SY on Music Theory Print

Symphonic black metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

One of the earliest forerunners in what would come to be the sound of symphonic metal was Celtic Frost on their 1987 album Into the Pandemonium. The first extreme metal bands incorporating classical, orchestral, and operatic elements into their music were Mekong Delta, Bulldozer on their album Neurodeliri (1988), Believer on Sanity Obscure (1990) and Dimensions (1993), Master’s Hammer on Ritual (1991) and Jilemnický okultista (1992 demo and 1993 album) and Sigh on their debut Scorn Defeat (1993). The style on Emperor’s In the Nightside Eclipse (1994) had a pioneering influence though and was the main inspiration for many keyboard-based black metal bands following after. Troll’s Drep de kristne (1995) and Arcturus’ Aspera Hiems Symfonia (1996) are other notable early works of symphonic black metal, before the genre was commercialised by the international success of bands like Dimmu Borgir and Bal-Sagoth.

Symphonic metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Musical characteristics#

The metal subgenres most typically featuring a subset of symphonic bands are gothic metal, power metal, black metal, death metal and classic heavy metal. As with many other metal bands, those adopting a symphonic style may feature influences from several metal subgenres. Music workstation keyboards and orchestras are often a key feature of the style, distinguishing symphonic from non-symphonic bands within the same metal subgenre. Other instruments, including guitars, bass and drums, may in some cases play relatively simple parts in contrast to the complex and nuanced keyboard and/or orchestral parts, typically in the case of symphonic heavy metal and symphonic gothic metal acts. The use of such instruments (as well as the lead vocals) to play simpler, catchier melodies than those of the average non-symphonic band arguably makes the symphonic style one of the most accessible in metal. Bands that do not use live orchestral instrumentation on their recordings or when playing live typically utilize factory presets on workstation keyboards (i. e., strings, choirs, pianos, pipe organs, etc.) to conjure up a “pseudo-orchestral” sound, where parts are played idiomatically according to keyboard technique. This is particularly characteristic of lesser-known bands on tighter budgets. Some symphonic metal bands abstain from using keyboards entirely, preferring to use orchestral backing tracks pre-recorded by a live symphony orchestra and/or choir during an album session, or recorded using virtual software instruments in a sequencer. This is particularly characteristic of bands that feature deeper and more complex arrangements which could be more difficult for one or two keyboardists to reproduce faithfully in a live performance. On average, songs under the symphonic metal umbrella are often highly atmospheric, though more upbeat than those of many non-symphonic metal bands; songs with morbid themes routinely feature prominent major-key fanfares. Particularly central to creating mood and atmosphere is the choice of keyboard timbre. It is nonetheless hardly possible to generalize about the role played by the classic metal instruments (guitars, bass and drums) within symphonic bands, as it can entirely vary depending on the metal subgenre to which the symphonic band mostly belongs. Lyrics cover a broad range of topics. As with two of its often overlapping elements, power metal and opera (including symphonic progressive rock), fantasy and mythological themes are common. Concept albums styled after operas or epic poems are not uncommon. Bands in this genre may often feature a female lead vocalist, usually a soprano. Male vocalists (baritone or bass-baritone), are also common in gothic metal. Growling, death-metal-style vocals are not unknown but tend to be used less frequently than in other metal subgenres (a notable exception being Mark Jansen in Epica). Backing vocals, often consisting of a choral ensemble or full choir, may be employed. It is common for bands, particularly female-fronted bands, to feature operatic lead vocals. Such bands may be referred to as operatic symphonic metal and include the likes of Epica, Nightwish (Tarja Turunen, then Floor Jansen), Haggard,

Symphonic music in Iran

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Ali-Naqi Vaziri, one of the most prominent and influential musicians of the late Qajar and early Pahlavi periods, established a private music school in 1924, where he also created a school orchestra composed of his students, formed by a combination of the Iranian instrument of tar and some western instruments. Vaziri then founded an association named Music Club (), formed by a number of progressive-minded writers and scholars, where the school orchestra performed concerts that were conducted by himself. The Tehran Symphony Orchestra () was founded by Gholamhossein Minbashian in 1933. It was reformed by Parviz Mahmoud in 1946, and is currently the oldest and largest symphony orchestra in Iran. Later, Ruhollah Khaleqi, a student of Vaziri, established the Society for National Music () in 1949. Loris Tjeknavorian, a celebrated Iranian Armenian composer and conductor, composed Rostam and Sohrab, an opera with Persian libretto that is based on the tragedy of Rostam and Sohrab from prominent medieval Persian poet Ferdowsi’s epic poem Šāhnāme, in over two decades. It was first performed by the Tehran Symphony Orchestra at Tehran’s Roudaki Hall in December 2003.

