Author, Lecturer, Broadcaster & Cultural Arts Expert;
President of Art Collage JANG/J Music/J Art/J Books & Media.
Author of over 40 books published on Amazon, including The Crimson Horror series and The Great and Immortal Painters’ Stories series.
Dedicated to sharing insights into art, culture, literature, and creative expression through writing, lectures, media, and content creation.
This week's
lecture is “George Frideric Handel”, the 5th topic of “Classical Music”, which is a summary of the contents of “90.
Classical Music: 5. George Frideric Handel”introduced
on June 3rd, 2017.
George
Frideric Handel was a German-born composer who was born on February 23, 1685
and died on April 14, 1759. Along with Johann Sebastian Bach, he is a composer
representing the Baroque era.
Handel, Balthasar Denner (1733)
Educated in music in his hometown Halle, Handel
worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy, and then settled in London in 1712,
where he spent most of his career and naturalized to England in 1727. He was
strongly influenced both by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and
by composers of the Italian Baroque.
Having achieved success with the oratorio
“Messiah”, Handel no longer composed Italian operas. His works, "Water
Music" and "Music for the Royal Fireworks" are steadfastly
gaining popularity.
The Great Music Hall in Fishamble Street, Dublin, where Messiah was first performed
The “Water Music” is a collection of orchestral movements,
often published as three suites. It was composed at the request of King George
I of England for a concert on the River Thames and premiered on July 17, 1717.
Handel (left) and King George I on the River Thames, 17 July 1717, Edouard Hamman
“Music for the Royal Fireworks” is a suite for wind instruments composed by
Handel at the request of George II of England for the fireworks scheduled to be
held at Green Park in London on April 27, 1749.
Green Park, London
Unlike other musicians, Handel,
who is optimistic and free-minded, has accumulated a lot of wealth because of
his entrepreneurial skills, but he has lived a life of twists and turns, with
repeated failures. Almost
blind, he died in 1759, and his funeral was held at Westminster Abbey.
Handel's monument, Westminster Abbey
Handel
composed more than forty operas for over thirty years. Since the late 1960s,
interest in Handel's music has grown, and his music exerted a strong influence
on Classical-era composers, including Mozart and Beethoven.
A carved marble statue of Handel, Louis-François Roubiliac, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (1738)
This week's
lecture is “Johann Sebastian Bach”, the 4th topic of “Classical Music”, which is a summary of the contents of “89.
Classical Music: 4. Johann Sebastian Bach” introduced
on May 27th, 2017.
Johann
Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period, born
March 31, 1685 and died July 28, 1750. He is known for instrumental music such
as the Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations, and for vocal music
such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th century
Bach Revival, he is now regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.
Johann Sebastian Bach, Elias Gottlob Haussmann (1746)
When Johann
Sebastian was born as the last child of a musician living in Eisenach, there
were already several composers in the Bach family. After being orphaned at the
age of 10, Bach lived with his elder brother Johann Christoph for five years,
after which he continued his musical framework in Lüneburg.
Johann Ambrosius Bach, Bach's father
Returning to
Thuringia in 1703, he worked as a musician for Protestant churches in Arnstadt
and Mühlhausen, at courts in Weimar, where he expanded his organ repertoire,
and in Köthen, where he mainly devoted to chamber music.
The Wender organ Bach played in Arnstadt
From 1723 he worked as
Thomaskantor (cantor at St. Thomas) in Leipzig and composed music for the
city's principal Lutheran churches and for its university's student ensemble,
Collegium Musicum.
St. Thomas Church and School, Leipzig (1723)
However, Bach, who tried to carry out his own ideals to the
end, had frequently difficult relations with his employers, such as the
officials of the city or the heads of the churches, and as a result, he seems
to have gradually lost his enthusiasm for the composition of church music. He
reworked and extended many of his earlier works during the last decades of his
life, and died in 1750 at the age of 65 due to complications after eye surgery.
Bach's own
mastery of counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation and his adaptation
of rhythms and forms from abroad, especially from Italy and France, enriched
German musical style more than the established style.
