Questions tagged [history]
For questions about how music has developed and changed over time or for questions about concepts and ideas of a historic period of music. Do not use just because the subject of the question is a historic figure or piece.
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What is the shape, mechanism, and range of this Leiden-made 16h century bronze trumpet?
One kind of items found recently in a sunken 16th century ship in Croatia are rare 400-year-old bronze trumpets of which a fragment has the inscription "LVGDVNY BATAVORVM", the Latin name ...
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Is "secco" really used in piano music?
Secco is Italian for dry. Many sources define the term within the context of recitativo secco, i.e. with sparse accompaniment. Wikipedia describes an appropriate realization for basso continuo.
Two ...
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Who first labelled the collection of Bach's 18 Chorale Preludes for organ (BWV 651–668) as "Great" and why?
Who first labelled the collection of Bach's 18 Chorale Preludes for organ (BWV 651–668) as "Great" and why?
Is it "Great" because of the epic scale" in contrast with the &...
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Why is music with African roots different in North America than in South America?
Hello fellow musicians of the world. My question is primarily a historical one. As an admirer of both Latin music and blues/jazz, I always wonder why United States music with African roots isn't as ...
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What were Plato's main ideas on musical aesthetics?
Plato, one of our Western philosophical fathers, turns out to be a music critic even in his dying moments criticizing a flute music performance he enjoyed in his last evening!
A passage deciphered ...
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What is the air path in a rackett?
There's plenty of videos and online descriptions of these, but: where does the air come out?
As an example,
shows racketts with the reed in the centre of the top, but ...
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How were the hole positions determined on a recorder, and how were the fingerings invented?
I recently obtained an inexpensive plastic recorder and am amazed that it’s possible to play a chromatic scale on it across two octaves. Many of the fingerings seem magical to me - as in, how did ...
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History of "white keys" and "black keys" as idiom
When explaining music theory in layman's terms, it's common to refer to "white keys" and "black keys" and take for granted that everyone knows what a piano looks like.
But ...
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What is the earliest use of the note F#?
I came across Richard Taruskin's transcription of Verbum Patris humanatur, a 12th century conductus in three parts, in The Oxford History of Western Music, Vol. I. In it, he uses a ficta # above some ...
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Black and white keyboard keys
I've often wondered why there needs to be a different colour in the keys on pianos, organs and keyboards. After all, their location and shape differentiates them regardless. I can understand the need ...
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What is the minimum pedal keyboard compass needed to play ALL of J.S. Bach's pipe organ music?
Simple straightforward question: What is the minimum pedal keyboard range needed to play ALL of J.S. Bach's pipe organ music?
Optional ways to embellish the answer:
Did Bach ever write a piece for ...
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Was this chord substitution chart part of a larger harmony system?
I recently rediscovered in my files several photocopied sheets of chords similar to the one below.
A friend (deceased in 2014) gave them to me many years ago.
There are a total of 11, covering keys ...
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When did the oboe wind up being the standard to tune other instruments in an ensemble / orchestra?
As a follow up to the question why does the orchestra tune to the oboe, I'm asking since when this became standard practice? For example, was it since the Modern oboe, or already since the Classical ...
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When was music notation first used? [duplicate]
When was the first time someone wrote music in the way we use it today (on a stave)? Was this the first way people ever wrote music or did they do something else before that? (such as just writing the ...
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What happened to Jazz in 1980?
In this great interview by Rick Beato (around 01:13h) Pat Metheny says that in 1980 something happened - "we all know what it was" - and young musicians suddenly started to play for their ...
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In terms of range, what does "eingestrichen" refer to?
I'm trying to read an old handwritten German document from 1835 which describes the range of the newly invented tuba.
It says:
die Bass-Tuba hingegen 4 reine Octaven durch die chromatische Scala, ...
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What is the origin of this stock phrase to end a piece in a humorous way? [duplicate]
This phrase is often used for comedic effect:
The melody is characterized by the movement in half steps around the dominant. But it is recognizable by its rhythm alone.
