Baroque Music Dbq

Improved Essays
Question 3 Essay Response
Music was originally crafted for religious and sacred use. These pieces were performed in churches, and used to enhance church services. The main type of music performed during the Middle Ages was the Gregorian chant. This music was written with sacred Latin text, and sung without instrumental accompaniment. There was no set beat for these songs, and they contained a free-flowing rhythm.
This means that composers of that time worked for the churches, composing music for their services. This definitely limited how and what the composers could compose, as these pieces were sacred and considered religious.
As time went on, music slowly shifted to nobility as well. While the church still used music, music was no longer
…show more content…
This allowed multiple copies of music scores to be printed very quickly, which in turn, allowed the music to be spread out faster. This was when most people started believing that every educated person should be trained in music. Musicians still worked in churches and in aristocratic courts, but they also worked for towns. Even kings and princes and other nobility were respected composers.
During the Baroque era, music generally expressed the same mode throughout the whole piece. This means that specific melodic patters and set rhythms appeared throughout the pieces. In this era, they began to have a continuous rhythm throughout the whole piece, which gave the music better flow.
This era created a large demand for more music. People didn’t want to hear music from other periods, they wanted new musical scores. This caused composers to be in high demand, which raised their pay and prestige, but those who worked in courts were still considered servants. Even orphanages would teach the children music. This Baroque era really became the start of music in society as a whole, instead of just the churches and
…show more content…
White they didn’t keep the same musical flow as the Baroque era, the composers had more leeway; whether they wanted to change the moods portrayed in the music gradually or suddenly, it was up to them. Most melodies from this era have easy to remember melodies; even when there were more complex parts, where were usually basic parts as well.
In the Classical era, the middle class had a great influence on music. The middle class could afford better living spaces and better food, but they wanted more of the luxuries like the aristocrats got. Instead of going to see concerts all the time, they wanted to be able to hear music in their own homes. So they would have their children take lessons, and play like the aristocrat children would.
Music was composed differently during this time. Easy to understand and play music was produced, and more music was printed, more lessons were given, and more instruments were made. This created an even greater demand for composers, which poured over into the Romantic era.
In the Romantic era, emotion was very important. It poured into the songs, seeping into all the cracks and crevasses of the pieces. Composers could be more individualistic, and created their own styles and ways of expressing

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    The classical era was a time of social unrest within society; in result, musicians were effected and began to evolve to better fit into the workforce. Composers and musician such as, Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn were the front runners of the changes in society. These dominate composers—and less well known composers—seen social changed in the following aspect the rise of the patronage system and freelancing to support themselves and , the rise of the middle class and the rise of amateur musicians. Firstly, during the Age of Enlightenment composers and musicians alike worked in a program known as the patronage system.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The music was expressed through many things, songs, hymns and varied instrumental musical instruments that reflected the social conditions which created…

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The music was expressed through many things, songs, hymns and varied instrumental musical instruments that reflected the social conditions which created…

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The first feature that ties some of these songs together is the period they were produced. Many of these composer lived during the romantic period, such as Felix Mendelssohn, Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns, and Edvard Grieg, accordingly, their music possessed the traits that defined the romantic period. As has been discussed in class, Grieg bases his “Morning Mood” on the Norwegian folk tune, creating a sense of nationalism in the process. While Mendelssohn’s “Symphony No. 5” contains a variation of Luther’s chorale tune “A Mighty Fortress”. Some of the other musical pieces are rather dissimilar, such as Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 21,” and Pachelbel’s “Canon in D.”.…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The middle class impacted the development in music in many different ways. You did a good job summarizing some of the ways that the middle class changed the music industry such as influences to the style of music, instruments, and musicians. Although, in my opinion, the most significant impact that the middle class had on the evolution of music was the alterations of the concerts. Before the middle class, concerts were only for the noble class and aristocrats. When the middle class began to earn more money and used some of it to pay for entertainment in the form of music and concerts, it allowed the audiences of concerts to become more diverse.…

