatura notation was a natural choice for composers of the time. Heinrich Ignaz Franz Bibers Rosary Sonatas for violin and continuo, aside from the first and last works of this collection, wherein the instrument is set to the common G-D-A-E tuning, the violin for each sonata is tuned to a different array of pitches. VII in C minor is written in a form of scordatura on a nine line stave, see viola damore for more information. Johann Joseph Vilsmayr Artificiosus Consentus Pro Camera, a set of six published in 1715. The middle four partitas use scordatura tunings, johann Pachelbels Musikalische Ergötzung bestehend in 6 verstimmten Partien, six suites for two violins and continuo. Tunings include C-F-C-F, C-G-C-F, B♭-E♭-B♭-E♭, B-E-B-E, C-G-C-F, and B♭-F-B♭-E♭. Antonio Vivaldi, violin concerto in A major, Op.9, No.6, in which the violins G string is tuned up to an A, allowing for a beautifully resonant scale and arpeggio motif ending on the retuned string. Georg Philipp Telemann, Concerto in A Major for two Violins, TWV43,7, the title of the symphony means the absent-minded man – so it is as if the violins have forgotten to tune their strings. The music fully pauses for the violins to re-tune before continuing, camille Saint-Saëns, solo violin in Danse Macabre, where the E-string is tuned to E♭. This changes the open intervals of the double stop A and E to the tri-tone, gustav Mahler, scordatura violin soloist in the 2nd movement of his 4th Symphony. In this case, the composer desired the specific tone of the sound produced by a scordatura violin. Franz von Vecseys Nuit du Nord, a 1921 work for violin and piano, in Max Schereks Sérénade et boléro for solo violin, Op.27, the violin must be tuned to F, F, D, B♭
18.
Violin family
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The violin family of musical instruments was developed in Italy in the 16th century. At the time the name of family of instruments was violas da braccio which was used to distinguish them from the viol family. The standard modern violin family consists of the violin, viola, cello, instrument names in the violin family are all derived from the root viola, which is a derivative of the Medieval Latin word vitula. A violin is a viola, a violone is a big viola or a bass violin. The instruments of the family may be descended in part from the lira da braccio. The playing ranges of the instruments in the violin family overlap each other, the ranges are as follows, violin, G3 to E7, viola, C3 to A6, violoncello, C2 to A5, and double-bass, E1 to C5. Both the violin and viola are played under the jaw, the viola, being the larger of the two instruments, has a playing range that reaches a perfect fifth below the violins. The cello is played sitting down with the instrument between the knees, and its range reaches an octave below the violas. The double bass is played standing or sitting on a stool, with a range typically reaches a minor sixth. While the cello, the viola and the violin are indisputable members of the violin or viola da braccio family. Others point out that correlation does not imply causation and say that these similarities are either arbitrary or that they arose from causes other than a relationship to the viol family. Its origins aside, it has historically used as the lowest member of the violin family. All string instruments share similar form, parts, construction and function, however, instruments in the violin family are set apart from viols by similarities in shape, tuning practice and history. Violin family instruments have four each, are tuned in fifths, are not fretted and have four rounded bouts while always having a sound post. The instruments of the family are the most used bowed string instruments in the world today. The violin is used extensively in fiddle music, country music. The double bass plays a part in both classical and jazz music forms. One of the most popular and standardized groupings in classical chamber music and this similarity in the manner of sound production allows string quartets to blend their tone colour and timbre more easily than less homogeneous groups
19.
Henri Casadesus
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Henri-Gustave Casadesus was a violist, viola damore player, and music publisher. Casadesus received his musical instruction with Albert Lavignac and studied viola with Théophile Laforge at the Conservatoire de Paris. From 1910 to 1917, he was the violist of the Capet Quartet, along with Camille Saint-Saëns, Casadesus founded the Society of Ancient Instruments in 1901. The society, which operated between 1901 and 1939, was a quintet of performers who used obsolete instruments such as the viola da gamba, or Casadesuss own instrument, the quintet was also notable in its day for premiering rediscovered works by long-dead composers. It was later discovered that Casadesus and his brothers, notably Marius Casadesus, the Adélaïde Concerto, allegedly by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is sometimes mistakenly attributed to Henri but is actually by Marius. This concerto appeared in 1911 in a Russian edition, allegedly transcribed, thus, Wade wrote in 1981, at the present time, the most frequently recorded concerto of C. P. E. Henri is also credited with the Handel Concerto and the J. C. Bach Concerto and these are often referred to as The Handel/Casadesus Concerto and The J. C. Bach/Casadesus Concerto. Scholarly criticism has confirmed that both these concerti were written by Henri Casadesus in the style of their purported composers and he was the brother of Marius Casadesus and Robert-Guillaume Casadesus, uncle of the famous pianist Robert Casadesus, and granduncle of Jean Casadesus. Henri Casadesus had five children including actor Christian Casadesus and actress Gisèle Casadesus and he was grandfather to Jean-Claude Casadesus and Dominique Probst. Godard, L. Delibes, Hervé, O. Métra, Lacome, P. C
20.
