Classical Music Concert Review Essay

People often use music without borders to describe the popularity and breadth of music. Spain is a nation that can sing and dance very well. The Spanish are born with the blood of art. Therefore, they do have their unique features in music. Naturally, some Spanish international singers have emerged and led the unique 'Latin' style of today's music scene. In addition, both the full national colors of traditional Spanish music, Spanish or classical music with European romantic, have a place in the music world

When people talk about Spain, they first think of bullfighting, then Spanish art. Of course, Flamenco will be the first thing people think of. But do you know that in addition to flamenco-like Spanish music, Spanish pop music, and classical music are indeed rich in their unique charm

In the Chicago Public Library, Cindy Pritzker Auditorium, there was a concert about Spanish & Mexican Music for the Harpsichord and the Clavichord on Tuesday, October 29, 2019. David Schrader performed two musical instruments the Harpsichord and the Clavichord, according to Norman Pelligrini, he said: “David Schrader is truly an extraordinary musician who brings not only the unfailing right technical approach to each of these different instruments, but always an imaginative, fascinating musicality to all of them” (Norman Pelligrini, WFMT, Chicago) when David Schrader at home in front of a harpsichord, organ, piano, or fortepiano. He was not only a great soloist who appeared at national conventions of the American Guild of Organists, but also he was a performer of wide-ranging appearances with the Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, and Colorado Symphonies. Now in this concert, he was going to show two kinds of music played by using the Harpsichord and the Clavichord. These two musical instruments were used for play all the repertoire in the list, which are “Pavana con su glosa - Antonio de Cabezon (1510-1566)”, “Diferencias sobre las vacas”, “Tiento del octavo tono”, “Tiento del cuarto tono al modo de cancion - Francisco Correa de ”, “Tiento del noveno tono - Aruxo(1583/4-1654)”, “Diferencias sobre las vacas”, “Fantasia de consonancia del quinto tono - Luis de Narvaez (fl. 1530-50)”, “Improvisacion en stilo Iberoamericano - David Schrader (b. 1952)”, “Sonata en re menor - Antonio Soler (1729-1783)”, “Sonata en f mayor”. All of this music appeared in early Spanish organ music during the Renaissance. I think this concert was a great experience that helped me understand Spanish and Mexican development in history. It was a classical music concert venue with an indoor auditorium, the interesting thing is I did not see any speakers around or hanging in the venue, but once the instruments started I could hear them very clearly, I think it was because of the structure of music venue, and the three-layer stage and soft curve on the edge naturally expanded the volume.

The obvious about this concert is all the music was played by the Harpsichord and the Clavichord, these were not only two ancient musical instruments but also prototypes telling the history of modern organ music. Since I was seated kind of closer to the stage, I only had a side view of the Harpsichord and Clavichord. The harpsichord is a piano organ instrument, but it sounds different from than piano, it sounds more like a high-pitched guitar with a keyboard on it. When I did some research after the concert, I found Harpsichord does look like a piano from the upper view, but Harpsichord does have two sets of keyboards whose strings are set in vibration by plucking. Generally, Harpsichord has two or more sets of strings, and each set produces different tone qualities, “One set may sound an octave higher than the others and is called a 4-foot register, whereas a set of strings at the normal pitch is called an 8-foot register.”(Encyclopaedia Britannica, Harpsichord) The harpsichord was one of the most important keyboard instruments in Europe from the 16th through the 18th century.

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There are three types of instruments commonly used in the 16th century: string, wind, and keyboard. The Lute the string instrument is the most popular instrument. It is popular among the folks of Italy, Spain, France, Germany, and Poland. It is also popular among the nobility. It is often used as a singer or dance. Dance music is usually always connected by two different dance songs. The one is slower and smoother, two beats or four beats, and the other is faster three beats. There is also a harp in the stringed instrument, which is also the most commonly used instrument, often used as an accompaniment song with the Lute. Then instrumental music gradually began to develop independently and got rid of the subordinate status of vocal accompaniment. Most of the early instrumental music was transplanted from vocal music, but instrumental music created images of pure music that did not attach any lyrics. Much instrumental music in the Renaissance was still improvised, and some instrumental music was recorded as music scores, such as the music played in concert. The predecessor of the European keyboard instrument was the medieval plucking psaltery. The two ancient pianos of the 14th century have matured during the Renaissance. One is a Clavichord with a metal smashing string. Although the sound is slender, the playing can control the volume with the strength of the touch keys. The other is the Harpsichord, which is a plucked string of feathers. The sound is louder than the former but the touch can't control the change of sound.

