Posts Tagged ‘Classical’
Elements of Classical Music
May 1st, 2010 | 
Author: For the most part it can be distinguished by the type of instruments in the musical piece. Most modern forms of music only have a couple of instrumentations used in its creation, whereas classical music uses several types of instrumentation. Musicians of this type of music are extremely skilled in their chosen instrument because of the detailed compositions.
The instruments used in classical music generally come from five or so different groups of instruments, including string instruments, woodwinds, brass instruments and percussion instruments. The use of these types of instruments generally makes up a symphonic orchestra. When the human voice is added to this ensemble of instrument, and opera is formed.
The forms of classical music are numerous as and tend to be very well defined. The concerto is a musical work in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra. This form of music was established in the Baroque period and has continued to be a strong musical force today. The symphony is a musical composition and is usually for an orchestra. The opera is an art form in which singer and musicians work together to produce a work that combines text and musical. Another form is known as dance music and its specific use is to facilitate or accompany dancing. This form can either be a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. The suite form of music is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces of music that are performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniments. An etude is a short musical composition designed to provide practice in a particular technical skill in the performance of a solo instrument. A symphonic poem, also known as a tone poem, is a piece of orchestral music in one movement in which some extra-musical program provides a narrative or illustrative event.
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The Evolution of Classical Satire Into Modern Day Political Humor
Satire, as defined by the Britanica Concise Encyclopedia, is an artistic form in which human or individual vices, folly, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of irony, ridicule, or other methods, sometimes with an intent to bring about improvement. Literature and drama are its chief means of expression, but it is also found in other forms of media such as film, the visual arts, and political cartoons. Satires had been present in Greek Literature, with Aristophanes as well as in Roman Literature with Juvenal and Horace. Juvenal and Horace’s satires have since then developed according to their perspectives. To Horace, the satirist is a refined man who sees stupidity and insanity everywhere, but is moved to gentle laughter rather than to rage. To Juvenal, on the other hand, the satirist is a respectable man who is horrified and angered by corruption. Horace’s satires are friendlier in tone, thus containing no dangerous attacks against powerful individuals or serious vices. Juvenal’s satires, however, are bitter accusations of the vice and folly of his own times that include most men and all women.
The Elizabethan Period proved to be the Golden Age of Satire as satirists like Voltaire, Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe wrote works that were more direct and straightforward, leaving little room for subtle irony. In Voltaire’s Candide, he showed how having a ridiculously positive outlook on life will still lead to a life with numerable tragedies. Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, exposed the cruelty of humanity, and Daniel Defoe’s Jure Divino, the writer made an elaborate and learned attack on theories of the ‘divine right’ of monarchs.