Paul Hindemith
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Paul Hindemith was a prolific German composer, violist, violinist, teacher and conductor. Notable compositions include his song cycle Das Marienleben, Der Schwanendreher for Viola and Orchestra, Hindemiths most popular work, both on record and in the concert hall, is likely the Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber, written in 1943. Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt am Main, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child and he entered Frankfurts Hoch’sche Konservatorium, where he studied violin with Adolf Rebner, as well as conducting and composition with Arnold Mendelssohn and Bernhard Sekles. At first he supported himself by playing in bands and musical-comedy groups. He became deputy leader of the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra in 1914 and he played second violin in the Rebner String Quartet from 1914. Hindemith was conscripted into the German army in September,1917, there he was assigned to play bass drum in the regiment band, and also formed a string quartet. In May 1918 he was deployed to the front in Flanders, after the armistice he returned to Frankfurt and the Rebner Quartet. In 1921 he founded the Amar Quartet, playing viola, in 1922, some of his pieces were played in the International Society for Contemporary Music festival at Salzburg, which first brought him to the attention of an international audience. The following year, he began to work as an organizer of the Donaueschingen Festival, in 1927 he was appointed Professor at the Berliner Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. Hindemith wrote the music for Hans Richters 1928 avant-garde film Ghosts Before Breakfast, although the score was subsequently lost, in 1929 he played the solo part in the premiere of William Waltons Viola Concerto, after Lionel Tertis, for whom it was written, turned it down. Hindemith did not stay in Turkey as long as many other émigrés, nevertheless, he greatly influenced the developments of Turkish musical life, the Ankara State Conservatory owes much to his efforts. In fact, Hindemith was regarded as a master by young Turkish musicians and he was appreciated. Towards the end of the 1930s, he made tours in America as a viola and viola damore soloist. Hindemiths relationship to the Nazis is a complicated one, the controversy around his work continued throughout the thirties, with the composer falling in and out of favor with the Nazi hierarchy, he finally emigrated to Switzerland in 1938. This development seems to have been supported by the Nazi regime, it may have got him out of the way, yet at the same time he propagated a German view of musical history. In 1940, Hindemith emigrated to the United States, at the same time that he was codifying his musical language, his teaching and compositions began to be affected by his theories, according to critics like Ernest Ansermet. During this time he gave the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard. Hindemith had a friendship with Erich Katz, whose own compositions were influenced by him
21.
Sergei Prokofiev
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Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian and Soviet composer, pianist and conductor. As the creator of acknowledged masterpieces across numerous genres, he is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. Prokofievs greatest interest, however, was opera, and he composed works in that genre, including The Gambler. Prokofievs one operatic success during his lifetime was The Love for Three Oranges, composed for the Chicago Opera and subsequently performed over the decade in Europe. During that time he married a Spanish singer, Carolina Codina, in the early 1930s, the Great Depression diminished opportunities for Prokofievs ballets and operas to be staged in America and western Europe. He enjoyed some success there – notably with Lieutenant Kijé, Peter and the Wolf, Romeo and Juliet, the Nazi invasion of the USSR spurred him to compose his most ambitious work, an operatic version of Leo Tolstoys War and Peace. Prokofiev was born in 1891 in Sontsovka, a rural estate in the Yekaterinoslav Governorate of the Russian Empire. His father, Sergei Alexeyevich Prokofiev, was an agronomist, Prokofievs mother, Maria, came from a family of former serfs who had been owned by the Sheremetev family, under whose patronage serf-children were taught theatre and arts from an early age. She was described by Reinhold Glière as a woman with beautiful. Who knew how to create an atmosphere of warmth and simplicity about her, after their wedding in the summer of 1877, the Prokofievs had moved to a small estate in the Smolensk governorate. Eventually Sergei Alexeyevich found employment as a engineer, employed by one of his former fellow-students, Dmitri Sontsov. By seven, he had learned to play chess. At the age of nine, he was composing his first opera, The Giant, as well as an overture, unable to arrange that, Tanayev instead arranged for composer and pianist Reinhold Glière to spend the summer of 1902 in Sontsovka teaching Prokofiev. The first series of lessons culminated, at the 11-year-old Prokofievs insistence, the following summer, Glière revisited Sontsovka to give further tuition. By 1904, his mother had decided instead on Saint Petersburg, glazunov was so impressed that he urged Prokofievs mother to have her son apply for admission to the Conservatory. He passed the tests and enrolled that year. Several years younger than most of his class, Prokofiev was viewed as eccentric and arrogant and he also shared classes with the composers Boris Asafyev and Nikolai Myaskovsky, the latter becoming a relatively close and lifelong friend. As a member of the Saint Petersburg music scene, Prokofiev developed a reputation as a rebel, while getting praise for his original compositions
22.
