HUMA 205 Lecture 1: Chapter 1 Summary
1 After you have heard the piece, ask yourself these ques- tions:
Which characteristics of the music indicated the period of its
composition?Were they due to the forces employed (voices and/
or instruments)? How was the piece constructed? Did the
composer make use of repetition? Was there a change of mood
and, if so, did the original mood return at the end? What kind of
melody was used? Was it continuous or did it divide into a series
of shorter phrases? If a text was involved, how did the music
relate to the words? Were they audible? Did the composer intend
them to be? If not, why not? Were there aspects of the music that
reminded you of the literature and visual arts of the same period?
In what kind of buildings can you imagine it being performed?
What does the music tell you about the society for which it was
written? Finally, ask yourself the most di cult question of all: What
did the music express? Richard Wagner described the meaning of
music as “foreign and inexpressible in any other language.” There
is no dictionary of musical meaning, and listeners must interpret
for themselves what they hear.
2 The gap between the simple pleasure of the listener and the
complex skills of composer and performer often xx ◆ The Arts: An
Introduction prevents the development of a more serious grasp of
music history and its relation to the other arts.The aim of this
section is to help bridge that gap without trying to provide too
much technical information.After a brief survey of music’s role in
Western culture, we shall look at the “language” used to discuss
musical works—both speci c terminology, such as sharp and at,
and more general concepts, such as line and color.
3 Pre- sumably, like the early cave paintings, music served some
kind of magical or ritual purpose.This is borne out by the fact that
music still forms a vital part of most religious ceremonies today,
from the hymns sung in Christian churches or the solo singing of
the cantor in an Orthodox Jewish synagogue to the elaborate
musi- cal rituals performed in Buddhist or Shinto temples in
Japan.The Old Testament makes many references to the power of
music, most notably in the famous story of the battle of Jericho,
and it is clear that by historical times music played an important
role in Jewish life, both sacred and secular.
4 Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna,Austria//© Erich Less- ing/Art
Resource, NY 6 ◆ CHAPTER 1 The Beginnings of Civilization
GREECE ATHENS MYCENAE TIRYNS LIBYA TROY KNOSSOS
Crete ASIA MINOR Cyprus NINEVEH NIMRUD ASSUR ASSYRIA
PERSIA Cyclades ANTIOCH SIDON TYRE JERICHO JERUSALEM
RED S E A AKKAD BABYLON SUMER URUK UR LAGASH GIZA
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
MEMPHIS EGYPT TEL EL-AMARNA THEBES KARNAK LUXOR
THE ANCIENT WORLD 0 0 200 Miles 200 Kilometers Unlike
Upper Egypt, the land here is at; dikes and canals were therefore
needed to prevent ooding dur- ing the rainy season and to
provide water during the rest of the year.When the early settlers
found that they had to undertake these large-scale construction
proj- ects in order to improve their agriculture, they began to
merge their small villages to form towns.
5 2000 Earliest version of The Epic of Gilgamesh 1900–1600
Babylonian Period 1792–1750 The Law Code of Hammurabi
1600–1150 Kassite Period 1150–612 Assyrian Period 883–859
Reign of Assurnasirpal II; palace at Nimrud 668–626 Reign of
Assurbanipal; palace at Nineveh 612 Fall of Nineveh 8000 3000
3000 1000 600 559–529 Reign of Cyrus the Great; expansion of
Persian Empire Most dates are approximate Iron Age Bronze Age
Neolithic Period Neolithic Period (Late Stone Age) Paleolithic
Period (Old Stone Age) that follow chronicle the high
achievements of West- ern civilization, but the grim background
against which many of these appeared should never be forgotten.
6 1878–1841 Reign of Sesostris III 1790–1570 Second Intermediate
Period 1570–1185 New Kingdom 1364–1347 Reign of Amenhotep
IV (Akhenaton); religious and polit- ical reform; worship of single
god Aton; capital moved from Thebes to Tel el-Amarna;
naturalism in art; Akhenaton, “Hymn to Aton” 1361–1352 Reign of
Tutankhamen; return to conservatism 1298–1232 Reign of
Ramses II; colossal buildings constructed at Luxor, Karnak, Abu
Simbel 1185–500 Late Period: Egypt’s power declines; artists
revert to Old Kingdom styles 2800–2000 Early Minoan Period on
Crete: Growth of Cycladic culture 2000–1600 Middle Minoan
Period on Crete: Construction of palace complexes; development
of linear writing c.
