1 / 25

Vocal Music History

Vocal Music History. Singing Through Time.

janae
Download Presentation

Vocal Music History

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Vocal Music History Singing Through Time

  2. The human voice is really the foundation of all music; and whatever the development of the musical art, however bold the composer's combinations, however brilliant the virtuoso's execution, in the end they must always return to the standard set by vocal music.  ---Richard Wagner

  3. Medieval Period (500-1450) • Vocal music most important • Simple in nature

  4. First written music → church music • Latin • Offices → music sung at a certain time of day • Plainchant (or chant or plainsong) • No rhythm or tempo noted • ♫ chant Pater Noster

  5. Chant – Pater Noster

  6. Word Wall • Syllabic → one note per syllable • Neumatic → two or three notes (or neumes) per syllable • Melismatic → four or more notes per syllable • Organum → melody with harmony (4th or 5th) • Polyphony → two or more vocal parts, equal importance

  7. Guido d’Arezzo • Monk • Guidonian Hand • device used to assist singers in learning to sight sing • each joint or part of the hand represented a different note • precursor to solfege • ♫ Guido’s hand

  8. Secular (Pop) Songs • usually about love and wine • Unaccompanied, triple meter, no harmony, not Latin • Troubadors (started south) • Trouveres (started north)

  9. Renaissance Period (1450-1600) • Similar to medieval music but more evolved • Secular music flourished because of patrons of the nobility • Entertainment for amateurs rather than concert music (ambience!) • Composed for few participants rather than huge choirs/choruses

  10. Funny Story:Josquin des Prez composer for the French king, got tired of waiting for the raise he had been rpomised so he wrote a motet called “ Remember thy word unto thy servant”. When the king finally paid him, he wrote another one called “Lord thou hast dealt graciously with thy servant”.

  11. Musical Types • Mass → music composed for specific parts of the mass (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei) • Motet → piece of music in several parts with words (church) • Madrigal → piece of music two to eight voices, usually unaccompanied (secular) • ♫ Ave Maria, T.L. Vittoria

  12. Ave Maria, T.L. Vittoria

  13. Meanwhile... • Church music not led by Catholics but by Protestants as well (Thank-you Henry VIII!) • Chorale - hymn meant to be sung by the congregation; monophonic then progressed to four part harmony • ♫ Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, J.S. Bach

  14. Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, J.S. Bach

  15. Baroque Period (1600-1750) • Instrumental music became as important as vocal • Opera, usually based on Greek mythology/tragedy • Vocal chamber music → solo recitals, small ensembles • Elaborate, showy music...very decorated • Monteverdi wrote the first opera: Orfeo (1607)

  16. Funny Story:Theorist Giovanni Artusi published a paper claiming that the “new composers” were breaking all the rules and ignoring “centuries of noble tradition”...sound familiar?

  17. Oratorio • Like opera but without movement, sets, and costumes • Usually a biblical setting • Frequent word painting • ♫ Handel → Messiah

  18. Messiah • Hallelujah • All We Like Sheep

  19. Classical Period (1750-1810) • Melodies much less decorated, concentrating on beauty of tone • More chorus stuff in operas

  20. Romantic Period (1810-1910) • Art song really developed • Church music not really the focus anymore • Choral music becomes more important → nationalism, folk music, some symphonies • ♫ Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony

  21. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony

  22. Art Songs • Very poetic → usually about some sort of pretty thing (rose, stream, etc.) • Piano and voice • Text and accompaniment closely related • Tried to create a musical scene • Song Cycle → group of poems by one poet set to music • Lied → (German) “song” (pl. lieder) • Schubert & Schumann • ♫ Schubert → Gretchen Am Spinnrade

  23. Schubert → Gretchen Am Spinnrade

  24. Wagner’s Operas • Leitmotif → little tune • Help audience follow along • Character, object, event, emotion • ♫ Hunding (character) • ♫ Golden Apples (object) • ♫ Alberich’s Threat (event) • ♫ Siegfried’s Anger (emotion)

More Related