Basics - Genres - Classical 1

Hi everyone! Will be covering Classical in 4 periods... Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Contemporary. So it'll be with each post.

I know I haven't been updating much... Sadly school is a very taxing process and getting out there is even more difficult. Haha.

Anyway so to start everything, I'd like to show you THE composer, the one who started our whole knowledge of the Western Music Theory; the one who wrote the "Well-Tempered Clavier" and started the equal temperament which became a standard for most of music for a long time.

Bach



One of the most famous pieces of all time. In my opinion, as any kind of musician, if you cannot appreciate Bach's grandiosity in the sphere in music, you're probably better off not playing. Why? He was pivotal in the development of music as we now know it. Almost everyone has been inspired from him...

Great examples in jazz are people like Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, who got a large part of their early sound in bebop through going through Bach Preludes and Fugues. He had a super advanced way of thinking about music, beyond even classical and romantic theory in large parts. The concept of time being involved with harmony was unthinkable for most even after him, but he did things instinctively, creating music and writing it so organically.

Another part of his brilliance is the amazing ability to create great 2-4 part melodies and lines which give such amazing texture to any music that he creates. Listen to this piece, there are so many counter melodies and ideas running through, it's almost like a full 4 piece band running through different lines or an orchestra going through different lines. Of course there were plenty of people after him who could create such music but he was an unstoppable force in terms of influence.

There is another thing to note about Baroque period. Right now, because the scores are virtually empty rather than the notes and some important notations left by the composer due to the fact that the printing press was still primitive and making of the scores was through carving of a mould which was very difficult if you had so many markings and notes. So a lot of ornamentation and details were left out and left to the discretion of the musician.

Vivaldi



Interesting rendition of the piece. I don't know if I completely agree with some parts of the piece with all the phrasing short. But that's me. Great technique, horrible video and I do like her overall idea of the piece.

There's this edgy feel to this music. Vivaldi probably never really intended this, but this is where classical music goes into an area of "craft-based" thing. Vivaldi wasn't a great arranger, if you notice the lines are pretty much simple. The good part about all of this is that Vivaldi has composed a no of pieces where the violin really stood out. And therefore it always being utilised.

His is the Russian Baroque sound. A bit stiffer, a lot more notes and a lot more bombastic in my opinion. Not that it's any worse than other Baroque music. I think that it's definitely one of those more easily palatable music that wows people without any musical knowledge, while still keeping the art form alive.

Handel

A lot of Baroque music is still used nowadays in Catholic churches and some Christian churches due to the fact that many hymns came from Baroque and Renaissance, but since Renaissance did not have much notated music (mostly aural), most of the music retained were mainly adapted from the Baroque period.

Handel was one of those great composers who composed brilliant tunes, for many purposes, including his beliefs. The Messiah is one of his most famous pieces, and is probably one of the most overplayed classical piece over Canon in D. Here's Hallelujah



Grand music. Not like the Russian sound, but more on harmony and inter-weaving lines. This version is also well-known to be "romanticised" meaning made to be less "staunch" and more towards a modern sound in many sense. This is what's commonly done to much Baroque music because of the nature of the lack of obvious notation of "emotions" by the Baroque composers.

Henry Purcell



Here's the jazz/classical snob himself - Wynton Marsalis. This is a recording trying to stay true to the original sound of the Baroque music. Almost completely emotionless and staunch. This is one of the beauties of the music actually - most of Baroque music was meant for Church or dancing. These were the two large functions of music in the past (still used in those areas obviously). Other than that were enjoyment for the royalty obviously but that's also rare.

Henry Purcell to me was a great melodist and had quite good arrangements... Do check out more of his music if you're interested. =)

Pachelbel

The man himself...

I'll take this opportunity to introduce to you the original Baroque instruments.



All Baroque instruments here. It's quite amazing because most people don't dare to use such instruments because it is rather different from the modern instruments. And such it's easy to mix up the two unless you dedicate yourself to the Baroque instruments like these people did.

YouTube any other Canon in D to compare. It's actually a great piece illustrating the methods of composition in Baroque. Canon itself means people taking turns one after another to play the same line/melody. This is really brought forth by this piece and is one of the more accessible tunes till this date.

Imagine if Pachelbel got royalty for every time this piece is played in this day and age. He'd probably be super wealthy. Too bad that by the time this piece is popularised, he is long gone. Haha

That's the nature of classical music mostly anyway.

Next up will be the Classical era. Hope you enjoyed this post! =D