Topic 7: Instrumental Music

Introduction

Music performed without a vocalist, in any of several genres but especially prevalent
in rock and roll in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Serving primarily as dance music, rock-
and-roll and rhythm-and-blues instrumentals began appearing on the pop charts in the mid-
1950s, with Bill Doggett’.

Learning Outcomes:

Upon completion of this module, students are expected to:

1. Describe each artist and his work;
2. distinguish the different instrumental music Artist and period;
3. classify the Artist and his work;
4. compare these music in today’s music; and
5. compose modern music or song inspired with other periods.

Learning Content

BAROQUE PERIOD:

The Baroque period refers to an era that started around 1600 and ended around 1750, and
included composers like Bach, Vivaldi and Handel, who pioneered new styles like the
concerto and the sonata.
Jonathan Sebastian Bach- (1685-1750) was music's most sublime creative genius. Bach was
a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist of the Baroque Era. Johann
Sebastian Bach was born on March 21st 1685 in Eisenach, Germany. The young Bach was
offered a choral scholarship to the prestigious St Michael's School in 1699. 1703 saw Bach
become the organist at St Boniface's Church in Arnstadt - a role that saw him on a regular
salary and expanding his skills at the keyboard. Bach composed the cantata Gott ist mein
König in 1708 - he was paid handsomely, and it helped him cement his early career. The
Brandenburg Concertos were composed in 1721 as a sort-of musical job application for the
Margrave Ludwig of Brandenburg - it was unsuccessful.
Did you know?

Bach once walked two hundred and thirteen miles to hear a performance by an organist
whom he admired. Once he had heard the concert, he turned round and walked the same
distance home again.

Example of his work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frxT2qB1POQ

1. Antoneo Vivaldi- Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678–28 July 1741) was an Italian
Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, teacher and cleric. Born in Venice, he is
recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his
lifetime was widespread across Europe. He is known mainly for composing many
instrumental concertos, for the violin and a variety of other instruments, as well as
sacred choral works and more than forty operas. His best-known work is a series of
violin concertos known as The Four Seasons.
Many of his compositions were written for the female music ensemble of the Ospedale della
Pietà, a home for abandoned children where Vivaldi (who had been ordained as a Catholic
priest) was employed from 1703 to 1715 and from 1723 to 1740. Vivaldi also had some
success with expensive stagings of his operas in Venice, Mantuaand Vienna. After meeting
the Emperor Charles VI, Vivaldi moved to Vienna, hoping for preferment. However, the
Emperor died soon after Vivaldi’s arrival, and Vivaldi himself died less than a year later in
poverty.

Example of his work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGFqtOdEIWk

2. George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel born (5 March 1685–14 April 1759) was a
German-born, British Baroque composer who spent the bulk of his career in London,
becoming well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Born in
a family indifferent to music, Handel received critical training in Halle, Hamburg and
Italy before settling in London (1712), and became a naturalized British subject in
1727. He was strongly influenced both by the great composers of the Italian Baroque
and the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.Within fifteen years, Handel had
started three commercial opera companies to supply the English nobility with Italian
opera. Musicologist Winton Dean writes that his operas show that “Handel was not
only a great composer; he was a dramatic genius of the first order.” As Alexander’s
Feast (1736) was well received, Handel made a transition to English choral works.
After his success with Messiah (1742) he never performed an Italian opera again.
Almost blind, and having lived in England for nearly fifty years, he died in 1759, a
respected and rich man. His funeral was given full state honours, and he was buried in
Westminster Abbey.

Example of his work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAIZxaToV2A

CLASSICAL PERIOD:

Serious or conventional music following long-established principles rather than a

folk, jazz, or popular tradition. Music written in the European tradition during a period lasting
approximately from 1750 to 1830, when forms such as the symphony, concerto, and sonata
were standardized.
Joseph Haydn-Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) was an Austrian composer, one of the most
prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. Haydn wrote 107 symphonies in
total, as well as 83 string quartets, 45 piano trios, 62 piano sonatas, 14 masses and 26 operas,
amongst countless other scores.

