Western Classical Music

The Symphony Orchestra of India

Hey guys! Last week, we gave a brief introduction to Indian classical music, with a small amount of information on western music as well. Now that you're clear on these concepts(or so we hope), you can go ahead with this post on western classical music.

What exactly is western classical music? Well, it's a period of music starting from about the 11th century CE. This was the period when music was being composed and popularized in Europe. Throughout the times, there have been 2 main branches of classical music, namely church music and secular music. Church music was composed out of devotion to god and involved chants, carols and masses (much like the Indian bhakti geete). Some church composers include Bach, Bruckner and Haydn.

Secular music consisted of non-religious pieces such as symphonies, operas and chamber music. When classical music had just started in Europe, chamber music was the most popular. Chamber music is basically compositions for a small group of instruments that could fit into a room, or a chamber. some of these are sonatas- solo pieces for an instrument, quintets- a performance with 5 players, quartets- a group of 4 performers and trios- a group of 3 performers. Symphonies are large-scale orchestral compositions, usually with 3 or 4 movements, with long time durations. Similar to symphonies are concertos which are compositions for a solo instrument or instruments accompanied by an orchestra. These gained popularity much after chamber music had been perfected. Opera is drama set to music and made up of vocal pieces with orchestral accompaniment. These last for nearly 2 hours. Skip to the bottom of the post to get suggested pieces for each of these music forms. Some of the famous composers for secular music include Mozart, Vivaldi, Monteverdi and Puccini.

The specialty of western classical is the sheet music that gives meaning to instruments. The form of music notation was carefully developed to give specific details to the compositions. These details allow the player to rehearse and play exactly how it was meant to be played, without much room for on spot improvisation. It is also why practice and rehearsal, especially where multiple players are involved, are so emphasized upon. It originated in ancient Iraq, where notations were recorded onto clay tablets. Then, it spread to Europe where symbols were developed to be block printed upon papyrus. Currently, digital sheet music is gaining popularity with online music writing software and has already started replacing the hard copies used in live performances. Sheet music consists of sets of 5 lines (called staves) with notes in them. There are symbols to indicate the range of notes (bass for low pitches, alto for medium and trebble for high pitches), symbols to indicate the key of the scale (like a raag) and symbols to set the pace and rhythm of the piece(like laya and taala). Reading sheet music is pretty simple and you'll learn more of it in subsequent posts.

Here are a few pieces we think you might enjoy

Matthaus passion and Mass in B minor by J S Bach

Ravel piano concerto, Beethoven symphony no. 5, Mendelssohn string quartet, Schubert piano trio, Brahms cello sonata, Mozart clarinet quintet and The Magic Flute opera by Mozart.