7 ART ELEMENTS ◆ Line; shape, volume, and mass; light and
value, color; tex- ture; space, time, and motion In Madonna of the
Rocks, light is the most important element and a ects all the other
elements.The light is very dramatic and its source appears to be
from the upper left from o the canvas.The light de nes every-
thing; it illuminates and focuses the viewer’s attention on the
gures.The light a ects the colors and creates the warm feeling of
esh against the coldness of the rocky landscape of great
depth.This use of light is called chiaroscuro, a contrast of very
dark to very light values in the brightness of a color.
8 Having “surplus of meaning” means that a certain work not only re
ects technical and imaginative skill, but also that its very existence
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
sums up the best of a certain age, which spills over as a source of
inspiration for further ages.As one reads through the history of the
Western humanistic achievement it is clear that certain products
of human genius are looked to by subsequent generations as a
source of inspiration;they have a surplus of meaning.Thus the
Roman achievement in architec- ture with the dome of the
Pantheon both symbolized their skill in architecture and became a
reference point for every major dome built in theWest since.The
dome of the Pantheon nds echoes in seventh-century Con-
stantinople (Hagia Sophia); in fteenth-century Flor- ence (the
Duomo); in sixteenth-century Rome (St.
9 900–700 Evolution of Homeric epics Iliad and Odyssey 671–663
Assyrian occupation of Egypt 750–600 Age of Colonization 4 ◆
CHAPTER 1 The Beginnings of Civilization THE EARLIEST
PEOPLE AND THEIR ART Even the earliest civilizations appeared
relatively late in human history, at the beginning of the period
known as the Neolithic1 or Late Stone Age (c.
10 Such a gathering is a celebration of written literature done, at least
in part, in music in an architectural setting deco- rated to re ect
the religious sensibilities of the commu- nity.A church service
makes use of visual arts, literature, and music.While the service
acts as an integrator of the arts, each art, considered separately,
has its own pecu- liar characteristics that give it shape.The same
integra- tion may be seen, of course, in an opera or in a music
video.
11 A succession of di erent peoples, each with their own language,
religion, and customs, produced a wide variety of
achievements.This makes it far more di cult to generalize about
Mesopotamian culture than about ancient Egyptian culture.The
picture is further compli- cated by the presence of a series of
related peoples on the periphery of the Mesopotamian
territory.The Hittites, The Earliest People and Their Art ◆ 5 ◆ 1.2
Hall of the Bulls, c.
12 Does it correspond to your expectations? How is the composer
trying to achieve an e ect? By variety of instrumental color? Are
any of the ideas, or tunes, repeated? Unlike literature or the visual
arts, music occurs in the dimension of time.When you are reading,
you can turn backward to check a reference or remind yourself of
a character’s identity.
13 Music involving sev- eral separate lines sounding together (as in a
modern string quartet or a jazz group) became popular only in the
14th century.This gradual introduction of polyphony (“many
voices”) is perhaps the single most important development in the
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
1 after you have heard the piece, ask yourself these ques- tions: Richard wagner described the meaning of music as foreign and inexpressible in any other language. there is no dictionary of musical meaning, and listeners must interpret for themselves what they hear. The gap between the simple pleasure of the listener and the complex skills of composer and performer often xx the arts: an. Western culture, we shall look at the language used to discuss musical works both speci c terminology, such as sharp and at, and more general concepts, such as line and color. Resource, ny 6 chapter 1 the beginnings of civilization. Crete asia minor cyprus nineveh nimrud assur assyria. Red s e a akkad babylon sumer uruk ur lagash giza. The ancient world 0 0 200 miles 200 kilometers unlike. 2000 earliest version of the epic of gilgamesh 1900 1600. Babylonian period 1792 1750 the law code of hammurabi.
