Eras of music
Prehistoric music
Prehistoric music, once more commonly called primitive
music, is the name given to all music produced in
preliterate cultures (prehistory), beginning somewhere
in very late geological history. Prehistoric music is
followed by ancient music in most of Europe (1500 BC)
and later music in subsequent European-influenced areas,
but still exists in isolated areas.
Prehistoric music thus technically includes all of the
world's music that has existed before the advent of any
currently extant historical sources concerning that
music, for example, traditional Native American music of
preliterate tribes and Australian Aboriginal music.
However, it is more common to refer to the "prehistoric"
music of non-European continents – especially that which
still survives – as folk, indigenous or traditional
music. The origin of music is unknown as it occurred
prior to recorded history. Some suggest that the origin
of music likely stems from naturally occurring sounds
and rhythms. Human music may echo these phenomena using
patterns, repetition and tonality. Even today, some
cultures have certain instances of their music intending
to imitate natural sounds. In some instances, this
feature is related to shamanistic beliefs or practice.
It may also serve entertainment (game) or practical
(luring animals in hunt) functions.
Ancient music
"Ancient music" is the name given to the music that
follows music of the prehistoric era. The "oldest known
song" was written in cuneiform, dating to 3400 years ago
from Ugarit in Syria. It was a part of the Hurrian
songs, more specifically Hurrian hymn no. 6. It was
deciphered by Anne Draffkorn Kilmer, and was
demonstrated to be composed in harmonies of thirds, like
ancient gymel, and also was written using a Pythagorean
tuning of the diatonic scale. The oldest surviving
example of a complete musical composition, including
musical notation, from anywhere in the world, is the
Seikilos epitaph, dated to either the 1st or the 2nd
century AD.
Biblical period
According to Easton's Bible Dictionary, Jubal was named
by the Bible as the inventor of musical instruments
(Gen. 4:21). The Hebrews were much given to the
cultivation of music. Their whole history and literature
afford abundant evidence of this. After the Deluge, the
first mention of music is in the account of Laban's
interview with Jacob (Gen. 31:27). After their triumphal
passage of the Red Sea, Moses and the children of Israel
sang their song of deliverance (Ex. 15). But the period
of Samuel, David, and Solomon was the golden age of
Hebrew music, as it was of Hebrew poetry. Music was now
for the first time systematically cultivated. It was an
essential part of training in the schools of the
prophets (1 Sam. 10:5). There now arose also a class of
professional singers (2 Sam. 19:35; Eccl. 2:8).
Solomon's Temple, however, was the great school of
music. In the conducting of its services large bands of
trained singers and players on instruments were
constantly employed (2 Sam. 6:5; 1 Chr. 15:16; 23;5;
25:1–6). In private life also music seems to have held
an important place among the Hebrews (Eccl. 2:8; Amos
6:4–6; Isa. 5:11, 12; 24:8, 9; Ps. 137; Jer. 48:33; Luke
15:25).
Music and theatre scholars studying the history and
anthropology of Semitic and early Jewish culture, have
also discovered common links between theatrical and
musical activity in the classical cultures of the
Hebrews with those of the later cultures of the Greeks
and Romans. The common area of performance is found in a
"social phenomenon called litany," a form of prayer
consisting of a series of invocations or supplications.
The Journal of Religion and Theatre notes that among the
earliest forms of litany, "Hebrew litany was accompanied
by a rich musical tradition:"
While Genesis 4.21 identifies Jubal as the "father of
all such as handle the harp and pipe", the Pentateuch is
nearly silent about the practice and instruction of
music in the early life of Israel. Then, in I Samuel 10
and the texts which follow, a curious thing happens.
"One finds in the biblical text", writes Alfred Sendrey,
"a sudden and unexplained upsurge of large choirs and
orchestras, consisting of thoroughly organized and
trained musical groups, which would be virtually
inconceivable without lengthy, methodical preparation."
This has led some scholars to believe that the prophet
Samuel was the patriarch of a school which taught not
only prophets and holy men, but also sacred-rite
musicians. This public music school, perhaps the
earliest in recorded history, was not restricted to a
priestly class—which is how the shepherd boy David
appears on the scene as a minstrel to King Saul.
Early music
Early music is music of the European classical tradition
from after the fall of the Roman Empire, in 476 AD,
until the end of the Baroque era in the middle of the
18th century. Music within this enormous span of time
was extremely diverse, encompassing multiple cultural
traditions within a wide geographic area; many of the
cultural groups out of which medieval Europe developed
already had musical traditions, about which little is
known. What unified these cultures in the Middle Ages
was the Roman Catholic Church, and its music served as
the focal point for musical development for the first
thousand years of this period. |
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Western art music
Medieval music
While musical life was undoubtedly rich in the early
Medieval era, as attested by artistic depictions of
instruments, writings about music, and other records,
the only repertory of music which has survived from
before 800 to the present day is the plainsong
liturgical music of the Roman Catholic Church, the
largest part of which is called Gregorian chant. Pope
Gregory I, who gave his name to the musical repertory
and may himself have been a composer, is usually claimed
to be the originator of the musical portion of the
liturgy in its present form, though the sources giving
details on his contribution date from more than a
hundred years after his death. Many scholars believe
that his reputation has been exaggerated by legend. Most
of the chant repertory was composed anonymously in the
centuries between the time of Gregory and Charlemagne.
