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.
323
questions
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1answer
18 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 ...
9
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6answers
405 views
Aldous Huxley and 5/4 Meter in Music Predating “Take 5”
Background:
"Take 5" by Dave Brubeck is one of the more famous jazz standards out there, and one thing any analyst would point out immediately is the tune's 5/4 shuffle, which from what I remember ...
2
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3answers
90 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 ...
1
vote
1answer
102 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 ...
4
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1answer
323 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
81 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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0answers
18 views
What was the well-known Russian song Lean wanted for Doctor Zhivago? [migrated]
What was the well-known Russian song Lean wanted for Doctor Zhivago? see quote:
" Initially Lean had desired to use a well-known Russian song but could not locate the rights to it, and delegated ...
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0answers
68 views
Mozart as a Freemason [closed]
Mozart's opera 'The Magic Flute' is full of masonic symbolism.
Freemasonry is all about 'brotherly love' and 'mutual aid' for fellow masons, yet Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in a pauper's grave with ...
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9answers
253 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 ...
2
votes
2answers
52 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 ...
3
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4answers
118 views
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
69 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
104 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 ...
20
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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 ...
5
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2answers
111 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"...
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1answer
60 views
What does the term “ex tempore” mean?
I was going to give an answer and in this quotation about Werckmeister I encountered the term ex tempore.
enter link description here
I first thought this means memorizing and playing by heart.
A ...
3
votes
2answers
90 views
Has it always been the tradition for conceto soloists to have their music memorized?
At all the performances of concertos I've attended, the soloists perform without sheet music, whether it is a concerto for piano, viola, or horn. Has this always been the performance tradition for ...
1
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1answer
33 views
Earliest piano lyre?
When was the first piano built/marketed/sold whose pedals were mounted on what we now call a lyre, instead of onto a harpsichord-like crossbar between the front legs?
1
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1answer
129 views
When was the change from tablatures to staff notation in the history of music?
As the other day someone asked: Why do we notate keyboard sheet music as we do ... (the question has been probably put on hold as off-topic ...)
I think this question is interesting: Why do we notate ...
4
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2answers
61 views
Books on music theory that give historical context? [closed]
Can someone recommend 1-2 books that introduce music theory but also give historical context? It is easy to find music theory books but many lack discussions of history. I'm looking for books that ...
11
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5answers
1k views
Fivefold division of the whole tone - What does it mean?
I am recently reading this article: Jan W. Herlinger. Journal of the American Musicological Society. Vol. 34, No. 2 (Summer, 1981), pp. 193-216 (Title: Marchetto's Division of the Whole Tone). In the ...
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3answers
110 views
Why is Eastern Music a Mode of Western Music?
Western music (to me at least) is best captured in the major scale. And Phrygian, which is the 3rd mode of the major scale can be used to get a more Eastern sound (for example Jefferson Airplane/White ...
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3answers
129 views
Where did JSBach study composing? Was he an autodidact? [duplicate]
We know that Bach comes from a family of musicians.
But who was his teacher in composition?. Who did he study with? Or was he self-taught?
29
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4answers
8k views
How did composers “test” their music?
How did composers "test" their music, especially in multi-instrument works
(eg. chamber, orchestra) or in pieces for instruments they didn't know how to play?
Did they really have an orchestra (for ...
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10answers
3k views
Why is reverb typically called “wet' or ”drippy"?
Reverb is a type of natural effect you can get playing in walled spaces, giving a sort of echo/reverberation as the name implies. But I'm referring more to emulated reverb through use of a guitar ...
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1answer
93 views
What do we know about the oldest found melody?
In the 1950ies there has been found a Sumerian fragment of music in Syria:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurrian_songs
The complete song is one of about 36 such hymns in cuneiform writing, found ...
0
votes
1answer
45 views
Is this accompaniment of Seîkilos Epitaph original?
I've recently asked when the polyphonic music came up. Now I've encountered this accompaniment of Seikilos Epitaph. This sounds exactly like I was imagining that the Greeks would have accompanied ...
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2answers
131 views
What does “vox humana” mean in Organ building?
Reading a thesis about temperature in Organ construction I encountered this term and I didn't know anything about it before.
So I wonder what you can tell us about "vox humana".
4
votes
1answer
331 views
What is the “Trio” in a march?
During a band rehearsal the bandmaster may ask when playing a march: Let’s start from the trio!
a) What is meant by this term?
b) where does it come from?
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4answers
508 views
Stradivaris: are they worth their price? [closed]
An ordinary violin may cost about 1000 dollars. A Stradivari may cost some millions. Why are Stradivaris so expensive? Are they worth their price?
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0answers
61 views
Efforts and examples of modernizing Indian lyrics and music?
