Debussys Music - Essay Example

ical Music Question1 Debussy’s music is aligned to impressionism which was France based, it brings on board the atmospheric or mood effect that is based on the subject rather than stating the subject accurately. The whole concept considered the feelings that are brought about by the work of art without the event or topic’s literal statement being included. As an impressionist, Debussy brought new compositional techniques like parallel motion of voices, bitonality, eradication of musical forms and harmony generally with addition of tones, parallel chords, omitting of tones. He abandoned the use of minor and major tonal scales in favor of whole tone scales that were able to create a hazy and dreamy effect. He broke from the unison form of sounds in the orchestral sound that he used; they were monophonic with instruments used individually contributing color for the whole break off. The register and combination that is played by the instrument does not reflect what the instrument is used for traditionally. Debussy emphasized muted brass, soft percussion and solo woodwinds. The motifs and themes are all fragmented upon the modes, tone scales and the pentatonic. For example the use the String Quartet found in g minor shows the use of Phrygian mode with tone scales wholly. His works portray a single theme that undergoes change throughout his art work. Debussy’s music‘s tonality is pentatonic, whole tone scales, modal and bitonal chords that produce bitonality. There is a slightly dissonant harmony in the music. The whole technique does not follow the sonata tradition. Schoenberg, an Austrian, was the leader of Second Viennese School and he was associated with expressionist works of art. He extended the romantic styles of Germany that included Wagner and Brahms. He pioneered atonality innovation by developing the twelve-tone technique, a compositional method that manipulation of a series of twelve notes that were already ordered through the chromatic scale. Schoenberg developed motifs without using the traditional centralized melodic idea. Formalization of the compositional method was enhanced by his habit of inviting the audience to think analytically. Stravinsky was born in Russia and later changed to France and lastly America; he was a composer, conductor and pianist. His music composition was based on stylistic diversity. He also dabbed into the twelve-tone method in his work of cantata. One of his notable works was the Rite of Spring, although it was marred with demonstrations, it led to transformation of the rhythmic structure that pushed musical design boundaries. His work held a vein full of intense emotions beneath the surface appearance of austerity. Stravinsky considered serial procedures. The compositions had rhythmic energy, melodic ideas with extended construction out of a few cell notes and forms of clarity, of utterance and instrumentation. Stravinsky tried to pit ostinations without regarding the tempo or harmony and some were extended ostinato lacking variation or melody accompaniment. Question 2 Music is an art and it contains a medium which can either be sound or silence. It’s characterized by the pitch which in turn governs the harmony and melody, it’s also characterized by rhythm which is associated with meter, tempo and articulation, the dynamics characterize music too, and the sonic qualities of texture and timber enhance musicality too. The performance and significance of music vary in accordance to the culture and mostly the social context. Music is categorized into various genres and subgenres but their relationship is subtle, sometimes it’s open to an individual to interpret and categorize. Romantic music anciently tried to include emotional expression and energy to expose deeper truths encompassed in human feelings. Romantic music broke the rigid forms and styles of the classical music into more expressive and passionate pieces. Romantic love became the main theme in these songs. Ludwig Van Beethoven and Franz Schubert tried to bring about more expressive and dramatic style, for example, in Beethoven’s music, the motifs were organically developed and later the replacement of melody as a compositional unit that was more significant. Tonality was also at its peak during the Romantic period of music. Romantic music era had a composition full of individuality and self-expression. The music was generally pragmatic with instrumental music depicting an idea, a story or a poem. The titles were also very descriptive. There is variety of tone color, atmosphere and mood. The harmonic vocabulary became broader since there was the introduction of chromatic harmonies and adding of color to the music. There is open space for one to use dissonant and unstable chords that were previously not in use. It has less tonal gravity due to extensive modulation. Romantic music invites the use of a wide range of dynamics and the expansion of the pitch should be enhanced. The tempo should be part and parcel of the composition tools for a romantic song because there should be increase in the use of accelerando, speeding up; the rubato should be extensively used with the bending of tempo or rhythm. The chords in romantic music are very complicated, this renders a wondering harmony. The tempo could range from extremely high to extremely low. Harmony in romantic music is ambiguous because the tonal centre is lacking. The form is not emphasized much in romantic songs bit emphasis is put on texture and color. Question 3 Trends in composition The minimalist composition, Terry Riley, a composer and performer, is the one who launched the minimalist movement. It came with the most pervasive trends in the western music. It contained new forms of the music concept basing itself on the interlocking patterns that are repetitive. Many consider it as the watershed towards major composers like Glass, Reich and Adams. Dufay’s style was consolidated through tenor voice firmus as a result of long note values as the basis for the music around which other voices are built. Each voice part is within the range of a tenth. The length of the phrases varies from one to eight or ten in measure. It didn’t employ motivic writing; short intervals series or one interval in particular. Little is made out of chromatics except where C and F appear sharply. Suspense and passing tones are primary devices for creating dissonance and primarily used on the text’s unstressed syllables. Ockeghem’s style as a trend tried to secure internal cadences as a sense of fluidity and the harmonic relationship importance is lessened on the process. The use of imitations was increased and the canon usage was limited. The lines do not coincide with each other meaning individual voices will enter and exit freely in the text. There is unequal length of phrases. Syncopation is increased to enhance line fluidity. Medieval rhythmic Devices, as a trend was elaborated by Part who used two different rhythmic devices. He started with system of rhythmic modes and the formal society’s structural patterns. The eternal triple meter was the result of the combination. There is a different combination of short and long notes. The phrases were identified under two possible endings; masculine ending contains a rounding while the feminine lacks the final rest. This makes the feminine ending less appealing because it ends an unaccented syllable as a note. Part’s minalism, Part has minimized the rhythmic and tonal materials to bare minimum. The music was totally new and was different from the traditional music. It lies in the limited quantification of notes and the use of extended time. The whole works of art were restrained to use few words to express more. Work Cited Brown, Clive. Classical and Romantic Performing Practice 1750-1900. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Print. Read More