Essay Samples on Turning-Points in Western Music

Topic 1: Although Bach never travelled outside Germany, his music reflects influences from both French and Italian music. Discuss.

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The music of Bach Sebastian Johann was primarily influenced by Italian and French styles of composition. This can be traced back to the connections of the Italian and French Baroque and the compositions of Bach. This includes the recitals of original viola transcriptions and viola repertoire of works of Violin, Viola da Gamba, and cello. For example, the features of Italian and French compositions were particularly paired with the works of Cello suits of Bach. Bach mimicked the work of Carlo Marino and Marco Uccellini by using their rhythmic and contrapuntal aesthetic when composing and writing comparable suites. Besides, Bach's works reflects the works from France in the 17th century. For example, the orchestral and instrumental suite of Marin Marais shows Bach's adoption of forms of harmonies and pure dances in the period. The cello suites of J .S. Bach and the viola da gamba suite of Marin Marais shows how viola is able to realize the open qualities of the original intents. Therefore, this essay discusses the influences of both French and Italian music on Bach's styles of composition.

Most of Bach's work owes much to the predecessors of the Italian Baroque. The Italian Baroque musicians and composers are the one who revolutionized music by inventing basso continuo, which led to the end of polyphony. The Italian influenced the use of symphony, symphonia, opera and sonata. One of the major Bach's Italian influences was dance movements. This is evident in Bach's use of constant Hawing triplet-eighths of both the gigue from Suite No.4 in E-flat major and the Prelude from the Suite No. 6 in D major. Another feature influenced by the Italian was the use of triple or duple rhythms as seen in Bach's Allemande from the sixth suite. When looking at Bach's Cello suites, he deliberately mislabeled some of the dances. For example, he entitled some movements as Courante in Suites 1 to 6 when in the real sense they are correntes characterized as Italian-French courante. In addition, the Gigue as observed in Suite 4 is an Italian giga. Such characters of mislabeling are suspicious considering Bach correctly labeled movements of Italian dances in his other pieces like in his famous Partita for Solo violin. Such confusions make it clear that Bach is familiar with most dance movements he plays. However, with the sonata which is characterized with international flavor, Bach was able to invent and innovate this in all compositions by writing pieces that deviated from the original counterparts. These are the innovations that show Bach had an understanding of the original Italian dances.

Music in the French Baroque is believed to have the mathematical proportions, which can stir human emotions. Composers and musicians from the late Renaissance are credited for the birth of Opera where the combination of music and poetry, the return of homophonic word-based music and the reviving of dramas of Ancient Greece was seen. Outside France, Bach's Suites were regarded as important as their concertos and sonatas. Bach Suites followed the traditional movement patterns that contained dances of Froberger's suites and the Froberger's suites that preceded the style of Lully's French overture. The pervasiveness of Bach Suites outside France led to an understanding of gestures and rhythms of dance music an important factor when playing or composing music. In 1760, one of Bach's students said this with regard to the importance of understanding dance music: the important qualities of good performance can only be achieved through playing all kinds of characteristic dances industriously. One cannot perform or compose when he does not understand the dance rhythms. Another influenced by French in Bach's cello suites the genre and character in the cello suites. The prelude in the five suites is in the form of a French overture with characteristics of extended fugal section and dotted rhythms. Suite 5 is the only suite that has a true French Courante, and with a moderate tempo. Other suites have a movement called Courante which are Italian Courante and livelier and quicker in character. The suites also have gigues that are characterized with French gigue rhythms followed by dotted rhythms that can be seen particularly in the allemande suites. Besides, the use of densely voiced chords, and the viola da gamba, speaks loudly about Bach's French intentions. The suites also have gigues that are characterized with French gigue rhythms followed by dotted rhythms that can be seen particularly in the allemande suites. Besides, the use of densely voiced chords, and the viola da gamba, speaks loudly about Bach's French intentions.

Topic 2: Why is considered such an important figure in the history of Western music in the 20th century? Discuss Igor Stravinsky.

Gor Stravinsky is considered a revolutionary composer and a giant figure of modern music. Born in Russia, and considered by many as one of the most influential composer in the 20th century, his legacy and influence still seem contemporary. Without Stravinsky, there would be no enough rhythmic energy, no much neo-classicism, no minimalism and not enough compositional freedom in the 20th century. Stravinsky was also an accomplished conductor and pianist, and he led ballets and orchestras in most of his new works. Therefore, Stravinsky was most popular with concert halls, orchestras, and audiences in the brilliance of his early ballets such as The Rite, Petrushka, and Firebird. This essay addresses why Gor Stravinsky was considered such an important figure in the history of Western music in the 20th century.

