Everything about History Of Music totally explained
» For the academic study
of history of music, see Music history.Music is found in every known culture, past and present, varying wildly between times and places. Scientists now believe that modern humans emerged from Africa 160,000 years ago. Around 50,000 years ago these humans began to disperse from Africa reaching all the habitable continents. Since all people of the world, including the most isolated tribal groups, have a form of music, scientists conclude that music must have been present in the ancestral population prior to the dispersal of humans around the world. Consequently music must have been in existence for at least 50,000 years and the first music must have been invented in Africa and then evolved to become a fundamental constituent of human life.
A culture's music is influenced by all other aspects of that culture, including social and economic organization and experience, climate, and access to technology. The emotions and ideas that music expresses, the situations in which music is played and listened to, and the attitudes toward music players and composers all vary between regions and periods. "
Music history" is the distinct subfield of
musicology and
history which studies music (particularly
western art music) from a chronological perspective.
Music history eras
Prehistoric music
» Main article: Prehistoric music
Prehistoric music, once more commonly called primitive music, is the name given to all music produced in
preliterate cultures (
prehistory), beginning somewhere in very late
geological history.
Traditional
Native American and
Australian Aboriginal music could be called prehistoric, but the term is commonly used to refer to the music in
Europe before the development of writing there. It is more common to call the "prehistoric" music of non-European continents – especially that which still survives –
folk, indigenous, or traditional music.
Ancient music
» Main article: Ancient music
The prehistoric era is considered to have ended with the development of writing, and with it, by definition, prehistoric music. "Ancient music" is the name given to the music that followed.
The "oldest known song" was written in cuneiform, dating to 4,000 years ago from Ur. It was deciphered by Prof. Anne Draffkorn Kilmer (University of Calif. at Berkeley), and was demonstrated to be composed in harmonies of thirds, like ancient
gymel (Kilmer, Crocker, Brown,
Sounds from Silence, 1976, Bit Enki, Berkeley, Calif., LCC 76-16729), and also was written using a
Pythagorean tuning of the
diatonic scale.
Double pipes, such as used by the ancient Greeks, and ancient bagpipes, as well as a review of ancient drawings on vases and walls, etc., and ancient writings (such as in Aristotle,
Problems, Book XIX.12) which described musical techniques of the time, indicate polyphony.
One pipe in the aulos pairs (double flutes) likely served as a
drone or "keynote," while the other played melodic passages.
Instruments, such as the seven holed flute and various types of stringed instruments have been recovered from the
Indus valley civilization archaeological sites.
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Indian classical music (
marga) can be found from the scriptures of the
Hindu tradition, the
Vedas.
Samaveda, one of the four vedas describes music at length.
The history of musical development in Iran [Persia]
Persian music, dates back to the prehistoric era. The great legendary king, Jamshid, is credited with the Invention of music. Music in Iran can be traced back to the days of the
Elamite Empire(2,500-644 B.C).Fragmentary documents from various periods of the country's history establish that the ancient Persians possessed an elaborate musical culture. The
Sassanian period (A.D. 226-651), in particular, has left us ample evidence pointing to the existence of a lively musical life in Persia. The names of some important musicians such as Barbod, Nakissa and Ramtin, and titles of some of their works have survived.
The term
Early music era may also refer to contemporary but traditional or folk music, including
Asian music,
Persian music,
music of India,
Jewish music,
Greek music,
Roman music, the
music of Mesopotamia, the
music of Egypt, and
Muslim music.
Early music
» Main article: Early music.
Early music is a general term used to describe music in the European classical tradition from after the fall of the
Roman Empire, in
476 CE, until the end of the
Baroque era in the middle of the
18th century. Music within this enormous span of time was extremely diverse, encompassing multiple cultural traditions within a wide geographic area; many of the cultural groups out of which medieval Europe developed already had musical traditions, about which little is known. What unified these cultures in the Middle Ages was the
Roman Catholic Church, and its music served as the focal point for musical development for the first thousand years of this period. Very little non-Christian music from this period survived, due to its suppression by the Church and the absence of music notation; however, folk music of modern Europe probably has roots at least as far back as the Middle Ages.
Western Art Music
Medieval music
While musical life was undoubtedly rich in the early
Medieval era, as attested by artistic depictions of instruments, writings about music, and other records, the only repertory of music which has survived from before 800 to the present day is the
plainsong liturgical music of the
Roman Catholic Church, the largest part of which is called
Gregorian chant.