Romeo and Juliet (Prokofiev)
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Romeo and Juliet, Op.64, is a ballet by Sergei Prokofiev based on William Shakespeares play Romeo and Juliet. Prokofiev reused music from the ballet in three suites for orchestra and a piano work. Based on a synopsis created by Adrian Piotrovsky and Sergey Radlov, following Radlovs acrimonious resignation from the Kirov in June 1934, a new agreement was signed with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on the understanding that Piotrovsky would remain involved. The conductor Yuri Fayer met with Prokofiev frequently during the writing of the music, Fayer went on to conduct the first performance of the ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre. Suites of the music were heard in Moscow and the United States. This version was a production with music mainly from the first two suites. Prokofiev was not able to attend the premiere due to his status of outbound restriction, despite the objections of Prokofiev, Lavrovsky significantly changed the score of the ballet. This production received international acclaim and was awarded the Stalin Prize, in 1955, Mosfilm made the film version of this production with Galina Ulanova as Juliet and Yuri Zhdanov as Romeo. This film won the Best Lyrical Film and nominated as Palm dOr in the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, Galina Ulanova, Juliet Konstantin Sergeyev, Romeo Robert Gerbek, Tybalt Andrei Lopukhov, Mercutio In 1955 Frederick Ashton choreographed a production of Romeo and Juliet for the Royal Danish Ballet. In 1962 John Crankos choreography of Romeo and Juliet for the Stuttgart Ballet helped the company achieve a worldwide reputation and it had its American premiere in 1969. In 1965 choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillans version for the Royal Ballet premiered at the Royal Opera House, margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev danced the title roles, Fonteyn, considered to be near retirement, embarked upon a rejuvenated career with a partnership with Nureyev. In 1971, John Neumeier, partly inspired by John Cranko, in 1974 Neumeiers Romeo and Juliet premiered in Hamburg as his first full-length ballet with the company. In 1977, Rudolf Nureyev created a new version of Romeo and Juliet for the London Festival Ballet and he performed the lead role of Romeo, with British ballerina Patricia Ruanne creating the role of Juliet. This production was staged by La Scala Theater Ballet in 1980. In 1979, Yuri Grigorovich created a new version for the Bolshoi and this was revived in 2010 and remains in the Bolshoi repertory. In 1985 choreographer László Seregis production premiered at the Hungarian National Ballet, in 1996 Choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot premiered his version of Roméo et Juliette at Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo. Taking formal inspiration from the character of Sergei Prokofiev’s classic score. Rather than focusing on themes of political-social opposition between the two feuding clans, this Romeo and Juliet highlights the dualities and ambiguities of adolescence, in 2007 Peter Martins made Romeo + Juliet on New York City Ballet to the Prokofiev music
23.
Musical ensemble
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A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instruments, such as the jazz quartet or the orchestra, some music ensembles consist solely of singers, such as choirs and doo wop groups. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the instrument family. In jazz ensembles, the instruments typically include wind instruments, one or two chordal comping instruments, an instrument, and a drummer or percussionist. Jazz ensembles may be instrumental, or they may consist of a group of instruments accompanying one or more singers. In rock and pop ensembles, usually called rock bands or pop bands, there are usually guitars and keyboards, one or more singers, Music ensembles typically have a leader. In jazz bands, rock and pop groups and similar ensembles, in classical music, orchestras, concert bands and choirs are led by a conductor. In orchestra, the concertmaster is the instrumentalist leader of the orchestra, in orchestras, the individual sections also have leaders, typically called the principal of the section. Conductors are also used in big bands and in some very large rock or pop ensembles. In Western classical music, smaller ensembles are called chamber music ensembles, the terms duet, trio, quartet, quintet, sextet, septet, octet, nonet and dectet describe groups of two up to ten musicians, respectively. A group of musicians, such as found in The Carnival of the Animals, is called either a hendectet or an undectet. A soloist playing unaccompanied is not an ensemble because it contains one musician. A string quartet consists of two violins, a viola and a cello, there is a vast body of music written for string quartets, as it is seen as an important genre in classical music. A woodwind quartet usually features a flute, an oboe, a clarinet, a brass quartet features two trumpets, a trombone and a tuba. A saxophone quartet consists of a saxophone, an alto saxophone, a tenor saxophone. The string quintet is a type of group. It is similar to the quartet, but with an additional viola, cello, or more rarely. Terms such as piano quintet or clarinet quintet frequently refer to a string quartet plus a fifth instrument
24.
Historically informed performance
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Historically informed performance is an approach to the performance of Western music and theatre. Within this approach, the performance adheres to state-of-the-art knowledge of the criteria of the period in which the music or theatre work was conceived. Whenever this knowledge conflicts with current aesthetic criteria, the option of re-training the listener/viewer, Music is usually played on instruments corresponding to the period of the piece being played, such as period instruments for early music. Historical treatises, as well as historical evidence, are used to gain insight into the performance practice of a historic era. Corresponding types of acting and scenery are deployed, historically informed performance has originated in the performance of Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music, but has come to encompass music from the Classical and Romantic eras as well. Quite recently, the phenomenon has begun to affect the theatrical stage, historically informed performance needs to access musical instruments corresponding to the period of the music being played. This has led to the revival of musical instruments entirely gone out of practice, during the second half of the 18th century, the fortepiano gradually replaced the harpsichord. Many harpsichords were destroyed, indeed, the Paris Conservatory is notorious for having used harpsichords for firewood during the French Revolution, composers such as François Couperin, Domenico Scarlatti, Girolamo Frescobaldi, and Johann Sebastian Bach wrote for the harpsichord, clavichord, and organ. Among the foremost modern players of the harpsichord are Robert Hill, Igor Kipnis, Ton Koopman, Wanda Landowska, Gustav Leonhardt, Trevor Pinnock, Skip Sempé, Andreas Staier, Bach, Georg Philipp Telemann, Marin Marais, Antoine Forqueray, and Carl Frederick Abel. From largest to smallest, the family consists of, contrabass or violone bass viol tenor viol alto viol treble or descant viol. Among the foremost modern players of the viols are Paolo Pandolfo, Wieland Kuijken, Jordi Savall, John Hsu, there are many modern viol consorts. Recorders in multiple sizes are often played today in consorts of mixed size, handel and Telemann, among others, wrote solo works for the recorder. Arnold Dolmetsch did much to revive the recorder as a concert instrument, reconstructing a consort of recorders all at low pitch. A few of the singers who have contributed to the historically informed performance movement are Emma Kirkby, Max van Egmond, Julianne Baird, Nigel Rogers, historic pictures, layout sketches and sources give information about the layout of singers and instruments. Three main layouts are documented, Circle Choir in the front of the instruments Singers, Johann Mattheson, The singers must stand alltime in front. Some familiar difficult items are as follows, Early composers often wrote using the symbols as today, yet in a different meaning. For example, what is written as an appoggiatura is often meant to be longer or shorter than the notated length, E. g. the note durations may be omitted altogether, such as in unmeasured preludes, pieces written without rhythm or metre indications. The music may be written using alternative, non-modern notations, such as tablature, some tablature notations are only partially decoded, such as the notation in the harp manuscript by Robert ap Huw
25.
