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.