Pope Gregory I, who gave his name to the musical repertory and may himself have been a composer, is usually claimed to be the originator of the musical portion of the liturgy in its present form, though the sources giving details on his contribution, date from more than a hundred years after his death. Many scholars believe that his reputation has been exaggerated by legend. Most of the chant repertory was composed anonymously in the centuries between the time of Gregory and
Charlemagne.
During the
9th century several important developments took place. First, there was a major effort by the Church to unify the many chant traditions, and suppress many of them in favor of the Gregorian liturgy. Second, the earliest
polyphonic music was sung, a form of parallel singing known as
organum. Third, and of greatest significance for music history,
notation was reinvented after a lapse of about five hundred years, though it would be several more centuries before a system of pitch and rhythm notation evolved having the precision and flexibility that modern musicians take for granted.
Several schools of polyphony flourished in the period after
1100: the
St. Martial school of organum, the music of which was often characterized by a swiftly moving part over a single sustained line; the
Notre Dame school of polyphony, which included the composers
Léonin and
Pérotin, and which produced the first music for more than two parts around
1200; the musical melting-pot of
Santiago de Compostela in
Galicia, a pilgrimage destination and site where musicians from many traditions came together in the late Middle Ages, the music of whom survives in the
Codex Calixtinus; and the English school, the music of which survives in the
Worchester Fragments and the
Old Hall Manuscript. Alongside these schools of sacred music a vibrant tradition of secular song developed, as exemplified in the music of the
troubadours,
trouvères and
Minnesänger. Much of the later secular music of the early
Renaissance evolved from the forms, ideas, and the musical aesthetic of the troubadours, courtly poets and itinerant musicians, whose culture was largely exterminated during the
Albigensian Crusade in the early
13th century.
Forms of sacred music which developed during the late 13th century included the
motet,
conductus,
discant, and
clausulae. One unusual development was the
Geisslerlieder, the music of wandering bands of
flagellants during two periods: the middle of the 13th century (until they were suppressed by the Church); and the period during and immediately following the
Black Death, around
1350, when their activities were vividly recorded and well-documented with notated music. Their music mixed folk song styles with penitential or apocalyptic texts.
The
14th century in European music history is dominated by the style of the
ars nova, which by convention is grouped with the medieval era in music, even though it had much in common with early Renaissance ideals and
aesthetics. Much of the surviving music of the time is secular, and tends to use the
formes fixes: the
ballade, the
virelai, the
lai, the
rondeau, which correspond to poetic forms of the same names. Most pieces in these forms are for one to three voices, likely with instrumental accompaniment: famous composers include
Guillaume de Machaut and
Francesco Landini.
Renaissance music
» Main article: Renaissance music.
The beginning of the Renaissance in music isn't as clearly marked as the beginning of the Renaissance in the other arts, and unlike the Renaissance in the other arts, it didn't begin in
Italy, but in northern Europe, specifically in the area currently comprising central and northern
France, the
Netherlands, and
Belgium. The style of the
Burgundian composers, as the first generation of the
Franco-Flemish school is known, was at first a reaction against the excessive complexity and mannered style of the late
14th century ars subtilior, and contained clear, singable melody and balanced
polyphony in all voices. The most famous composers of the Burgundian school in the mid-
15th century are
Guillaume Dufay,
Gilles Binchois, and
Antoine Busnois.
By the middle of the
15th century, composers and singers from the
Low Countries and adjacent areas began to overspread Europe, moving especially into Italy where they were employed by the papal chapel and the aristocratic patrons of the arts, such as the
Medici, the
Este family in Ferrara, and the
Sforza family in
Milan. They carried their style with them: smooth polyphony which could be adapted for sacred or secular use as appropriate. Principal forms of sacred musical composition at the time were the
mass, the
motet, and the
laude; secular forms included the
chanson, the
frottola, and later the
madrigal.
The invention of
printing had an immense influence on the dissemination of musical styles, and along with the movement of the Franco-Flemish musicians throughout Europe, contributed to the establishment of the first truly international style in European music since the unification of Gregorian chant under Charlemagne seven hundred years before.
Composers of the middle generation of the Franco-Flemish school included
Johannes Ockeghem, who wrote music in a contrapuntally complex style, with varied texture and an elaborate use of
canonical devices;
Jacob Obrecht, one of the most famous composers of masses in the last decades of the 15th century; and
Josquin Desprez, probably the most famous composer in Europe before
Palestrina, and who during the
16th century was renowned as one of the greatest artists in any form.
Music in the generation after Josquin explored increasing complexity of
counterpoint; possibly the most extreme expression of this tendency is in the music of
Nicolas Gombert, whose contrapuntal complexities influenced early instrumental music, such as the
canzona and the
ricercar, ultimately culminating in
Baroque fugal forms.