A bust of Johann Sebastian Bach, St Nicholas Church, Leipzig
In the 18th
century, Bach was appreciated for his keyboard music such as The Well-Tempered
Clavier with its didactic features, but primarily valued as an organist. In the
19th century, some of Bach's major biographies were published, and by the end
of that century all of his known music had been printed.
J.S. Bach memorial in front of the church St. Thomas, Leipzig, Germany
From his
early age, Bach studied the works of his period and those of prior generations,
and those influences was reflected in his music. Like his contemporaries
Handel, Telemann and Vivaldi, Bach composed concertos, suites, recitatives, da
capo arias, and four-part choral music, but his music was harmonically more
innovative than his peer composers.
This week's
lecture is “Antonio Vivaldi”, the third topic of “Classical Music”, which is a
summary of the contents of “88. Classical Music: 3.
Antonio Vivaldi” introduced on May 20th, 2017.
Antonio
Vivaldi from Venice was a Baroque composer, Virtuoso violinist, teacher,
impresario and Roman Catholic priest, born March 4, 1678 and died July 28,
1741.
Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi influenced all
over Europe during his life and played a major role in the development of
Johann Sebastian Bach's instrumental music.
Johann Sebastian Bach
He composed a number of
instrumental concertos for a variety of musical instruments, including violins,
sacred choral works and more than 40 operas. His most famous work is a series
of violin concertos known as “The Four Seasons”.
Title page of Vivaldi's "Cimento dell'Armonia e dell'Invenzione", which included "The Four Seasons"
His father,
Giovanni Battista Vivaldi, was a famous violinist of his time, and Vivaldi, who
inherited a musical talent from his father, showed exceptional musical talent
from an early age. However, since Vivaldi was not in good health from birth,
his parents sent him to a monastery for priestly lessons rather than making him
a musician.
Caricature of composer Antonio Vivaldi, Pier Leone Ghezzi
In 1703,
Vivaldi became a priest of the monastery, but his prestige as a musician
increased as he became more involved in musical performance and composition
than in the performance of priesthood. In the same year, in 1703, Vivaldi
became a violin teacher at the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for orphans, and
many of the work he made were written for the all-female music ensemble there.
Commemorative plaque beside the Ospedale della Pietà
Vivaldi had worked there as a Catholic priest for 18 months, and was employed
there from 1703 to 1715 and from 1723 to 1740. After meeting the Emperor
Charles VI, Vivaldi moved to Vienna in anticipation of royal support, but the
Emperor died shortly after he moved, and he died in poverty less than a year
later.
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Vivaldi's
music, which was then forgotten for almost two centuries, revived in the early
20th century through much scholarly research for his work, and many of his
works that were once thought lost have also been rediscovered. His music is
still loved in the present day and played regularly all over the world.
This week's lecture is “History”
of Classical Music, the second topic of “Classical
Music”, which is a summary of the contents of “87. Classical Music: 2. History” introduced
on May 13th, 2017.
Western music is
classified by period as follows.
1) Ancient music period
(before AD 500)
2) Medieval era
(500–1420)
3) Renaissance era
(1400–1600)
4) Baroque era
(1600–1750)
5) Classical era
(1750–1820)
6) Romantic era
(c.1800–1910)
7) Modernist era
(1890~)
1) Ancient music period
(before AD 500)
Symposium scene, c. 490 BCE
Various traces of music
can be found in ancient murals and sculptures, and music-related gods are
frequent in ancient Greek and Roman mythology. Especially, as Apollon was the
god of music among the Greek gods, it can be seen that music was closely related
to life for the Greeks.
Apollon
However, the music of the Ancient Greece was the basic
one that was mainly composed of simple melodies compared to the music of the
present day, and the music of the Ancient Rome was the succession and
development of this Ancient Greek music. In the Ancient Rome, music developed
enough to hold large-scale musical events in the amphitheatre.
The Colosseum, the largest amphitheatre ever built
2) Medieval era
(500–1420)
Troubadours entertaining a monarch
The oldest Western
music that remains close to the original today are those created in the
Medieval era. In this era when everything was stipulated by God, only music
that praised God was recognized. The mainstream music in this era was Christian
music, and it developed around church music. The motherhood of Western music
today is the music of this era, and the most distinctive is Gregorian chant. By
the 8th century, monophonic chant gradually developed into polyphonic chant,
and by the 11th century, secular music began to appear in addition to chant.
