THE RENAISSANCE 1400 – 1600
The Renaissance was an exciting time in world history. There were advances in science
by Copernicus and Galileo. It was a time of exploration by Columbus, Sir Francis Drake,
Cortez, Magellan and DeSoto. Famous artists included Leonardo da Vinci and
Michelangelo, William Shakespeare was also on the scene. The Tudors reigned from1485
– 1603, both King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I were very keen on music. The
printing press was invented around 1450 so sheet music could then be printed and made
available to everyone.
RENAISSANCE MUSIC
Instrumental music was influenced by vocal forms so music for keyboard, lute and
groups of instruments was usually polyphonic but dance music was more homophonic.
No change of tempo occurred within a movement.
The melodic range was fairly limited because of the type of instrument used and the
influence of vocal music.
Modes were often used, or a mixture of modes, major and minor scales.
Dynamics were limited and contrasts, if used at all, occurred at a change of section or
movement.
Keyboard instruments included organ, harpsichord and virginals. Other instruments
included recorders and viols who played together in groups of different sizes called
consorts. There were also lutes, shawms, crumhorns and small versions of trumpets and
trombones called cornets and sackbuts.
FORMS
Motet - a sacred vocal piece in up to 4 equal parts. Famous motet composers included
Josquin des Prez and Palestrina.
Madrigals - songs for groups of unaccompanied voices, were the most popular form of
sacred music. They were usually about love and became an important part of special
occasions such as feasts and weddings. Composers included William Byrd, Orlando
Gibbons and Thomas Morley.
The main instrumental forms were dances often written to accompany ballroom dancing.
Pavan and Galliard - normally played as a pair, the pavan is slow with 2 beats per bar the
galliard is fast with 3 beats per bar.
Ricercar - an early type of fugal piece.
Fantasia - very free in form and mostly polyphonic.
Divisions on a ground - a set of variations on a theme with a recurring pattern of bass
notes.
Other composers included Giles Farnaby and John Bull.
THE BAROQUE PERIOD 1600 – 1750
During the Baroque period the Pilgrim Fathers sailed to America and eventually the 13
American colonies were formed. Galileo, Kepler and Isaac Newton discovered new ways
to explain the universe. In music, art, architecture and fashion, fancy decoration and
ornamentation became the rule. Composers continued to be employed by the church and
the wealthy ruling class. This system was called the “patronage system”. Usually one rich
person paid the composer for each work and decided what kind of the piece the composer
should write, this limited the creative freedom of composers.
BAROQUE MUSIC
The tempo of a Baroque movement usually stays the same throughout.
The rhythm pattern tends to stay the same throughout a movement with many fast pieces
having near continuous semiquavers or quavers.
Baroque melodies often have many ornaments - trills, mordents, appoggiaturas,
acciaccaturas and turns.
Keys within a movement are usually closely related and the harmonies are simple with a
fairly narrow range of chords. Composers stopped using modes and used just major or
minor scales.
The texture is often contrapuntal or polyphonic with 2 or more tunes weaved together.
Imitation is often a feature.
Dynamics are usually “terraced” with sections being either loud or soft, crescendos and
diminuendos are rare.
The harpsichord was very popular. Other instruments used were organ, orchestral strings
(violin, viola, cello & double bass) flute, oboe, bassoon, valveless trumpets, trombones
and horns. Timpani was the only percussion instrument used in serious music.
FORMS
Oratorio - a sacred work for solo singers, chorus and orchestra not acted.
Opera - either serious or funny, for solo singers, chorus and orchestra, acted with scenery
but no dialogue, all of the script is sung.
Concerto Grosso - a piece usually in 3 movements fast slow fast for a group of solo
instruments and orchestra.
Ground Bass - a repeated bass part sometimes called an ostinato. A tune and variations
are played over the bass part and the pieces get more complex as they go on. Chaconne
and Passacaglia are both ground bass styles. In a chaconne the bass part is a repeated
chord pattern, a passacaglia has a tuneful bass line.
Rondo form ABACADA etc
The Suite - made up of at least 4 contrasting dances which could include the following:
Minuet - a stately dance with 3 beats per bar.
Sarabande - a slow dance with 3 beats per bar, the 2nd beat is often emphasised.
Gavotte - a lively dance with 2 beats per bar, phrases usually start half way through the
bar.
Gigue - a lively dance usually in 6/8 time often ended the suite.
Allemande - has 4 beats in a bar with a steady pulse but often uses lots of semiquavers.
Bourree - fast with 2 minim beats per bar, phrases start on the last crotchet of the bar.
Courante - fast with 3 beats per bar, phrases start with 1 or more notes as an anacrusis or
up beat.
Most Baroque dances are in binary form A B
COMPOSERS
Bach, Handel, Purcell and Vivaldi
THE CLASSICAL PERIOD 1750 – 1820
During this period the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars changed the face of
Europe. The American Revolution and the signing of the US Constitution and Bill of
Rights shaped the democracy in America. In Europe it became more possible for the
public to participate in leisure activities. Middle class people had more money and
wanted entertainment. They built concert halls. The Classical Period saw the first public
concerts which people paid to attend.
THE CLASSICAL STYLE
Classical music has a clear, simple structure with equal length phrases of 2 or 4 bars.
It usually has a homophonic texture, one tune with accompanying chords, either block
chords or broken chords.
