From: givler@bermuda (Greg Givler)
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: Re: Wanted: A crash course in composer's styles to guess who wrote a piece
Date: 14 Aug 92 14:11:09 GMT
Organization: Another Amiga UNIX System

In article <!c6m09.bskendig@netcom.com> bskendig@netcom.com (Brian Kendig) writes:
>I've had a year and a half of classical music theory, but one of the
>things I was never able to pick up was how to tell the styles of
>different classical composers -- Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi, &c.
>-- apart well enough to, upon hearing a classical piece on the radio,
>intelligently guess who wrote it.  This isn't anything crucial, but it
>would be great 'coffee-table' knowledge (that is, trivia ;).

I don't know if there is an easy way, but the way I learned the traits
of composers was by listening to a representative sampling of there 
works. The reason I did this was that my Music History professor 
required it, and had "drop-the-needle" questions on his tests. Also
when you had to Identify the Piece, the Composer, the Movement, and the 
Form, you took notes on all the pieces that were on your listening 
list and spent a lot of time in the music library. :-)

>
>Could anyone here suggest a run-down on some of the composers with
>obvious stylistic 'trademarks' that would tend to appear in their work
>more often than in other pieces?  I mean, when you hear a classical
>piece and say 'that sounds like Brahms', what is it about the piece
>that tips you off that Brahms wrote it (if you didn't already know)?
>

Here is what I listen for:

Brahms, since you mention him:

Hemiola, Brahms had an affinity for shifting meter thru the use of
Hemiola. Also to me Brahms sounds like what Beethoven would have 
been doing if he had lived longer. Oh, if you not familiar with the 
Term Hemiola the usual way that I have seen it used is this.

Say your are in 6/8 so the beats go:
<   <  
||| |||

Change that to 3/4 just by tying the notes together
<  <  <
|| || ||

the most famous of these is:
1 2    3  4  5  6   12  34 56
I want to BE in A | MER I  CA

From West Side Story.

Beethoven: What gives him away to me is his sound. The way 
that he orchestrated a piece, it just clicks. Also his harmonies
they are just Beethoven.

Bach: His use of the Oboe, and the Harmonic progression

Handel: He doesn't sound as dark as Bach to me. Everything sounds
like it could have come from Messiah. This is not to say that I 
don't like Handel, I do very much. It is just the way it sounds to my
ear.

Correlli: He had an affinity for writing for two solo violins, also
he used chain suspensions, this created the "Corelli Clash"

I could go on and on, but if you listen to different pieces by the same
composer you will begin to hear similarities in their sound. Berlioz is 
another example, his chord structures and orchestrations give him away 
to my ear almost everytime, and the only piece of his that I have listened
to extensively is Symphonie Fantastique.

>Just curious, and wanting to impress some people by making myself look
>educated.  ;)

I can impress people this way, but it sort of like being able to
answer all the questions on Jeopardy correctly, it is nice to be 
able to do, but who really cares :-)

>
>     << Brian >>

Greg
-- 
Greg Givler                 | "If you're not going to kill me,
Commodore Product Assurance | I have things to do." - From Darkman
givler@cbmvax.commodore.com |
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Newsgroups: rec.music.classical