Introduction to Classical Music Joe Gusmano

Transcription

1 Introduction to Classical Music Joe Gusmano

2 Overview We will cover three important musical eras: 1 Baroque (ca ) 2 Classical (ca ) 3 - Romantic (ca )

3 Week 1: J.S. Bach and Baroque Music Characteristics of Baroque Music: Baroque composers were primarily hired as church musicians or musical directors. This resulted in a wealth of sacred keyboard (organ and harpsichord) and choral music. Ornamentation melodic flourishes (grace notes, trills, turns, etc.) Ex: English Suite No. 2, II: Allemande BWV 807 ( ) by J.S. Bach (BWV = Bach-Werke-Verzeichnes, catalogue of Bach s music, finished in 1950)

4 Week 1: J.S. Bach and Baroque Music Characteristics of Baroque Music: Polyphony - from the Greek polyphonos (poly many phonos voices); music in which two or more voices have independent melodies that are harmonized with one another. ex: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Sleepers awake, the voice is calling us) BWV 140 (1731) composed by J.S. Bach

5 Other vocal textures Homophony - music in which one or more voices have dependent melodies that move at the same pace; popular in English chorales and sacred Protestant music Ex: Zadok the Priest HWV 258 (1728) composed by George Frideric Handel, English Coronation Anthem Monody music in which one or more voices have the same melody Ex: Kyrie Eleison, Gregorian Chant

6 Johann Sebastian Bach ( )

7 Biographical Information Born in Eisenach in 1685 into a family of musicians Learned rudimentary string playing from his father Orphaned by the age of ten, he was raised in part by his elder brother Johann Christoph Bach, who taught him to play the clavichord Studied and performed music at St. Michael s church in Ohrdruf, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg Eventually went on to become the kapellmeister (musical director) of the Nikolaikirche and Thomaskirche in Leipzig Married twice; second wife Anna Magdalena Bach

8 Important Influences: Antonio Vivaldi ( )

9 Bach copied out much of Vivaldi s music by hand Vivaldi was an incredibly popular Italian composer, most well known for his exquisite string writing Directed the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice Violin Concerto in A Minor Op. 3 No. 6 RV 356 (ca. 1711)

10 Important Influences: Dietrich Buxtehude (ca )

11 Buxtehude was a Danish-German organist and composer Bach was heavily influenced by Buxtehude s organ works (and much of the Northern Germanic organ tradition) Praeludium in E Major BuxWV 141

12 Prelude and Fugue in C Major The first two pieces from Bach s The Well-Tempered Clavier (Das Wohltemperirte Klavier) while working as court composer in Köthen in 1722 This work is a collection of Preludes and Fugues written in all 12 major keys and all 12 minor keys The Well-Tempered Clavier is a pedagogical work that is still used to teach early piano students to this very day

13 What is a welltempered instrument? Western harmony can trace its roots to early Greek conceptions of musical harmony as evidence of divine presence Pythagoras and perfect intervals Well-tempered keyboard has strings which are tuned to a ratio that reflects a division of the octave into 12 equally spaced semitones. These pitches are derived from the overtone series of every fundamental pitch. Leonard Bernstein explains overtones!

14 Prelude The prelude is essentially a chorale for six voices, that is broken up into separate notes or arpeggios (the notes of a particular chord played individually rather than simultaneously) Bach introduces a series of consonances and dissonances in the left hand, and then harmonizes these two lines with four more lines in the right hand. The piece has a relatively stagnant texture; the number and position of the voices as well as their rhythmic patterns remain almost entirely constant. Prelude in C major BWV 846

15 Fugue A fugue, or canon, is a contrapuntal composition that passes a short melody (subject) around interweaving voices The fugue subject in this piece is repeated at pitch, beginning at a different pitch, or in fragment Bach is very well known for his fugue writing, and is thought to be one of the most significant contributors to the systemization of tonal harmony (harmony that is derived from a major or minor scale) Fugue in C Major BWV 846

16 Other important Baroque Composers Arcangelo Corelli ( ) Claudio Monteverdi ( ) Heinrich Schütz ( ) Jean-Baptiste Lully ( ) Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de le Guerre ( ) Henry Purcell ( )