Listening descriptions

Most of the written music at this time was for the very rich and powerful land owners such a royalty and the church. A lot of this music has many melodies at the same time and vocal.

Welcome Sweet Pleasure' by Weelkes
- Speed: This is quite fast throughout
- Dynamics: This is quite loud with accents on some of the words.
- Mood: cheerful, happy
- Instruments/voices All the sounds are made by voices. Each person has a part and there are both male and female singers
- Other points: This is an unaccompanied part song to be performed indoors. The words are about young people teasing each other. At the end of each line of words there are nonsense words such as fa la la la la and no no no no no.

Weelkes

Weelkes was one of the composers at the court of Queen Elizabeth 1. He began as a composer for the church but also wrote music for the queen and her followers to have fun after dinner. He and other composers at the time wrote unaccompanied part songs called madrigals. The guests would sing them and some might play parts on instruments such as the recorder or viol.

'The Night Watch' by Anon.
- Speed: A moderate speed throughout
- Dynamics: Loud throughout
- Mood: cheerful
- Instruments/voices All the sounds are made by wind instruments: These sound unusual
- Other points: This is outdoor music which might have been performed outside the village pub or in the street. The street musicians were called waits and were often paid to perform to entertain the shoppers or those who drank at the pub. The piece is chordal with a clear underlying beat.
Anon

Quite often compositions at this time were written by a composer who did not attach his name to the work. It was therefore an anonymous composer. Composers at this time often wrote music for a single event and did not expect the music to be kept or remembered. Certainly they did not expect you to be listening to it!

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2. Baroque 1600 - 1750

George Frederic Handel

Antonio Vivaldi

Baroque music often has many melodies at the same time. The composers particularly liked to have a bass melody together with higher pitched melodies. The harpsichord was often used as an accompanying instrument

'Arrival of the Queen of Sheba' by Handel

Speed: This is quite fast and has a driving rhythm.

Dynamics: Stepped dynamics where there are many instruments and loud and then fewer instruments and quiet

Mood: cheerful, celebratory

Instruments/voices The main instruments are strings (violins, violas and cellos) The two solo instruments are oboes (woodwind). There is typically a harpsichord in the background

Other points: This is a famous piece of music which was part of an opera by Handel. An opera is like a musical where a play is told with music, singing, acting and scenery. It is a instrumental composition which was played as the title suggests at the arrival of the Queen of Sheba in the story. It was used to make the entrance even more dramatic. Trills and other ornaments are a feature of slower music. These trills are one of many ways that notes were decorated.

Handel

George Frederic Handel was a composer for George 1 who became king of England and brought his court (Those who worked for him) over to England. His main job was to write the music for the king. One of his most famous compositions of this type was the 'Water Music' performed on a barge following the king as he sailed up the river Thames. He also wrote music for the theatre called Operas and music for the church.

'Summer' from The Four Seasons by Vivaldi

This was one of a set of four pieces called Concertos. They were written for string orchestra and solo violin. Vivaldi wrote this music for a school of orphaned girls in Venice. They must have performed at a high standard to play this music. They had to perform behind a screen as they were not allowed to be seen.

Vivaldi

Vivaldi was an Italian composer and a priest who lived in Venice. He wrote a lot of instrumental music for a school for orphaned girls in Venice. This includes the 'Four Seasons'. Venice is famous for its waterways which replaced roads and for over a hundred palaces.

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3. Classical 1750 - 1820

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Johann Stamitz

At this time as the industrial revolution developed more and more people had the leisure time to listen to music. These were the rising middle classes, shop owners and factory owners who read books, attended plays and musical concerts. Audiences became larger and bigger concert halls were build (Assembly rooms in Bath England) Some of the members of the audience were rather noisy during performances hence the 'call to attention'. at the start of some compositions. Simpler accompaniments became popular and gradual dynamics replaced stepped dynamics. The piano gradually replaced the harpsichord as an accompanying instrument.

'Symphony' in D by Stamitz

Speed: Moderately Fast.

Dynamics: Graduated dynamics (including the 'Manheim crescendo) gradually louder and gradually softer sections.

Mood: cheerful,

Instruments/voices The main instruments are strings (violins, violas and cellos)

Other points: at the start there is a 'call to attention' here the composer aims to get the attention of a noisy audience before the main theme starts. Slurs were a common feature in the music where an accented note is smoothly followed by a quieter shorter sounding note.

Stamitz

Stamitz is not such a famous composer but was one of the first composers to introduce the new Classical style. He was more famous as the conductor of the then famous orchestra in Manheim, Germany. He helped to improve the standards in performance of orchestras by his example. He also encouraged composers from al over Europe who were influenced by his new composing ideas.

Symphony' in G minor by Mozart

Speed: Moderately Fast.

Dynamics: Graduated dynamics and sudden dynamics gradually louder and gradually softer sections.

