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Greek theatre and modern drama
Greek theatre and modern drama
Greek theatre and modern drama
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Recommended: Greek theatre and modern drama
Tanner Ballingall
Music History 1
Dr. Tarrant
End-Semester Essay
The Florentine Camerata: Ideals and Beliefs
The Florentine Camerata held many beliefs about the revival of Greek Drama. Many of these beliefs concerned the current style of music, which was polyphonic. They believed that this was not the correct way to efficiently emphasize the text found in these manuscripts. From this, they created a new style of music: the monody, or solo voice.
The Florentine Camerata was a small group of humanistic musicians who gathered to discuss trends in the arts. Known members of the Camerata included of Giovanni Bardi, Guilio Caccini, Pietro Strozzi, and Vincenzo Galilei. It was through many discussions and experiments that they decided that the group believed in. The Camerata found some issues when it came to the revival of Greek Drama, particularly with the style and textures of the
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They believed that if poets were to create plays in true Greek fashion, that music must supplement the text as well. The main issue with this is that the current style of music was polyphonic. This posed a serious problem because they believed that one could not express a single line of poetry in a polyphonic way(Kallen), with the other voices creating confusion amongst listeners, and ultimately the distortion of words.
The Florentine Camerata firmly believed that the only way to revive Greek Drama was to put the texts into music. Based on their beliefs for how the texts should be implemented with music, they created what was known as a monody. What they defined as a monody was based on three basic principles. The first of these is that the text be clearly understood(Grout). The performances of these would include a solo singer and the simplest accompaniment that could be written, usually on an instrument such as a lute or other
It is a long-with-standing stereotype that Italians love to gamble. This is true. My great grandfather, Pasquale Giovannone, played the riskiest hand of cards when he immigrated to the United States as an illegal stowaway at the age of thirteen. He forged a life for himself amidst the ever-changing social and political shifts of the early nineteenth century. The legacy he left would later lead to the birth of my father, John Giovannone, in Northern New Jersey in 1962.
Francesco Landini was a famous medieval composer. He was born in 1335 in Fiesole, Italy, near Florence, Italy. Francesco’s father was Jacopo the Painter, and Francesco was blinded as a child by smallpox. Landini won a laurel wreath for winning a poetical competition as a child. He played the flute, rebec, and the portative organ, which was a small organ-like instrument popular for secular music. Francesco composed mostly ballatas, which were songs with one voice accompanied by one or more instruments. He composed only secular music, and has only 140 surviving works. Even though he was a musical composer, Francesco Landini also wrote Italian and Latin poems. He was an inspiration to most later secular music composers. Francesco died in 1397
In his introduction to Greek Lyric Poetry, scholar M.L. West explains, “all [lyric poetry] is the poetry of the present, the poetry in which people express their feelings and ideas about all their current concerns…it is all social poetry” (p. viii). It is this sentiment that lies at the core of this analysis of the Greek lyricists Sappho and Archilochus. The functions and occasions of their poetry represents the social constructs for which their poetic thought was introduced to the ancient world. Yet, equally important to the poetic work they created in, is the individual experience they put forth in their work.
Lastly is the Organ Fugue which is basically described as two or more voices that build upon a theme introduced in the beginning of the composition. Handel’s piece, “Water Music”, comprises of many orchestral musical forms that was made for small or large orchestras. It also involves many suites including those of dance. The basso continuo is a form of music that goes along with others. It the bottom line of what the original producer meant and is told through numerals and symbols which indicate intervals, chords, and non-chord tones. The Four Seasons First Movement: “Spring” by Vivaldi consists of four concerti grossi that was made for string orchestra and a solo
Word painting, a “musical representation of specific poetic images”, was a fairly common characteristic of music in the European Baroque period. Composers would often set words like “heaven” on a high note and “hell” on a lower note or set depressing lyrics to a descending chromatic scale. One of the most well-known pieces of the European Baroque period is Messiah by George Frideric Handel, which is an oratorio telling the story of Christ’s birth. Since an oratorio lacked costumes, sets, or acting, Handel used a lot of word painting to give the sacred text an ...
The Italian Baroque’s love of dramatic effects in artistic expression is one of the most recognizable features of the Italian Baroque. Architecture, music, painting, and sculpture all have very good examples that utilize dramatic effects very effectively. In the next few minutes, we will explore an example of each and highlight the various features that illustrate the dramatic effects that characterize the Italian Baroque. We will begin with Artemisia Gentileschi’s painting Judith and Maidservant with Head of Holofernes. We will then explore Francesco Borromini’s design for San Carlo alle Quattro. Then we will examine Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s sculpture David. Finally, we will discuss George Frederick Handel’s oratorio Messiah.
