Week 2 Thinking About Music: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Music · Reading by Lewis Rowell §0 Renaissance is seen as a period of high artistic accomplishment Musical style became more personal and spread quickly from country to country § § Musical style was a product of significant changes in technique and values · Medieval music - confined to a relatively narrow range and written for equal voices vs. Renaissance music expanded musical space to approx. 4 octaves · Delineation of specific voice parts, each with different ranges (ie. cantus, altus, tenor, bassus) · Bass was now the foundation of the sound structure · Dawning concept of harmony · Two things came into full fruition in the Renaissance: 1) Gradual groupings of modal scale patterns into minor and major modes 2) Recognition of the triad as a vertical entity · Move away from the cantus firmus, now imitative techniques distributed melodic activity among all parts and treated them as equals · Musical structure became a series of points of imitation separated by clear cadences · Unifying element was the imitative motive/motif · Individual lines were given independent rhythmic structure, loosely coordinated by the tactus (beat), resulting in a texture of cross rhythms and accents · Homogenous blending of sounds · Savor of sustained vertical sonorities (chords) · Clearly articulated cadences at regular intervals · Careful timing of dissonance to provide a regular rhythm of tension and release § New proposals for thinking about art/music: · Art is creativity · The being of each work of art is unique · Art does not necessarily represent nature · Primary purpose is expression . Truth of art is not truth of science · Art is diverse · Art is a kind of play · Art exists for its own sake, not for some higher purpose § Beginnings of Baroque music marked by:
· Major shift in musical organization from the linear, imitative motet to a vertical orientation where music is thought of more in chords rather than an interweaving of separate melodic lines · Basso continuo - combination of an instrumental bass line (cello, bass viol, bassoon or another bass instrument) and a chordal accompaniment (organ, harpsichord, or lute) · The system of major and minor keys rapidly took hold · Musical compositions became much longer · Baroque musical values: o Performance accomplishment had 3 aspects: technical virtuosity, emotional delivery, ability to improvise § Transition from Baroque to Classical period was less pronounced con Classical composers wrote more songlike, simpler melodies in contrast to the multiple melodic strands of the Baroque · Its beginnings can be seen in simplification of texture, a universal musical style instead of the national style of the Baroque (ie. in the Baroque period, there were different styles each in France, Germany and Italy) Week 3 Age of Mozart and Beethoven · Reading by Giorgio Pestelli o Galant style: § Between 1740 and 1760 con Associated with the words "pleasant", "free", "spontaneous" Counterpoint was to be avoided vas