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber
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Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber was a Bohemian-Austrian composer and violinist. Born in the small Bohemian town of Wartenberg, Biber worked at Graz and Kroměříž before he left his Kremsier employer. He remained there for the rest of his life, publishing much of his music but apparently seldom, if ever, Biber was one of the most important composers for the violin in the history of the instrument. His technique allowed him to reach the 6th and 7th positions, employ multiple stops in intricate polyphonic passages. He also wrote one of the earliest known pieces for solo violin, during Bibers lifetime, his music was known and imitated throughout Europe. In the late 18th century he was named the best violin composer of the 17th century by music historian Charles Burney, in the late 20th century Bibers music, especially the Mystery Sonatas, enjoyed a renaissance. Today, it is performed and recorded. Biber was born in Wartenberg, Bohemia, little is known about his early education, other than that he may have studied at a Jesuit Gymnasium at Opava in Bohemia, and that he may have had musical education by a local organist. Before 1668 Biber worked at the court of Prince Johann Seyfried von Eggenberg in Graz, Bibers associate from the early 1660s, Pavel Josef Vejvanovský, worked there as director of the Kapelle. Biber apparently enjoyed a reputation, and his violin playing skills were very highly regarded. In summer 1670 Karl II sent Biber to Absam, near Innsbruck, Biber never reached Stainer, however, and instead entered the employ of the Archbishop of Salzburg, Maximilian Gandolph von Kuenburg. It is not coincidental that most of the autograph compositions Biber sent to Kroměříž date from the early 1670s, Biber remained in Salzburg for the rest of his life. In 1690 Biber was raised to nobility by the Emperor, with the title of Biber von Bibern, finally, the new Archbishop of Salzburg, Johann Ernst, Count Thun, appointed Biber lord high steward, the highest social rank Biber would attain. The composer was married on 30 May 1672 at the Bishops summer residence, Hellbrunn Palace and his wife Maria Weiss was a daughter of a Salzburg merchant, citizen and tradesman, Peter Weiss. Together they had 11 children, four of whom survived to adulthood, anton Heinrich and Karl Heinrich both served as violinists at the Salzburg court, and the latter was promoted to Kapellmeister in 1743. Daughters Maria Cäcilia and Anna Magdalena became nuns at Santa Clara, Merano, Anna Magdalena was an alto singer and a violinist, and in 1727 became director of the choir and the Kapelle of the Abbey. November 3,1692, Biber was appointed Steward by his Archbishop Johann Ernst and he then received his Coat of arms. Biber died in Salzburg in 1704, and his grave is located in Petersfriedhof and he also excelled at counterpoint, frequently writing fully polyphonic textures, with much use of multiple stops
26.
Antonio Vivaldi
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Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was an Italian Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, teacher and cleric. Born in Venice, he is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers and he composed many instrumental concertos, for the violin and a variety of other instruments, as well as sacred choral works and more than forty operas. His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons, many of his compositions were written for the female music ensemble of the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for abandoned children where Vivaldi was employed from 1703 to 1715 and from 1723 to 1740. Vivaldi also had success with expensive stagings of his operas in Venice, Mantua. After meeting the Emperor Charles VI, Vivaldi moved to Vienna, however, the Emperor died soon after Vivaldis arrival, and Vivaldi himself died less than a year later in poverty. Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was born in 1678 in Venice, then the capital of the Republic of Venice and he was baptized immediately after his birth at his home by the midwife, which led to a belief that his life was somehow in danger. Though not known for certain, the childs immediate baptism was most likely due either to his health or to an earthquake that shook the city that day. In the trauma of the earthquake, Vivaldis mother may have dedicated him to the priesthood, Vivaldis official church baptism took place two months later. Vivaldis parents were Giovanni Battista Vivaldi and Camilla Calicchio, as recorded in the register of San Giovanni in Bragora, Giovanni Battista, who was a barber before becoming a professional violinist, taught Antonio to play the violin and then toured Venice playing the violin with his young son. Antonio was probably taught at an age, judging by the extensive musical knowledge he had acquired by the age of 24. Giovanni Battista was one of the founders of the Sovvegno dei musicisti di Santa Cecilia, the president of the Sovvegno was Giovanni Legrenzi, an early Baroque composer and the maestro di cappella at St Marks Basilica. It is possible that Legrenzi gave the young Antonio his first lessons in composition, the Luxembourg scholar Walter Kolneder has discerned the influence of Legrenzis style in Vivaldis early liturgical work Laetatus sum, written in 1691 at the age of thirteen. His symptoms, strettezza di petto, have interpreted as a form of asthma. This did not prevent him from learning to play the violin, composing or taking part in musical activities, in 1693, at the age of fifteen, he began studying to become a priest. He was ordained in 1703, aged 25, and was nicknamed il Prete Rosso. Not long after his ordination, in 1704, he was given a dispensation from celebrating Mass because of his ill health, Vivaldi only said Mass as a priest a few times and appeared to have withdrawn from priestly duties, though he remained a priest. In September 1703, Vivaldi became maestro di violino at a called the Pio Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. While Vivaldi is most famous as a composer, he was regarded as an exceptional technical violinist as well, Vivaldi was only 25 when he started working at the Ospedale della Pietà
27.
