The Classical Era Timeline Lecture Notes

1. The Classical Era 
1. Dates
1. Transition from the Baroque 1730-1760
2. Official Dates 1750-1820
3. Ends with death of Beethoven
2. Name
1. Comes from the revival of interest in Greek architecture and aesthetics.
2. Natural philosophy
3. A simplification and clarification of Greek influences on music
2. What is going on in the World?
1. 18th Century is known as the Age of Enlightenment,
1. Advances in philosophy and the natural sciences
2. Age of Revolutions
1. American Revolution
2. French Revolution
1. Reign of Terror
3. Industrial Revolution
3. Age of Empires
1. Nation states are expanding their powers abroad in an effort to combat the tides of revolution
2. Atlantic slave trade is in full swing, but opposition to the practice is growing
3. Britain rules India for more than 100 years
4. Napoleon crowns himself Emperor of France in 1804 
3. Developments in Music
1. Style
1. Sonata Allegro Form
1. Taking the wild fancy tendencies of the Baroque and tightening them into a very strict box
2. Stille Galant
1. Meaning lighter style.
2. Corresponds with rococo in art
3. The Symphony
1. enabled by the expansion and growth of the orchestra
4. The supreme musical form for orchestra
2. The pianoforte by Bartolomeo Christifori
1. The first keyboard instrument to use hammers to strike a string.
2. Pedals came later

Baroque Characteristics Notes

Composing a song is like cooking a recipe.

1. Form (what are we going to make?)
1. Vocal
1. Operas
1. Big story, big voices, big orchestra, big sets, big costumes, dramatic acting
2. “Lascia Ch’io Pianga” - from Rinaldo by George Handel
3. Usually had a ballet and orchestral overture
2. Oratorios
1. Like an opera, but with a chorus instead of one or two big singers
2. Usually music based on religious stories from the bible
3. No sets, no costumes, no acting
4. Hallelujah Chorus From the Messiah by George Handel
3. Cantatas
1. Just a chorus and orchestra with one or two solos 
2. usually based on bible passages or Lutheran hymns
3. Cantata 140 “Wachet Auf” by J. S. Bach
2. Instrumental
1. Solo
1. Fugues - complicated, many voiced piece usually for organ
2. Toccatas - fast keyboard music
3. Suites - dance music
4. Sonatas - monody
2. Orchestral
1. Concertos
1. Brandenburg concerto no. 3 by J. S. Bach
2. Accompanied Operas and other vocal works
2. Themes and Contrasts (flavors)
1. Themes
1. Greek or Historical Stories
2. Idealized nature
3. Royal parties and special occasions
2. Contrasts
1. Terraced dynamics
1. play a melody once loud and then once soft
2. Rapid tempo changes
3. Rapid mood changes
3. Instruments (ingredients)
1. violin
2. harpsichord
3. Organ
4. Texture
1. monody - One melody instrument plus Basso Continuo
2. homophony - two or more parts move together to create chords
3. Basso Continuo -
1. means “continuous bass”
2. a keyboard instrument or a plucked string instrument that plays the bass line of a song

