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Musical Appreciation over the Years

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Musical Appreciation over the Years
Musical Appreciation over the Years
Suzy L. Gayder
ARTS340
7/8/2012
Instructor Wendy Page

Music has been changed and impacted dramatically over the years. Four periods of music that have had major impacts include the Baroque Period, the Classical Period, the Romantic Period and Early 20th century. Each of these four periods provided artists and compositions that had a direct impact on the face of music and music’s future. During all of these periods different techniques were used, different instruments were created and different styles were presented. All of these periods made their stamp on the history of music and the future of the art. During the Baroque Period there were several well-known composers that made an impact on music as a whole along with adding their own personal flare. Johann Sebastian Bach was one of these composers and he is known for compositions such Toccata & Fugue D Minor (Baroque, 2012). During the Baroque era Fugue became a very popular and celebrated style of music and Bach loved to create fugues. During the Baroque Era fugues became central to compositions and demonstrated the technical prowess of the composer (Baroque, 2012). A fugal composition includes the fugue technique which includes two or more voices that sing about the same theme and imitate one another but in different pitches (Baroque, 2012). A fugal composition generally has three sections an exposition, development and then a return to the original subject that are normally connected by a main theme or subject. Johann Sebastian Bach actually competed in contests to improvise fugues with popular instruments of the times such as the clavichord and the harpsichord (Baroque, 2012). During the Baroque Period the harpsichord is a pretty interesting instrument of the time and was most popular during the Baroque Period (Sankey, 2012). The harpsichord looks similar to a modern day piano and is also played in a similar fashion, the exception is the sound. When a



References: Baroque (2012). Music of the Baroque. Baroque. Retrieved from http://www.baroque.org/baroque/ Bonds, Mark Evan. A History of Music in Western Culture. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003. Gutmann, P. (2010). Classical Notes. Joseph Haydn. Retrieved from http://www.classicalnotes.net/classics4/haydnquartets.html Levi, D. (2011). Antonio Vivaldi. Retrieved from: http://donlevi.tripod.com/vivaldi.html Sankey, J. (2012). A Brief History. The Harpsichord. Retrieved from: http://web.ncf.ca/bf250/history.html Saint-Saens (2012). All Music. Camille Saint-Saens. Retrieved from http://www.allmusic.com/artist/camille-saint-sa%C3%ABns-mn0000688311 Schmidt-Jones, C. (2008). Connections. The Music of the Romantic Era. Retrieved from http://cnx.org/content/m11606/latest/

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