The Influence of Early Music on Classical Music

MUSIC HISTORY
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Music History
Early music greatly influenced the development of classical music in terms of orchestration, harmony, and form. The influence led to the advancement of range, rhythm, harmony, form, and notation. For instance, the chromatics used in the early music was enhanced and incorporated into classical music, thus giving the music a new face. The classical period composers were offered a broad field to make decisions concerning music. Classical music enthralled techniques such as instrumentalists from the early music, thus making music more autonomous with its availability in printed form. Similarly, the classical music period instruments evolved from the renaissance period, responding to musical philosophies' advancement, bestowing further prospects for composers and musicians to reconnoiter.
Orchestra
The influence of early music on classical music led to the evolution of the orchestra. The classical music orchestra was similar to that of the early music though it was a little bit expanded. The orchestra was grouped into six units. They include; duet, quartet, string quartet, chamber orchestra, symphony, and philharmonic orchestra. The duet orchestra involved two performers in a piece of music. The quartet orchestra involved four performers. The symphony orchestra influenced pre-classical work, which led to its establishment during the classical period. Classical music incorporated a chamber orchestra which consisted of a small orchestra of artists. The chamber orchestra did not include solo instruments performances compared to the early music. An example of an orchestra incorporated by classical music was woodwinds; baroque flute.[Farazi Ashfari, "A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY ON CLASSICAL MUSIC AND COMPARISON WITH OTHER MUSIC STYLES, TYPES, AND GENRES," (Research Gate, 2018), 13.]
The early music influence also led the classical music composers to incorporate the basic ensembles from the early music. For instance, the use of strings in classical music influenced the baroque era. Similarly, the musical instruments adopted from the early music were refurbished and improved. The advancement in tools forced music composers to learn about instruments since they were the primary elements in the development of music. The progress of instruments forced the music composers to standardize the orchestration. For instance, the use of string instruments was improved, and the tools such as flutes, trumpets, oboes, bassoons, and clarinets were categorized in pairs. The clarinets were also categorized under the woodwind aspects. The music pieces were composed of motives, from one instrument to another, thus giving orchestration a new face.[Uremusic, "Similarities of Classical and Baroque Music" (Uremusic, 2016), 22.Koshall, "Difference Between Classical and Baroque" (Difference Between, 2011), 8.]
The early music influence forced the classical music composers to incorporate ensembles of the early music. While the style of music evolved, more advancements happened. The composers were obligated to study the counterpoint to learn about independent lines through advanced orchestration. The study of counterpoint enabled the composers from the classical period to simplify music and enhance the clarity of the melodies. Like other aspects, with the help of past experiences, some music elements get refined.[]
Classical era music composers experienced the most significant influence from the early period music. There was significant standardization of the orchestra with the influence of early period musical instrumentation styles. For instance, there was introduction of different strings (such as the instrumental concerto and the symphony) that was a signature composition for new classical composers. With the new developments, there is evidence of classical orchestra style that held on to the early musical and instrumental composition. As a matter of fact, the classical orchestra was a seed of the classical age that was sown by various composers, such as Haydn, Mozart and Schobert, from early periods. These were composers of the early musical eras. During the renaissance period, they were involved in the creation of string instruments including the first and second violin, violas and double basses that spearheaded the rises of the London symphonies. These early compositions could be incorporated in the orchestra as part of the woodwind section of the trumpets that were used independently. Therefore, early music compositions and musical instrumentation had a significant bearing on orchestration in many ways that influence musical motives and consciousness of various classical works.[. Matthay, Christopher. "The Classical-Period Development Section: Compositional Strategies of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert." (2019).]
The early music composition was also responsible for the advancements of the classical era music works. The most important aspect of the development involved the methods of musical composition and how they influenced changes in the orchestra. In this case, music composers from early periods, like Haydn and Beethoven, created the best known musical motives of the western music using the four-note groups of symphonies. These symphony groups became the building blocks for classical period works because it influenced the move from musical instrument, to musical instrument and motives. The shift in focus from the early musical instrumentation, to a more advanced musical instrumentation and motives gave a new facet to the classical orchestration process. In the end, the classical tradition incorporated new slow movements with a combination of orchestra and piano. This art of orchestration resulting from the early percussion and instrumentation has become a key factor in the artistic quality of the classical music. Classical music after the early renaissance period enabled contemporary musicians' to increase accuracy and versatility in pitch and rhythm notation. Therefore, classical era music may be traced back to early renaissance musical institutions that invented the key instruments that shaped various musical bands.[. America Long Form. "The Evolution of Classical Music." America Long Form, 2016.]