Example of his work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkse1g9ibnM

1. Ludwig Van Beethoven- (1770-1827) is one of the most significant and influential
composers of the western art music tradition. He was a ground-breaker, in all senses.
He oversaw the transition of music from the Classical style, full of poise and balance,
to the Romantic style, characterised by emotion and impact. A prolific composer who
wrote for wealthy patrons and also earned money from public concerts, he wrote nine
 symphonies, 32 piano sonatas, one opera, five piano concertos, and many chamber
works including some ground-breaking string quartets. He could be a difficult and
unsociable man, who felt bitter and isolated by the deafness which developed in his
20s; he never married.He enjoyed great success and recognition in his lifetime. It is
said that at the premiere of his Ninth, he could not hear the thunderous applause at the
end, and had to be turned round to see the delighted audience reaction.Virtually all his
major works are standard repertoire pieces, familiar to musicians and listeners
throughout the commercial world.

What is special about his music?

Simply put, force of musical personality: he constantly pushed music into new areas. More
than any other composer before him, Beethoven could take a simple idea and work it into a
large-scale piece. The first movement of his famous Symphony No. 5, for instance, all clearly
comes from the opening da-da-da-daaa figure, yet it never sounds repetitive; similarly the
first movement of his Piano Sonata No. 29, the 'Hammerklavier', all springs from one short
opening phrase.

Example of his work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfF0zHeU3Zs

2. Johannes Chrystostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart (1756–1791) was arguably

the most gifted musician in the history of classical music. His inspiration is often
described as 'divine', but he worked assiduously, not only to become the great
composer he was, but also a conductor, virtuoso pianist, organist and violinist.
Mozart's music embraces opera, symphony, concerto, chamber, choral, instrumental
and vocal music, revealing an astonishing number of imperishable masterpieces.

Example of his work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeEmGvm7kDk

ROMANTIC PERIOD

The Romantic period started around 1830 and ended around 1900, as compositions
became increasingly expressive and inventive. Expansive symphonies, virtuosic piano music,
dramatic operas, and passionate songs took inspiration from art and literature. Famous
Romantic composers include Tchaikovsky, lizst and chopin.

1. Pyotr llyich Tchaikovsky- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Tchaikovsky also

spelled Chaikovsky, Chaikovskii, or Tschaikowsky, name in full Anglicized
as Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, (born April 25 [May 7, New Style], 1840, Votkinsk,
Russia—died October 25 [November 6], 1893, St. Petersburg), the most popular
Russian composer of all time. His music has always had great appeal for the general
public in virtue of its tuneful, open-hearted melodies, impressive harmonies, and
colourful, picturesque orchestration, all of which evoke a profound emotional
response. His oeuvre includes 7 symphonies, 11 operas, 3 ballets, 5 suites, 3 piano
concertos, a violin concerto, 11 overtures (strictly speaking, 3 overtures and 8 single
movement programmatic orchestral works), 4 cantatas, 20 choral works, 3 string
quartets, a string sextet, and more than 100 songs and piano pieces.
Example of his work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdduPpnqre4

2. Franz Liszt- Franz Liszt was the greatest piano virtuoso the world has ever known.
He literally redefined what 10 fingers were capable of, producing one scintillating
sleight-of-hand keyboard effect after another. Such was the sheer force of his musical
personality that adoring women collapsed swooning following just a single touch of
the ivories. Even the normally unimpressionable Matthew Arnold reported after a
Liszt concert that “as soon as I returned home, I pulled off my coat, flung myself on
the sofa, and wept the bitterest, sweetest tears”.There were even those who thought
Liszt’s unearthly powers were the result of a pact with the Devil, exacerbated by such
dark and “paranormal” pianistic whirlwinds as the Dante Sonata and Mephisto Waltz.

