Instructor: Ken Hoffman - khoff999@yahoo.com
Western Classical Music Appreciation / Music History
We will go through the history of classical music chronologically, starting with the Medieval era,
going to the mid-20th century. Hundreds of great musical works will be explained as well as the
lives of the composers who wrote them. We will discuss the music in both the context of the other
arts of the era, as well as historical events that influenced the arts; politics, wars, religion, science
and technology, the rise of the middle class, the Enlightenment, etc. We will mostly cover
instrumental music. There will be some vocal music, but very little opera.
We will watch concert videos of world renowned musicians playing the music. Once we get to
lives of the composers who wrote them. We will discuss the music in both the context of the other
arts of the era, as well as historical events that influenced the arts; politics, wars, religion, science
and technology, the rise of the middle class, the Enlightenment, etc. We will mostly cover
instrumental music. There will be some vocal music, but very little opera.
We will watch concert videos of world renowned musicians playing the music. Once we get to
J.S. Bach about eight weeks from now, most composers will be covered over multiple sessions.
You (the class) will have some input into what we cover and for how long we address the topic.
What This Program Covers:
We will learn about many different genres of instrumental music, including symphonies,
symphonic poems, concertos, chamber music, piano sonatas, etc.
We will learn about many different genres of vocal music like masses, oratorios, cantatas, and more
We will discuss many formats of music like canons, fugues, passacaglias, variations, minuets,
scherzos, rondos...
We will learn some basics of music theory (very lightly)
Tentative Schedule for the rest of 2022.
How This Program Works:
Email me anytime about any questions or suggestions for the program.
We will be taking about 10 weeks off during the year for holidays.
Classes are 90 minutes to 1 3/4 hours long. Take a break anytime. Please bring something
1400 - 1600 - Renaissance - Focus on the clarity of words, beginnings of instrumental music. Scales
1750 - 1820 - Classical (in music - its Neoclassical in visual arts, architecture, and literature)
The Enlightenment, the Symphony, the Piano, Haydn, Mozart, Boccherini, Clementi
1800 - 1830 - Transition from the Classical Era to the Romantic Era - Beethoven!!! & Schubert
Until Beethoven's day, composers were considered to be more craftsmen than artists. They expected
their music to be forgotten after their death and most of it was (even Bach's). Beethoven may have been
the first composer to consider himself an artist and he expected his fame would last long after he died.
Because there was no recorded music until about the turn of the 20th century, in Beethoven's era it
was very unusual for the average person to hear a famous symphony like one of his, more than twice in
his lifetime. This gradually changed during the 19th century because of greatly increasing numbers of
concerts.
You (the class) will have some input into what we cover and for how long we address the topic.
What This Program Covers:
We will learn about many different genres of instrumental music, including symphonies,
symphonic poems, concertos, chamber music, piano sonatas, etc.
We will learn about many different genres of vocal music like masses, oratorios, cantatas, and more
We will discuss many formats of music like canons, fugues, passacaglias, variations, minuets,
scherzos, rondos...
We will learn some basics of music theory (very lightly)
Tentative Schedule for the rest of 2022.
How This Program Works:
Email me anytime about any questions or suggestions for the program.
We will be taking about 10 weeks off during the year for holidays.
Classes are 90 minutes to 1 3/4 hours long. Take a break anytime. Please bring something
to drink if you like.
Be mindful of making noise while the music is playing ... Eat things you can open and eat quietly.
Be mindful of making noise while the music is playing ... Eat things you can open and eat quietly.
Please quiet your cellphone.
Ask questions whenever you like. We will have class discussions if you like.
All of the screens you will see in class are from websites, so you can look at them at home
if you want. (see the course handout for URLs)
All eras of music are transitioned into and overlap with the era that immediately follows it.
c. 500 - 400 B.C.E. - Ancient / Classical Antiquity - Pythagoras discovers the mathematical relationship
Ask questions whenever you like. We will have class discussions if you like.
All of the screens you will see in class are from websites, so you can look at them at home
if you want. (see the course handout for URLs)
The Eras of Western Classical Music
All eras of music are transitioned into and overlap with the era that immediately follows it.
c. 500 - 400 B.C.E. - Ancient / Classical Antiquity - Pythagoras discovers the mathematical relationship
between notes and devises the 7 note scale.
c. 400 - 1400 - Medieval (or the "Middle Ages") - The development of harmony, polyphony, musical
c. 400 - 1400 - Medieval (or the "Middle Ages") - The development of harmony, polyphony, musical
notation, and the Mass. Scales have only 7 notes. Only the 4th and 5th harmonies are used.
