I'm being moved from the music library to reference.
This is making me weep buckets, as it's far and away the best department. For my successor who is entirely ignorant of classical music (as I was before I started there a year ago) I've made this handy crib sheet. And here I post it for anyone who's really bored and wants something to read. Yes.
The Great Music Library Crib Sheet
By Peter ‘Pompous’ Evans Tricksy Composer Names:Bax
Beethoven - (pronounced Behthoven)
Dvorak - (pronounced Vorjak)
Liszt - (pronounced List)
Rachmaninoff
Rimsky Korsakov
Saint-Saëns - (pronounced Sain-san, fast)
Igor Stravinsky
Tchaikovsky
Vaughan Williams (comes under ‘W’)
Song Structure Definitions‘Movement’ – think of this as a ‘track’, its self contained and can occur on its own, but more frequently forms a symphony, sonata or cantata.
Vocal:CantataBasically an old form of choral song - usually contains more than one movement. It features instrumental accompaniment.
MotetLike a cantata but more pretentious. Frequently without any easily discernable form, it’s an ‘anything goes’ medium. Basically it’s the prog-rock of choral music. Not used after the 18th century owing to it being largely insufferable.
OratorioThink of Opera, but remove the costumes, stage, plot and people talking to each other and then make it a lot shorter – and you have an oratorio. They’re nearly always feature sacred material making them good for church choirs and can they feature orchestra, instrumental and choirs or soloists.
Opera Staggeringly long, awesomely produced and very loud. There’s a reason why Meatloaf and Queen and others like to call their works ‘Rock Operas’. Usually features mythological topics, or the spicier bits of the bible. In the last hundred years they’ve mainly revolved around political and world changing events or domestic social drama.
Non Vocal: First, the basic building blocks:
SonataA cantata without voice basically, so basically an instrumental non-vocal song.
AllegroSomething fast and purely instrumental, it’s usually spry and dancey.
AdagioA slow and stately track, a little sad usually. Ever heard that mournful bit of the Platoon soundtrack? That’s ‘Adagio for Strings’ by Barber. It’s the Morrissey of music.
MinuetSomething you’d dance to in a ball-room, usually. It’s frequently delicate, stately and formal.
ScherzoRight, think of the ballroom dance, but think of it BIGGER. Think of a full rocking orchestra playing slightly drunk, trying to play in a light hearted, jokey way. Has a big sounds, lots of stuff thrown in.
RondoBasically this contains variations on a ‘big tune’ that has driven the piece. Anything you find recognisable and hummable is expanded and gloriously writ-large in this one.
Now the different mediums:ChamberWritten for a small group performing within a space that can fit inside a palace chamber – hence ‘chamber music’. The term usually doesn’t include solo performances, and more frequently revolves around a duo or a quartet. It’s the most social form of music, and frequently plays to private audiences, dances and balls. The music is tailored to the occasion, and frequently the tastes of the patron.
Concerto
A composition usually in three parts (tracks) that features a solo instrument backed by orchestra. Sometimes though rarely there are multiple solos for different instruments – chamber music meets orchestral basically.
InstrumentalOne man or woman with his her instrument plays anything they like, simple as that.
OrchestralIt’s basically any music that includes a lot of instrumentals. Orchestras have many variations in composition. Some go all-string with violins, cellos, harps and bass. Others favour horn and brass. Most have a healthy balance. In the music section, the Orchestral Section usually features CDs that have several different composers, but are performed by one famous conductor or orchestra – the focus being on the performers rather than the composer.
SymphonyThis is the big daddy of classical music and arguably the greatest thing in music ever that isn’t Aqua’s underwater-save-the-world-cartoon-epic ‘Cartoon Heroes’. Symphonies almost always consist of four movements. How do you write one?
Simply follow this tried and tested formula:
1: An opening sonata or allegro
2: A slow movement, usually an adagio
3: A minuet or scherzo
4: An allegro, rondo or sonata
So, in normal speech, what does that mean?
1: Fast, general piece
2: Slow, slightly sad piece
3: Dance! Dance! Dance! Either stately or boppy
4: Either repeat number 1 or a bigger piece that includes all the catchy bits
Congratulations! You can now write a symphony!
Until movie soundtracks came along, symphonies were all the rage. Then composers began to fall back into smaller sonatas and odd movements. Many great classical composers, to derision at the time, went on to do top movie soundtracks. In the early 1940’s the great Vaughan Williams cocked a snook at mockery and penned music for Powell & Pressburger’s ‘49th Parallel’ and kick-started the trend.
Era’s of Music:Medieval (500–1400) For a long while it was Gregorian chanting, chanting and yet more chanting that ruled the roost here. Entirely sacred music, mostly by monks. Anything more complicated was seen as heresy! Not until the end did instruments start poking their head above the parapet with lutes and harps providing madrigals and motets (songs and dances, basically.)
Renaissance (1400–1600) Hey, somebody’s invented the song! Gosh! And now we have instruments! Nearly always sacred again, but this time proper bigger choral works are invented, with different rules and exciting new ideas. Big names are William Byrd and Thomas Tallis, Palestrina and John Tavener. The Brits do surprising well here.
Baroque (1600–1760)Everything is stately, formal, and usually on the lighter scale – very little bass. For the first time, instruments on their own without voices become popular. Chamber music crops up here, as does concerti. The big stars are George Handel, Vivaldi, the Bach family but mainly JS Bach and Henry Purcell. European Kings go mad sponsoring musicians. Handel’s ‘Music for the Royal Fireworks’ marries pyrotechnics with music for the first time, something budding rock bands make note of.
Classical (1730–1820)The Golden Age when the symphony gets invented – most of the composers regarded as absolute geniuses are from this time, such as Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert and so on. This is where the rules are refined and everything’s tidied up. As it was an age of reason, so is the music. Rules are shared and then pushed. What’s more, music begins to move outside of the elite and is no longer dominated by the church. Opera begins to become very popular.
Romantic (1815–1910)Not quite what you may think it means. Romance in this case is getting closer to nature rather than the science and theory and rule of classical. Music designed to really make you feel and bring you towards some sort of general spiritual awareness. Pastoral themes, nationalism both good and bad and human nature are the heavily mined subjects. Mahler, Berlioz, Wagner, Brahms, Dvorak and Liszt are the heavy hitters. There’s an explosion in the number of composers here.
Impressionist (1890–1940)Like the paintings, it doesn’t rely on story or statement, rather than the gentle nudging of emotions and feelings. It’s telling that it sort of combined with blues to form jazz. Debussy, Ravel and Delius were of the more delicate side. Vaughan Williams and Bax were heavier and more emotionally punchy. Stravinsky's unhinged work ‘Rite of Spring’ actually caused riots in Paris it was so different – defying all the rules previously thought sacred.
20th-century (1900–2000)Anything goes here; though atonal (which means without a tune) seems to be quite big. Cage does shrieking scary things. John Adams writes an opera about Richard Nixon and has entire orchestras of violins play rippling eddies of sound. Samuel Barber and Aaron Copland prove that America can have great composers too. The main thrust though is in movie soundtracks, not to be sniffed at either. Bernard Hermann, Ennio Morricone, Nina Rota, Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams and Michael Horner all produce their own work of genius. Who will be remembered a hundred years hence? Only time, will tell. Etc.
And there you have it!