For example, it is used by ...
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Is there a historical connection between the charango and the jarana jarocha?
Context: Charango, Jarana jarocha
The Andean charango and the jarana jarocha (jarocho means "from Veracruz, Mexico") both usually have five courses of strings. The middle course has two ...
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To what extent does musical notation constrain human musical creation?
I am interested in the question of how musical notation has influenced human musical creation, especially in a "restrictive" way.
In particular, are there some kind of musics which are not ...
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Was Bernstein's interpretation of Mahler's 9th Symphony correct?
During his fifth Norton lecture at Harvard University, Leonard Bernstein famously speculated that Mahler's ninth symphony was symbolically prophesying his own death, the death of tonality (the advent ...
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Why the similarity between these sections from Tchaikovsky and Saint-Saëns?
I noticed that part of Saint-Saëns' Africa (1891) sounds very similar to Tchaikovsky's Concert Fantasia (1884), and was wondering whether they were friends/contemporaries during their lives so would ...
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Were there any automatic timekeeping devices prior to the metronome used for setting and maintaining tempo (BPM) and pulse?
I know there's a decent amount of science that goes into creating a device that can set and maintain time, so this may be a very simple question with "no" being the answer, but I'm just ...
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ii-ii6-I progression
I've heard this progression many times and in many ways over the course of my life, but I can't seem to assign a name to it or find out any further information about it or its history. It goes as ...
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When to use sixth in continuo according to Bianciardi?
From Bianciardi's Breve Regola (http://www.bassus-generalis.org/bianciardi/bianciardi.html): "But because some notes don’t have a fifth above, a sixth
is used in its place; this happens in those ...
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How does one resolve the conflict between Renaissance theory of Cadences and the contradictions against it in Bach Chorales?
A level pupil.
Made the mistake of learning Renaissance cadence voicing way before starting A-level harmony course. There's a conflict of interest between the cadential progressions of the renaissance ...
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What was the appropriate response if an Early Romantic era composer dedicated a composition to you?
What was the expectation of the recipient of a dedication during the early romantic era, if the recipient could perform it?
For example, when Schubert was 22 he composed his Piano Sonata No. 13 in A ...
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History of Tetrachords [duplicate]
I posted a similar question not too long ago and it was suggested that I look into tetrachords and I quickly understood why, but now I have questions about tetrachords.
For what reason are diatonic ...
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Style of Danza Del Viejo Boyero by Alberto Ginastera
I have struggled with understanding the style of this song, and I guess it is open to interpretation, but I was wondering whether to play it like an "old shepherd" as its name suggests, or a ...
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I’m looking for information/references on how we developed the Major Mode (Scale/Key) [closed]
As the title says, I’m looking for some information on the history of how the Major Mode (Scale,Key) was developed/designed. I already know a little bit, that is, I am not completely new to the topic, ...
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Why is the cavaquinho minhoto so different from other cavaquinhos?
For context: cavaquinho
The Brazilian cavaquinho, the cavaquinho de Lisboa, the Cabo Verde cavaquinho, the Madeiran braguinha and its descendant, the ukulele, all seem to have a fretboard that is ...
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What is the earliest we know wire-strung instruments to have existed?
What is the earliest we know wire-strung instruments to have existed? I was reading about gut strings, nylon strings, wire strings used on guitar, and wanted to know, but couldn't find the answer ...
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How did western music label and calibrate around C Major as having no sharps/flats rather than A Major? [duplicate]
This is purely academic/speculative, but wouldn't it have made more sense and been easier to learn if Western music were based on A Maj, rather than C Maj, as having been the one designated to have no ...
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How hard would it have been for a small band to make and sell CDs in the early 90s?
Suppose it's the early 90s and you have three or four high school students that are decent with music, have minimal other skills, but still want to be able to sell CDs of their songs. Nowadays they ...