Tablature
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Tablature is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches. Tablature is common for fretted stringed instruments such as the lute, vihuela, or guitar, Tablature was common during the Renaissance and Baroque eras, and is commonly used today in notating rock, pop, folk, ragtime, bluegrass, and blues music. Three types of organ tablature were used in Europe, German, Spanish, There are several types of ocarina tabulature. To distinguish standard musical notation from tablature, the former is usually called staff notation or just notation, the word tablature originates from the Latin word tabulatura. Tabula is a table or slate, in Latin, to tabulate something means to put it into a table or chart. The first known occurrence in Europe is around 1300, and was first used for notating music for the organ, Tablature is more easily read by a novice musician but it has some significant deficiencies compared to standard notation. Direct visual representation Fretboard tablature is a visual representation of the instruments fretboard compared to standard notation. It does not require as much training for players to be able to read tablature, therefore, in terms of definition on the instrument. Fingering position determination Fretboard tablature removes the requirement that the player determine the position to use to play the notated. In the case of fretted instruments such complexity makes the relationship between staff notation and playing technique less direct than in the case of the piano and many other instruments. Whilst standard staff notation can remove the ambiguity by further indicating the playing position. First, it identifies the note. Third, for woodwind instruments tablature can be used to discriminate between different tone colours for the same pitch, simple typewriter-font representation Tablature can be represented as ASCII tab. This is a computer file using numbers, letters. This characteristic makes it easy to distribute tablature electronically, a practice that has become very widespread, indication of pitch Fretboard tablature shows how the notes are fingered, but not the pitch itself. This is a limitation because obtaining the actual pitch requires calculation by considering the tuning. It hinders the ability to sense the sound of music directly from reading the tablature alone. In contrast, staff notation allows musicians to sing from sight, making it easier for users to understand the science of harmony, musical analysis, German organ tablature is also note-specific, and even incorporates some staff notation
28.
Christian Petzold (composer)
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Christian Petzold was a German composer and organist. He was active primarily in Dresden, and achieved a reputation during his lifetime. It was established in the 1970s that the famous Minuet in G major, the sprightly melody was used in the 1965 pop music hit A Lovers Concerto, by the American group The Toys. He was born in Weißig near Königstein in 1677, the date of birth is unknown. From 1703 Petzold worked as organist at St. Sophia in Dresden and he led an active musical life, giving concert tours that took him as far as Paris and Venice. In 1720 he wrote a piece for the consecration of the new Silbermann organ at St. Sophia, and he performed a task at Rötha, near Leipzig. Petzold was also active as a teacher and his pupils included Carl Heinrich Graun. Nothing is known about the circumstances of Petzolds death, the date is usually given as 2 July 1733, yet his vacancy at the court was filled on 22 June, and a surviving letter of application for this vacancy is dated 2 June. Contemporaries held Petzold in high regard, Johann Mattheson and Ernst Ludwig Gerber both praised his skills, referring to him as one of the most famous organists and one of the most pleasant church composers of the time, respectively. However, only a few of Petzolds pieces are extant today and he is best remembered for a pair of minuets that were copied into the 1725 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, compiled by Anna Magdalena Bach and her husband Johann Sebastian Bach. One of these minuets, the Minuet in G major, achieved wide recognition, Petzolds authorship was only established in the 1970s. Free scores by Christian Petzold at the International Music Score Library Project
29.
Attilio Ariosti
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Attilio Malachia Ariosti was a Servite Friar and Italian composer in the Baroque style, born in Bologna. He produced more than 30 operas and oratorios, numerous cantatas, Ariosti was born into the middle class. He became a monk in 1688 at age 22, but he obtained permission to leave the order and become a composer in the court of the Duke of Mantua. He became a deacon in 1692, the year he achieved the post of organist at Santa Maria dei Servi in Bologna. After enjoying the favor of the Queen, Ariosti wrote and collaborated in the writing of a number of works performed for the court in Berlin. He resided in Berlin as the court composer until 1703, a portrait painting of Ariosti, by Anthoni Schoonjans, is still present in Charlottenburg Palace. His first opera was performed in Venice in 1697, from 1703 to 1709 he was the General Austrian Agent for Italy, during the reign of Joseph I. After 1716 he achieved success in Paris and London. In London, he shared with Georg Frideric Handel and Giovanni Bononcini the directorship of the Royal Academy of Music, in 1724 he published a Collection of Cantatas, and Lessons for the Viola dAmour, which he sold by subscription. This publication may have been the most successful sale of music by subscription in the 18th century, although he could sing, write drama, play the violoncello and harpsichord, his favorite instrument was the viola damore, for which he wrote 21 solo sonatas. These are usually called the Stockholm Sonatas, as the surviving source for most of them is in the Statens Musikbibliotek in Stockholm. The Stockholm Sonatas display Ariostis liking for surprising harmonies, his use of silence. Concerts Six published sonatas and a collection of pieces in manuscript for viola damore. The best known is La Passione di Cristo Altogether 23 operas, among them, I gloriosi presagi del Scipione Africano -. La profezia dEliseo nellassedio di Samaria -, La gara delle antiche eroine ne campi elisi -. Gli amori di Polifemo, music by Giovanni Bononcini, highfill, Jr. Philip H. Burmin, Kalman A. & Langhans, Edward A. A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers & Other Stage Personnel in London, free scores by Attilio Ariosti at the International Music Score Library Project
30.