Mood: jolly and cheerful

Instruments/voices Orchestra

Other points: Mozart introduced the clarinet to the orchestra. It completed the woodwind section with the main instruments (From highest to lowest) flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon.

Mozart was very good at providing very memorable tunes which have within them short memorable motifs ( about 4 -10 notes). The symphony also contains slurs and graduated dynamics. This symphony written later than the symphony by Stamiz shows the more developed Classical style with the independent woodwind section.

Mozart

Mozart is one of the most famous of composers. He was a very unusual and interesting character and a great deal has been written about him. He was very good at music from a very young age and there are many stories about his unusual talents.

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4. Romantic 1820 - 1900

Mendelssohn

Greig

Romantic music does not just refer to romance and love but to the music of the 19th century. Much of this music is dramatic and related to moods and ideas outside of music.

'Hebrides Overture' by Mendelssohn

Speed: moderate speed
Dynamics: quite loud with rushes of volume depicting waves on the sea.
Mood: Dramatic, full of suspense
Instruments: Ochestral the instruments are mainly strings and woodwind with kettle drums
Other points: When Mendelssohn visited England and queen Victoria he heard of a wild place on the coast of Scotland called Fingals Cave. It was here that the north Atlantic ocean 'roller' or large waves hit the coastline with dramatic effect. When he visited this place he was so impressed that he wrote this overture.

Mendelssohn, Felix (1809-47)
Mendelssohn was a German composer and one of the leading figures of early 19th-century European romanticism. He appeared as a pianist and conductor throughout Europe, making frequent trips to England.

'Piano Concerto in A minor' by Edvard Greig

Speed: Still at first and then more movement

Dynamics: Loud dramatic call to attention at the start followed by a quieter section.

Mood: Dramatic

Instruments: Orchestral starting with the kettle drum roll, followed by the solo piano and then the orchestra.

Other points: This is a concerto which is a composition for solo instrument and orchestra.

Romantic overtures were often composed as a battle between the soloist and the orchestra. The soloist with their extra virtuoso technique and dramatic playing usually won the battle. This like most concertos of the 19th century featured the very popular piano.

Edvard Greig

Greig was a Norwegian composer who wrote in a nationalistic style. This means that he often used elements of the folk music tradition of his country. He was able to combine the national folk music of his country with classical music

5. 20th Century 1900-2000

Gershwin

Ravel

There are many styles of music of the 20th century. Many of the composers had very individual styles. However there are some definite trends. Many of the composers were more interested in

'Porgy and Bess' Overture by George Gershwin

Speed: Fast and lively
Dynamics: dramatic dynamic contrasts
Mood: dramatic and very changeable. It moves from excited to thoughtful to romantic.
Instruments/voices great use of percussion instruments within a very large orchestra. There is an individual soprano saxophone in the third section.
Other points: The music has familiar jazz elements in the opening fanfares. There is a clear exciting mix of tones in the repeated short melodies. the next string section has a 'film music' feel to it

This music is an overture which provides the introduction to the Opera 'Porgy and Bess'. This music needs a very big orchestra and particularly a lot of percussion instruments for the performance. It contains a lot of Jazz rhythms such as syncopation. There is also a solo saxophone playing the tune to the song 'Summertime'.

Gershwin, George (1898-1937),

American composer, whose musicals and popular songs are among the finest in those genres and whose compositions in art-music forms are infused with the idioms of jazz and popular music.

'Bolero' by Ravel

Speed: the same throughout - moderate

Dynamics: Very quiet at first then

Mood: Gradually increasing in tension over 15 minutes!

Instruments: A very large orchestra is needed. It starts with very few instruments and then the orchestral colour changes and builds to the dramatic climax.

Other points: This composition has the same melodies repeated but played on different instruments for about 15 minutes. More and more instruments are added to produce a dramatic climax. A single, maddeningly unforgettable melody in C major, with a complementary refrain in a minor key, is repeated over and over without variation or ornamentation to the insistent beat of a side drum. Announced by the flute, the melody is taken up in turn by the clarinet, the bassoon, the E-flat clarinet, the oboe d’amore (a baroque ancestor of the modern instrument), a muted trumpet, the tenor and soprano saxophones, and then by various combinations of instruments as the orchestral texture becomes increasingly complex and the volume

In the summer of 1928, Ravel was approached by the celebrated dancer Ida Rubinstein to produce a ballet on a Spanish subject. The original plan called for Ravel to orchestrate several excepts from Iberia, the colourful piano suite by Isaac Albéniz. This music became 'Bolero'.

Ravel, Maurice Joseph (1875-1937),

French composer, highly influential in 20th-century music His vivid, transparent orchestral colours rank him as one of the modern masters of writing for orchestra. This can be clearly heard in the Bolero.