The Classical Music Book

Description

This original, graphic-led book explores and explains the key ideas underpinning the world's greatest classical compositions and musical traditions, defines their importance to the musical canon, and places them into their wider social, cultural, and historical context. The nineteenth title in DK's bestselling Big Ideas series, The Classical Music Book combines accessible, authoritative text with bold explanatory graphics to make the subject of classical music approachable to readers with an interest in the subject who want to learn more while still offering enough to appeal to music aficionados. From early devotional works to the great symphonies of the Classical and Romantic eras and the diverse and often challenging works of the modern era, The Classical Music Book looks at more than 90 key pieces of music and explores the salient themes and ideas behind each of them. Contents......Page 8 12 INTRODUCTION......Page 14 EARLY MUSIC 1000–1400......Page 20 24 Ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la......Page 24 26 We should sing psalms on a ten-string psaltery......Page 28 28 To sing is to pray twice......Page 30 32 Tandaradei, sweetly sang the nightingale......Page 34 36 Music is a science that makes you laugh, sing, and dance......Page 38 RENAISSANCE 1400–1600......Page 40 42 Not a single piece of music composed before the last 40 years … is worth hearing......Page 44 43 Tongue, proclaim the mystery of the glorious body......Page 45 44 Hear the voyce and prayer......Page 46 46 The eternal father of Italian music......Page 48 52 That is the nature of hymns—they make us want to repeat them......Page 54 54 All the airs and madrigals … whisper softness......Page 56 55 This feast … did even ravish and stupefie all those strangers that never heard the like......Page 57 56 My lute, awake!......Page 58 BAROQUE 1600–1750......Page 60 62 One of the most magnificent and expensefull diversions......Page 64 64 Music must move the whole man......Page 66 70 Lully merits with good reason the title of prince of French musicians......Page 72 72 He had a peculiar genius to express the energy of English words......Page 74 78 The object of churches is not the bawling of choristers......Page 80 84 What the English like is something they can beat time to......Page 86 80 The new Orpheus of our times......Page 82 82 The uniting of the French and Italian styles must create the perfection of music......Page 84 90 Do not expect any profound intention, but rather an ingenious jesting with art......Page 92 92 Spring has come, and with it gaiety......Page 94 98 The end and final aim of all music should be none other than the glory of God......Page 100 106 Telemann is above all praise......Page 108 107 His whole heart and soul were in his harpsichord......Page 109 108 Bach is like an astronomer, who … finds the most wonderful stars......Page 110 CLASSICAL 1750–1820......Page 114 116 Its forte is like thunder, its crescendo a cataract......Page 118 118 The most moving act in all of opera......Page 120 120 We must play from the soul, not like trained birds......Page 122 122 I was forced to become original......Page 124 128 The most tremendous genius raised Mozart above all masters......Page 130 132 The object of the piano is to substitute one performer for a whole orchestra......Page 134 134 We walk, by the power of music, in joy through death’s dark night......Page 136 138 I live only in my notes......Page 140 ROMANTIC 1810–1920......Page 144 146 The violinist isthat peculiarlyhuman phenomenon …half tiger, half poet......Page 148 148 Give me a laundry list, and I will set it to music......Page 150 149 Music is truly love itself......Page 151 150 No one feels another’s grief, no one understands another’s joy......Page 152 156 Music is like a dream. One that I cannot hear......Page 158 162 Instrumentation is at the head of the march......Page 164 164 Simplicity is the final achievement......Page 166 166 My symphonies would have reached Opus 100 if I had written them down......Page 168 170 The last note was drowned … in a unanimous volley of plaudits......Page 172 174 I love Italian opera—it’s so reckless......Page 176 176 Who holds the devil, let him hold him well......Page 178 178 And the dancers whirl around gaily in the waltz’s giddy mazes......Page 180 179 I live in music like a fish in water......Page 181 180 Opera must make people weep, feel horrified, die......Page 182 188 He … comes as if sent straight from God......Page 190 190 The notes dance up there on the stage......Page 192 192 A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything......Page 194 194 Emotional art is a kind of illness......Page 196 198 If a composer could say what he had to say in words, he would not bother saying it in music......Page 200 NATIONALISM 1830–1920......Page 204 206 My fatherland means more to me than anything else......Page 208 207 Mussorgsky typifies the genius of Russia......Page 209 208 I am sure my music has a taste of cod fish in it......Page 210 210 I wanted to do something different......Page 212 212 The music of the people is like a rare and lovely flower......Page 214 216 Music is a language of the intangible......Page 218 218 The art of music above all the other arts is expression of the soul......Page 220 220 I am a slave to my themes, and submit to their demands......Page 222 222 Spanish music with a universal accent......Page 224 223 A wonderful maze of rhythmical dexterities......Page 225 MODERN 1900–1950......Page 226 228 I go to see the shadow you have become......Page 230 232 I want women to turn their minds to big and difficult jobs......Page 234 240 An audience shouldn’t listen with complacency......Page 242 246 I haven’t understood a bar of music in my life, but I have felt it......Page 248 254 Stand up and take your dissonance like a man......Page 254 256 I have never written a note I didn’t mean......Page 258 258 Life is a lot like jazz … it’s better when you improvise......Page 260 262 A mad extravaganza at the edge of the abyss......Page 264 263 I come with the youthful spirit of my country, with youthful music......Page 265 264 Musically, there is not a single center of gravity in this piece......Page 266 266 The only love affair I ever had was with music......Page 268 268 Science alone can infuse music with youthful vigor......Page 270 270 A nation creates music. The composer only arranges it......Page 272 272 I detest imitation. I detest hackneyed devices......Page 274 273 Balinese music retained a rhythmic vitality both primitive and joyous......Page 275 274 Real music is always revolutionary......Page 276 280 My music is natural, like a waterfall......Page 282 282 Never was I listened to with such rapt attention and comprehension......Page 284 284 I must create order out of chaos......Page 286 286 The music is so knit … that it takes you in very strong hands and leads you into its own world......Page 288 288 Composing is like driving down a foggy road......Page 290 CONTEMPORARY......Page 296 298 Sound is the vocabulary of nature......Page 300 302 I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas; I’m frightened of the old ones......Page 304 306 He has changed our view of musical time and form......Page 308 308 The role of the musician … is perpetual exploration......Page 310 309 Close communion with the people is the natural soil nourishing all my work......Page 311 310 I was struck by the emotional charge of the work......Page 312 312 Once you become an ism, what you’re doing is dead......Page 314 314 I desire to carve … a single painful tone as intense as silence itself......Page 316 316 In music … things don’t get better or worse: they evolve and transform themselves......Page 318 318 If you tell me a lie, let it be a black lie......Page 320 320 The process of substituting beats for rests......Page 322 321 We were so far ahead … because everyone else stayed so far behind......Page 323 322 This must be the first purpose of art … to change us......Page 324 323 I could start out from the chaos and create order in it......Page 325 324 Volcanic, expansive, dazzling—and obsessive......Page 326 325 My music is written for ears......Page 327 326 Blue … like the sky. Where all possibilities soar......Page 328 328 The music uses simple building blocks and grows organically from there …......Page 330 329 This is the core of who we are and what we need to be......Page 331 330 DIRECTORY......Page 332 340 GLOSSARY......Page 342 344 INDEX......Page 346 351 QUOTE ATTRIBUTIONS......Page 353 352 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 354