The earliest Harpsichords were found in Italy, it was built in the early 16th century. During the 16th through the 18th centuries, Harpsichords evolved and became one of the most important European instruments. Before the eighteenth century, new musical instruments seemed to have been generated by some mysterious process to which names of originators could rarely be attached. Until that time, perhaps the earliest known inventor of a Harpsichord was John Rose, who in 1562 created Bandora, a wire-strung plucked bass instrument. Consequently, it is difficult to believe that we can point to someone who lived six hundred years ago and say, even without absolute proof, “He was the inventor of the harpsichord”; yet growing evidence suggests that we may indeed be able to make such a claim. According to Edward L. Kottick and his book called A History of the Harpsichord, he claimed “ John Rose was hired as the personal physician to Rupert, a minor German king who nevertheless reigned as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire between 1400 and 1410, indicates that he had the advanced qualifications of a medical astrologer. Hence he was perfectly capable of inventing the new music-making machine such as the Harpsichord, particularly since he was known to be an accomplished organist.”(Kottick, E. L., 11)

The clavichord was another organ instrument that was built in a similar era to Harpsichords. When I looked from auditorium to stage, the observer difference is Clavichord is smaller and shorter than Harpsichords, Clavichord also does not have as many keyboards as Harpsichords. The sounds of Clavichord are sharper and higher than Harpsichords. When I did some research after the concert, I noticed Clavichord looks wider and shorter than a Harpsichord because a Clavichord is usually rectangular, instead place string straight Harpsichords, Clavichords are made string vertically, the reason why is rectangular because “The strings run horizontally from the tuning pins over the bridge to the hitch pins in the left. A small brass blade tangent stands on each key just below its string. When the key is depressed, the tangent strikes the string, causing it to sound. When the key is released, the tangent falls away from the string, which is then silenced by the felt.”(Encyclopaedia Britannica, Clavichord). The difference between Harpsichord and Clavichord is more than the shape. The appearance is very characteristic of each of them. Different from the simplicity of Harpsichords, Clavichord pays more attention to beauty, “its case and lid were usually highly decorated, painted, and inlaid. The right, or treble, end contains the soundboard, the bridge, and wrest, or tuning, pins.”(Encyclopaedia Britannica, Clavichord) The purpose of rectangular shape and high decoration made it lightweight and easy to carry, it made the clavichord continue in use in the Renaissance, most often as a practice instrument for organists who could often use the main organ instrument. The earliest Clavichord is unequivocally mentioned in a poem of 1404 from Eberhard Cersne’s Minne Regal and Machaut’s La Prise d’Alexandrie. Both Machaut and Cersne mention several plucked stringed instruments in their poems, the most common of the wire-strung group, came in a variety of shapes, but the one that looked like a small, wide Harpsichord with bent sides on both left and right. A soundbox with a moveable bridge was a useful tool for tuning, finding intervals, and giving pitches. It was thought that the monochord could be transformed into a viable maker of music with the addition of a few more strings, and a keyboard with tangents. Then at some time before the end of the fourteenth century, this provided with keyboards and transformed into the instruments we now know as the Clavichord.

For the next couple of hours, I enjoyed the music and the background information that David Schrader provided to me. And then followed by his music, he led me back to the golden age of the Renaissance where in Spanish and when Antonio de Cabezón was alive. He was blind but he turned it become his advantage and was employed by the royal family as a composer and organist, He was one of the most important composers in the Renaissance and the first major Iberian keyboard composer.

During the Renaissance, the most important forms of secular music in Spain were Romance and Country Songs. Romantic music popular in the early 16th to the 17th century, is a lyrical epic, diverse, often with a sad nature; is accompanied by a solo song with a stack of songs, but also a chorus; with a dramatic form, can be on stage show. Spanish music in the sixteenth century is diverse and international. Perhaps it is the fusion of various styles that have made 16th-century Spanish music brilliant. In this way, Spain has been a country full of music cells since ancient times, and because of this, Spanish modern music has been influenced by Spanish classical music and national music, forming a unique musical style. Spanish music is unique and culturally regional, you may like classical music, you may like folk customs, or maybe you have a soft spot for pop music, whether it is Spanish Latin music or Spanish music, its status in the world is strongly in the music world. With the changes of the times, it is becoming more and more international and it is loved by more non-Latin Americans and forming a Latin music trend.