History of Music♪

 Since man has walked the earth there has been music. Music connects people in different parts of the world, as it is the same no matter what language you speak. The history of music is a long a changing one, starting from the beginning of life until the present day music has gone through different periods including the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th Century. http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/history/music-history.htm
Each period had it's focal points and changed the world in some way. Composers used music to convey their feelings on the issues of the time.
     My personal favorite musical period is the Classical period. This musical period lasted for 70 years and was mostly dominated by homophony. Classical music also placed greater stress on clarity regarding melodic expression and instrumental color. During this time orchestras gained more color and flexibility as clarinets, flutes, oboes, and bassoons became permanent members.  New forms of composition were devoloped to adapt to the changes of the orchestra and the use of homophony. The most important of these new forms was the sonata. The sonata changed and evolved throughout the classical period. The classical sonata was very different from the sonatas written by Baroque composers. Rococo, the musical style of the early 1700s, served as a transition from the Baroque to the Classical Era. Devoloped in France, Rococo actually is an art term that described a new art style which was both a light and embellished. Musically speaking, it is refered to as a style galant. In 1750 Germany, the style galant became empfindsamer stil. Along with this name change came an added element of expressivness and sentimentality. Distinctive characteristics developed as classical music evolved. Changes in phrase structure were seen along with changes in form; shorter phrases and well defined cadences because more prevalent. Melodies of the Classical era were more diatonic and compact. Harmony was also less structured; it used the tonic, dominant, and subdominant chords. Also, diatonic harmony was more common then chromatic. The four major composers of the Classical era were Hayden, Mozart, Gluck, and Beethoven.  http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/history/music-history.htm

     My favorite Classical era composer is Ludwig Van Beethoven. Beethoven was born of German descent in 1770. Some say that Beethoven and his music are the bridge between the Classical and Romantic eras. Beethoven's music experiminted with new rhythms and he composed music based on an idea, as opposed to a full rhythm. His works were composed for concertos, quartets, syphonies, and piano sonatas. Beethoven's music is said to have contained his own struggles for both political and personal freedom. His defiant plea for these freedoms can somewhat be heard in his Fifth Symphony and wholeheartedly in his Ninth Choral Symphony and  in his opera Fidelio. Beethoven's musical career can best be viewed in 3 different phrases. In the beginning, or first phrase, of his musical career he composed his First and Second Symphoneis, Opus 18, six string quartets, and the first thirty two piano sonatas. The second, or middle stage of his career Beethoven began to build on Classical works, bringing them to a new level of expressiveness. His Third Symphoney, also known as Eroica was composed during this time. Eroica was both longer than his other two symphonies and was so dramitic and emotional that it would change the symphonic form as the musical world knew it. In his third and final stage, Beethoven was at his most creative. He explored music further then he had ever done before. His final piano sonatas and string quartets abandoned traditional form, while still keeping his own original sound. Is has been said that his musical defiance is due in part to his deafness which isolated him from society. Remembered today for its unique quality and its defiance, Beethoven's music and new styles bridged the Classical and Romantic eras and brought the musical world from the old into the new. Beethoven was also the first composer ever to be appreciated by the public during his lifetime. Great musicans of their time would recieve the credit they were rightly due thanks to him.
http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/history/music-history.htm

     As for the rest of the musical periods, I hope to learn what composers were loved and how they changed what was known as "the normal" for that time.  I hope to understand the main ideas and focal points of the era. Each era had certain points of interest, things that each composer intergrated into his works and used to change the way the world looked at music. My wish is to learn these things and see how they are still used in music today.