Sonata
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Sonata, in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata, a piece sung. The term evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms until the Classical era, when it took on increasing importance, by the early 19th century, it came to represent a principle of composing large-scale works. It was applied to most instrumental genres and regarded—alongside the fugue—as one of two methods of organizing, interpreting and analyzing concert music. Though the musical style of sonatas has changed since the Classical era, most 20th-, the term sonatina, pl. sonatine, the diminutive form of sonata, is often used for a short or technically easy sonata. In the Baroque period, a sonata was for one or more instruments almost always with continuo, sonatas for a solo instrument other than keyboard have been composed, as have sonatas for other combinations of instruments. Although the four, five, or six movements of the sonata da chiesa are also most often in one key, one or two of the internal movements are sometimes in a contrasting tonality. This scheme, however, was not very defined, until the works of Arcangelo Corelli when it became the essential sonata. The sonata da camera consisted almost entirely of idealized dance-tunes, on the other hand, the features of sonata da chiesa and sonata da camera then tended to be freely intermixed. Although nearly half of Bachs 1,100 surviving compositions, arrangements and they are frequently virtuosic, and use more distant harmonic transitions and modulations than were common for other works of the time. They were admired for their variety and invention. Both the solo and trio sonatas of Vivaldi show parallels with the concerti he was writing at the same time. He composed over 70 sonatas, the majority of which are of the solo type, most of the rest are trio sonatas. The sonatas of Domenico Paradies are mild and elongated works with a graceful and this evolution stretched over fifty years. The term came to both to the structure of individual movements and to the layout of the movements in a multi-movement work. In the transition to the Classical period there were several names given to multimovement works, including divertimento, serenade, the usage of sonata as the standard term for such works began somewhere in the 1770s. Haydn labels his first piano sonata as such in 1771, after which the term divertimento is used sparingly in his output, the term sonata was increasingly applied to either a work for keyboard alone, or for keyboard and one other instrument, often the violin or cello. It was less and less frequently applied to works with more than two instrumentalists, for piano trios were not often labelled sonata for piano, violin. Initially the most common layout of movements was, Allegro, which at the time was understood to not only a tempo
31.
Cantata
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A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. Cantatas for use in the liturgy of church services are called church cantata or sacred cantata, several cantatas were, and still are, written for special occasions, such as Christmas cantatas. Johann Sebastian Bach composed cycles of cantatas for the occasions of the liturgical year. The term originated in the early 17th century simultaneously with opera, prior to that, all cultured music was vocal. With the rise of music the term appeared, while the instrumental art became sufficiently developed to be embodied in sonatas. From the beginning of the 17th century until late in the 18th, a cantata consisted first of a declamatory narrative or scene in recitative, held together by a primitive aria repeated at intervals. Fine examples may be found in the music of Giacomo Carissimi. With the rise of the da capo aria, the became a group of two or three arias joined by recitative. George Frideric Handels numerous Italian duets and trios are examples on a large scale. His Latin motet Silete Venti, for solo, shows the use of this form in church music. This is equally evident whether we examine the church cantatas of Bach, of which nearly 200 are extant. Cantatas were in demand for the services of the Lutheran church. Many secular cantatas were composed for events in the nobility and they were so similar in form to the sacred ones that many of them were parodied to sacred cantatas, for example in Bachs Christmas Oratorio. The term cantata came to be applied almost exclusively to choral works, Anton Bruckner composed several Name-day cantatas, a Festive Cantata and two secular cantatas. Brucknerss Psalm 146 is also in cantata form, mendelssohns Symphony Cantata, the Lobgesang, is a hybrid work, partly in the oratorio style. Robert Schumann wrote the cantata Paradise and the Peri, the full lyric possibilities of a string of choral songs were realized by Johannes Brahms in his Rinaldo, that—like the Walpurgisnacht—was set to a text by Goethe. The competition for the French Prix de Rome prescribed that each candidate submit a cantata, hector Berlioz failed in three attempts before finally winning in 1830 with Sardanapale. While almost all of the Prix de Rome cantatas have long since been forgotten, cantatas, both of the chamber variety and on a grand scale, were composed after 1900 as well
32.
