Music & Art Charms

Music is likely to have played a significant role in the human life cycle even before we could speak. There is compelling evidence that prehistoric humans made primitive flutes out of animal bones and accompanied their melodies with percussion instruments made of stones and wood. To form social bonds or soothe a restless child, our distant ancestors would have relied on voice as their first and most natural form of expression. The music we know and love today has grown and flourished from these humble beginnings.

There is a clear distinction between sacred and secular music as we progress through the history of music, but it wasn’t until many years later that these categories were defined in this way.

Pre-Christian Greek and Roman music incorporated elements from both the west and east. Traveling musicians may have brought a wealth of new musical ideas and practices.

Scientists and musicologists can now speculate about how ancient Greek music might have sounded thanks to fragments of Greek notation that have survived. However, modality in Greek music is perhaps the most striking link between this music and those that followed.

Our knowledge about Roman and Greek musical instruments can be found in the frescos and some written accounts, including the Bible. However, the lyre and trumpet are both important instruments to have in your toolbox when it comes to poetry.

Monasteries and abbeys spread across Europe in the first century and became centers for developing sacred music among the faithful.

With the rise of Christianity came a new liturgy that required a new musical style to accompany it. Although the practices and beliefs of the Hebrew people influenced early Christian music, what emerged, as a result, became the foundation for sacred music for centuries. Strict adherence to the sacred Latin texts was maintained in the composition of the chants, which were only performed for God’s glory. When it came to musical accompaniment, there were no flourishes or frills.

According to tradition, Pope Gregory (AD 540-604) was responsible for advancing sacred music by creating what is known as Gregorian Chant, which features an open, perfect fifth.

However, the name has stuck, and the music remains distinct and vital as it moves away from plainchant toward polyphony despite some controversy surrounding this claim. Even in the Jewish people’s religious songs, a second vocal line was often supported by a droning drone that remained constant.

Beethoven stands out as the most influential composer when it comes to the transition from the Classical to the Romantic eras (1780–1880). The immense genius of Beethoven shaped the following decades by redefining many of the Classical era’s established musical conventions. He is nearly unmatched by others in his sonatas and concertos.

During the Romantic era, composers were encouraged to write more expressive and diverse music because of the advancements in the quality and range of many instruments. As a result, they were free to express their deepest feelings and dreams in expansive landscapes such as the Romantic orchestra.

“Symphonie Fantastique” by Berlioz or Wagner’s “Great Operas” are two examples of this. Along with Richard Strauss’ tone poems, Gustav Mahler’s symphonies stand as stone pillars of achievement at the close of the Romantic period.

We can’t even begin to imagine what comes next after such a glorious, heroic period in musical history, but things start to change dramatically as we enter the 20th century. Of course, the music of Elgar, Shostakovich, and Arthur Bliss still carries echoes of the Romantic Era into the next century. Still, it is the music of France, which we have named impressionism, that catches our attention.

Claude Debussy and Édouard Ravel are two of the most prominent composers of this vibrant style popularized by Monet and Manet.

Both Ravel and Debussy wrote a great deal of piano music heavily influenced by poetry. Musical compositions from their orchestral works are some of the most beautiful and evocative in the world.

The second Viennese school began to revolutionize the German world at the same time. Having grown tired of the limitations of tonality, Schoenberg decided to abandon it in favor of a twelve-tone serial system that gave each step of the chromatic scale equal musical importance. Atonal serial music resulted in a musical revolution, unlike anything that had ever occurred before.