Music And History In The Baroque Period And The Classical Period

When studying world history, the arts are often not touched upon, as they are not seen as affecting the world and history as a whole. However, the opposite is true. Music and history are directly related to each other, and often come hand in hand. For example, in the Age of Enlightenment, both philosophy and music began to stray from religious influences, becoming more secular as a result of conflict ideals between the old and new orders. The Classical Era is arguably the purest form of classical music, as it introduced many fundamental musical ideals, and set standards for years to come. It is often divided into four periods, the Baroque (1600-1750 CE), Classical (1775-1825 CE), Romantic (1820-1900 CE), and Impressionist (1870-1920 CE). Throughout …show more content…
Before the Classical style was developed, however, Rococo was created during and represented the period of transition from baroque to classical music. This preclassical style was very light and melodic, with many intricate ornamentations to make itself stand out. However, many people believed that these details were vain and that Rococo music as a whole lacked depth, and soon after, the classical style was developed. Continuing off of the baroque period, public performances stayed significant, as it represented the belief that music should be composed for the enjoyment of the common people. The Age of Enlightenment occurred simultaneously with the development of classical music, leading to large conflicts against the old order and religious traditions due to the radical new ideas of philosophers such as Rousseau and Voltaire. They, among others, wrote of the power that man truly held, how such power could be used to combat the world’s problems, and how valuable the common man really was. Thus, music began to stray even further away from its past religious influences, and became more secular with each new composer. While instrumental music introduced many new techniques and innovations that are now considered some of the most important, choral music did not advance as much due to its wide use in the church and conservative …show more content…
Modern, as a noun, is described as being a person who advocates or practices a departure from traditional styles or values. Simultaneous with this definition, many composers began to develop new methods and philosophies, or simply build off of previously existing ones. One of these new philosophies was that the world was a constantly changing entity, and that every moment gave people certain impressions. With the impressionist movement, which originated in Paris and was inspired by the rejection of past art standards, artists aimed to capture any given moment and its impact. Though many artists, such as Claude Monet, attempted to breathe this life into their works, they found that it was very difficult to pull off. As a result, they discovered that music was an even better medium for portraying such small moments, and perhaps even the best vessel for impressionist works. Music was then blended into the movement, and was highlighted by composers such as Claude Debussy and Erik Satie, both of whom were inspired by musicians originating from other countries. Debussy in particular was fascinated by those of the Far Eastern (Java, Bali, and Indo-China) native orchestra, which included colorful instrumentation and percussive rhythms. Their music also widely utilized what is known as a whole-tone scale, which contains six rather than the