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Classical Music and Human ValuesAn appreciation of western music and it’s relationship to human values throughout history and today.

+The Medieval World

In Greek mythology music was thought to have divine powers.

Performed by gods and demigods Heal sickness, purify the body and

mind, and work miracles

A part of religious ceremonies Ancient Greece Judaism Christianity

A part of education

Contained multiple ethnical/cultural elements

Byzantine Celtic Arabic Hindu Hebraic And more…

Music in Ancient Greece and Rome

“Music, imitates the passions or states of the soul, such as gentleness, anger, courage,

temperance, and their opposites. Music that

imitates a certain passion arouses that same passion in

the listener. Habitual listening to music that rouses

ignoble passions distorts a person’s character. In short,

the wrong kind of music makes the wrong kind of

person, and the right kind tends to make the right kind

of person.”

-Aristotle

+Music in the Middle Ages Chant

Tropes

Sequences

Liturgical Drama

Goliard Songs & Conductus

Chanson de geste

Pastoral Songs

SACRED SECULAR

Jongleurs

Troubadours & Trouvères

Minnesinger

Meistersinger Musical prayer

Focus on text (phrase, punctuation & syntax)

Biblical and varied in form for Holidays

Wine, women and satire

Could straddle a vague line between sacred and secular

Based on poetry

For dancing

Love was a major theme

+Enlightenment - 18th Century Europe

Challenged established thought and behavior

Religion Valued individual faith Practical morality over the

institution of the church

Philosophy and Science Emphasis on reasoning Study of the human mind,

emotions, social relations…

Social Behavior Natural instead of artificial

Reason and knowledge could solve social and practical problems

Musical life reflected the cosmopolitan culture A “European” musical

sound Music not limited by

national boundaries

Comical opera

French-style ballet

The Classic period Consistent high standard,

noble simplicity, form, seriousness.

VALUES MUSICSHAPING

+Nationalism GERMANY

Bach Revival Interest in folklore Wagner and the

supremacy of German music

CENTRAL EUROPE Again, a connection

with folklore and folksong

Nature and the landscape of the region

Still influenced by other European composers

RUSSIA Often based in folksong Full of national idioms Musorgsky, Rimsky –

Korsakov Still influenced by

German composers

ENGLAND Edward Elgar (1857-

1934) – first nationally recognized English composer in more than 200 years Not influenced by

folksong in the beginning

20th century nationalism

+The Calm Before the Storm - Impressionism

“Bouquet de soleils”Claude Monet1881

•First applied to a school of French painting – Monet

•Later used to describe the art, literature, and music of that period• Claude Debussy

•No religious affiliations

•Aesthetics

•Based in social and political values• Working class vision• An association with

women• Escape

+Into a New Century- Fauvism, Cubism, Dadaism

“Vase of Sunflowers”Henri Matisse1898-99

•Anti – Impressionist

•Dadaism• Anti-war• Anti – Bourgeois• Anarchist

•Eric Satie• Worked with Picasso• Set the stage for a

Neo-Classical movement

• Satirical in nature• The music itself was

spare, dry, witty, repetitive..

+Igor Stravinsky

Highly controversial choreography by Nijinsky

Primitivism “A pastorale of the prehistoric world”

Rhythm and orchestral effects were new and totally novel

Subject matter – an adolescent girl who has been chosen to sacrifice herself to death

The premiere in 1913 caused a riot

Riots at the Ballet

VIDEO LINK

+John Cage

Raised the question about the purpose and nature of music

Complex musical relationships

Music is seemingly random – Serialism

Music is not expected to communicate feelings or meanings

Influenced by Eastern

philosophies and principals

Post-war avant-garde

VIDEO LINK

+TODAY

Film

Television

Internet / Web 2.0

iTunes

Accessibility

TECHNOLOGY “CLASSICAL” MUSIC?SHAPING

IS

Do film scores represent late 20th/early 21st century composition?

Exposure through TV commercials

Met HD simulcasts – do we need to go into the opera/symphony hall anymore?

VIDEO 1 LINKVIDEO 2 LINK

+SO

UR

CES

Grout, D. J. (1960). A history of Western music. New York: Norton.

Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/07353 (accessed November 5, 2010).