English lyrics can express anything using “common language” (words you hear in everyday conversation) whether it’s love, politics, poverty, violence, or the end of times. English lyrics are direct, ...
2
votes
1answer
123 views
The New Complexity movement
What are the main ideas incorporated into the New Complexity movement (contemporary classical music, late 20th century)? What kind of notation, musical techniques, or theoretical ideas would composers ...
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2answers
338 views
How low is the lowest tone that a human can sing?
Thinking about the range of human voices and the bass voices - especially whether there has been an average of lowest tones through the past - I wonder which is the lowest tone that a human can ...
3
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2answers
155 views
How could the Greek (Pythagoras et al.) measure the frequencies - as they didn't have a mobile app? [duplicate]
How could the Greek (Pythagoras et al.) measure the frequencies - as they didn't have a mobile app?
They didn't have a tuning fork or any other standardized measure. But even without standards they ...
3
votes
3answers
114 views
Who has brought up the English term **figured bass** for thorough bass?
I wonder when and by whom figured bass has been introduced as synonym for thorough bass in the basso continuo. In my view this must be somehow an error or a misunderstanding of figurierter bass in ...
2
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2answers
101 views
Varied bass line and varied tune: What is the term used for this style?
I‘ve been looking for the term in English for this kind of gestures or ornamentations:
Figuration is understood in the music playing a melody in small note values, in contrast to an ornament. The ...
9
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2answers
194 views
Where is the circle of fifths mentioned for the first time?
How and when was the Circle of Fifths invented, and who is responsible for the discovery of this musical godsend?
2
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2answers
91 views
English translation of Brahms' essay: “Octaven und Quinten”?
I am now doing some research on Brahm's essay, Octaven u. Quinten. I cannot read German, so I cannot do anything with the original manuscript. I have read some secondary sources about this essay, but ...
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3answers
171 views
You are the sunshine of my life: how is this off-beat singing called?
Stevie Wonder sings in a typical style I‘d like to know the english term. I wonder as I wander through Stevie Wonders style. What is this style called?
Just syncopated?
And when came this style up? (...
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4answers
2k views
What is the name for a fluid transition between two tones? When did it first appear?
With instruments such as violins or trombones, it is possible to shift from one tone to another fluidly. What is this practice called? When has it first appeared in [Western] music?
2
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1answer
66 views
How can we play a Bach chorale in different ways? [closed]
Reconstructing Chorales: How can Bach Chorales be arranged or played differently?
Are there typical kinds of harmonization named by criteria? What would be the effects?
Some styles will be better ...
3
votes
1answer
157 views
Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring: What term is appropriate for the instrumental ornaments in Bachs Choral arrangements?
a related question asks if there is a specific term for the voicing in Bach's Chorals:
What is the term for the sung voice found especially in Bach's chorale music (eg. Jesu Joy of Man's ...
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2answers
3k views
I wish you a merry Christmas: what is this chord progression called?
Is there a special term for this chain of secondary dominants V/IV, V/V, V/vi ?
(or in C major: C,F,D,G,E,Am)
It’s a frequent chord pattern in the era of Baroque and has also been used in the ...
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2answers
73 views
Composition types of music [closed]
Composition types in Western classical music.
Is it possible for people to recognize the types of composition without the knowledge of the name given for the piece?
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5answers
4k views
Is there a relationship between prime numbers and music?
Is there a relationship between prime numbers and the series of overtones and their frequencies?
I've found links to Euler's research about math and about music, and I got goose bumps when I found ...
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2answers
91 views
History of standardization of pitch and tuning: measuring waves
The velocity of a traveling wave in a stretched string is determined by the tension and the mass per unit length of the string. for a string of length cm and mass/length = gm/m. For such a string, the ...
2
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4answers
240 views
When was the beginning of polyphony?
I've read a lot about Greek and ancient music. The history books say this music was only monophonic and we know only from iconical research (studying pictures from ancient times) of the practice of ...
1
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1answer
55 views
The Blues Face: Origins
I'm sure plenty of you guys know this situation well: Someone's playing some blues guitar lick, and right as things get real stanky, they make a weird face, seemingly in reaction to the lick they're ...
4
votes
3answers
230 views
Do accidental notes have their own name?
So if I understand correctly in western tonal music we chose 12 lucky notes that we decided use tremendously more than the others, among which we have gloriously named 7 even luckier notes as follow : ...
15
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7answers
2k views
What made 4/4 time the most common time signature?
Most music is written in 4/4 time, and in today’s world it seems to be the accepted norm. Now, that doesn’t mean mainstream music doesn’t use alternate meters, but it’s just less common than I ...