Example of his work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1Dvg2MxQn8

1. Frederic Chopin- Frédéric François Chopin (22 February or 1 March 1810 – 17

October 1849), born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, was a Polish composer and
virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era, who wrote primarily for the solo piano. He
gained and has maintained renown worldwide as one of the leading musicians of his
era, whose “poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without
equal in his generation.” Chopin was born in what was then the Duchy of Warsaw,
and grew up in Warsaw, which after 1815 became part of Congress Poland. A child
prodigy, he completed his musical education and composed many of his works in
Warsaw before leaving Poland at the age of 20, less than a month before the outbreak
of the November 1830 Uprising.
All of Chopin’s compositions include the piano. Most are for solo piano, though he
also wrote two piano concertos, a few chamber pieces, and some songs to Polish
lyrics. His keyboard style is highly individual and often technically demanding; his
own performances were noted for their nuance and sensitivity. Chopin invented the
concept of instrumental ballade. His major piano works also include sonatas,
mazurkas, waltzes,nocturnes, polonaises, études, impromptus, scherzos, and preludes,
some published only after his death. Many contain elements of both Polishfolk music
and of the classical tradition of J. S. Bach, Mozart and Schubert, the music of all of
whom he admired. His innovations in style,musical form, and harmony, and his
association of music with nationalism, were influential throughout and after the late
Romantic period.

Example of his work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gus4dnQuiGk
MODERN PERIOD

The Modern Era has been a period of massive technological and socio-political change,
sparked largely by the increasingly rapid transit of people and information (via automobiles,
airplanes, spacecraft and telephone, radio, television, satellite transmission, the Internet, etc.).
There have been more wars and outbreaks of social violence in the past century than in all
previous ages combined, including two major World Wars that dramatically affected all
aspects of life in Europe and America between 1914-18 (WWI) and 1939-45 (WWII). This
era has seen the gradual decline of the worldwide British Commonwealth (which once
included India, Hong Kong and other parts of the Far East, much of Africa, Canada, and the
British Isles), the establishment of the United States as the major force of the Free World, and
the rise and fall of Soviet Communism. The ever-changing delicate balance of economic and
political power is now--more than ever--of urgent global significance.

1. Claude Debussy- (22 August 1862–25 March 1918) was a French composer. Along
with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures associated
withImpressionist music, though he himself disliked the term when applied to his
compositions. He was madeChevalier of the Legion of Honour in his native France in
1903. Debussy was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early
20th centuries, and his use of non-traditional scales and chromaticism influenced
many composers who followed.Debussy’s music is noted for its sensory content and
frequent usage of atonality. The prominent French literary style of his period was
known as Symbolism, and this movement directly inspired Debussy both as a
composer and as an active cultural participant.

Example of his work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVYH-7QGE-A

2. Arnold Schoenberg- Arnold Schoenberg is one of the most influential composers of

the twentieth century. He championed atonality in music composition, first through
freely composed, expressionist works such as Pierrot Lunaire (one song from that
cycle, “Madonna,” is on our playlist), and later through his own system of
composition commonly referred to as as twelve-tone music (the Piano Suite, a portion
of which is on our list, was composed using this method). This system of atonal
composition became the dominant musical idiom at music conservatories in America
and Europe during the latter half of the twentieth century. Though the influence of
twelve-tone composition appears to be waning, its impact on the music of the last
century is enormous. Love it or hate it, the music of Schoenberg walks large on the
stage of history.

Example of his work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGLcUfbVF3k

3. Maurice Ravel-Born in the Basque town of Ciboure, France on March 7th 1975,
French composer Maurice Ravel was very influenced by his mother’s Spanish
heritage and love of Spanish folk song. From an early age it was clear that Ravel had
musical capabilities and his parents encouraged this, paying for him to have piano
lessons, as well as instruction in harmony, counterpoint and composition. Whilst he
was obviously a talented pianist, he showed a stronger desire to compose. In order to
 encourage his musical pursuits further, Ravel’s parents sent him to the Paris
Conservatory, initially as a preparatory student and then as a piano major. He studied
first with Émile Descombes and received a first prize in the piano in his first year
(1891). More generally, however, Ravel saw limited success at the conservatory and
although his musicianship matured significantly, his academics were weak. Ravel was
unfortunately expelled in 1895, after failing to be awarded a competitive medal in
three consecutive years. Three years later, he returned to the conservatory in order to
study composition with Gabriel Fauré. Unfortunately, he fell victim once more of
failing to win any competitive prizes and so was expelled for the second time in
1900.

Example of his work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9tcHoD6r0c