1400 - 1600 - Renaissance - Focus on the clarity of words, beginnings of instrumental music. Scales
now have 12 notes. The 3rd becomes an important harmony, and that leads to the triad 1-3-5,
the modern idea of a chord.
1550 - 1630 - Transition from Renaissance to Baroque Music
1600 - 1750 - Baroque - Opera, Orchestra Music, Modern Scales, Keys & Chords
Monteverdi, Lully, Purcell, Corelli, Vivaldi, Couperin, Rameau,
1550 - 1630 - Transition from Renaissance to Baroque Music
1600 - 1750 - Baroque - Opera, Orchestra Music, Modern Scales, Keys & Chords
Monteverdi, Lully, Purcell, Corelli, Vivaldi, Couperin, Rameau,
D. Scarlatti, Telemann, Zelenka, Handel, and 3 weeks for J.S. Bach
1730 - 1760 - Transition from Baroque to Classical Era
C.P.E. Bach, J.C. Bach, Sammartini, J. Stamitz, Richter
1750 - 1820 - Classical (in music - its Neoclassical in visual arts, architecture, and literature)
The Enlightenment, the Symphony, the Piano, Haydn, Mozart, Boccherini, Clementi
1800 - 1830 - Transition from the Classical Era to the Romantic Era - Beethoven!!! & Schubert
Berlioz, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Mendelssohn
Brahms, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Bruckner, Frank, Dvorak, Mahler, Rachmaninoff,
Sibelius, Saint-Saëns, Albéniz, Granados ...
1910 to now - Contemporary (or 20th & 21st Century Music) Atonality, Electronic Music
Stravinsky, Strauss, Bartok, Gershwin, Scriabin, Albeniz, Prokofiev, Debussy,
Some Big Picture Music History Facts:
From the beginnings of classical music in the Early Medieval era to the Late Renaissance (c. 1530),
composers of serious music composed only vocal music (which may or may not have had instrumental
accompaniment). It wasn't until then that composers started composing serious instrumental music
(and it was then that the modern violin emerged). There were no orchestras until the 17th century.
Most composers were either employees of aristocrats or the Church until c.1775-80 (Handel was the
most notable exception). So most average people could only hear classical music in churches. Classical
music began to become public for average people (but not peasants) when the first public opera houses
were opened starting in 1637. It wasn't until the mid 1700s that the middle class began getting oppor-
tunities to go to instrumental concerts. It wasn't until then that instrumental music began to equal opera
in popularity. Sometime in the early Romantic Era (1830 - 1860) that instrumental concerts became more
1910 to now - Contemporary (or 20th & 21st Century Music) Atonality, Electronic Music
Stravinsky, Strauss, Bartok, Gershwin, Scriabin, Albeniz, Prokofiev, Debussy,
Ravel, Shostakovich, Schoenberg, Webern, Stockhausen ...
Some Big Picture Music History Facts:
From the beginnings of classical music in the Early Medieval era to the Late Renaissance (c. 1530),
composers of serious music composed only vocal music (which may or may not have had instrumental
accompaniment). It wasn't until then that composers started composing serious instrumental music
(and it was then that the modern violin emerged). There were no orchestras until the 17th century.
Most composers were either employees of aristocrats or the Church until c.1775-80 (Handel was the
most notable exception). So most average people could only hear classical music in churches. Classical
music began to become public for average people (but not peasants) when the first public opera houses
were opened starting in 1637. It wasn't until the mid 1700s that the middle class began getting oppor-
tunities to go to instrumental concerts. It wasn't until then that instrumental music began to equal opera
in popularity. Sometime in the early Romantic Era (1830 - 1860) that instrumental concerts became more
popular than opera.
Until Beethoven's day, composers were considered to be more craftsmen than artists. They expected
their music to be forgotten after their death and most of it was (even Bach's). Beethoven may have been
the first composer to consider himself an artist and he expected his fame would last long after he died.
Because there was no recorded music until about the turn of the 20th century, in Beethoven's era it
was very unusual for the average person to hear a famous symphony like one of his, more than twice in
his lifetime. This gradually changed during the 19th century because of greatly increasing numbers of
concerts.
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