By the middle of the
16th century, the international style began to break down, and several highly diverse stylistic trends became evident: a trend towards simplicity in sacred music, as directed by the
Counter-Reformation Council of Trent, and as exemplified in the austere perfection of the music of
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina; a trend towards complexity and
chromaticism in the madrigal, which reached its extreme expression in the
avant-garde style of the
Ferrara School of
Luzzaschi, and the late century madrigalist
Carlo Gesualdo; and the grandiose, sonorous music of the
Venetian school, which took advantage of the architecture of the Basilica
San Marco di Venezia to create a music of
antiphonal contrasts. The music of the Venetian school can be seen on the cusp of the Renaissance and the Baroque eras, and included the development of
orchestration, ornamented instrumental parts, and
continuo bass parts, all of which occurred within a span of several decades around
1600. Famous composers in
Venice included the Gabrielis,
Andrea and
Giovanni, as well as
Claudio Monteverdi, one of the most significant innovators at the end of the era.
Most parts of Europe had active, and well-differentiated, musical traditions by late in the century. In England, composers such as
Thomas Tallis and
William Byrd wrote sacred music in a style similar to that written on the continent, while an active group of home-grown madrigalists adapted the Italian form for English tastes: famous composers included
Thomas Morley,
John Wilbye and
Thomas Weelkes.
Spain developed instrumental and vocal styles of its own, with
Tomás Luis de Victoria writing refined music similar to that of Palestrina, and numerous other composers writing for a new instrument called the
guitar. Germany cultivated polyphonic forms built on the
Protestant chorales, which replaced the Roman Catholic Gregorian Chant as a basis for sacred music, and imported wholesale the style of the Venetian school (the appearance of which defined the start of the Baroque era there). In addition, German composers wrote enormous amounts of
organ music, establishing the basis for the later spectacular flowering of the Baroque organ style which culminated in the work of
J.S. Bach. France developed a unique style of musical diction known as
musique mesurée, used in secular chansons, with composers such as
Guillaume Costeley and
Claude Le Jeune prominent in the movement.
One of the most revolutionary movements in the era took place in Florence in the
1570s and
1580s, with the work of the
Florentine Camerata, who ironically had a reactionary intent: dissatisfied with what they saw as contemporary musical depravities, their goal was to restore the music of the ancient Greeks. Chief among them were
Vincenzo Galilei, the father of the astronomer, and
Giulio Caccini. The fruits of their labors was a declamatory melodic singing style known as
monody, and a corresponding dramatic form consisting of staged, acted monody: a form known today as
opera. The first operas, written around 1600, also define the end of the Renaissance and the beginning of the Baroque eras.
Music prior to 1600 was
modal rather than
tonal. Several theoretical developments late in the 16th century, such as the writings on scales on
modes by
Gioseffo Zarlino and
Franchinus Gaffurius, led directly to the development of common practice tonality. The major and minor scales began to predominate over the old church modes, a feature which was at first most obvious at cadential points in compositions, but gradually became pervasive. Music after 1600, beginning with the tonal music of the Baroque era, is often referred to as belonging to the
common practice period.
Baroque music
» Main article: Baroque music.
Instrumental music became dominant in the Baroque, and most major music forms were defined.
Counterpoint was one of the major forces in both the instrumental and the vocal music of the period. Although a strong religious musical tradition continued, secular music came to the fore with the development of the
sonata, the
concerto, and the
concerto grosso.
Much Baroque music was designed for
improvisation, with a
figured bass provided by the composer for the performer to flesh out and ornament. The keyboard, particularly the
harpsichord, was a dominant instrument, and the beginnings of
well temperament opened up the possibilities of playing in all keys and of
modulation. Much Baroque music featured a
basso continuo consisting of a keyboard, either harpsichord or organ (sometimes a
lute instead), and a bass instrument, such as a
viola da gamba or
bassoon. The three outstanding composers of the period were
Johann Sebastian Bach,
George Frideric Handel, and
Antonio Vivaldi, but a host of other composers, some with huge output, were active in the period.
Classical music era
» Main article: Classical period (music).
The music of the Classical period is characterized by
homophonic texture, or an obvious
melody with
accompaniment. These new melodies tended to be almost voice-like and singable, allowing composers at the time to actually replace singer(s) as the focus of the music. Instrumental music therefore quickly replaced
opera and other sung forms (such as
oratorio) as the favorite of the musical audience and the epitome of great composition. This isn't to say that
opera disappeared. Indeed, during the classical period, several composers began producing operas for the general public, in their native languages (previous operas were generally in Italian).
