Page 16 - (DK) The Classical Music Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained

14 INTRODUCTION

vital part of human culture, disregard for Classical conventions, The first of these was the Church.
at least since Neolithic just as Igor Stravinsky’s Le Sacre Western classical music originated
A times, music has been du printemps (Rite of Spring) in a Europe dominated by the
a feature of every civilization, astounded those who attended Church. In addition to wielding
as cave paintings, frescoes, and its Paris premiere a century later. considerable political power, the
archaeology show. What is loosely Such leaps have defined the clergy provided the only source
referred to as “classical music” is main periods of classical music— of learning in society. For the
the music of Western civilization Early Music, Renaissance, Baroque, educated, music was part of an
as it evolved from medieval times Classical, Romantic, Nationalist, act of worship, not entertainment.
to the present day. In its broadest Modern, and Contemporary— It was sung by monks without
sense, it covers a wide spectrum though these are broad distinctions, instrumental accompaniment.
of music and not just the orchestral with different styles within each
or piano music that some people one, and the dividing lines are The “New Art”
imagine. This book explores how not clear-cut. For hundreds of years, the Church
classical music developed as an resisted any change to the simple
essential part of European culture The role of the Church chanting of sacred texts, the rise
and then spread across the world, Like other art forms, music has and fall of which was represented
delighting, surprising, and sometimes been shaped by external influences on manuscripts by “neumes”
perplexing audiences as it evolved as well as by brilliant individuals. (inflective marks). Eventually,
through the centuries. however, new ideas found their
way in. With the invention of
Bold leaps a system of notation by Guido
The development of a musical d’Arezzo, a monk in 11th-century
tradition, from medieval church Italy, choristers began to sing
music and courtly trobadors to simple harmonies to the tunes.
the avant-garde music of the Music is the social act They later embellished them with
21st century, was often incremental, of communication other melodies, creating polyphony,
but it has also been punctuated among people, a gesture a new sound that, in the 14th
by exciting innovations. The of friendship, the century, was hailed as the Ars
first operas, staged at the end of strongest there is. nova, the “New Art.” Composers
the 16th century, for example, Malcolm Arnold soon introduced other innovations,
revolutionized sacred as well as such as an organ accompaniment.
secular music, while Beethoven’s The Church began to lose its
“Eroica” Symphony shocked early control over music, and culture
19th-century audiences with its in general, a process helped along
groundbreaking structure and by the birth of a new cultural

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