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Beethoven’s symphonies follow these inherited common tonal relationships, he explored other relationships in his later symphonies, particularly those whose keynotes are separated by a third, e.g. C major and E-flat major or A major, called “mediant” (“sub-mediant”) key relationships.
- Symphony No. 4 in B-flat, Op. 60
The musical texture of the first movement’s introduction...
- Symphony No. 4 in B-flat, Op. 60
- SOUND. A consensus has not yet been reached on exactly what music is and how it should be defined, but everyone generally agrees that it is a human expression composed of a purposeful arrangement of sounds and silences; therefore, sound is a fundamental and irreplaceable aspect of all music.
- PITCH. Another key property of sound is pitch. Pitch is defined as the frequency at which a sound or note vibrates and is measured in hertz. Pitch operates on a nearly infinite spectrum, from high to low.
- RHYTHM. If you’ve ever found yourself checking your heart rate, watching the second hand tick around a large clock, or listening to a car’s turn signal, you would have, in effect, been observing a series of steady pulses, or beats.
- TEMPO. If you’ve ever attended a show or concert, you have probably seen the drummer of a band count from one to four to kick off a song. Typically, this is done either verbally, with sticks, or sometimes both.
- The Neanderthal Flute
- Bullroarer
- Jiahu Gǔdí
- Tutankhamun’s Trumpets
- Xun
- Lithophone
- Lyres of Ur
- Auloi
- Bow Harp
- Shofar
Up first on our list of very old musical instruments is the Neanderthal flute. However, this isn’t the modern concert flute we recognize today; it’s theNeanderthal flute discovered in 1995 in a cave in Slovenia. It’s thought to be around 60,000 years old. It’s literally the oldest instrument in the world! It is made from the bone of a cave bear and...
Up next is the bullroarer, an ancient musical instrument that dates back to 18,000 BC. It can be found all over the globe. It’s usually a flat elliptical-shaped plank of wood with a long string attached to it. The wood ranges in size from four to 14 inches, some even as long as 28 inches. To use a bullroarer, a person holds the string and whirls th...
Our next instrument is one that can be traced back to roughly 6,000 BCE in China. This makes the Jiahu gǔdíthe oldest musical instrument from this country. To give you a little bit of context, the burial grounds of Jiahu in the Henan Province of central China contained artistic remains, including bone flutes. Six complete bone flutes and fragments ...
Another very old instrument is Tutankhamun’s trumpets, which were discovered in Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s burial chamber. They originated around 5,000 BC. Archaeologist Howard Carter was credited with having discovered the trumpets in 1922. One trumpet was about 19 inches in length and made of bronze. The other was silver and 22.5 inches long. The trum...
Another Chinese instrument makes an appearance on our list. The xunwas a famous instrument in ancient China. The one discovered in Zhejiang was 7,000 years old and is considered the oldest xun artifact. Other xun instruments were also discovered in other places, such as Henan. Xun is an egg-shaped clay sculpture with no more than ten holes on the e...
If it’s called a prehistoric instrument, then you know it’s really old. The lithophone, also known as the “rock gong,” is a percussion instrument made of rocks. It’s believed to have been invented between 8,000 and 2,500 BC. The oldest lithophone was discovered in Vietnam in 1949, consisting of 11 slabs of stones. Lithophones were also found in oth...
Four lyres were discovered in the Royal Cemetery of Ur, which was once part of ancient Mesopotamia. As they are over 4,500 years old, the Lyres of Urare the oldest stringed instruments. Each lyre had an animal head on the front of the sound box to identify its pitch. All these are box lyres, meaning they have a boxlike body. The performer plays by ...
Our next entry is an ancient Greek wind instrument. The auloiwere invented around 2,450 BC. It has two separate pipes, each double-reed, and played at the same time. That is why some would call them a double flute. Later, people would perform using only one pipe. The early auloi were made from wood or bone. Later on, other materials were used, such...
The bow harp, also known as benet, is a type of harp that originated in ancient Egypt. Throughout pharaonic history, it was one of the most popular musical instruments. Bow harps were said to originate in the first dynasty, making them a very old instrument. Harps were already in existence around 2,500 BC. By then, they were the kind of harp consis...
Up next is the shofar, a Jewish instrument traditionally made from the ram’s horn. The shapes and sizes differ depending on the animal and construction. It is blown like a trumpet. Notably, it has no pitch-altering mechanisms. The pitch control is done by modulating the player’s breath control using the lips, tongue, and teeth. In Biblical times, t...
Jul 16, 2023 · Haydn wrote some of his most successful symphonies for his times in London. His Symphony No. 94 in G Major, which premiered in London in 1792, is a good ex- ample of Haydn’s thwarting musical expectations for witty ends. Like most symphonies of its day, the first movement is in sonata form.
In general, the music of Beethoven’s first period (roughly until 1803) reflects the influence of Haydn and Mozart. Beethoven’s second period (1803-1814) is sometimes called his “heroic” period, based on his recovery from depression documented in the “Heiligenstadt Testament” mentioned earlier.
Jul 16, 2023 · The two most important new genres of the Classical period were the symphony and the string quartet; instrumental genres that continued from the Baroque period include the concerto. Although one might trace its origins to the opera overture, the symphony developed as an orchestral composition for the public concert.
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The names of the major classical instruments are so familiar that we usually take them for granted, but digging into their origins reveals an intriguing hotchpotch of multicultural influences, from ancient Greece and Rome via medieval Europe through to the present day.