The most epoch-making development in the history of Western music during this
period was the musical notation method, through which the principles of music
was systematically organized, and many people could share the music by putting
it on the staff as musical notes.
3) Renaissance era
(1400–1600)
John Dunstaple (c. 1390–1453)
The Renaissance era
refers to the period of literary revival that began in Italy around the 15th
century and spread throughout Europe. Based on the consciousness that humans
should be free from the bondage of religion and the church, this movement
pursued the value that humans should be the center in all areas, including
politics and religion. Secular music and church music have been distinguished
as the value of the existence of music has changed to a human center. As
monophonic music was transformed into polyphonic music, it began to have a more
sophisticated composition with a compositional technique called counterpoint.
During this period, while vocal music became the mainstream, music for keyboard
instruments and lutes were made, and opera began to become popular in Italy.
4) Baroque era
(1600–1750)
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687)
During this period of
great social change through the Reformation, church-centered music developed
into court- and noble-centered music as the centralized absolute monarchy was
strengthened in European countries. In this era, all styles, including art
field, were extremely decorative, loud, and took on more complex and diverse
forms, and music of various musical styles with a larger scale and wider range
of expressions were born. The distinction between vocal music and instrumental music
was made clear, and many genres of music such as sonatas and cantata appeared
as keyboard instruments such as harpsichord and organ and many instruments such
as violin, viola and cello were made. The biggest change is that the system of
major and minor in composition has been fully framed and clarified. The musical
features of the Baroque era were compiled by Bach and Handel, and in addition,
Monteverdi, Vivaldi, and Telemann gained a reputation as representative
composers of the Baroque era.
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767)
5) Classical era
(1750–1820)
Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
While the Baroque era
was a time when musical diversity was dynamically expressed, the decorative and
formalistic aspects were strongly revealed, and a new consciousness against
such authoritarianism began to arise. In other words, as the Lumières, based on
the idea that all human beings are equal, emerged, the consciousness that music
must exist for all people has begun to arise. The Lumières, which began to take
root from the middle of the 18th century to the early 19th century, began to be
expressed mainly in the field of music, centering on Vienna. The music deviated
from a series of styles based on counterpoint, and pursued the beauty of music
itself, and respected harmony, unity and formal beauty based on harmony. This
music style was established as a new style in Mozart and Haydn, whose musical
style later dominated Europe. The most striking characteristic of the music in
this period are that the melody and harmony became simpler and expressed pure
beauty in balance between the melody and harmony compared to decorative Baroque
music. In addition, by marking all chords on the score, the improvisation style
disappeared and the tendency to play as indicated in the score began to settle.
This period was a time when instrumental music represented all music as marked
changes in the field of instrumental music, and the sonata form, the basic
style of symphony and concerto, was established. It was also a time when
musicians were able to engage in independent music activities, whereas in the
past, musicians could not do music without the support of nobles.
6) Romantic era
(c.1800–1910)
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
In the 19th century,
musicians who followed a certain form and theme required by the music of
Classical era gradually showed a tendency to express their own individuality
and feelings, and the music that reflects this tendency is called Romantic
music. While Classical music emphasized contrast or change in the subject
matter in music, Romantic music attempted to express the composer's emotions in
various forms and as a literary theme. The rise of status due to the economic
and social independence of composers and a free creative atmosphere also played
a big role. The composer who opened the door to Romantic era was Beethoven,
followed by Schubert, Weber, Chopin, Mendelssohn, and many other composers to
enrich the music of Romantic era.
7) Modernist era
(1890~)
Richard Strauss (1864–1949)
Music in the 20th
century is characterized by its radicality, diversity, complexity, and
experimentation. In this era, the music became very vast in terms of quantity,
and Romanticism, Impressionism, Expressionism and Nationalism coexisted.
Symphony, opera, electronic music, practical music and jazz were mixed, and
several new expression styles were embodied in the work of one composer. The
prosperity of the music recording and audio-related industries due to the
development of technology, and the rise of commerciality resulting from this
are also the hallmarks of this era.
