He composed scores for a number of ballets, including two of the most popular of the time: “Agnes DeMille’s Rodeo” (1942) and Martha Graham’s “Appalachian Spring” (1944), for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. Probably the most important and successful composition from this time was his patriotic “A Lincoln Portrait” (1942). The piece for voice and orchestra presents quotes from Lincoln’s writings narrated over Copland’s musical composition. Throughout the 1950s, Copland slowed his work as a composer, and began to try his hand at conducting. He began to tour with his own work as well as the works of other great American musicians.
Music was an essential part of civic, religious, and courtly life in the Renaissance. The rich interchange of ideas in Europe, as well as political, economic, and religious events in the period 1400–1600 led to major changes in styles of composing, methods of disseminating music, new musical genres, and the development of musical instruments. The most important music of the early Renaissance was composed for use by the church—polyphonic (made up of several simultaneous melodies) masses and motets in Latin for important churches and court chapels. By the end of the sixteenth century, however, patronage was split among many areas: the Catholic Church, Protestant churches and courts, wealthy amateurs, and music printing—all were sources of income for composers. The rich interchange of ideas in Europe, as well as political, economic, and religious events in the period 1400–1600 led to major changes in styles of composing, methods of disseminating music, new musical genres, and the development of musical instruments.
Hu Zhenqi 24 June 2011 MRLC Mr.Ryan HOW BACH’S STYLE IS DISTINCT FROM VIVALDI’S Bach and Vivaldi are two of the most well known composers in the Baroque period. They have similarities and differences in their style of composition. This essay would focus on their differences in style. Their styles are different in many ways and most people would focus on their use of melody, harmony or rhythm but this essay would focus on their use of basso continuo. The way Bach uses basso continuo in his music is what makes Bach’s style distinct from Vivaldi’s.
Music must express emotions and it must move the listener. It gives the listener feeling of the music. Baroque music has unique specific style and character and it is an idiomatic form. Composers began to write music specifically for a particular medium, such as the violin or the solo voice, rather than music with interchangeable. Before 1600, as the church had been the centre of music, vocal music had been dominating, and the instrumental music had been written for any instrument.
In 1975, Harrison met Ki K.P.H. Wasitodiningrat, familiarly known as Pak Cokro, one of the great masters of the Javanese gamelan orchestra in that century. Pak Cokro not only instructed him in the performance and theory of gamelan music, but also encouraged him to compose for the ensemble. Over the next ten years, Harrison would produce a remarkable body of nearly 50 pieces for gamelan, often in combinations with Western instruments, such as Philemon and Baukis (violin and gamelan), Main Bersama-sama (horn and Sundanese gamelan), and Bubaran Robert (trumpet and gamelan). He and Colvig built various sets of gamelan instruments, including ensembles at colleges where Harrison taught at various times--Mills College, San Jose State University, and Cabrillo College.
However, as important as it was, improvisation caused problems when musicians attempted to understand and perform Baroque music accurately. Basso continuo, or figured bass, was purely an instrumental concept. It is music that is played by one or more bass instruments and a keyboard instrument. Basso continuo gave bass parts an importance of their own in all areas of ensemble music. It is one of the most distinct features of the Baroque Era as a whole.
Cultures who used these instrument pairs associated genders with them; the "father" was the bigger or more energetic instrument, while the "mother" was the smaller or duller instrument. Musical instruments existed in this form for thousands of years before patterns of three or more tones would evolve in the form of the earliest xylophone. [24] Xylophones originated in the mainland and archipelago of Southeast Asia, eventually spreading to Africa, the Americas, and Europe. [25] Along with xylophones, which ranged from simple sets of three "leg bars" to carefully tuned sets of parallel bars, various cultures developed instruments such as the ground harp, ground zither, musical bow, and jaw
Songs were often played to accompany poems and plays. The music would represent the mood of the play, and musicians would sit in a gallery above the stage. Music to be in the court was very popular. Composers would often write a piece in the name of a nobleman, and then give it to them as a gift. Others would try to catch the eye of the Queen, who was always on the hunt for new music.
Chikamatsu Vs. Shakespeare Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s tragedy, The Love Suicides at Soneszaki and Shakespeare’s tragedy, Romeo and Juliet share many similarities. Both incorporate emotion to captivate the audience, and both utilize music to enhance the performances. The plot of Shakespeare’s play is similar to Chikamatsu’s in that the lovers are struggling to be with one another. Yet, The Love Suicides at Sonseki will leave the audience with the sense of having witnessed an actual event instead of a puppet theater show. The puppet play is written in an understandable language, where as Shakespearean plays are difficult to understand.
This included much more percussion and brass sections within the orchestra, with new instruments, such as the cor anglais used in the piece, and valves allowing more melodic content from valved instruments. This was common in the romantic period. As was the use of piano as a more soloistic instrument compared to previous periods where it was buried within the orchestra as an accompaniment. Many of the features are due to this expansion of the orchestra and the disintergration of forms and such tight rules, whilst also including larger ranges of music. These are within dynamics, tone colours, techniques, textures and range .