Renaissance music
The beginning of the Renaissance in music is not as
clearly marked as the beginning of the Renaissance in
the other arts, and unlike in the other arts, it did not
begin in Italy, but in northern Europe, specifically in
the area currently comprising central and northern
France, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The style of the
Burgundian composers, as the first generation of the
Franco-Flemish school is known, was at first a reaction
against the excessive complexity and mannered style of
the late 14th century ars subtilior, and contained
clear, singable melody and balanced polyphony in all
voices. The most famous composers of the Burgundian
school in the mid-15th century are Guillaume Dufay,
Gilles Binchois, and Antoine Busnois.
Baroque music
The Baroque era took place from 1600 to 1750, as the
Baroque artistic style flourished across Europe and,
during this time, music expanded in its range and
complexity. Baroque music began when the first operas
(dramatic solo vocal music accompanied by orchestra)
were written. During the Baroque era, polyphonic
contrapuntal music, in which multiple, simultaneous
independent melody lines were used, remained important
(counterpoint was important in the vocal music of the
Medieval era).[clarification needed] German, Italian,
French, Dutch, Polish, Spanish, Portuguese, and English
Baroque composers wrote for small ensembles including
strings, brass, and woodwinds, as well as for choirs and
keyboard instruments such as pipe organ, harpsichord,
and clavichord. During this period several major music
forms were defined that lasted into later periods when
they were expanded and evolved further, including the
fugue, the invention, the sonata, and the concerto. The
late Baroque style was polyphonically complex and richly
ornamented. Important composers from the Baroque era
include Johann Sebastian Bach, Arcangelo Corelli,
François Couperin, Girolamo Frescobaldi, George Frideric
Handel, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Claudio Monteverdi, Georg
Philipp Telemann and Antonio Vivaldi.
Classical music era
The music of the Classical period is characterized by
homophonic texture, or an obvious melody with
accompaniment. These new melodies tended to be almost
voice-like and singable, allowing composers to actually
replace singers as the focus of the music. Instrumental
music therefore quickly replaced opera and other sung
forms (such as oratorio) as the favorite of the musical
audience and the epitome of great composition. However,
opera did not disappear: during the classical period,
several composers began producing operas for the general
public in their native languages (previous operas were
generally in Italian).
Along with the gradual displacement of the voice in
favor of stronger, clearer melodies, counterpoint also
typically became a decorative flourish, often used near
the end of a work or for a single movement. In its
stead, simple patterns, such as arpeggios and, in piano
music, Alberti bass (an accompaniment with a repeated
pattern typically in the left hand), were used to liven
the movement of the piece without creating a confusing
additional voice. The now-popular instrumental music was
dominated by several well-defined forms: the sonata, the
symphony, and the concerto, though none of these were
specifically defined or taught at the time as they are
now in music theory. All three derive from sonata form,
which is both the overlying form of an entire work and
the structure of a single movement. Sonata form matured
during the Classical era to become the primary form of
instrumental compositions throughout the 19th century.
The early Classical period was ushered in by the
Mannheim School, which included such composers as Johann
Stamitz, Franz Xaver Richter, Carl Stamitz, and
Christian Cannabich. It exerted a profound influence on
Joseph Haydn and, through him, on all subsequent
European music. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the central
figure of the Classical period, and his phenomenal and
varied output in all genres defines our perception of
the period. Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert were
transitional composers, leading into the Romantic
period, with their expansion of existing genres, forms,
and even functions of music.
Romantic music
In the Romantic period, music became more expressive and
emotional, expanding to encompass literature, art, and
philosophy. Famous early Romantic composers include
Schumann, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Bellini, Donizetti, and
Berlioz. The late 19th century saw a dramatic expansion
in the size of the orchestra, and in the role of
concerts as part of urban society. Famous composers from
the second half of the century include Johann Strauss
II, Brahms, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, and Wagner.
Between 1890 and 1910, a third wave of composers
including Grieg, Dvořák, Mahler, Richard Strauss,
Puccini, and Sibelius built on the work of middle
Romantic composers to create even more complex – and
often much longer – musical works. A prominent mark of
late 19th century music is its nationalistic fervor, as
exemplified by such figures as Dvořák, Sibelius, and
Grieg. Other prominent late-century figures include
Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Rachmaninoff, Franck, Debussy and
Rimsky-Korsakov.
20th and 21st-century music
Music of all kinds also became increasingly portable.
The 20th century saw a revolution in music listening as
the radio gained popularity worldwide and new media and
technologies were developed to record, capture,
reproduce and distribute music. Music performances
became increasingly visual with the broadcast and
recording of performances.
20th-century music brought a new freedom and wide
experimentation with new musical styles and forms that
challenged the accepted rules of music of earlier
periods.[citation needed] The invention of musical
amplification and electronic instruments, especially the
synthesizer, in the mid-20th century revolutionized
classical and popular music, and accelerated the
development of new forms of music.
As for classical music, two fundamental schools
determined the course of the century: that of Arnold
Schoenberg and that of Igor Stravinsky. |
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