Questions tagged [history]
For questions about how music has developed and changed over time or for questions about concepts and ideas of a historic period of music. Do not use just because the subject of the question is a historic figure or piece.
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Why is the Proper Sarum mode notated differently than it sounds (in the Yattendon hymnal)?
For context, image 1 is where I found this tune in another hymnal, and it looks like a sort of free-flowing attempt at notating (in standard notation) how a choir or congregation would sing. Images 2 ...
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4answers
62 views
What is it precisely in the music that makes you a 'Neoclassical' Composer?
I'm a little confused by what is meant we when say the 'Neoclassicism ' movement. Particularly this phrase from the official Wiki page.
Neoclassicism was an aesthetic trend rather than an organized ...
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1answer
80 views
What are these medieval musical instruments called? [closed]
What are the medieval musical instruments used in
La Bouree
Ballet des Sorciers
Ballet / Ballet des Bacchanales / Ballet des Matelotz /...
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2answers
48 views
How to incorporate a chorus sheet?
I'm in the process of re-producing some sheet music from the Civil War. My question involves the 'chorus sheet' found at the end of nearly every piece. For example, in this song: Save Our Flag, the ...
0
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1answer
32 views
Good sources on the history of western music theory? [closed]
I have learned a lot of music theory history piecemeal and I’m looking for a book that covers the topic in a chronological, narrative way. Ideally, the book should cover the historical progress of ...
13
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1answer
614 views
Wind instruments: why is the left hand on top?
Every wind instrument which require the two hands to press keys (saxophone, clarinet, oboe…) have the left hand of the player being the top one. This consistency makes it easier to switch from one ...
2
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2answers
88 views
Liszt Petrarch Sonnet 104
While reading my Italian edition of Petrarch's sonnets, I noticed that Sonnet 104, one of the three Liszt took inspiration from for the pieces in Années de pèlerinage, is not the famous one that is ...
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3answers
183 views
Why did baroque music use percussion abundantly, but classical stopped?
Classical music evolved from baroque music, which in turn evolved from Renaissance music. Both baroque and even more so Renaissance make extensive use of percussion. It is certainly not new to ...
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3answers
93 views
Did continuo players consider figured bass as “interval symbols” or “chord symbols”?
The "modern" idea of chords and their inversions being functionally equivalent is generally credited to Jean-Philippe Rameau's 1722 Treatise on Harmony. However, figured bass was already in ...
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2answers
89 views
Where did the term 'Tone' originate?
We use 'tone' and consequently 'semitone' a lot in music - in Western music, the semitone is the smallest possible difference between two notes. (Not including guitar bends etc!).
However, the word '...
2
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1answer
110 views
reference pitch before the invention of the tuning fork [duplicate]
What was the reference pitch before the invention of the tuning fork in 1711?
Was it somewhat a task to try and get within the ballpark of referenced pitch?
Like for instance, maybe they knew what ...
6
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2answers
292 views
History of self-duets
The lockdowns associated with current coronavirus pandemic have sparked production of self-duets. The Austrian-German concert violinist Augustin Hadelich has released a lot of piano-violin self-duets ...
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2answers
175 views
Nancarrow piano studies collections: why are they ordered that way?
The bulk of Conlon Nancarrow's musical output has been collected in the series Conlon Nancarrow: Studies for Player Piano (vol.s 1-5). My question is about the ordering of songs in this collection. ...
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3answers
146 views
Is my piano likely worth tuning? [closed]
I have an E Belling upright piano that is about 180 years old - dating from around 1840 - that has been in my family since its first owner, my great-great-grandmother, who was given it for her 16th ...
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6answers
808 views
Why is 'Narrative Music' not considered 'complete/absolute'?
I have recently become obsessed with HECTOR BERLIOZ. His Symphonie Fantastique is tremendous. This made me research him further when I was disturbed to find out the following:
...
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1answer
63 views
Why does Rachmaninoff Symphony 2 mvmt. 3 sound so similar to Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet love theme?
I get that they were both meant to convey love, but to me it sounds too similar to be a coincidence that Rach and Tchaik both hear love as the same (especially that rising line in the violins). Why is ...
