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the time - a newly recognised social group that had money and the desire to acquire knowledge once reserved to higher members of society. Part of this knowledge was that of music, which is why it became a trend for the new middle class to install pianos in their living room. To meet this new demand, a tidal wave of sheet music was printed and sold to the new social group (folk and classical music included). This enormous access to music allowed a new social group to emerge: female musicians. Since playing the piano was a sign of accomplishment for middle class women, it gave them a medium of selfexpression and sometimes even a source of revenue. An example of this would be Robert Schumann’s wife, Clara (Wieck) Schumann, considered one of the most distinguished and inspiring pianists of the Romantic era along with Chopin. Being a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, Romanticism was an artistic movement that went against the scientific norms that were shaping society at the time. Musically, it was an intellectual current that was inspired by classical giants such as Mozart and Beethoven, but at the same time, opposed their need for structure and formality. Entering the mid 19th Century, some musicologists labeled this period as the age of tragedy, since composers like Hector Berlioz were inspired by topics such as death and destiny. Tragic love became an obsession, emotional exhaustion was no longer a consequence but a necessity, and brilliance was linked to borderline madness. But this radical thinking that accompanied the industrial age was also fruitful with musical innovations. One of the most influential composers of that century that has inspired numerous modern film scorers of our time - like Danny Elfman, Franz Waxman, and John Williams - was Hungarian composer, Franz Liszt. He was a pace-setter and innovator, recalibrating the forces of music by introducing symphonic poems, creating musical responses to non-musical artworks, and dismantling Western music with the introduction of 12 tone serialism (a composing technique revolving around the restriction of repetition). Another important composer of that time was Richard Wagner (1813-1883), who pushed the boundaries of music, and was considered the most dangerous composer of them all. He was a direct inspiration to Hitler, who quoted Parsifal (Wagner’s last opera composed in 1857) as a major influence, and used Wagner’s music in many Nazi events to promote his political agenda. Indeed, Wagner was outspoken about his anti-semitism and the reason why Parsifal had such an impact on Hitler was because it promoted racism towards Jews, and advocated the ideas of
Arthur de Gobineau, who popularised Aryanism. Coming out of the Romantic phase and entering the Modern era of the early 20th century, composers started focusing again on more simplistic forms of music. In France, musicians such as Gabriel Fauré, Erik Satie, and Gustav Mahler reacted to Wagner’s bad influence and shifted their composing styles to simpler music, and banished pomposity of all kinds. Since Wagner was inspired by classical music, these younger composers returned to influences of the Baroque period, and found inspiration in the compositions of the great J.S Bach.
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he early 20th Century was a rebellious and mind-opening time for music academia; it spawned the concept of Atonality, meaning music that deliberately lacks a tonal centre, and we finally saw the incorporation of music from other cultures. Thanks to the World Fair at the Trocadero in Paris (1900), composers were now exploring newly imported musical concepts such as Polyrhythm from Africa, and the Pentatonic scale from Asia - two major elements that are now paramount to the creation our contemporary music, especially in Hip Hop (Polyrythm) and Rock (Pentatonic). Furthermore, after the American inventor, Thomas Edison, invented the phonograph in 1877, the music industry was changing from the commercialisation of sheet music to selling records - a paradigm shift that would affect the creation, consumption, and sale of music forever.
In the next chapter, we will dive into the foundations of our contemporary pop music, an era during which the forefathers of contemporary music laid out the blueprint of what would be the basis of all music today. www.sonicvistastudios.com
“ROMANTICISM WAS AN ARTISTIC MOVEMENT THAT WENT AGAINST THE SCIENTIFIC NORMS THAT WERE SHAPING SOCIETY AT THE TIME.”
VOCABUL ARY AR T MU SIC: Also known as formal music or serious music is an umbrella term used to refer to musical traditions implying advanced structural and theoretical considerations and a written musical tradition. Coined by British musicologist, Philip Tagg, art music is one of the three axioms of the triangle consisting of folk, art and popular music. In the Western world, art music usually refers to the broader classical music, but also covers non-Western classical traditions such as Chinese classical music, Indian classical music or traditional Japanese music. CL ASSICAL MU SIC: Not to be confused with the Classical period between 1730 and 1820, classical music is also a broader term used to refer to European art music.