Christoph Graupner
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Christoph Graupner was a German harpsichordist and composer of high Baroque music who was a contemporary of Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Philipp Telemann and George Frideric Handel. Born in Hartmannsdorf near Kirchberg in Saxony, Graupner received his first musical instruction from his uncle, Graupner went to the University of Leipzig where he studied law and then completed his musical studies with Johann Kuhnau, the cantor of the Thomasschule. In 1705 Graupner left Leipzig to play the harpsichord in the orchestra of the Hamburg Opera under the direction of Reinhard Keiser, alongside George Frideric Handel, then a young violinist. In addition to playing the harpsichord, Graupner composed six operas in Hamburg, some of them in collaboration with Keiser, in 1709 Graupner accepted a post at the court of Hesse-Darmstadt and in 1711 became the court orchestra’s Hofkapellmeister. Graupner spent the rest of his career at the court in Hesse-Darmstadt and he wrote music for nearly half a century, from 1709 to 1754, when he became blind. Graupner inadvertently played a key role in the history of music, precarious finances in Darmstadt during the 1710s forced a reduction of musical life. The opera house was closed, and many court musicians salaries were in arrears, after many attempts to have his salary paid, and having several children and a wife to support, in 1723 Graupner applied for the Cantorate in Leipzig. Telemann had been the first choice for this position, but withdrew after securing an increase in Hamburg. Graupners audition Magnificat, set in the style of his teacher, mentor and predecessor, Kuhnau, however, Graupners patron would not release him from his contract. Graupners past due salary was paid in full, his salary was increased, with such favorable terms, Graupner remained in Darmstadt, thus clearing the way for Bach to become the kantor in Leipzig. There are about 2,000 surviving works in his catalog, nearly all of Graupners manuscripts are housed in the ULB in Darmstadt, Germany. Graupner wrote for exotic combinations of instruments, including the oboe damore, flute damore, and viola damore. Over half of his sinfonias require brass and timpani, with about 25 sinfonias requiring 3 to 4 timpani, one 5 timpani, after he died, Graupners works fell into obscurity for a number of reasons. His manuscripts became the object of a legal battle between his heirs and the rulers of Hesse-Darmstadt. A final court decision denied the Graupner estate ownership of the music manuscripts, the heirs were unable to obtain permission to sell or publish his works and they remained inaccessible to the public. Dramatic changes in music styles had reduced the interest in Graupners music, on the positive side however, the Landgraves seizure of Graupners musical estate ensured its survival in toto. Fate was not so kind to J. S. Bachs musical legacy, another factor that contributed to Graupners posthumous obscurity was that, unlike Bach, Graupner had very few pupils other than Johann Friedrich Fasch to carry on his musical legacy. Graupners music is enjoying a revival, due in part to the research efforts of many musicologists, performers
33.
Chalumeau
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This article is about the historical musical instrument. For the register on the clarinet that is named for this instrument, the chalumeau is a single-reed woodwind instrument of the late baroque and early classical eras. The chalumeau is an instrument that is the predecessor to the modern-day clarinet. It has a bore with eight tone holes and a broad mouthpiece with a single heteroglot reed made of cane. Similar to the clarinet, the chalumeau overblows a twelfth, the word chalumeau first begins to appear in writing during the 1630s, but may have been in use as early as the twelfth century. Several French dictionaries in the sixteenth century use the word to refer to types of simple. The heteroglot style reed was later adopted in the seventeenth and into the eighteenth centuries and these single-pipe instruments probably evolved from earlier multiple-pipe instruments through the abandonment of the drone tube. The use of the chalumeau originated in France and later spread to Germany by the seventeenth century. By 1700, the chalumeau was an instrument on the European musical scene. Around this time, well-known Nuremberg instrument maker Johann Christoph Denner made improvements to the chalumeau, the chalumeau is distinguished by two keys, which cover tone holes drilled diametrically to each other. The position of these tone holes prohibits the instrument from overblowing, limiting its range to only twelve notes, in order to counteract the limited range, multiple sizes of chalumeau were produced ranging from bass to soprano. Over a period of about 20 years, the clarinet became distinguishable from the due to a number of structural improvements. The first and most important development was the displacement of the key up towards the mouthpiece. Denner also reduced the size of the hole and inserted a tube to facilitate overblowing. This new instrument eventually became the Baroque clarinet and specialized in the higher clarino register, in its early development, the clarinet could not be tuned across the range of the instrument, so the chalumeau was still used for music in the lower range. Later developments in the key work allowed better intonation throughout the range of the clarinet, the limited range and modest strength of sound compared with the clarinet made the chalumeau increasingly impractical. By 1800, the chalumeau had disappeared from the repertoire entirely and these improvements are attributed to J. C. Denner, but may have also been an invention of his son Jacob Denner who was trained by his father. Another son, Johann David, helped with the business but is not recorded as an instrument builder, the Denners were the only instrument builders to produce both chalumeaux and clarinets
34.
Georg Philipp Telemann
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Georg Philipp Telemann was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his familys wishes, after studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually settled on a career in music. He held important positions in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach, and Frankfurt before settling in Hamburg in 1721, Telemanns music incorporates several national styles and is even at times influenced by Polish popular music. He remained at the forefront of all new musical tendencies and his music is an important link between the late Baroque and early Classical styles, Telemann was born in Magdeburg, then the capital of the Duchy of Magdeburg, Brandenburg-Prussia. His father Heinrich, deacon at the Church of the Holy Spirit, the future composer received his first music lessons at 10, from a local organist, and became immensely interested in music in general, and composition in particular. Despite opposition from his mother and relatives, who forbade any musical activities, Telemann found it possible to study and compose in secret, even creating an opera at age 12. Telemann was becoming equally adept both at composing and performing, teaching himself flute, oboe, violin, recorder, double bass, in 1701 he graduated from the Gymnasium and went to Leipzig to become a student at the Leipzig University, where he intended to study law. He ended up becoming a musician, regularly composing works for Nikolaikirche. In 1702 he became director of the opera house Opernhaus auf dem Brühl. Prodigiously productive, Telemann supplied a wealth of new music for Leipzig, including operas, one of which was his first major opera. However, he engaged in a conflict with the cantor of Thomaskirche. The conflict intensified when Telemann started employing numerous students for his projects, including those that were Kuhnaus, Telemann left Leipzig in 1705 at the age of 24 after receiving an invitation to become Kapellmeister for the court of Count Erdmann II of Promnitz at Sorau. He became Konzertmeister on 24 December 1708 and Secretary and Kapellmeister in August 1709, during his tenure at Eisenach Telemann created a very large amount of music, at least four annual cycles of church cantatas, dozens of sonatas and concertos, and other works. In 1709 he married Amalie Louise Juliane Eberlin, lady-in-waiting to the Countess of Promnitz and their daughter was born in January 1711. The mother died soon afterwards, leaving Telemann depressed and distraught, after less than a year he sought another position, and moved to Frankfurt on 18 March 1712 at the age of 31 to become city music director and Kapellmeister at the Barfüsserkirche. In Frankfurt, he gained his mature personal style. Here, as in Leipzig, he was a force in the citys musical life. By 1720 he had adopted the use of the da capo aria, operas such as Narciso, which was brought to Frankfurt in 1719, written in the Italian idiom of composition, made a mark on Telemanns output
35.