The Baroque’s operas was based on classic mythology but within the Classical era it turned to a more realistic contemporary subject reflecting the ideas of enlightenment present in the Classical era. Some major differences between these two eras operas though was the subject matter and form. Within the Baroque era the opera seria, or serious opera, was very common. Opera seria was characterized by the rigid form and appeal to authority or those in power. The later Baroque opera emphasized the strophic variation over the da capo aria was established as a vocal form. Along with these forms was the bipartite aria, which consisted of only A and B variations. In contrast with the late Baroque opera and its rigid alternation of recitative and aria, the middle Baroque opera retained great formal flexibility.The change from this rigid serious opera form came about the years of 1762 to 1783 when the introduction of a simpler more human like opera was introduced. This change can be somewhat contributed to Cristoph
the works are depicting an ideal Greek person performing a noble act not just a mundane
As discussed by Greenberg (2009), the Renaissance saw many changes and advancements over a two hundred year span of evolution in music. The intellectual and social trends strayed from the absolute power of the church and secular music became admired and composed for the beauty of its art. Renaissance composers developed a more expressive style by clearly articulating lyrics “musica reservata” and a process called word painting or tone painting which reflected
The music was so well loved during the renaissance that you can read, play, and sing music your and essential person. Even King Henry VIII was a very musical person since he loved to play and sing music. I found this to be interesting since music effects all of our lives today, I have always wonder if music affected people’s livelihoods during the renaissance? I found this to be true since many composers during this time use different structures, modes, rhythms, and melodies. The most known structure from this era is the paratactic form. The paratactic form is the assembly that contains a series of more or less separate units. The mode was used in the renaissance was the eight-mode system that was also used during the medieval times. The melody that was used during the renaissance was the conjunct motion. The conjunct motion is a melodic concept, which based on completely or mainly by half or whole steps. The rhythm that used during this time period was tactics. Tactus is a progressive measurement of the different beats. All of the composers would use these musical styles to create music. All of these musical styles affected the way older composers would make their music since they were used to make the traditional music instead they had to keep up with the current ways or else
During this period composers tried to express themselves freely. There were notable extremes and contrasts in their styles of composition. For instance, their preferred media were piano accompaniment, operas and symphony orchestra. In the same way, their music was composed for two kinds of audiences: one in the big concert halls, and an other in intimate salon; and the length of the compositions extended from short pieces to big symphonies. Also the dynamic of the music was very variable using loud and soft levels. In addition, musicians developed a nationalist style using folklore as subject for operas, sometimes borrowing folklore from other countries (Miller, 1973 p134-135). Among the major composers of this period are: Beethoven, Von Weber, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Brahms, Rachmaninoff and others.
...nt ideas were practiced. These differences in faith are shown through the music because in Play of Virtues the message is teaching about good and evil and is very god fearing. In “Sing Joyfully” the music is more about praising and being alive which reflects that period of individualism and a sense of redefining oneself and letting go of the harsh rules they used to follow. The differences in these pieces of music allow us to look back on society and see how far it has grown and changed since then. The transition from the strict and limited views of the Middle Ages to the open and thriving society during the renaissance has led to more transitions into societies that value creativity, expression, and a mixture of cultures. The influences from these previous eras and their cultural contributions helped to create the vast and amazing music we are able to have today.
...ed the style of music that was common during the renaissance period. The Baroque era was one that articulated harmony and mood all through the composition. Initially, music was polyphonic in nature, but it later changed during the baroque period to be more harmonic. Venice became the core of musical bustle and with the development of opera music; an unrestricted opera house was constructed within the city. St. Mark’s Basilica developed into an essential site for melodic experiments. Music composition played a significant function in Baroque society since it served as musical expression for creative composers, a basis of entertainment for the upper class, an occupation for composers and a brief escape from habits of daily life for the public. Baroque era instigated a society that appreciates music, not only at the upper class level but middle class level as well
In classical Greek drama and tragedy, the chorus reacts, responds, and comments on the actions and plot of the play. The purpose of the chorus is to represent the customary attitude of what is occurring, to clarify the actions as well as assess the feelings of certain characters, and to overall unify the play. Traditionally, choruses consisted of males, specifically the older men of whatever territory or city-state the play takes place in. The chorus plays a vital role in the four Greek tragedies “Antigone”, “Agamemnon”, “Medea”, and “Oedipus”.
In the Greek theatre they take on a significant role of emphasising the storyline by groups speaking in unison rather than one single actor trying to reach the ears of around 17,000 listeners. They were after-all a very natural part of Greek theatre and their absence would certainly reflect an unorthodox presentation. They also keep the emotion running as any scene changing can be done during their narrative sections.