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5answers
205 views
Does the piano really originate as a combination between drumming and guitar?
I heard this concept from one my friends, who is a guitar player, that first the guitar and the drum were created, and then somebody decided to drum on guitar and so was the piano born.
I really ...
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1answer
89 views
How is the Santur (Santour / Santoor) usually tuned (in pure intonation)?
From what I've read the Persian Santur is usually tuned to the Phyrgian mode, but what are the actual frequencies or ratios of the notes? How would I tune one by ear? e.g. a piano tuner might count ...
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3answers
109 views
Is there a term in English to characterize the male/female bipolarity of major and minor tonality?
Is there any association of dur and moll with male and female like in European compositions to define the polarity of major and minor tonalities in orchestral works like symphonies?
Edit:
To avoid ...
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6answers
750 views
How come modern modes are based on the same set of intervals?
I couldn't find any answer regarding this specifically, so I assume there's some basic concept behind this that I missed.
So, as far as I know:
Modern modes are based on the same set of intervals, ...
4
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2answers
97 views
Why the F clef and G clef? [duplicate]
We understand that the bass clef is called the F clef, while the treble is called the G clef. It's to do with where the strange signs are on each staff. But why those notes in particular?
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3answers
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What is the rationale of electronic keyboards having the voices that they do?
It inevitably starts with a piano voice, then electric piano voices. Chromatically pitched percussion, guitars, strings, and so on, ending with drums. Even the most limited of keyboards have this ...
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2answers
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How was sheet music printed before the advent of computers?
Computers have made the process of creating printed music incredibly easy and accessible. But how did publishers create nice-looking printed music before the advent of computers? It's hard for me to ...
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4answers
347 views
How often do we see the likes of Alexandra Dovgan in history?
I'm not all that up to snuff on classical music history but as far as I know the last time we saw a child play like Alexandra Dovgan was Clara Schuman. Does anyone else know any other child ...
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2answers
59 views
Why is the numbering scheme of the Telemann-Werke-Verzeichnis (TWV) not adopted more universally?
Telemann's works are numbered first according to genre, then, where applicable, by key (with minor keys in lowercase and major keys in uppercase), and finally (if possible) chronologically or else at ...
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1answer
88 views
Is there symbolism in Brahms No. 1? How does this, and the “struggle between major and minor,” square with his views about absolute music?
I've been learning about the War of the Romantics, and I'm trying to understand Brahms's symphony.
I've long seen what I recognize as literary techniques in Brahms's music. For example, in mvt. IV of ...
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2answers
105 views
What is a **Ruggiero** in music?
I have once heard this term Ruggiero in a discussion about a Baroque composition on the radio.
I thought it could be this walking bass line of 4 notes we know so well from Bach's concertos: "so la ...
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1answer
60 views
Celtic modes, what modes are these?
I know the ancient Greek modes and the Gregorian modes of the medieval era. Reading in a comment the term Celtic modes I wonder is there something different or special that I have missed until today?
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2answers
1k views
What kind of musical scales did the ancient “pagan” tribes use before Roman/Greek contact?
As far as I know, the "western musical scale" is a greek invention. In Indian and Arabic music you find other scales (and time signatures as well).
What sort of scales and time signatures did the ...
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0answers
108 views
Who Were Art Tatum's Influences?
Art Tatum is one of the most influential figures in the history of jazz piano. He propelled the music forward perhaps more than any other jazz pianist. Specifically, Art was known for his ...
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1answer
61 views
Identifying a musical system [closed]
Several years ago I was browsing about history of computers and old day computers, and downloaded various images, from Google, maybe from a blog or websites on older generation computers.
One of ...
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0answers
32 views
What are good resources for research on a particular work? [closed]
Are there some well-known resources for scholars, like JSTOR is for academic papers, or specialized publications?
Any type of investigation on a work is of interest, musical analysis, theory, ...
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2answers
56 views
Original sources for note-increment dot
A dot after a note adds half of its duration. This is called a “dotted note”. I am interested in the history of the dot itself. How is it called, and what is its origin. I’m looking for earliest ...
