FREE ESSAY ON CLASSICAL MUSIC

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Classical Music, popular term for the Western tradition of art music that began in Europe
in the Middle Ages and continues today. It includes symphonies, chamber music, opera, and
other serious, artistic music. More narrowly, the classical style refers to the work of
the Viennese classical school, a group of 18th-century composers that includes Franz
Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven, which is the epitome of
what is called classical music. 
Choral Music, music sung by a group of people, using two or more singers to perform each
musical line. The term part-song is used for vocal music having one singer for each part.
Choral music is written for choruses, or choirs, consisting either of adults, children,
or both.
Although complex genres of choral music developed in Western music, part-singing
practices were also established in folk, tribal, and non-Western cultures. Such singing
often accompanies manual labor, expresses joy or sorrow, or forms a part of religious
ritual. Among the world's many singing traditions are the polyphonic (multipart),
polyrhythmic choruses of African music; the relaxed harmonies found in the Alpine and
northern Slavic areas of Europe; the tense-voiced women's canons of the Balkans; the
unison choral singing that sometimes accompanies an Indonesian gamelan orchestra; and the
unison and polyphonic choruses of Oceania.
In ancient Greece, religious feelings were expressed in drama by a chorus. Although the
chorus members-like those of modern opera-were dancers and actors as well as singers, the
term chorus eventually came to indicate only singers. 
Chant, unaccompanied sung melody, the rhythms and melodic contours of which are closely
tied to the spoken rhythms and inflections of the text. Chant texts can be either sacred
or secular, but the term usually refers to sacred liturgical music. Chant has been used
in religious ceremonies since ancient times. In terms of present-day chant styles in the
Western world, the most important of the early repertories is Jewish liturgical chant, or
cantillation (see Jewish Music). The early Christian church borrowed not only its modes,
or scales, but also some Hebrew melodies and melodic fragments. Most of the texts in
Christian chant are taken from or based on the Psalms, a biblical book shared by Jews and
Christians.
Several types of Christian chant, which is often called plainsong, developed during the
first 1000 years of the Christian era. A repertory called Ambrosian chant developed at
Milan, Italy; named after St. Ambrose, it is still used in some Roman Catholic services
in Milan. In Spain, until about the 11th century, there was a chant repertory called
Mozarabic chant, named after the Mozarab Christians who lived in Arab-dominated Spain
during the Middle Ages. Today Mozarabic chant survives in a few Spanish cathedrals. Until
the 9th century, France had its own chant repertory, called Gallican chant; a few traces
of it remain today in the Gregorian repertory. In Rome a separate repertory developed
that eventually spread throughout Europe and superseded the others. It is now called
Gregorian chant after Pope Gregory I, known as the Great, who was active in collecting
Roman chants, having them assigned specific places within the liturgy, and seeing that
they were adopted by churches in other cities and countries. Today about 3000 different
Gregorian melodies are known.
The Eastern Christian churches developed several types of chant before AD 1000, variants
of which are still used. The Armenian, Byzantine, Russian, Greek, and Syrian repertories
are the most important. Many of the original melodies in these repertories were
incorporated into the Gregorian repertory.
Among Protestant denominations only the Church of England has encouraged an extensive use
of chant; its repertory, which is harmonized, is called Anglican chant. 
Bibliography
www.encyclopedia.com
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