Compare and contrast two works from the same genre from different eras. Essay Example
Compare and contrast two works from the same genre which were written at least a generation or half a century apart. Consider and explain similarities and differences with regard to musical style and historical context.
The Renaissance and Baroque era entailed very different characteristics, due to the Renaissance composers writing more freely and being more individual then those of the Baroque era where they followed more ‘rules’ and experimented less. This essay will show the difference in two pieces by different composers, even though they were written less than a century apart. Giovanni Gabrieli was an Italian composer born in 1554 and wrote many works in the ‘in between’ stage of Renaissance and Baroque. He was a composer and organist, composing many great works, such as Jubilate Deo but mostly wrote polychoral pieces which had been explored by his Uncle, which possibly lead him to write Sonata pian’e forte. At the time, composers could not make a living out of just writing music so Gabrieli became an organist at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, and then became a teacher, giving lessons on writing madrigals and other works.1 Sonata pian’e forte was composed in 1597 to be performed in a Catholic service at St Mark’s in Venice. It is written for eight instruments that are split into two broken consorts; one with three trombones (or sackbuts) and a cornett, and the other with another three trombones and a violin. However, this violin part goes down to a D so the part might be played nowadays by something else e.g. the viola. The sackbut was the smaller predecessor of the trombone and was often used to mimic vocal parts. The lines are written in the same way someone would compose for soprano, alto, tenor and bass, as they have equal ranges and the bass (or trombone 3/6) is very cadential. This is very different to Corelli’s Trio Sonata in D, Op. 3 No. 2: movement IV as the composer writes idiomatically for violins, mainly in the mid-register. Arcangelo
The Renaissance and Baroque era entailed very different characteristics, due to the Renaissance composers writing more freely and being more individual then those of the Baroque era where they followed more ‘rules’ and experimented less. This essay will show the difference in two pieces by different composers, even though they were written less than a century apart. Giovanni Gabrieli was an Italian composer born in 1554 and wrote many works in the ‘in between’ stage of Renaissance and Baroque. He was a composer and organist, composing many great works, such as Jubilate Deo but mostly wrote polychoral pieces which had been explored by his Uncle, which possibly lead him to write Sonata pian’e forte. At the time, composers could not make a living out of just writing music so Gabrieli became an organist at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, and then became a teacher, giving lessons on writing madrigals and other works.1 Sonata pian’e forte was composed in 1597 to be performed in a Catholic service at St Mark’s in Venice. It is written for eight instruments that are split into two broken consorts; one with three trombones (or sackbuts) and a cornett, and the other with another three trombones and a violin. However, this violin part goes down to a D so the part might be played nowadays by something else e.g. the viola. The sackbut was the smaller predecessor of the trombone and was often used to mimic vocal parts. The lines are written in the same way someone would compose for soprano, alto, tenor and bass, as they have equal ranges and the bass (or trombone 3/6) is very cadential. This is very different to Corelli’s Trio Sonata in D, Op. 3 No. 2: movement IV as the composer writes idiomatically for violins, mainly in the mid-register. Arcangelo