Page 18 - (DK) The Classical Music Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained

16 INTRODUCTION

Romanticism was essentially rock music, whose rhythmic pitch of an individual note, how
a Germanic movement, yet its beats had instant appeal, causing high or low the sound is, especially
emphasis on the individual audiences to turn away from the in relation to others, is represented
provoked a wave of nationalist unfamiliar sounds of new classical by a letter (A, B, C, and so forth),
composers who wanted to music, and even classical music sometimes modified by “accidentals”
distance themselves from Austro- in general. Nonetheless, popular (sharp or flat) that raise or lower the
German dominance of the musical music also influenced and inspired note by a half step. For much of the
ancien régime and champion classical composers, producing history of classical music, melodies
the music of individual nations. a cross-fertilization of ideas that (patterns of notes) were composed
Russian and Czech composers brought new life to classical forms, using the notes of the major and
began to integrate elements of folk as did the harnessing of modern minor scales, or keys, which help
music and themes into their work, technology. Composers such as to determine the mood of a piece
a trend later explored by composers Karlheinz Stockhausen exploited of music. The key also governs
in other parts of Europe. the potential of the electronic the harmony, when two or more
By the end of the 19th century, studio and the huge advances notes are played at the same time.
the excesses of German Romanticism in recording equipment. Certain combinations of notes—
also precipitated a breakdown of Today, some composers, more chords—are consonant, or
the very foundations of Western conscious of public tastes, are harmonious, and others more
music—a structure based on the writing in a more accessible style dissonant, harsher; major chords
harmonies of the major and minor than was the case 50 years ago, but tend to sound brighter, while minor
keys. What followed was a century composers continue to experiment, chords are more mournful.
of composers seeking not just a producing music incorporating
fresh style but a completely new video, theater, and global influences.
musical language. Two of the
many strands that emerged were The elements of music
particularly influential: 12-note In order to understand the ideas
“serialism,” pioneered by Arnold and innovations described in this
Schoenberg and refined by Pierre book, it is useful to be familiar Rhythm and harmony find
Boulez, and “aleatoricism”—in with the “building blocks” of their way into the inward
which chance played a role in the Western classical music, many places of the soul.
composition or performance of music. of which were devised by medieval Plato
monks, drawing on concepts
New influences formulated by the Ancient Greeks.
These musical experiments Notes are the fundamental
coincided with the evolution of jazz material of all music, either sung
and later the explosion of pop and or played on an instrument. The

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