The Symphony

So I was thinking, if I was to give you a crash course in classical music, what better way than to start with a symphony? Then I has to choose an actual symphony, and here came a challenge. I simply could not decide between Mozart's symphony no. 40 and Beethoven's 5th symphony, two of the most famous symphonies; and in the end I decided to give you a taste of both of them, so be happy. But before we start, you want to know what a symphony is, don't you?

The term "symphony" came from Greek; it basically means "agreement of sound". That makes sense, as we could agree that symphonies usually need a large orchestra - there's a symphony that was intended to be performed by an orchestra of over a thousand musicians. Up until the 18th century, many different musical works were referred to as symphonies. However, during the 18th century, a famous composer known as Joseph Haydn defined the structure of the modern symphony. Almost all symphonies composed after the 18th century adhere to his rules.

Now, all symphonies have four different movements. A movement, in case you don't know, is the musical term for a section or a part of a long work of music; each movement of a piece could stand alone by itself, but all the movements relate to each other in some way. The first movement is alwats lively and strong, it is usually in sonata form, but we can talk about that later. The second movement is slower, lighter and more melodic - like a song. The third movement is fast and is meant to be light natured and dance-like, like a minuet (a french dance) or a scherzo (literally, joke). The fourth and last movement is also fast, and its basically the symphony's "grand finale". This movement is generally just there for the orchestra to show off their skills.

On the right side of this page you can listen to the first movement of Wolfgang A. Mozart's Symphony no 40. That symphony is one of the most famous, I'm sure you recognize it. The movement is structured is sonata form. If you read the last two words of the music description, it says Allegro Molto. Allegro means fast and lively in Italian, molto means very. So basically molto allegro means very fast and lively; this is the tempo speed of the piece. Movements are generally titled with their tempo markings. The tempo is the number of beats per minute, in this case it would be close to 168 bpm.

The symphony starts off with the first theme which has a strong and kind of dark mood with it unlike many of Mozart's other works, but is somewhat sophisticated and refined. That is probably because Mozart lived during the Classical period where music was generally reserved and not very emotional. After about 45 seconds, we hear a second theme, which is softer, unlike the first theme. This part of the first movement is called the exposition, where the two melodies are introduced. The exposition is then repeated entirely.

The next part is called the development. Here, obviously, the two themes are developed a little, and varied a bit. This part starts around three minutes and a half and ends at four minutes and a half.

Then comes the recapitulation which, I think, can be shortened into "recap". The movement is then ended with a "recap" of the exposition. That is, the main themes are reintroduced, however being slightly different.

Now you know what sonata form is: exposition - development - recapitulation
And you also know the first movement of a very famous symphony.
If you want to see it performed by an orchestra, click here.

=)

Intro to Music?

I realized that many people, 99% to be specific, of the people I know don't know anything about classical music. Except that I'm obsessed with it. So this blog has come to existance for exactly that reason, because I would like to educate them with some classical music. And I do realize that most of them will ignore my attempts, but I will atleast try. So here goes.

First of all, I will start by saying that music is completely subjective, as is the case with literature and visual art. A single piece of music could be interpretted in multiple ways and played with various styles, that does not mean that any of them are wrong. As I said, music is subjective, it has no strict rights and wrongs.

One of the reasons many people say that classical music is boring, is because it has no lyrics, well except for opera. I personally think that having no lyrics is precisely why classical music is so great. Instead of focusing on the words, you actually hear the music. It's also great for relaxation, at least most of the pieces are.

If you try to learn an instrument, like I am desperately trying to learn the piano (which is arguably the easiest instrument to learn), you would come to appreciate the time and effort in which each musician has spent in perfecting his or her playing skills. It is really amazing when around 50 mucisians play together in complete harmony, in my opinion at least.

Also, I don't know a great deal about classical music either. As I try to introduce you to pieces of different styles and artists, I would be teaching myself first about them first. I'm going to enjoy this, as you probably realize by now how obsessed with classical music I am. I can only hope that you will enjoy it too.