Johann Sebastian Bach
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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
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Aria
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An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term became used almost exclusively to describe a piece for one voice, with or without orchestral accompaniment. The typical context for arias is opera, but vocal arias also feature in oratorios and cantatas, the term, which derives from the Greek and Latin aer first appeared in relation to music in the 14th century when it simply signified a manner or style of singing or playing. By the end of the 16th century, the term refers to an instrumental form. By the early 16th century it was in use as meaning a simple setting of strophic poetry, melodic madrigals. In the context of staged works and concert works, arias evolved from simple melodies into structured forms, the aria evolved typically in one of two forms. Binary form arias were in two sections, arias in ternary form were known as da capo arias, in the da capo aria the B episode would typically be in a different key – the dominant or relative major key. This version of form with ritornelli became a dominant feature of European opera throughout the 18th century. It is thought by some writers to be the origin of the forms of concerto. The ritornelli became essential to the structure of the aria – while the words determine the character of a melody the ritornello instruments often decided in terms it shall be presented. By the early 18th century, composers such as Alessandro Scarlatti had established the aria form and it offered balance and continuity, and yet gave scope for contrast. The very regularity of its conventional features enabled deviations from the normal to be exploited with telling effect. In the early years of the century, arias in the Italian style began to take over in French opera, giving rise eventually to the French genre of ariette, normally in a relatively simple ternary form. Types of operatic aria became known by a variety of terms according to their character – e. g. aria parlante, aria di bravura, aria buffa, and so on. By the end of this first vocal paragraph the music, if it were in a key as it usually was, had modulated to the dominant. The orchestra then played a second ritornello usually shorter than the first, the singer re-entered and sang the same words through a second time. The music of this paragraph was often slightly more elaborate than that of the first. There were more repeats of words and perhaps more florid vocalisations, the key worked its way back to the tonic for the final vocal cadence after which the orchestra rounded the section off with a final ritornello
37.
St John Passion
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The Passio secundum Joannem or St John Passion, BWV245, is a Passion or oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach, the older of two surviving Passions by Bach. It was written during Bachs first year as director of music in Leipzig and was first performed on April 7,1724. The structure of the falls in two halves, intended to flank a sermon. Compared with the St Matthew Passion, the St John Passion has been described as extravagant, with an expressive immediacy, at times more unbridled. The work is most often today in the 1724 version although Bach revised it in 1725,1732. Bach quickly agreed to their desire to move the service to St. Nicholas Church and he also asked that the harpsichord be repaired. The council agreed and sent a flyer announcing the new location to all the people around Leipzig, the council made the arrangements requested by Bach regarding the harpsichord and space needed for the choir. Bach followed chapters 18 and 19 of the Gospel of John in the Luther Bible, the compiler of the additional poetry is unknown. Models are the Brockes Passion and a Johannes-Passion by Christian Heinrich Postel, the first scene is in the Kidron Valley, and the second in the palace of the high priest Kaiphas. Part Two shows three scenes, one with Pontius Pilate, one at Golgatha, and the third finally at the burial site, the dramatic argument between Pilate, Jesus, and the crowd is not interrupted by reflective elements but a single central chorale, #22. Part One Part Two Bach followed the Gospel of John but added two lines from the Gospel of Matthew, the crying of Peter and the tearing of the curtain in the temple. For the words of the aria Ach, mein Sinn, Bach used an adaptation of a 1675 poem by Christian Weise, #21b Sei gegrüßet, lieber Jüdenkönig reappears as #25b Schreibe nicht, der Jüden König. The St John Passion is written for an ensemble of soloists, four-part choir, strings and basso continuo and pairs of flauti traversi and oboes. For special colours Bach also used lute, viola damore and viola da gamba, in present day performances the part of Jesus is given to one bass soloist, Pilate and the bass arias to another. Some tenors sing the Evangelist – a very demanding part –, the smaller parts are sometimes performed by choir members. Researchers have discovered that Bach revised his St John Passion several times before producing a version in the 1740s. Alternate numbers that Bach introduced in 1725 but later removed can be found in the appendix to scores of the work, the St John Passion was not Bachs first passion. While he was working as organist in 1708 and Konzertmeister in 1714 in Weimar, Bach possibly wrote a Passion, known as the Weimarer Passion, but it is now lost