It is always in either a major or a minor key and the harmony is diatonic, nearly all the
notes belong to the main key. Keys are usually closely related to each other ie relative
major or minor, dominant or subdominant.
The tempo usually remains constant, there is little speeding up or slowing down.
The piano replaced the harpsichord as the main keyboard instrument.
Classical orchestras were quite small with strings being the dominant sound, the violins
played most of the tunes. Flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets and timpani
were also used. The clarinet was first introduced in the Classical Period.
FORMS
Binary - 2 sections A B
Ternary - 3 sections A B A
Minuet and Trio - a type of ternary form ABA CDC ABA with 3 beats in a bar.
Theme and Variation
Sonata Form
CLASSICAL STRUCTURES
Symphony - a 4 movement work for orchestra
Concerto - a 3 movement work for soloist and orchestra.
Sonata - a 3 or 4 movement work for 1 or 2 instruments with piano accompaniment.
Overture - a 1 movement piece for orchestra written as an introduction to a ballet or
opera.
COMPOSERS
Haydn and Mozart. The early works of Schubert and Beethoven were also classical.
THE ROMANTIC PERIOD 1820 – 1900
Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 – 1901. Other famous people included Charles
Dickens, the greatest novelist of the age, Charles Darwin, the naturalist and Florence
Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. During the Romantic Period, individual
expression became important to composers, so pieces had a lot of variety. There were no
restrictions on the length of a piece or the instruments used. The operas of Richard
Wagner sometimes last 6 hours.
Valves for brass instruments were invented and new key systems were added to
woodwind instruments, this made them easier to play and more versatile so composers
became more interested in writing for them.
ROMANTIC MUSIC
The tempo changes frequently with much use of rubato.
Melodies are usually longer than Classical ones and are very expressive.
There may be frequent modulations often to remote keys.
Rich, complicated harmony is common, often using chromatic notes.
There is a huge range of dynamics which change often.
Orchestras got much bigger and used a much wider range of instruments so that the tone
colour could be more varied. Romantic composers used tone colours to create varied
moods and emotions. Extra instruments included piccolo, cor anglais, bass clarinet,
double bassoon, tuba and sometimes saxophone which had just been invented.
The percussion section expanded to include many more tuned and untuned instruments.
The harp was also added.
Classical orchestras only had 30 – 40 players and tended to be directed by the leader of
the violins. Romantic orchestras had 70 or more players and needed a conductor.
ROMANTIC STRUCTURES
Concert Overture – a 1 movement piece in sonata form not attached to an opera eg
Fingal’s Cave by Mendelssohn and Romeo and Juliet by Tchaikovsky.
Program Symphony – a work with a flexible number of movements which is based on a
story eg Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz.
Symphonic Poem or Tone Poem – a 1 movement piece which tells a story, often using a
single theme which develops throughout the piece eg Les Preludes by Liszt.
Incidental Music – played during the acts of a play reflecting the action on stage eg Peer
Gynt by Grieg and L’Arlesienne by Bizet.
Nationalistic Music – composers started to use folk tunes and dances from their own
countries in their music eg Slavonic Dances by Dvorak.
Dances – the waltz became the most popular type of dance, composers also wrote polkas,
mazurkas and polonaises. The Strauss family wrote many waltzes and polkas.
COMPOSERS
Schumann, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, Dvorak and Tchaikovsky.
THE 20TH CENTURY 1900 – 2000
The gramophone was invented in 1887, radio and TV followed in the 20th century so
people didn’t have to travel to expensive concerts to hear music, they could listen to
records and concerts at home. There have been more types and styles of music written in
the 20th century than ever before. The most important events of this age were the First
World War (1914 – 1918) and the Second World War (1939 – 1945).
2OTH CENTURY MUSIC
Unusual rhythms are used, with syncopation common. Tempo and time signature change
often.
Melodies may use big leaps and include a wide range of notes.
Keys change suddenly and often and some music is atonal – has no key at all. Unusual
scales are used including modes, whole tone scales and blues scales.
Harmony is often very dissonant with complex chords.
Dynamics change frequently and a very wide range of articulation can be used.
Composers carried on using mostly traditional instruments but experimented with
different sounds and effects. They sometimes used non-instrumental sounds such as
typewriters, car horns, sandpaper and even vacuum cleaners. In the second half of the 20th
century composers started to experiment with electronic sounds.
20TH CENTURY STYLES
Impressionism – dreamy, mystical, floaty music. The name comes from Impressionist
paintings which have a blurred effect. Whole tone scales were often used and chords with
added 7ths, 9ths and even 13ths. La Mer by Debussy is a good example.
20th century nationalism – the trend from the Romantic period continued with composers
using native tunes and rhythms eg Rodeo by Copeland.
Neoclassicism – music inspired by the Classical period but using 20th century elements
such as harmony eg Symphony Of Psalms by Stravinsky.
Serialism – a composing system invented by Schoenberg using a tone row of all 12
chromatic notes. The whole composition is based on the row.
Aleatoric or chance music – the decision about what to play was made in the performance
so it was different every time eg in Music of Changes by John Cage the performers toss
coins to decide which passage to play next.
Jazz influence – jazz elements, including swing rhythms, syncopation and the blues scale
are often used eg Rhapsody in Blue or An American in Paris by Gershwin.
COMPOSERS
Debussy, Ravel, Shostakovitch, Stravinsky, Bartok, Messiaen, Walton, Holst, Gershwin,
Schoenberg, Britten and John Cage.