Bach wrote the Brandenburg concertos to show off, seeking to land a comfortable court position, but to no avail. The concerto draws together an ensemble of instruments, while featuring solo performances, and is comprised of three movements, a fast, slow, and final fast movement, with the final one drawing on the form of a dance, such as a minuet or scherzo. If Palestrina shows classical music’s sacred roots, we also can see in the influence of the mundane, with dancing helping to shape the concerto (and later the symphony). Johann Sebastian Bach – Brandenburg Concerto No. His “Four Seasons,” a collection of concertos that are rightly considered his masterpiece and clearly evoke the sights and sounds of nature (including birds and barking dogs) and weather (storms, ice, fire).ģ. He did write some beautiful sacred music, such as his “Gloria” and an oratorio (like an opera without dramatic action) on the book of Judith. Vivaldi is a well-known figure, but his nickname “the red priest” reveals a lesser known fact about him: he was a priest (if not a particularly devout one). Think of the piano (meaning “soft” in Italian) and crescendo (Italian for “rise”). Antonio Vivaldi – Four Seasons (c.1716-17)įor our second piece, we’re staying in Italy and it was the Italians who developed the instruments and terminology used in classical music. In this heavenly music, you won’t hear any instruments and only male voices perform (men and boys).Ģ. This Mass is his most famous composition and was used for the coronation of popes for centuries. He perfected the technique of counterpoint, rules for perfecting harmonies, that was studied later by Bach and led to the development of more complex orchestration. This tradition reached its apex under Palestrina, a layman serving the Church in Rome. Chant was sung a capella (literally, in the chapel) and in unison, but by the high Middle Ages the technique polyphony arose, meaning the same text was sung by many voices at once, creating harmony. It was through Gregorian chant that modern musical notation developed. Palestrina – Missa Papae Marcelli (1567)Ĭlassical music developed directly out of the Church’s sacred music. As someone who has been appreciating classical music for decades, I’m happy to offer these entry points for those looking to begin exploring this great tradition.ġ. I am speaking as a theologian, not an expert in music. I find that moving through music historically helps you to understand how it develops and the particular genius of the great composers who take it to the next level. If you haven’t experienced this kind of musical ecstasy, then it’s about time! Here are some introductory pieces to give you a crash course in the great composers and works of classical music. It was my first experience of musical ecstasy, hearkening to Frodo’s experience in Rivendell. I suppose the setting was a close to Rivendell as I could get in the beautiful city of Wroclaw. I’ll never forget the first time I attended a classical concert, a performance of Beethoven during a high school study abroad year in Poland. Swiftly he sank under its shining weight into a deep realm of sleep.

Then the enchantment became more and more dreamlike, until he felt that an endless river of swelling gold and silver was flowing over him, too multitudinous for its pattern to be comprehended it became part of the throbbing air about him, and it drenched and drowned him. Almost it seemed that the words took shape, and visions of far lands and bright things that he had never yet imagined opened out before him and the firelit hall became like a golden mist above seas of foam that sighed upon the margins of the world. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, when first hearing music within the elven realm of Rivendell:Īt first the beauty of the melodies and of the interwoven words in elven-tongues, even though he understood them little` held him in a spell, as soon as he began to attend to them. In contrast to the immediately pleasing and entertaining pop music, classical music opens up a new world of ideas and imagination, and leads us to spiritual depths of reflection, even when the music is not explicitly sacred.įrodo Baggins describes such an experience, within J.R.R. It communicates to us, nonetheless, through its powerful and complex melody, rhythm, and harmony, employing a beautiful and mathematical language that enchants, agitates at times, inspires, sooths, and stimulates. Classical music speaks to us, even if much of it is wordless.

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