Harmony
The early music also influenced the harmony of the classical period music. It contained harmonic fantasies and did not concentrate on the structure of the musical piece, axioms, and drives. In classical period music, the harmony was much simpler, and the composers focused on the music structure. Classical music also adopted the early music symphonies and concertos; however, they were independent of vocal voices compared to the early music. For instance, instead of the composer using a single pitch, they could now create several sounds and pitches simultaneously. Early music influenced classical music to adopt part of Baroque era harmony. However, classical music adopted homophony from the baroque's era with different objectives. Classical music aimed to achieve systematic, regular, and modest expression in the melodic tunes and harmonies pulling them down. During the classical period, the purpose of harmony was implemented, whereby the composers were supposed to adhere to the rules enforced on music's harmony.[. Brians, Collins. “Music History from Primary Sources  :  A Guide to the Moldenhauer Archives  :  Articles and Essays  :  the Moldenhauer Archives - the Rosaleen Moldenhauer Memorial  :  Digital Collections  :  Library of Congress.” The Library of Congress, 2018.]
Early music also influenced classical music into adopting various musical genres. Classical music adopted the opera genre, introduced during the baroque period. Later on, opera was classified as the most significant genre in classical music. Opera resulted from musicians and poets coming together and performing musical work. Similarly, the Baroque era influenced tonality by standardizing tonal practice and increasing the significance of musical instruments, which later developed into ensembles of considerable size during the classical period. The music artists during the Baroque era influenced the classical period music artists’ ability to build outright music, which included concertos, symphonies, and string quartets.[. Corry, Fred. “The History of the History of Music.” (Meaning of Music, 2016) 204–21.]
The influence of early period music on classical music enabled dramatic shifts in music instrumentation, melody, and mode. The classical harmonics were modest with phrases and drives. Composers in this era utilized modulations to differentiate between the keys based on the music ideas. They were able to create music that revolves around tonic and overall harmony. Similarly, through the influence of early music, the classical period composers were motivated to create lucidity and modesty in musical pieces by incorporating homophonic textures that enabled individuals to differentiate the music background. Classical music introduced the fortepiano and took hold of the harpsichord due to the increased reliability that it provided.[. Matthay, Christopher. "The Classical-Period Development Section: Compositional Strategies of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert." (2019)]
The incorporation of the piano later resulted in the development of the sonata musical form. The influence of early music made the classical composers more prescriptive in the notation utilization. During the Baroque era, bass lines were provided with figures that recommended the chords to be incorporated.t this early perceptiveness was adopted by classical usic composers in the concertos to a degree they were almost written of as indicated in the following figures:
The bass line includes some augmented chords and augmented 3rd notes in the last part, even though this dissonance is not acceptable in classical and romantic music
Other than that, classical period music composers added 8va notes to their works almost exclusively, enhancing the range of the music and making it seem more contrasted and dynamic. A few examples of these chords in use include the following: top melody line (E-G-G-A-A-B), bottom melody line (E-E). The chromatic scale contains all twelve notes in the octave; hence instrumental forms in the classical choral music does not utilize a key or mode. Sonates aren't crucial in symphony movements since they don't exist. Therefore, all twelve notes have equal weight. As a result, classical composers (such as Mozart and Haydn) felt free to utilize chromatic discords to color their harmonies with notes from beyond the key. The major and minor vital systems became a major part of the classical masses and formed a focal point of all musical styles of that period.[. DBrownell, Andrew. "The English piano in the Classical Period: Its Music, Performers, and Influences." (PhD diss., City University London, 2010).]
Composers used a wide range of contrapuntal techniques, such as playing a triplet in one hand and quavers in the other. In the early Baroque and Renaissance eras, composers constantly used the contrapuntal notion of voice leading, the originality of overlaid voice phrasing, and included many qualities that were characterized by balance and symmetry. This style later dominated the classical music styles of the early 18th century. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, and Ludwig Bethoven were the three main composers of the classical era who created these symmetric patterns and melody balance in their music.The music also has a four-part texture that seems like an organ or choir voice. It's here in the form of:
Haydn and Mozart composed musical styles with straightforward progressions with high-number chords, which are used for their vibrant and color effects; these chords are often played in parallel motion. Modal scales, the five-note pentatonic scale, or the whole-tone scale are used in dance-like rhythms. Here is a C whole tone scale example: E A# B C C D D E E. The tonic piece's contrapuntal and thick layer melodies give the music a more vocal and harmonic character, typical of classical music. To determine the symphony in music, we go to the key. The essential note in C major is the mixture C, followed by the dominant G. Composers, however, have experimented with polytonality—writing music in two or more keys at the same time.[. Drew, Mike. “History of Music - the Method behind the Music.” (the method behind music, 2019)]