11/28/2023 0 Comments When did opera developIn the second half of the 18th century, tastes began to change: many composers preferred a new, lighter Galant style, with "thinner texture, . The harmonic role played by the keyboard or other chording instrument was subsidiary, and usually the keyboard part was not even written out rather, the chordal structure of the piece was specified by numeric codes over the bass line, called figured bass. In the trio sonata, there is often no ascendent or solo instrument, but all three instruments share equal importance.īaroque musicians playing a trio sonata, 18th-century anonymous painting Because each instrument was playing essentially the same melodies, all the instruments were equal. Bach: Trio sonata on YouTube from The Musical Offering, played by Ensemble Brillante īaroque chamber music was often contrapuntal that is, each instrument played the same melodic materials at different times, creating a complex, interwoven fabric of sound. Telemann's 'Tafelmusik' (1733), for example, has five sets of movements for various combinations of instruments, ending with a full orchestral section. Sometimes composers mixed movements for chamber ensembles with orchestral movements. The instrumentation of trio sonatas was also often flexibly specified some of Handel's sonatas are scored for " German flute, Hoboy or Violin" Bass lines could be played by violone, cello, theorbo, or bassoon, and sometimes three or four instruments would join in the bass line in unison. The Art of Fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach, for example, can be played on a keyboard instrument (harpsichord or organ) or by a string quartet or a string orchestra. Often, works could be played on any variety of instruments, in orchestral or chamber ensembles. Both the bass instrument and the chordal instrument would play the basso continuo part.ĭuring the Baroque period, chamber music as a genre was not clearly defined. These forms gradually developed into the trio sonata of the Baroque – two treble instruments and a bass instrument, often with a keyboard or other chording instrument ( harpsichord, organ, harp or lute, for example) filling in the harmony. The sonata da camera was a suite of slow and fast movements, interspersed with dance tunes the sonata da chiesa was the same, but the dances were omitted. These were compositions for one to five or more instruments. Some analysts consider the origin of classical instrumental ensembles to be the sonata da camera (chamber sonata) and the sonata da chiesa (church sonata). There were also purely instrumental ensembles, often of stringed precursors of the violin family, called consorts. String players would play along with the melody line sung by the singer. The analogy to conversation recurs in descriptions and analyses of chamber music compositions.įrom its earliest beginnings in the Medieval period to the present, chamber music has been a reflection of the changes in the technology and the society that produced it.Įarly beginnings Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates and Galen play a quartet on viols in this fanciful woodcut from 1516.ĭuring the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance, instruments were used primarily as accompaniment for singers. This conversational paradigm – which refers to the way one instrument introduces a melody or motif and then other instruments subsequently "respond" with a similar motif – has been a thread woven through the history of chamber music composition from the end of the 18th century to the present. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe described chamber music (specifically, string quartet music) as "four rational people conversing". Playing chamber music requires special skills, both musical and social, that differ from the skills required for playing solo or symphonic works. For more than 100 years, chamber music was played primarily by amateur musicians in their homes, and even today, when chamber music performance has migrated from the home to the concert hall, many musicians, amateur and professional, still play chamber music for their own pleasure. However, by convention, it usually does not include solo instrument performances.īecause of its intimate nature, chamber music has been described as "the music of friends". Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers, with one performer to a part (in contrast to orchestral music, in which each string part is played by a number of performers). Frederick the Great plays flute in his summer palace Sanssouci, with Franz Benda playing violin, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach accompanying on keyboard, and unidentified string players painting by Adolph Menzel (1850–52)Ĭhamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments-traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. For other uses, see Chamber music (disambiguation).
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