Music and the society - Essay Example

?Comparative Essay Introduction Music just like any other work of art represents the society. Musical compositions feature the specific features of the society and address the issues in sequential themes, which they communicate alongside instrumental beats. The lyrics therefore fuses with the instruments to resulting a holistic peace that does not only entertain but also communicates the basic aspects of the society. Set in the society and targeting the same society for audience, musical compositions limit their creativity to the similar attributes of the society. This implies that the themes in the songs and the musical instruments used in the songs must come from the societies in which either the composers or the audience belong. Songs therefore portray the social, political, economic and cultural aspects of the society. In doing these, the draw lyrics from the specific features of the above elements that affect the society daily (Chris, Gerald and Allen 44). Through time, societies develop their technologies and cultural behaviors alongside other pertinent attributes. Songs and other works of art should therefore communicate the constant change in their presentation. This includes the type of instruments they use and the level of creativity in composing the songs. Songs must therefore reflect the changes through time. This implies that songs produced in different times should portray the difference in the features of society. The difference should be easily evident in the lyrical composition of the songs and even the instruments used. The technological changes often result in improvements in the instruments and other technological aspects of the composition. Songs should therefore always have better quality owing to the fact that they subsequent song productions employ better technologies. Due to the modern telecommunication developments, the world has eventually become a global village denoting that people easily trade cultural products key among which are songs and other works of arts. With such developments, any work of art that targets the global audience must address issues that are familiar to the global market. This compels detailed researches to identify the prominent aspects of the global society. Songs determine the trends in the global popular culture, composers of songs and other global works of art therefore have increased responsibility of regulating their cultural products to limit their compositions to uphold the values and virtues in the wider global society. From the above discussion, it is obvious that comparing to musical compositions is synonymous to comparing the different times of production for the two or more songs. Through the themes in the songs, the instruments used and the composition styles, the social, economic, political and technological state of the times become evident. Two of such songs composed and produced at different times in history but are still classical master pieces are The Four Seasons by Antonio Vilvadi in 1723 and Music for the Funeral of Queen Marry written by Henry Purcell in 1965. The time differences between the two songs is more than three centuries a time within which the society changed its structure. Political, social, economic, cultural and even technological factors all changed thereby creating a big difference in the nature of the songs. They both have a representation of each of the five aspects of the society and the nature of representation in the two communicate the difference in the time lines. As its name suggests, The Four Seasons describe the seasons in the year and the activities in them. In his composition, Vilvadi composes and produces four concertos to represent he four seasons. Published for the first time in 1925, the four were part of the twelve concerti named the contest between harmony and invention. Each of the four concerti has unique composition structure and uses different instruments to create the difference in the tempo and therefore the general composition. The first two represent the warm seasons of summer and autumn while the last two represent the cold seasons of winter and spring. The different seasons often present different social challenges and therefore require specific activities. The composer depicts the difference from his composition by making the fast two a little faster than the last two have a slower tempo. The difference in the instrumental composition of the four concerti is natural since during the cold periods, activities slow and people spend more time in their houses, the mood of the society therefore becomes naturally more silent and a little more sluggish. This is unlike the warm periods when the society come back to life and activities heighten. During warm seasons, people socialize more and the intense interaction result in more societal development. The composer therefore deliberately makes two of the concerti slower to represent the cold sluggish seasons while the last two songs have faster rhythms and tempo thereby representing the intensified activity. Additionally, the composer attaches more difference to the different concerti in an attempt to convey meaning to the name of the twelve concerti, which the four were part. The period within which he composes his concert was still mediaeval and the society had not integrated much. However, he names the concerti The Contest between Harmony and Innovation and therefore tries to portray the contest between the two from use of lyrics and musical instrument. The creation of concerti for every season is creative enough. He adds to the creativity by giving a lyrical description of the society in each season and fuses the rhythmic lyrical description with the use of the instruments to result in four holistic pieces that are different from each other yet have the progressive nature of seasons and victory of innovation in such a contest. The themes in each concerti present the nature of societies during the seasons a feature that naturally brings the difference in the five societal features during the four seasons. The original composer uses violin, flute and drum sets in creating the beats for the songs. They were the basic musical instruments of the time and he balances the use of the three to create different tempos in the four songs to achieve originality as he deems fit. Violin was one of the most preferred musical instrument in the Italian society. The composer therefore draws familiarity in his first audience by using the instrument with which they are familiar. The drum sets, violins and flutes help create the slower tempos in the first two songs and he again changes the application of the same instruments to create the faster rhythms necessary for the two last concertos. Modern artists have tried redoing the pieces using the modern musical technologies to improve the quality of the first musical