Classical and Popular Music Traditions in the Nineteenth Century

The nineteenth century was a time of great change for music. Classical traditions were breaking down and new, popular styles were emerging. In this blog, we’ll explore the different musical traditions of the nineteenth century and how they influenced each other.

Classical Music

The term ‘classical music’ is used to refer to a particular tradition of music from the Western culture. This tradition covers a broad range of styles, which were developed over a period of more than 1000 years. The history of classical music can be traced back to the 9th century.

Origins

The origins of classical music can be traced back to the social and religious changes in Europe during the Middle Ages, which led to the development of new musical styles. One of the key figures in this process was Guillaume de Machaut, a fourteenth-century French composer who wrote some of the first polyphonic (multi-voiced) music. Other important composers of this period include Francesco Landini and Giovanni da Palestrina.

The Renaissance (c. 1400-1600) was a period of great creativity in music, with the development of new genres such as the madrigal and the mass. Major composers included Josquin des Prez, Palestrina, Giovanni Gabrieli, and William Byrd.

Classical music as we know it today began in the Baroque period (c. 1600-1750), when new musical styles were developed that featured elaborate ornamentation and large-scale works for orchestra and voice. Important composers from this period include Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Antonio Vivaldi, and Domenico Scarlatti.

The Romantic Period

The Romantic period (1820–1900) was a time when people placed more importance on emotion and imagination than on reason. It was also a time when composers tried to break free of the constraints of Classicism and explore new ideas in music.

During the Romantic period, music became more expressive and emotional, with larger orchestras and greater dynamic range. Composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Francois Chopin, Frederic chopin, Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Giuseppe Verdi, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky created works that are still popular today.

The Romantic period was also a time when many composers began to experiment with new musical forms and styles. Opera underwent a major transformation during this time, with composers such as Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner creating works that are still performed today. Other important genres that emerged during the Romantic period include the symphonic poem and the concert overture.

The Development of National Schools

During the nineteenth century, music became increasingly intertwined with other forms of activity and knowledge, as part of what Lloyd Whitesell calls the “expansion of music.” This expansion was due in large part to two processes that took place during the century: first, the increasing technical mastery of instrumental performance and compositional technique; and second, the ever-widening dissemination of music through print media and public concert life. These developments worked together to create a situation in which music came to be seen as an important element in the lives of a growing number of people.

The process of expansion was not uniform, however. While some traditions—such as those associated with “art music”—remained largely exclusive to elite social groups, others became more accessible to wider audiences. One significant consequence of this was the rise of what we might call “national schools” of composition, in which composers sought to create works that would be identifiably linked to the culture and history of their particular nation.

This process was most clearly seen in Germany, where a strong sense of national identity had been developing since the eighteenth century. The German composer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was a key figure in this movement, and his influence can be seen in the work of many later German composers, including Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47), Robert Schumann (1810–56), and Johannes Brahms (1833–97). The idea of creating a specifically German style of music was also taken up byRichard Wagner (1813–83), whose operas would come to epitomize what many people think of as “German” music.

Other countries saw similar developments. In Italy, for example, Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) created a body of work that came to be seen as emblematic of Italian opera; while in Russia, composers such as Mikhail Glinka (1804–57) and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–93) wrote music that drew on Russian folk traditions and brought them to new audiences around the world.

Popular Music

Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It is made by the people for the people. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional folk music. Art music was historically disseminated through the performances of written music, although since the beginning of the recording industry, it is also disseminated through recordings. Traditional folk music has been orally passed down from generation to generation.

The Rise of the Music Hall

In the early nineteenth century, popular music was often heard in public places, such as taverns and dance halls. This began to change in the 1830s with the rise of the music hall. Music halls were large, purpose-built theaters that offered a variety of entertainment, including singing and comedy. They quickly became one of the most popular forms of entertainment in Britain and Ireland.

The music hall was a key factor in the growth of popular music in the nineteenth century. It provided a space for musicians to perform for a large audience, and many famous performers got their start in the music hall. The popularity of the music hall also helped to spread popular music to a wider audience.

The Birth of the Blues

The birth of the blues is often dated to what is known as the ?Bluegrass breakdown,? a style of fiddle playing that was common in the rural South in the late nineteenth century. Fiddlers would frequently use a Pentatonic scale, which consists of five notes within an octave, to play their tunes. The use of this scale gave the music a distinctly ?bluesy? sound.

The first commercial recordings of blues music were made by the singer Mamie Smith in 1920. Her recordings were immensely popular, and they helped to spark a new interest in this style of music. In the years that followed, many other blues artists began to gain popularity, including Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Blind Lemon Jefferson.

The blues quickly spread beyond its origins in the American South and became popular in other parts of the United States and even internationally. In the 1930s, for example, artists such as Django Reinhardt and Stepan Grappelli were playing blues-influenced jazz in Europe. And in the 1940s and 1950s, blues musicians such as Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf helped to shape the sound of early rock and roll.

Jazz

Jazz is a music genre that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was developed from a mix of African and European musical traditions. Its roots come from the folk music of slavery and from the spirituals, work songs, field hollers, and chants of African Americans.

The style is characterized by swung and syncopated rhythms, polyphonic ensemble playing, varying degrees of improvisation, often call-and-response patterns, and a strong blues or gospel influence. Jazz became popular across the world in the 1920s as a result of the US military band led by Lt. James Reese Europe touring Europe after World War I.

Jazz has been called America’s classical music because of its persistence and development for more than 100 years. It has also been described as “the sound of surprise” because it often incorporates unexpected harmonic or rhythmic changes.