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Music
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Music is the art of organizing vocal or instrumental sound for beauty of form or emotional expression, shaped by a culture's standards of rhythm, melody and, in most Western traditions, harmony. Its true origins are prehistoric and undocumented; plausible theories hold that it began as primitive communication, as an aid to coordinate communal labor, or as an adjunct to religious ceremony, and none is settled fact. The tradition shaping Western music traces to the Fertile Crescent, where Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Hebrew cultures developed musical practices absorbed by the Greeks, who along with the Sumerians, Egyptians and Romans built the first surviving aesthetic theories and formal musical systems, transmitted through Rome into western Europe. Out of this base grew the European lineage of notated, harmonically organized music, from medieval chant and polyphony through the ornamented Baroque, the balanced Classical era, the emotionally charged Romantic symphony and song, and into the twentieth century's break with traditional tonality. In the twentieth century a largely improvisatory tradition, jazz, emerged from African American communities in the United States and became one of the most influential musical developments of the modern era.
Facts
MediumSound produced by the human voice or by musical instruments, organized according to cultural conventions of rhythm, melody and, in most Western music, harmony. 1 Signature TechniquePolyphonic counterpoint: separate, simultaneous melodic lines sounded together, a technique central to the Baroque era and to Western classical music generally. 2 Place of OriginSouthwestern Germany; the oldest surviving musical instruments, bone and ivory flutes recovered from the Geissenklosterle cave, are dated to roughly 43,150 to 39,370 years before the present. 2 Notable ExampleThe Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal, found on clay tablets in the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit and dated to about 1400 BC, the oldest surviving notated work of music. 2 Cross-Tradition Connections
Movements
Practitioners
Works In This Form
Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.Music, britannica.com/art/music
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationMusic, Western classical, Baroque subsectionQuote, Music, Western classical, Baroque subsection
Polyphonic contrapuntal music (music with separate, simultaneous melodic lines) remained important during this period.
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationMusic, Origins and prehistory sectionQuote, Music, Origins and prehistory section
Three flutes from the Geissenklosterle are dated as the oldest, c. 43,150-39,370 BP.
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationMusic, Antiquity sectionQuote, Music, Antiquity section
The 'Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal', found on clay tablets in the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit, is the oldest surviving notated work of music, dating back to approximately 1400 BCE.
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationPractitioners: Claude Debussy, Claude Debussy article, lead sectionQuote, Practitioners: Claude Debussy, Claude Debussy article, lead section
was a French composer
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationPractitioners: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wikipedia summary lead, practicesQuote, Practitioners: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wikipedia summary lead, practices
was a Classical composer and musician
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationPractitioners: Miles Davis, Miles Davis, Wikipedia summary lead, practicesQuote, Practitioners: Miles Davis, Miles Davis, Wikipedia summary lead, practices
an American trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and painter
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationPractitioners: Frederic Chopin, Frederic Chopin, Wikipedia summary lead, practicesQuote, Practitioners: Frederic Chopin, Frederic Chopin, Wikipedia summary lead, practices
was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationPractitioners: Richard Wagner, Richard Wagner, Wikipedia summary lead, practicesQuote, Practitioners: Richard Wagner, Richard Wagner, Wikipedia summary lead, practices
a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor, best known for his operas
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationPractitioners: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Wikipedia summary lead, practicesQuote, Practitioners: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Wikipedia summary lead, practices
He was a Russian composer of the Romantic period.
