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Orchestral

Landmarks

What is an orchestra?

Group of musicians playing music together


Formalised around 1600 and used ever since
Four sections of instruments:
Strings Woodwind Brass Percussion

Baroque
Classical
17th
18th
1600-1750 1750-1810

Romantic
Modern
19th
20th & 21st
1800s-1910 1900s+

Instruments

Harpsichord
(only in
Baroque)

+ Clarinet
French Horn
+Piano

+ Greater use of
percussion
Saxophone

+ Electric
instruments

Size

Small orchestra

Getting bigger

Large orchestra

Anything goes.

Styles

Concerto
Dance Suites

+ Symphony, Sonata

Same again!

Anything goes.

Notes

Strings
dominate: brass
& woodwind
punctuate

Strings dominate; brass


& woodwind more
independent. Occasional
use of percussion.

Much greater
independence of
brass and
woodwind.

Anything goes

Mozart
Haydn

Beethoven
Chopin
Tchaikovsky

Schoenberg
Bernstein
Reich

Century
Dates

Composers Bach
Handel
Vivaldi

Baroque Music
The Music in this period:
Very decorated and elaborate sounding.
Harmonies were often very intricate, but not dissonant (clashing).
Limited ranges of instruments and types of instruments (brass
did not have valves; limited sizes of orchestra)
Dynamics were often loud or quiet; not much contrast.
Strings have main role
Imitative and complex music (polyphonic) was common, with
devices such as Fugue and Canon used to build up the texture.
However, alongside this, there was often the use of more simple
melody and accompaniment (a homophonic texture).
Much music was still very sacred (i.e. Religious-based).

Classical Music
The Music in this period:
Light and elegant
Simple, straightforward harmonies
Limited ranges of instruments (notes they can play) and also
choice of actual instruments.
Limited range of dynamics
Strings have main role
Tune with simple accompaniment (a homophonic texture).
Very structured, balanced phrase lengths with cadences.
All about balance e.g. A loud section followed by a quiet one; a
major section followed by a minor one etc.

Romantic Music
The Music in this period:

Emotional and dramatic; no longer about balance & style.


Full of complicated harmonies
Uses a large range of dynamics
Uses a large range of instruments
Instruments have more challenging parts inc. solos within
a piece
Tunes longer than those in Classical period

Twentieth Century Music

Weird Sounding music: Atonal/bitonal/polytonal/tone


row/whole tone scale
Discordant or more complex chords 9ths/ 11ths/13ths
May lack harmonic/melodic structure fragmented tune
Rhythm often syncopated/polyrhythms/irregular metre
Using instruments in unusual ways
Using non-instruments
Use of electronic instruments
Use of electronics to manipulate sounds or to record
sound samples alongside traditional instruments
Use of World instruments.
Contrasts in texture

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