    • 205 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In church music the contrasts of solo voices, chorus, and orchestra were developed to a high degree. Religious music was a huge part of the Baroque period, but it took composers like Handel and Bach to make them into emotional, human experiences. Huge, towering works in the sacred Baroque canon include Bach's St Matthew Passion and Handel's Messiah. Though many instrumental developments were made in the baroque period, there's one rather large, keyboard-shaped shadow cast over all of them - by the harpsichord.…

    • 129 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Pianos were then also being used in church in accompany with gospel music. This was also around the time that Player Pianos began to trend. A Player Piano actually played songs by itself, however an individual had to pump a pedal to make it work. Because of the Player Piano, the piano product as a whole was able to stay on the market even with the creation of movies, phones and radio technology.…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The classical music has helped influence the contemporary music that we listen to today. The classical music was the first to produce a chorus which is what is in most genres we listen to today. I listen to R&B and pop songs these songs tend to be about the people actually feeling and things they are going through. The Romantic era has helped shape the R&B and pop songs. Most of the music I listen to focusses on self- expression, This is why I can make the connection and say Romantic music has helped shaped R&B and pop Music.…

    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Composers during the romantic period (1820 – 1900) still relied on the musical forms from the classical period, however, the music was much more expressive, emotional, eccentric and imagination. Romanticism was considered a type of rebellion of the neoclassicism that was present during the 18th century. Although composers during this period still relied on musical forms from the classical period, they were also influenced by nationalism and would compose folksongs and dances that put a spotlight on their nationality. This period coincided with the industrial revolution, which caused a lot of change and upheaval, which was then reflected in many artists work, including musical compositions. Many of the composers during this time come…

    • 194 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Today, music is a very big part of everyone’s lives. Wherever one looks, they can perceive people with head phones in or in cars having the radios turned on. This demonstrates the significant role music plays in people’s everyday lives. However, without the help of history music has there will not have been any progress. The Baroque period was apparent of the music revolution that played a vital role in shaping the music we are listening to today.…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Middle Ages Music Essay

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The features of music in the Middle Age were very different from the music that society listens to in today’s time. The main form of music in the Middle Ages was the Gregorian chant. This style of music was often listened to in churches during that era. The Gregorian chant was composed of Latin language and performed without instruments. The chants came in various genres all depending on their religious purpose.…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Classical Period and The Romantic Era of classical music have many similarities and differences in form, texture, and articulation. Ultimately, the Classical period is known better for being extremely structured, usually having binary or rondo form, whereas the Romantic era is known for the more flowing, unorthodox structures. This is because the Classical period focused more on form, whereas the Romantic period focused on emotion. Also, the Romantic period allowed for the use of rubato, or the forward and backward motion of tempo that strays just a bit from conventional tempo. The Classical period is different in regards to tempo because it does not allow for any rubato or modifications to the tempo in any kind.…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Classical period and the Baroque period also were very similar in that they both used counterpoint to help create more colorful compositions. The Classical period differed from the Baroque period in the sense of styles. The Classical period was focused around a certain style called the “style gallant,” which focused on lightness and elegance. This lightness was almost the exact dichotomy of the Baroque’s heavy structures. The Classical period used lighter, shorter, and singular melodies compared to the Baroque’s heavy and long polyphonies.…

    • 810 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    However, poverty and confusion did not affect the beautiful and elegant music composers composed. The significant changes in society caused music in the Romantic Period to have a lot of unique characteristics. Music during this Period was heavily influenced by Romantic…

    • 847 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Certain elements made Renaissance music sounds fuller than medieval music. Composers considered the harmonic effect of chords rather than superimposing one melody above another. Also, typical choral pieces have four, five, or six voices parts of nearly equal melodic interest. The two main Forms of sacred Renaissance Music are the mass and the motet. The mass is the liturgical music for church services, and the motet is a polyphonic choral work set to a sacred Latin text other than the ordinary of the mass.…

    • 797 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays