Style – Genre
Eras and Movements in Western Music
Medieval
Characteristics of Gregorian chants
 Melody - The melody of a Gregorian chant is very free-flowing. The chant moves up and down
by steps and small leaps within a narrow range. Melodies are often melismatic- syllables are held
out over multiple notes.
 Harmony - Gregorian chants are monophonic in texture, so have no harmony.
 Rhythm - There is no precise rhythm for a Gregorian chant. Notes may be held for a duration of
“short” or “long,” but no complex rhythms are used.
 Form - Some Gregorian chants tend to be in ternary (ABA) form. A cantor begins the piece with
an introductory solo, called an incipit. The choir then sings the piece and at the end the cantor
concludes with his solo, which was often in a reduced dynamic level and featured a narrower
range of pitches.
 Texture - Gregorian chants are one of the few pieces of music that are entirely monophonic.
There is only one melodic line in a Gregorian chant.
 Medium - Gregorian chants are traditionally sung by all-male choirs. Some Gregorian chants,
however, were written for women choirs.
 Context - Gregorian chants were used by the Church to aid prayers. Monks (and occasionally
nuns in convents) would sing them.
Organum
Composers would write a line in parallel motion to the chant at a fixed interval of a fifth or a fourth above
the original line. The original Gregorian chant on which the upper lines are based is called the cantus
firmus.
Early Medieval Motet
New texts for the upper voices of organum = the Motet. A polytextual (more than one text) vocal
composition, either sacred and/or secular, which sometimes had instrumental accompaniment.
Secular Music
Troubadours & Troubavères
Much secular music during the Medieval Period was written by troubadours and troubavères. These were
French nobles and they often wrote music to gain prestige.
Jongleurs
Jongleurs also composed and performed secular music. Jongleurs were wandering minstrels that would
entertain towns with music, juggling, and drama. They had no civil rights but were important parts of
society since they spread news from town to town. One form of music they played is the estampie. An
estampie is a fast dance in triple meter.
Renaissance
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Four-part writing: A common configuration of four parts, often abbreviated SATB (short
for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass, the four standard voice registers).
Music to enhance meaning of text – word painting
Imitation: A device used in polyphony in which one part follows another by repeating a
similar or same passage played first by the other part.
Rise of polyphony
The increasing reliance on the interval of the third.
The golden age of a capella music
Motets – sacred music with a sigle Latin text
Chanson – secular text set to love verses of French poets
Madrigal – music set to poetry
Baroque
Characteristics
• Unity of mood
• Continuity of Rhythm
• Continuity of melody
• Terraced dynamics
• Polyphonic and homophonic textures
• Basso Continuo
• Word painting
Baroque Orchestra
 Violins, violas, and basso continuo
Classical
Characteristics of the Classical Period
1. MELODY - Short and clearly defined diatonic musical phrases with 2 or more contrasting
themes. Melodies are often developed from a short motive.
2. RHYTHM - A classical composition has a wealth of rhythmic patterns. The classical style also
includes unexpected pauses, syncopations, and frequent changes from long notes to shorter
ones. However, the tempo is steady, uses one of the four basic meters – 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, and
if a piece begins in a certain meter, it is apt to stay there.
3. HARMONY - Shorter phrases and well defined cadences became more prevalent. A favorite
accompaniment pattern was the Alberti bass (name for Dominico Alberti), which featured a
broken chord or arpeggiated accompaniment. Tonic, dominant, and subdominant chords were
often used. Diatonic harmony was more common than chromatic
4. TEXTURE - Mostly homophonic - one melody line with accompaniment made up using notes of
the chord, or a texture where all parts keep in step with each other (chordal style or
homorhythmic).
5. MEDIUM - Symphony orchestra - arranged in 4 sections Harpsichord seldom used. Piano in use
but not normally in orchestral music, except when it is a piano concerto.
6. WORKS –
1. Choral music - sacred mass and oratorio
2. Secular – opera, symphonies
3. Chamber music - trios, quartets, quintets etc.
7. DYNAMICS - Greater range of dynamics, use of crescendos and diminuendos,
8. FORM - Sonata form, rondo form, fugue, minuet and trio form.
9. END OF BASSO CONTINUO: The basso continuo was gradually abandoned during the classical
period. One reason why the basso continuo became obsolete was that more and more music
was written for amateurs, who could not master the difficult art of improvising from a figured
bass. Also, classical composers wanted more control; they preferred to specify an
accompaniment rather than trust the judgment of improvisers.
10. COMPOSERS - Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Gluck, Paganini
Romantic
Characteristics
Individuality of style
1. Self-expression important
2. People can distinguish composers easily
Expressive aims and subjects
1. Love glorified
2. Fascination with fantastic and diabolical
3. Nature important influence
Nationalism and exoticism
1. Nationalism: music created with specific national identity
2. Used folk songs, dances, legends, history of homeland
3. Exoticism: use of colorful materials from foreign countries
4. Carmen, Madame Jeffery Li
5. Remote, picturesque, mysterious
Program music
1. Instrumental music associated with story, poem, idea
2. Accompanied with an explanation in a program
3. “Union of the arts”
Expressive tone color
1. Timbre really important
2. Orchestra could have 100 musicians
3. Brass, woodwind, percussion had more active role
4. Mahler used 25 brass instruments in 2nd symphony
5. Contrabassoon, bass clarinet, English horn, piccolo added to woodwind section
6. New sounds drawn from old instruments
• Low-range flutes
• Pizzicato
7. Piano made better, so better tone; damper pedal added
Colorful harmony
1. New chords
2. Chromatic harmony
3. Dissonance more acceptable
4. Wide variety of keys, rapid modulation
5. Tonic less clear
Expanded range of dynamics, pitch, and tempo
1. ffff, pppp used
2. Frequent crescendos and decrescendos
3. Range of pitch expanded with piccolo, contrabassoon
4. Accelerando, ritardando, rubato
Form: miniature and monumental
The Art Song
20th Century
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exotic scales
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chromatic
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whole tone
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unresolved dissonances
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parallel chords
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rich orchestral color
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free rhythm
• complex rhythms
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polyrhythm
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polymeter
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irregular meters
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new harmonic concepts
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polychords
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polytonality
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atonality
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12-tone method (or serialism) devised by Schoenberg
20th Century Nationalism
• 20th cent. Composers used more authentic folk elements in the nationalistic music then
19th cent. Composers.
Performance
Style can also describe a particular performance:
 Vocal Style
o Vibrato vs. no vibrato
o Tone quality – rich, thin, clear, raspy
 Instrumental Technique
o Bowing
o Mutes