History and Classical Music

Interintellect host Linus Lu continues his series all about classical music by exploring the relationship between classical music and history. 

This salon will dive into the history of classical music and be about history through classical music.

We go through the different periods of classical music, from the earliest ancient roots (which have more echoes in modern and contemporary music) through the Renaissance and Baroque to the Romantic and 20th century.

We also look at how music reflected the ages: from Medieval masses mirroring the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, to Haydn quartets reflecting the aristocratic courts of the late 18th century, to Mahler’s gigantic symphonies reflecting the chaotic cosmopolitan of late 19th-century Vienna.

General reading:

Alex Ross, The Rest is Noise

Jeremy Nicholas, “A brief history of classical music”

Ancient:

“Plato, or music’s important role in a political ideal”

Rediscovering Ancient Greek Music (2017)

Louis Andriessen, De Staat

Medieval & Renaissance:

“Music in the Counter Reformation”

Hildegard von Bingen, Canticles of Ecstasy

Guillaume Dufay, Missa L’Homme Armé

Carlo Gesualdo, “Moro, lasso”

Baroque:

Henry Purcell, “Dido’s Lament” from Dido & Aeneas

François Couperin, “Les Barricades Mysterieuses for Piano”; with introduction

Handel, Music for the Royal Fireworks

A Guide to Bach’s St. Matthew Passion

Classical:

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart and the Imperial Court at Vienna

Mozart, Symphony No. 35 “Haffner”

Haydn, Symphony No. 45 “Farewell” IV. Finale

Romantic:

Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 “Eroica”

Modest Mussorgsky, “Coronation Scene” from Boris Gudunov

Wagner, Prelude to Parsifal

Mahler, Symphony No. 3

Dvorak, String Quartet No. 12 “American”

Jean Sibelius, Finlandia

Claude Debussy, “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun”

Modern & Contemporary:

Scott Perkins, “Quartet for the End of Time: A Prisoner of War Composition”

Igor Stravinsky, Rite of Spring

Aaron Copland, “Fanfare for the Common Man”

Dmitri Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 8

Benjamin Britten, War Requiem

Steve Reich, Different Trains

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