Along with the gradual displacement of the voice in favor of stronger, clearer melodies, counterpoint also typically became a decorative flourish, often used near the end of a work or for a single
movement. In its stead, simple patterns, such as arpeggios and, in piano music,
Alberti bass (an accompaniment with a repeated pattern typically in the left hand) were used to liven the movement of the piece without creating a confusing additional voice. The now popular instrumental music was dominated by several well-defined forms: the
sonata, the
symphony, and the
concerto, though none of these forms were specifically defined or taught at the time as they're now in the field of
music theory. All three derive from
sonata form, which is used to refer both to the overlying form of an entire work and the structure of a single movement. Sonata form matured during the Classical era to become the primary form of instrumental compositions throughout the
19th century.
The early Classical period was ushered in by the
Mannheim School, which included such composers as
Johann Stamitz,
Franz Xaver Richter,
Carl Stamitz, and
Christian Cannabich. It exerted a profound influence on
Joseph Haydn and, through him, on all subsequent European music.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the central figure of the Classical period, and his phenomenal and varied output in all genres defines our perception of the period.
Ludwig van Beethoven and
Franz Schubert were transitional composers, leading into the Romantic period, with their expansion of existing genres, forms, and even functions of music.
Romantic music
» Main article: Romantic music.
In the Romantic period, music became more expressive and emotional, expanding to encompass literature, art, and philosophy. Famous early Romantic composers include
Schumann,
Chopin,
Mendelssohn,
Bellini, and
Berlioz.
The late 19th century saw a dramatic expansion in the size of the
orchestra, and in the role of concerts as part of
urban society. Famous composers from the second half of the century include
Johann Strauss II,
Brahms,
Liszt,
Tchaikovsky,
Verdi, and
Wagner.
Between 1890 and 1910, a third wave of composers including
Dvořák,
Mahler,
Richard Strauss,
Puccini, and
Sibelius built on the work of middle Romantic composers to create even more complex – and often much longer – musical works. A prominent mark of late 19th century music is its nationalistic fervor, as exemplified by such figures as Dvořák, Sibelius, and
Grieg. Other prominent late-century figures include
Saint-Saëns,
Fauré,
Rachmaninoff and
Franck.
20th century music
» Main article: 20th century music.
The 20th Century saw a revolution in music listening as the radio gained popularity worldwide and new media and technologies were developed to record, capture, reproduce and distribute music. Because music was no longer limited to concerts and clubs, it became possible for music artists to quickly gain fame nationwide and sometimes worldwide. Conversely, audiences were able to be exposed to a wider range of music than ever before. Music performances became increasingly visual with the broadcast and recording of music videos and concerts. Music of all kinds also became increasingly portable. Headphones allowed people sitting next to each other to listen to entirely different performances or share the same performance.
20th Century music brought a new freedom and wide experimentation with new musical styles and forms that challenged the accepted rules of music of earlier periods. The invention of musical
amplification and
electronic instruments, especially the
synthesizer, in the mid-20th century revolutionized popular music and accelerated the development of new forms of music.
»
Classical traditions
Classical music is a broad, somewhat imprecise term, referring to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of art, ecclesiastical and concert music. A music is classical if it includes some of the following features: a learned tradition, support from the church or government, or greater cultural capital. Classical music is also described as complex, lasting, transcendent, and abstract.
In many cultures a classical tradition coexisted with traditional or popular music, occasionally for thousands of years, and with different levels of mutual borrowing with the parallel tradition.
Europe
'Classical European music' is a somewhat broad term, referring to music produced in or rooted in the traditions of European art, ecclesiastical, and concert music, particularly between 1000 and 1900. The central norms of this tradition developed between 1550 and 1825 centering on what is known as the
common practice period.
Asia
Asian music covers the music cultures of
Arabia,
Central Asia,
East Asia,
South Asia, and
Southeast Asia.
»
India
The Indian music is one of the oldest musical traditions in the world. The
Indus Valley civilization has sculptures which show dance and old musical instruments, like the seven holed flute. Various types of stringed instruments and drums have been recovered from
Harrappa and
Mohenjo Daro by excavations carried out by Sir
Mortimer Wheeler. The
Rigveda has elements of present Indian music, with a musical notation to denote the metre and the mode of chanting. Early Indian musical tradition also speaks of three accents and vocal music known as "Samagan" (Sama meaning melody and Gan meaning to sing).
The classical music of India includes two major traditions of the southern
Carnatic music and the northern
Hindustani classical music. India's classical music tradition has a history spanning millennia and, developed over several eras, remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as sources of religious inspiration, cultural expression and pure entertainment.