Baroque Composers Notes

Composer: Someone who writes music

Virtuoso: Someone who is brilliantly skilled on an instrument

1. Early Baroque
1. Claudio Monteverdi
1. 15 May 1567 (baptized) – 29 November 1643)
2. Italian Early Baroque
3. Family Man and Priest
1. Married the daughter of a court musician who died soon after the birth of their daughter
2. Two sons survived to adulthood
3. Became a priest later in life and devoted himself to music composition
4. Composer
1. 9 Books of Madrigals
1. Madrigals were polyphonic choir pieces in the old style
2. Operas
1. Fashioned the Renaissance musical dramas into the formal Baroque opera using the innovations proposed by the Florentine Camerata
2. Operas were historically or mythologically based
3. L’Orfeo
1. Play “Tu se morta”
4. The Coronation of Poppea
2. Middle Baroque
1. Jean-Baptiste Lully
1. born Giovanni Battista Lulli; 28 November 1632 – 22 March 1687)
2. Italian-born French Baroque
3. Early Life
1. born in a small Italian town to a poor family
2. The only education he had was from a Franciscan friar
3. learned music and dancing by performing on the street as a harlequin (juggler/ musician)
4. Taken to Paris by a nobleman who wanted a companion for his Italian niece
5. Fell in with the future Louis XIV when both of them danced in the court ballet, where Lully also composed dance music
6. When Louis ascended the throne he named Lully the official court composer
4. Composer
1. Because the French loved their ballet and their super fancy operas, Lully composed mostly dance suites and operas
2. play Overture to Armide
3. High Baroque
1. Antonio Vivaldi
1. 4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741
2. Venetian Baroque
3. Priest
1. Due to an earthquake that shook Venice the day he was born, he was baptized immediately by the midwife and dedicated to the religious life by his mother
2. Due to severe asthma, Vivaldi could not say the Mass and was dispensed from his religious duties
3. He was nicknamed “the red priest” due to his flaming red hair
4. Composer
1. More than 40 operas
2. Innumerable concertos
3. Best known for: The 4 Seasons
1. Play “Spring” from The Four Seasons
5. Teacher
1. Hired to teach at Ospedale della Pietà, which was an orphanage for abandoned girls which gave the girls a formal education in music and a dowry for marriage.
2. Most of his concertos were performed by the girls he taught
6. Violin Virtuoso
1. Child prodigy
2. Most of his instrumental compositions feature a solo violin backed by a string orchestra.
2. Georg Friderich Handel
1. 23 February 1685 – 14 March 1759
2. German-Born British Baroque
3. Early Life
1. Father was a successful surgeon who wanted Handel to study Law and forbade him to study music
2. Handel’s mother snuck a harpsichord into the attic for him to play
3. The duke of Halle stepped in and “encouraged” Handel’s musical education
4. England
1. While employed in Germany, Handel took a trip to London and loved it so much that he decided to stay
2. Started 3 opera companies in London, but the flavors of the day were turning, so he switched to oratorios instead
3. Philanthropist who founded orphanages for abandoned babies and he organized concerts for sick patients at hospitals
5. Composer
1. Composed oratorios for the public which were immensely successful
1. play the Hallelujah chorus
2. Composed music for court functions such as Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks, and music for corronations
6. Death
1. Died unmarried with no children but a very wealthy man
3. Johann Sebastian Bach
1. (31 March 1685 – 28 July 1750
2. German Baroque
3. Early Life
1. Born in Eisenach, a small German town
2. Entire family of musicians
3. Orphaned at 10
4. Lived with his older, married brother who was an organist of a small town
5. Received a thorough classical education at a gymnasium
6. Got a musical scholarship study at St. Michael’s music school at 15
7. Studied with Reineke and Buxtehude
4. Virtuoso Keyboardist
1. Could outplay anyone who dared challenge him on the clavichord or the harpsichord
2. Considered the most proficient organist of his day
1. play the Tocatta and Fugue in D minor
5. Composer
1. Sacred Works
1. Organ works as preludes to Lutheran services usually based on Lutheran hymns
2. more than 300 religious cantatas based on bible passages for the Lutheran reading of the day
3. Mass in B minor
2. Secular Works
1. Worked for a Calvinist prince who was a violin player
2. Orchestral suites and Cello suites
1. play Cello suite no. 1
3. Sonatas for solo violin
4. Brandenburg Concertos
5. Secular Cantatas
6. Devout Lutheran
1. Worked for 27 years at the St. Thomas Church
2. Dedicated each one of his pieces “to the Glory of God”
7. Family Man
1. Married twice
2. Composed music for his family to play at home together compiled in the Anna Magdelene Notebook
3. play the minuet in G
4. Had 20 children, only 9 survived to adulthood

Welcome!

Welcome to 6th grade music!
Are you ready for an exciting new year of discovery and adventure?

In 4th grade music class this year we will be learning many new things about music, building off of everything we learned in 5th grade last year. We will learn how to read music by understanding notes, rests, musical punctuation, and the solfege scale.  We will learn to recognize the instruments of the orchestra by sight and by sound. We will follow the progression of Western music from the Baroque to the early Romantic periods and discover great composers and their masterpieces. We will study the voice and how to use it as an instrument to make music alone and with others. We will also have the opportunity to perform in concert with the 4th and 7th graders at the end of the semester. This blog will help keep you updated on what we are learning in music class and will have some materials to help reinforce what we have learned.

Musical Movies List

In class we have the opportunity to listen to great works of the classical tradition. Several of these great works have been set to animation and/or captured on video. I would like to show our students these video recordings in an effort to enrich their experience and understanding of those great works. The works that we will be viewing in class are as follows.

• "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" by J.S. Bach from Disney's Fantasia
• "Pastoral Symphony" by Ludwig von Beethoven from Disney's Fantasia
• “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” by Paul Dukas from Disney’s Fantasia
• “Carnival of the Animals” by Camille Saint-Saens from Disney’s Fantasia 2000
• “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin from Disney’s Fantasia 2000
• “Peter and the Wolf” by Sergei Prokofiev from Disney’s Make Mine Music
• The Magic Flute an opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, selections
• The Marriage of Figaro an opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, selections
• Hansel und Gretel an opera by Engelbert Humperdinck
• The Nutcracker a ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and choreographed by George Balanchine
• Swan Lake a ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

I will send home a permission slip for all of the students that I would like signed before I show them these works. If you have an objection to any of the works, please let me know so that I may exempt them from watching that selection