sets of the time. The subsequent releases of the song indicate that the original version of the production may not find audience in the modern society, which has developed musical technologies capable of improving the quality of the original pieces. Music for the Funeral of Queen Marry is another great song composed by Henry Purcell in commemoration of the death of Queen Marry the second of England. His composition of the song performed at the burial ceremony indicates the all-important fact that songs are celebratory. His greatest inspiration in compositing the song, later performed at his own funeral in November the same year was his love for the Queen. He does not directly personify the Queen in the song but dedicates the song to the Queen by naming it after her. In composing the song, Purcell attributes the religious beliefs of the society by referring to God the giver of life. His religious piece is therefore a portrayer of the religious nature of the society in which he sets his song. The Queen believed in the existence of God and his family was religious thereby permitting the performance of the song at her burial. He composes the song both for choir and for orchestra with each genre having specific inclusions and omissions in order to draw rhythm from the specific musical instruments used in the performance of each genre. He achieves the rhythm by balancing the use of a number of musical resources key among which is the manner in which he balances the voices in the song. He apportions bass, alto, tenor and soprano all of the four voices in music to the song. Each category of the singers does a piece of the song either simultaneously or in unison depending on the dictates of the contours of the song to achieve a rhythmic and unified piece. Besides the balance in the voices, the composer employs the use of organ and trumpets normally used in such state ceremonies. He therefore deliberately creates the musical piece to rhyme with the beats of such basic musical instruments owing to the nature of the performance he intended for the song. The 1965 English society was already developed and the composer had a myriad of musical instruments to use in the creation of the song. He later uses some of these in creating studio versions of the song. Nevertheless, for the original performance, he prefers the use of the organ and the trumpets, which are portable and necessary for state ceremonies such as the burial of the queen. From the first stanza of the song, he uses familiar themes and attributes social facts most of which the society is familiar. He addresses death just as commonly as it exists in the society and uses familiar allegories to describe the life in thee society. He further thanks God for the gift of life that most of them enjoy thereby depicting that the society had some form of religious belief and acknowledges the presence of God. The image below shows the cover of the album in which the song belonged. The title of the album, The Book of Common Prayer shows that the society is literate and has an engagement with God through prayer. By inserting the song into the album, the composer quantifies the song one of the prayers for the society. The burial of Queen Marry gave the song enough prominence thereby attracting more artist to convert the piece into different other genres thereby using different musical technologies in creating different pieces for the original choir. Comparison The two songs represent different times, more than three centuries apart. The difference in their creation is evident in the themes they address and the methods through which they address the themes. The use of instruments differ in the two songs thereby depicting the technological development of the time. The Four Seasons uses violins; this does not make it any much different from the Music for the Funeral of Queen Marry, the two songs are set in different societies. While the Italian showed preference to the use of violin which was a great musical instrument and still is, the English society had its instruments key among which were trumpets and organs. The two songs therefore gain relevance in their respective societies using the different musical instruments (Chris, Gerald and Allen 21). Another great difference in the composition of the songs arises from their uses. While the Four Seasons is just another entertaining piece played in jovial social events, the Music for the Funeral of Queen Marry is specific song used in mourning the dead. This dictates a difference in the composition styles of the songs. The song had to help attain the somber mood of funerals. The composer therefore achieves this through the use rhythmic features such as refrains and rhymes which he creates using religious words. He vividly describes both the burial occasion and the concept of death thereby succeeding in creating the somber mood. Vilvadi on the other hand also employs the use of vivid description in achieving success of his four concertos. The social setting of the timing also influences the difference in the songs. Vilvadi’s compositions are highly secular and used in humorous settings to lighten the mood of the social gatherings. Such audiences require lyrical compositions that are familiar to such functions, the words he uses in creating his rhymes are secular and the songs have the aura of celebration. However, the creativity of representing every season in a song influences the amount of energy he apportions each song. The four concertos are different in their tempos and mood purposely to achieve the differences in the four seasons in a year. The Music for the Funeral of Queen Marry on the other hand is set up in a burial; the song therefore has a highly spiritual audience a fact that influences the composition of the song. The composer uses words that help create the somberness required in such occasions. The technological development of the societies and times further influences the composition of the two sets. The four Seasons is set earlier in time, the original version of the song portrays the quality of the instrument employed by the composer. The modern versions of the original piece that use high quality violins and drum sets sound better than the original version. The Music for the Funeral of Queen Marry also makes use of musical instruments; the time of the composition of the song dictates the employment of better instruments played by people that are more educated. The organ is a set of musical instruments including a drum set just as used by Vilvadi in his four concertos. The difference in the composition of the two original pieces depict the difference in the quality of the instruments used in playing the two. Work cited Chris, Woodstra; Gerald, Brennan and Allen Schrott, ed. All music guide to classical music: the definitive guide to classical music. San Francisco, CA: Backbeat Books, 2005. Print. Read More