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2answers
57 views
Why are western double-reed instruments smoother than double-reed instruments outside Europe?
When one thinks of the timbre of double reed instruments, we tend to divide them as two groups:
Oboe, English horn, bassoon. (Western instruments.) The sound is very smooth and pure.
Other double-...
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2answers
138 views
What is Echo (a type of dance)?
This question is about a type of Baroque dance called Echo. For example, Bach: Overture in the French Style in B Minor, BWV 831 - VIII. Echo.
Why it is called Echo? I searched in wikipdiea, but out ...
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2answers
458 views
What scale were the very first modes based on?
If all modes derive from a scale which scale were the very first modes derived from? I know the modern modes are derived from the diatonic scale but if the first modes came before the major and minor ...
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2answers
228 views
Is the Descending Fifths sequence also an Ascending Fourths sequence ? Who is the original source of this sequence?
Can the Descending Fifths sequence also be correctly named as an Ascending Fourth's sequence ?
in major : I - IV - vii dim - iii - vi - ii - V - I
Is Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) and his Canon in D ...
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2answers
146 views
Pandiatonicism in “She’s leaving home” (Beatles)?
In a documentary about the Beatles it was said She’s leaving home is in aeolian mode. I thought this would be rather dorian as we have a major 6th in the scale passage of the cello after the first ...
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8answers
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Aldous Huxley and 5/4 Meter in Music Predating “Take 5”
Background:
"Take 5" by Paul Desmond (and famously recorded by the Dave Brubeck Quartet) is one of the more famous jazz standards out there, and one thing any analyst would point out ...
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3answers
115 views
Meaningfully significant BPMs
A bit of a trivial question perhaps, but are there any historically/intrinsically meaningful BPMs?
As in, there's obviously 60 bpm. I ask because while trying to correct my rushing, I've noticed ...
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1answer
137 views
Did J.S.Bach know the categories *major* and minor* when he wrote his WTC?
Something interesting: I've read the other day that Bach when he wrote his WTC there he didn't know the terms *major" and "minor".
I can't find the source again but may be someone can help me. May ...
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1answer
411 views
staff, grand staff, staves? what does it mean?
I've understood that staff is one system of 5 note lines and the term for both systems (l. & r. h. keyboard) is grand staff, is this correct? ... while in a full score would be several staves?
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4answers
85 views
Did the music of the common practice period always end with a full measure?
If there are pieces which end with an incomplete measure, then what would be some examples? And is there a term for an incomplete measure at the end? Something that would be the opposite of anacrusis.
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9answers
288 views
How was violin practiced before electronics, say, in the 1800s?
One might say with an instructor, but how about when not in the presence of their instructor?
How did beginning students practice hitting the right notes?
For example, there were no electronic ...
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2answers
83 views
Where can I read more about Monteverdi's role in the evolution of the orchestra?
I have seen it mentioned here and there that Claudio Monteverdi was the first composer to score for a specific set of instruments, for his opera Orfeo in 1607, and that this had a significant impact ...
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4answers
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What is the significance of triads in western music?
I am a beginner to western classical music. In Howard Goodall's The Story of Music, he mentions “Triads are the chords around which every harmonic, or chordal, journey is structured, in virtually all ...
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1answer
76 views
Where can I find accurate traditional sheet music online? [closed]
A lot of the sites I see are arrangements or versions transcribed by others; although this is somewhat good, I am looking for more accurate sources for traditional songs in the category of; Holiday/...
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2answers
121 views
Was there a conscious decision of medieval composers to compose within a harmonic framework?
How much were medieval composers (such as Hildegard von Bingen) aware of modal approach when they composed and "engineered" their pieces?
Now, this question is almost stupid. They didn't compose ...
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9answers
6k views
Why did we never simplify key signatures?
I understand that the key signature indicates what are the exact notes represented on the staff lines and spaces and thus tells us the diatonic scale in which the music is composed, which in turns ...
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2answers
132 views
When was “Nashville Tuning” invented?
Answering a question about alternate tuning today got me thinking about Nashville Tuning and that this is basically the exact same concept used by Stanley Clarke (and apparently Ron Carter) to "invent"...