Indian classical music (marga) is monophonic, and based around a single melody line or
raga rhythmically organized through
talas. Carnatic music is largely devotional; the majority of the songs are addressed to the Hindu deities. There are a lot of songs emphasising love and other social issues. In contrast to Carnatic music, Hindustani music wasn't only influenced by ancient Hindu musical traditions, Vedic philosophy and native Indian sounds but also by the Persian performance practices of the Afghan Mughals.
The origins of Indian classical music can be found from the oldest of scriptures, part of the
Hindu tradition, the
Vedas.
Samaveda, one of the four vedas describes music at length.
China
Chinese classical music is the traditional art or court music of China. It has a long history stretching for more than three thousand years. It has its own unique systems of musical notation, as well as musical tuning and pitch, musical instruments and styles or musical genres. Chinese music is pentatonic-diatonic, having a scale of twelve notes to an octave (5+7 = 12) as does European-influenced music.
Middle East
Persia
Persian music is the music of
Persia and Persian language countries:
musiqi, the science and art of music, and
muzik, the sound and performance of music (Sakata 1983). See:
Music of Iran,
Music of Afghanistan,
Music of Tajikistan,
Music of Uzbekistan.
Greece
Greek written history extends far back into
Ancient Greece, and was a major part of ancient
Greek theater. In ancient Greece, mixed-gender choruses performed for entertainment, celebration and spiritual reasons. Instruments included the double-reed
aulos and the plucked
string instrument, the
lyre, especially the special kind called a
kithara.
Music was an important part of education in ancient Greece, and boys were taught music starting at age six. Greek musical literacy created a flowering of development; Greek
music theory included the Greek
musical modes, eventually became the basis for Western
religious music and
classical music.
Later, influences from the
Roman Empire,
Eastern Europe and the
Byzantine Empire changed Greek music.
The connection of the music environment of Greece with that of the European Renaissance can be traced mainly in Crete until 1669, where its vivid urban music benefited from the creative assimilation with the venetian culture. The most important musical figure of Crete was Fragiskos Leondaritis (Francesco Leondariti or Londariti), organist and composer of sacred and secular music. Another key-figure of that era was Ieronimos o Tragodistis (Hieronymus the Chanter), a Cypriot student of Gios. Zarlino, who flourished around 1571 and, among others, proposed a system that enabled
medieval Byzantine chant to correspont to the current contrapuntal practices via the
cantus firmus paraphrase. In the
18th century art music was mainly cultivated in
Ionian Islands, where from 1733 opera became the most distinctive music genre. This dynamic had as a consequence in
19th century, composers like
Nikolaos Mantzaros (Niccolo Calichiopulo Manzaro,
1795 -
1872),
Spyridon Xyndas (
1812 -
1896), Pavlos Karrer (Paolo
Carrer,
1829-
1896) and
Spyros Samaras (
1861 -
1917) to revitalize Greek art music.
Instrumental music was also cultivated in 19th century by composers, such as Dionysios Rodotheatos from Ithaca and Dimitris Lialios from Patras, both of them adopting the -with the broader sense-wagnerian novelties in the style and aesthetics. In the first decade of
20th century, the social and historical conditions enabled the revisiting of nationalism in music by the composers of the so-called 'National School'. The prevailing current for 'national music' was that of
Manolis Kalomiris, which eventually became wider accepted compared to that of Georgios Lambelet. 'National School' succeeded in concentrating under its aesthetic 'credo' composer with different backgrounds, such as Marios Varvoglis, Petros Petrides, Dimetrios Levidis, Aimilios Riadis or Antiohos Evagellatos. On the other hand, modernism made also its appearance with Nikos
Skalkottas, a student of Arn.
Schoenberg, being the most notable (and at the same time, neglected) representative. Dimitris
Mitropoulos also contributed to the music literature of Greek
modernism before committing himself to conducting. After the Second World War
modernism began to prevail, with considerable difficulty, mainly because of the social and political conditions of the postwar period in Greece, as well as the dominance of the 'National School'. However, composers like Mihalis Adamis, Thodoros Antoniou,
Iannis Xenakis, Y.A. Papaioannou and Janni
Christou succeeded in giving new perspectives to such aesthetic ways. In the maintime, a strong current of populism related to the political conditions especially after 1949, as well as to the brief change of taste of the urban class and the initiation of the touristic enterprise in 1960s, enabled the gradual promotion of the popular song as the prevalent form, which the last decades has regretably become synonymous to 'Greek music', as a whole.
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