Music Characteristics of the Medieval Period

The Middle Ages was the most important stage of European feudal society. Religious power was strong, forming a political system that combined politics and religion, and the dark rule of the church was anti-science and anti-humanity. , which greatly suppressed the development of art and made the development of music very slow. However, because the church attached great importance to the educational role of music, religious music developed to a certain extent during this period. The most prominent achievements were the rise and spread of Gregorian chants, the formation of professional musicians, the perfection of notation, and the emergence of polyphony. . The religious music of the Middle Ages was basically monophonic unison, and there were also forms of unison, solo, and antiphonal singing. Gregorian chant was the typical representative. The music was rational, gentle, without emotional changes, dull and monotonous. There are many forms of vocal singing in drama. Secular music mostly reflected folk life and love and was more vivid and rich, but it was not the mainstream of music during this period. Church music, that is, singing hymns and reciting the Bible, can be imagined to be purely vocal music. Religious music has always been dominated by vocal music, because vocal music has lyrics. In contrast, instrumental music developed primarily as secular music. Romanesque music was one of the important musical forms in this period of the Middle Ages, and its representative is the Gregorian chant, which is typical Catholic music.

Characteristics of Renaissance Music The Renaissance began with the emergence of the Dutch School of Music in Italy and gradually expanded to all of Europe. The Renaissance advocated humanism, advocated the intrinsic concern for people and human values, advocated the expression of human emotions in art, and emphasized the greatness and great potential of human beings. At this stage, a large amount of secular music was widely circulated, the status of the aristocracy rose, and hiring specialized musicians was no longer the exclusive preserve of the church. Music gradually broke away from the simple educational function of religious music and returned to expressing human emotions as its fundamental purpose. The development of polyphonic music and the emergence of instrumental music as an independent performance form changed the dominant position of the human voice in music and became an important achievement in the development of music during this period. During the Renaissance, music began to express human emotions as its main purpose and content. The style was beautiful, harmonious, gorgeous, and the tone was pure. During this period, it was no longer limited to two parts, but three parts, focusing on harmonious effects. The melodies of the Renaissance were mainly progressive and singing, related to the cadence of the lyrics, and there were rarely large skipping intervals.

Characteristics of music during the Baroque period

During the Baroque period, the palace became the center of music culture, nobles could organize personal bands, folk music institutions and groups appeared in cities, and citizens' musical life became increasingly enriched. The emergence of digital bass, the establishment of equal temperament, the establishment of the major and minor system, and the formation of the harmony function system made the music of the Baroque period begin to evolve from a single musical idea and a single-part melody without strong or weak emotional changes to a multi-part one. , contrast appears in the music, and the concept of harmony is established, leading to the formation of a main-key music transition. The creation of opera is the most outstanding musical achievement of the Baroque period. At this time, instrumental music and vocal music were equally divided in musical life, the sonata genre was formed, and the form of instrumental ensemble appeared; the harpsichord and violin gradually became the main instruments in instrumental music performance. The music style of the Baroque period still has a strong religious flavor. The music is rational, elegant, balanced, pure, and the recurrence of melodies lacks contrast and ups and downs. The Baroque period usually only expresses one basic emotion, with the consistency of emotion, the persistence of rhythm, the recurrence of themes, and the consistency of intensity. It achieves the smoothness of melody, the simplicity of accompaniment texture, and the lyricism of singing style. .

Music characteristics of the classical period

Under the influence of the rise of the bourgeois revolution and the Enlightenment, the European middle class gradually entered the political stage. The people-oriented ideology and positive and revolutionary spirit of the middle class have greatly influenced the creative tendencies and styles of musicians. Sublimity, simplicity, perfection, harmony and solemnity, the use of national folk music and secular music materials, as well as the pursuit of drama in music development, the perfection of sonata form and the establishment of symphonic form have become prominent features of the development of music in the classical period. Among them, the sonata-form structure uses contrast and unity as the basic principle for the development of instrumental music, emphasizing the complexity and richness of music, highlighting the relationship between inherent conflicts and resolutions in music development, and laying the foundation for the formation and development of all large-scale instrumental works such as symphonies. development laid the foundation. At this time, the popularity of concerts, the change in the status of professional musicians, and the composer's personal creative style increased the professionalization of music and its popularity among the public at the same time, thus promoting European music to glory.

In the music of the Classical period, the rich changes and contrasts of mood gained a new emphasis. The flexibility of the rhythm basically belongs to the main theme music in terms of texture. The melody is pleasant to the ear, and the intensity changes of crescendo and decrescendo reflect the musical characteristics of this period.

Music Characteristics of the Romantic Period

The wave of European bourgeois revolution swept across Europe. The revolution of the superstructure further promoted the progress of science and technology and the development of the capitalist economy. Correspondingly, , the rise of bourgeois liberal democratic thought, European music culture has also entered a new stage of development. The pursuit of freedom and advocating individualism became the spirit of the times during this period.

As a reaction to the rationalism of the classical music school, the romantic music trend emerged at the historic moment, with its main characteristics being self-expression, focusing on expressing personal emotions and consciousness, and emphasizing personal subjective feelings. Romanticism regards emotion as the main content of musical expression and pays more attention to the singing ability of music melody. Lyrical, free, poetic, and personalized music style, as well as colorful emotional rendering and the national character of music have become the main characteristics of romantic music. Therefore, music genres that are good at expressing personal emotions, such as art songs and piano lyric sketches, have been greatly developed at this time; symphonies and operas also pay more attention to the description and expression of characters' inner emotions. The emergence of title music, with single-movement symphonic poems as a typical example, emphasizes the specific direction and theme of the music content. The piano became the most important musical instrument during the Romantic period. The music of the Romantic period emphasized self-expression and individuality of style, expressive purpose and theme, nationalism and exoticism, title music, expressive timbre, rich harmony, expansion of dynamics, pitch and speed ranges , these all reflect personal emotions and expression to a certain extent to the greatest extent.

Characteristics of music in the modern era

After the world entered the 20th century, science and technology were highly developed, social materials were greatly enriched, and opportunities began to arise between countries, regions, and ethnic groups around the world. Engage in comprehensive cultural dialogue as equals. Economic globalization, political diversification, and cultural localization have greatly affected the evolution and development of European art schools. The endless emergence of various artistic trends and the participation of high-tech means in the information age have become the basis and conditions for the development of diverse, changeable and diverse genres of music in Europe in the 20th century. The most prominent feature of 20th century music is its subversion and innovation of previous music traditions. The local music of various ethnic regions began to be juxtaposed with Western mainstream music, and the concept of the European music center was shaken. The characteristics of 20th century music include major breakthroughs and subversions in timbre, harmony, changes in the traditional tonal system (even the emergence of atonal music), rhythm (free and changeable rhythm structure), and melody. It shows the diversity and diversity of music styles in the 20th century.