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How do they know what the frequency of Solfeggio notes
It is hard to find information on how modern day people selling solfeggio tuning forks and the like know which exact frequencies to use.
I liked this article below but as I have just joined I ...
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What is rude jazz?
In a lecture supporting his new book Stomp and Shout, Northwest rock historian Peter Blecha mentioned a genre from the 1940s or 50s called rude jazz. I have never heard of this before, and it might be ...
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relax, jack song [closed]
Anyone know the title of the song with a refrain like " Relax, jack. It's just a simple fact, Jack"?
The recording I recall is ~50 years old and was sung by a black woman, maybe Eartha Kitt.
...
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Why is the solo/featured instrument in so many Baroque-era concerti silent during the slow movement?
Is the reason the soloist is
often silent during a Baroque-era concerto simply to provide a break from all the virtuosity often required within the outer movements? Or is it to allow a string soloist ...
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When did the 6/4 chord become more commonplace and acceptable?
In the baroque and classical period, 6/4 chords were only voice leading chords, almost exclusively used as passing chords or auxiliary chords. But even as early as Mendelssohn, we see 6/4 chords ...
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What makes the ionian and Aeolian modes different from other modes?
There were initially seven modes back in the era of modal music, but when tonality set in, the use of modes dropped to just two; Ionian and Aeolian, now the major and natural minor scales. Why were ...
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Is this a tenor clef?
My wind band is playing Saint-Saens' Pas Redouble, using the Josneau arrangement published by Evette & Schaeffer. It's on IMSLP. The bassoon part is mostly in bass clef, but occasionally uses a ...
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Consonant vs. Dissonant Major Thirds: Historical Process and Significance of Tuning System
In the comments to the question Why is the fourth against the bass considered a dissonance?, I wrote
A 5:4 third was considered dissonant until musical tastes changed and declared it consonant.
To ...
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What was the earliest equal temperament system used?
What was the earliest equal temperament system used?
I believe it to be 19edo, used by Guillaume Costeley in Seigneur Dieu ta pitié, in 1558. Was any equal temperament used before then?
7edo is ...
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What is the etymology of word "chromatic" (= relating to color) in music?
Regarding "chromatic," I found on Wiktionary:
Latin chrōmaticus, from Ancient Greek χρωματικός (khrōmatikós, “relating to colour; one of the three types of tetrachord in Greek music”)
Then ...
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When and/or how did Western music shift from downward to upward scale concepts?
The ancient Greeks constructed their scales from top to bottom.
For example, Wikipedia:
Note that Greek theorists conceived of scales as descending from higher pitch to lower (the opposite of modern ...
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Is there a specific name for this cadence melody?
The trill or any ornamentation is optional but seems like it is usually there. I am familiar with this melody more generally as part of an authentic cadence, but this particular rhythm seems very ...
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Why is G the lowest note of the Gamut? [duplicate]
The Gamut made use of the seven letters of Saint Gregory: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. It represents the twenty notes of “true music” (musica recta), from low G to high e2.
Why was the lowest note in ...
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Did American drum corps ever utilize the tuning slide of valveless bugles for more notes?
I used to be a member of my school's drum and bugle corps in middle school whose entire brass section is composed of US regulation bugles in G (if I'm not mistaken) which are are valveless. They used ...
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In JS Bach's lifetime who listened to any of his organ preludes and fugues and when? [duplicate]
The related thread from Feb. 1, 2021 initiated by Aaron (Who was listening to Bach's compositions in his lifetime?) was informative, but I have a more precise question. Who heard Bach's preludes and ...
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How did Western music come to embrace metrical rhythm as its primary metric structure?
Western music generally uses a limited set of metrical rhythms — simple and compound meters in accent groupings of 2, 3, or 4.1 With exceptions, of course, this is true in the bulk of classical music, ...
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Shostakovich style (5th, 10th) [closed]
During my music education I was more focused on classical styles of western composers up until times of Beethoven. Namely, I understand the structure and some ideas behind music by Vivaldi, Bach, ...
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