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationPractitioners: Antonio Vivaldi, Antonio Vivaldi, Wikipedia summary lead, practicesQuote, Practitioners: Antonio Vivaldi, Antonio Vivaldi, Wikipedia summary lead, practices
an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationPractitioners: Franz Liszt, Franz Liszt, Wikipedia summary lead, practicesQuote, Practitioners: Franz Liszt, Franz Liszt, Wikipedia summary lead, practices
was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationPractitioners: John Coltrane, John Coltrane, Wikipedia summary lead, practicesQuote, Practitioners: John Coltrane, John Coltrane, Wikipedia summary lead, practices
an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader, and composer
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationPractitioners: Gustav Mahler, Gustav Mahler, Wikipedia summary lead, practicesQuote, Practitioners: Gustav Mahler, Gustav Mahler, Wikipedia summary lead, practices
was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationPractitioners: Johannes Brahms, Johannes Brahms, Wikipedia summary lead, practicesQuote, Practitioners: Johannes Brahms, Johannes Brahms, Wikipedia summary lead, practices
was a German composer, pianist, and conductor
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationPractitioners: Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Wikipedia summary lead, practicesQuote, Practitioners: Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Wikipedia summary lead, practices
a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationPractitioners: Igor Stravinsky, Igor Stravinsky, Wikipedia summary lead, practicesQuote, Practitioners: Igor Stravinsky, Igor Stravinsky, Wikipedia summary lead, practices
a Russian composer and conductor with French and American citizenship
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationPractitioners: George Frideric Handel, George Frideric Handel, Wikipedia summary lead, practicesQuote, Practitioners: George Frideric Handel, George Frideric Handel, Wikipedia summary lead, practices
was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti.
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationPractitioners: Antonin Dvorak, Antonin Dvorak, Wikipedia summary lead, practicesQuote, Practitioners: Antonin Dvorak, Antonin Dvorak, Wikipedia summary lead, practices
was a Czech composer
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationMovements: Classical (music era), Classical period (music), Wikipedia summary, expressed-in musicView the Source 2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationWorks In This Form: Messiah (Handel), Messiah (Handel), Wikipedia summary lead, in-formQuote, Works In This Form: Messiah (Handel), Messiah (Handel), Wikipedia summary lead, in-form
is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationWorks In This Form: The Four Seasons (Vivaldi), The Four Seasons (Vivaldi), Wikipedia summary lead, in-formQuote, Works In This Form: The Four Seasons (Vivaldi), The Four Seasons (Vivaldi), Wikipedia summary lead, in-form
a group of four violin concerti by Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationWorks In This Form: Kind of Blue, Kind of Blue, Wikipedia summary lead, in-formQuote, Works In This Form: Kind of Blue, Kind of Blue, Wikipedia summary lead, in-form
is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationWorks In This Form: The Rite of Spring, The Rite of Spring, Wikipedia summary lead, in-formQuote, Works In This Form: The Rite of Spring, The Rite of Spring, Wikipedia summary lead, in-form
is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationWorks In This Form: A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme, Wikipedia summary lead, in-formQuote, Works In This Form: A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme, Wikipedia summary lead, in-form
is an album by the American jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane.
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Stanley Sadie, editor (successive editions), Oxford University Pressentry: Western music, history and notation
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Stanley Sadie, editor (successive editions), Oxford University PressPractitioners: Johann Sebastian Bach, entry: Bach, Johann Sebastian
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Stanley Sadie, editor (successive editions), Oxford University PressPractitioners: Ludwig van Beethoven, entry: Beethoven, Ludwig van
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Stanley Sadie, editor (successive editions), Oxford University PressWorks In This Form: Ninth Symphony, entry: Beethoven, Ludwig van
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Stanley Sadie, editor (successive editions), Oxford University PressMovements: Baroque, entry: Baroque, music of the
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Stanley Sadie, editor (successive editions), Oxford University PressMovements: Romanticism, entry: Romanticism
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Stanley Sadie, editor (successive editions), Oxford University PressPractitioners: Louis Armstrong, entry: Armstrong, Louis
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Stanley Sadie, editor (successive editions), Oxford University PressMovements: Jazz, entry: Jazz
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Stanley Sadie, editor (successive editions), Oxford University PressMovements: Modernism, entry: twentieth century modernist music
Franz Schubert: Poet and Composer from Austria (Austria.info)
Austria.info, Austrian National Tourist OfficePractitioners: Franz SchubertView the Source Schubert's Lieder: Settings of Goethe's Poems (OpenLearn, The Open University)
Schubert's Lieder: Settings of Goethe's Poems (OpenLearn, The Open University)
The Open UniversityWorks In This Form: Gretchen am SpinnradeView the Source Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
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