Stravinsky is widely recognized for using motivic development in his compositions. Motivic development is the use and repetition of musical figures in different guises in sections of a composition or throughout a composition. It also involves the addition or subtraction of notes to a motif without consequential changes in metre. This technique was used in the 16th century and Stravinsky exhibited considerable familiarity that resonates to music of Giovanni de Macque, Carlo Gesualdo, Orlandus Lassus, and Cipriano de Rore. Stravinsky rejected the use of Germanic ideas in compositions such as the use of thematic development as the basis of writing. He advocated for the scriptural approach where large musical makeup are attained cumulatively through repetition accompanied by subtle variations with interior details. The sound objects were all important in his longer works such as the theatrical and sacred ones. The power of works such as Symhony of Psalms, Oedipus Rex and The Right of Spring are regarded as Stravinsky most inspired and forceful works with a specific gravity of motion and solemn reenactment.

In 1913, Stravinsky composed one of the most controversial and famous piece of music in history. The Right Spring was a piece composed based on the traditions of the Russian pagans. The work is considered Stravinsky's first performance that featured ballet movements and is believed to have led to riots in Paris after fight broke among members of the audience. The work featured dissonant chords and was very primitive rhythmically that some considered it one of the most imaginative compositions one has ever thought of or imagined. The work is also notable through its use of ostinati, and many passages have a number of ostinati clashing aganais each other. In The Rite of Spring he also presented new musical concepts that involve changing metric imbalances and rhythms constantly- an original orchestration and dissonant harmonies, which resonated in the 20th century. This means that Stravinsky greatest weapons were his distinctive use of rhythm as observed in The Right Spring. He developed the idea of pushing rhythms across the bar with more fluid and sometimes spontaneous. However, he barbaric and percussive violence tone of The Rite of Spring, however, concealed the empirical attitude and rhythmic sensibility to sonority, which is traced back to all Stravinsky music regardless of its stylistic allegiance. Stravinsky primitive off beat rhythmic drive was instrumental in raising rhythm to the dignity of art. For example, his vitality and rythmn influenced the works of composers such as Aaron Copland.

As a result, Stravinsky is considered a creative chameleon, a typical rootless exile that was able to dart from one style to another but never looked into the creative depth of his master pieces. One of the most spectacular modernisms of his works is based on the evolution of Russian music from Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov to Modest Mussorgsky, which reflects the primitive dynamism, a characteristic found in music of the 20th century. Constantly working at the piano, he experimented different combinations of chords and spacing, used devices to prolong or break down the traditional symmetrical phrasing and explored asymmetrical metrical patterns. Due to such sonorities, rhythm is a cumulative process that add together object into groups, different from subdivisions, which form the basic classical music methods. Such techniques worked against the musical styles of the past and his intriguing rhythmic obliquity that produced distortions of classical harmony have influenced the pulse, form and rhythm of later composers.

Gor Stravinsky is considered an important figure in the history of Western music in the 20th century. He is one of the most epochal innovators that influenced composers in the 20th century. A part from the technical considerations like harmony and rhythm, the most important of facet of his style was its changing face. Although he composed serial, neo-classical and primitivism works, he is well known for composing The Rite Spring, The Firebird and the Petrushka. These works made him a revolutionary composer and a giant figure of modern music. He advocated for the scriptural approach where large musical makeup are attained cumulatively through repetition accompanied by subtle variations with interior details. Stravinsky also developed rhythmic energy, neo-classicism, and minimalism that led to enough compositional freedom in the 20th century. Thus, he is one of the most influential composers in the 20th century; his legacy and influence still seem contemporary.

References

Bach, Johann Sebastian. 3 Sonaten BWV 1027-1029: Viola da gamba (Cello) and llurpsichord. Ed. Laurence Dreyfus. New York: C. F. Peters, 1985.

Bach, Johann Sebastian. 6 Suites a Violoncello Solo senza Basso. Kassel: BarenreiterVerlag Karl Votterle GmbH & Co. KG, 2000.

Bach, Johann Sebastian. 6 Sonate E Partite: Per Viola. Ed. Aldo Bennici. Milan: Ricordi, 1995.

Bach, Johann Sebastian. 6 Violin S'onatas and Partitas, BWV 1001-1006. Composer's Manuscript N.D. [1720].

Bach, Johann Sebastian. Bleib bei uns, denn is will Abend werden, BWV 6. Ed. Moritz llauptmann. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1851.

Bach. Johann Sebastian. Six Suites.for Solo Violoncello, BWV 1007-1012: Volumes Jill. Trans. and ed. Christine Rutledge. Iowa City, IA: Linnet Press Editions, 2007.