Symphonic poem

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

While many symphonic poems may compare in size and scale to symphonic movements (or even reach the length of an entire symphony), they are unlike traditional classical symphonic movements, in that their music is intended to inspire listeners to imagine or consider scenes, images, specific ideas or moods, and not necessarily to focus on following traditional patterns of musical form such as sonata form. This intention to inspire listeners was a direct consequence of Romanticism, which encouraged literary, pictorial and dramatic associations in music. According to the musicologist Hugh Macdonald, the symphonic poem met three 19th-century aesthetic goals: it related music to outside sources; it often combined or compressed multiple movements into a single principal section; and it elevated instrumental program music to an aesthetic level that could be regarded as equivalent to, or higher than opera. The symphonic poem remained a popular composition form from the 1840s until the 1920s, when composers began to abandon the genre. Symphonic poems are thought to bridge the gap between different modes of expression. Much research has been done on the semiotic relationship between symphonic poems and their extra-musical inspiration, such as art, literature and nature. Composers used many different musical gestures to evoke a non-musical concept. Some musical gestures appear to be literal representations of their non-musical counterparts. For example, Sergei Rachmaninoff uses an uneven 5/8 time signature throughout The Isle of the Dead in order to suggest the rocking of a boat. In Richard Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration, the composer uses the orchestra to mimic the sound of an irregular heartbeat and labored breathing. Other musical gestures capture the essence of the subject on a more abstract level. For example, In Franz Liszt’s Hamlet, Liszt portrays the complex relation between Hamlet and Ophelia by juxtaposing a somber motif that is harmonically inconclusive (Hamlet) against a tranquil and harmonically conclusive motif (Ophelia), and developing the music from these principles. The musicologist Mark Bonds suggests that in the second quarter of the 19th century, the future of the symphonic genre seemed uncertain. While many composers continued to write symphonies during the 1820s and ’30s, “there were a growing sense that these works were aesthetically far inferior to Beethoven’s…. The real question was not so much whether symphonies could still be written, but whether the genre could continue to flourish and grow.” Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann and Niels Gade achieved successes with their symphonies, putting at least a temporary stop to the debate as to whether the genre was dead. Nevertheless, composers began to explore the “more compact form” of the concert overture “…as a vehicle within which to blend musical, narrative and pictoral ideas.” Examples included Mendelssohn’s overtures A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1826) and The Hebrides (1830). However, Franck did not publish or perform his piece; neither did he set about defining the genre. Liszt’s determination to explore and promote the symphonic poem gained him recognition as the genre’s inventor. The idea of the symphonic poem, was a new musical concept for Liszt. He wanted a new way to engage the audience. The symphonic poem invented by Liszt had the main theme heard at the start of the piece, then develop through thematic transformation, never leaving behind musical coherence.

Symphony

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology and origins#

The word symphony is derived from the Greek word (), meaning “agreement or concord of sound”, “concert of vocal or instrumental music”, from (), “harmonious”. The word referred to a variety of different concepts before ultimately settling on its current meaning designating a musical form. In late Greek and medieval theory, the word was used for consonance, as opposed to (), which was the word for “dissonance”. In the Middle Ages and later, the Latin form symphonia was used to describe various instruments, especially those capable of producing more than one sound simultaneously. and from to 1377 the French form symphonie was the name of the organistrum or hurdy-gurdy. In late medieval England, symphony was used in both of these senses, whereas by the 16th century it was equated with the dulcimer. In German, Symphonie was a generic term for spinets and virginals from the late 16th century to the 18th century. In the sense of “sounding together”, the word begins to appear in the titles of some works by 16th- and 17th-century composers including Giovanni Gabrieli’s Sacrae symphoniae, and Symphoniae sacrae, liber secundus, published in 1597 and 1615, respectively; Adriano Banchieri’s Eclesiastiche sinfonie, dette canzoni in aria francese, per sonare, et cantare, Op. 16, published in 1607; Lodovico Grossi da Viadana’s Sinfonie musicali, Op. 18, published in 1610; and Heinrich Schütz’s Symphoniae sacrae, Op. 6, and Symphoniarum sacrarum secunda pars, Op. 10, published in 1629 and 1647, respectively. Except for Viadana’s collection, which contained purely instrumental and secular music, these were all collections of sacred vocal works, some with instrumental accompaniment.

Synth-pop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Synth-pop is defined by its primary use of synthesizers, drum machines and sequencers, sometimes using them to replace all other instruments. Borthwick and Moy have described the genre as diverse but “characterised by a broad set of values that eschewed rock playing styles, rhythms and structures”, which were replaced by “synthetic textures” and “robotic rigidity”, often defined by the limitations of the new technology, Many synth-pop musicians had limited musical skills, relying on the technology to produce or reproduce the music. The result was often minimalist, with grooves that were “typically woven together from simple repeated riffs often with no harmonic ‘progression’ to speak of”. Early synth-pop has been described as “eerie, sterile, and vaguely menacing”, using droning electronics with little change in inflection. Because synthesizers removed the need for large groups of musicians, these singers were often part of a duo where their partner played all the instrumentation. Although synth-pop in part arose from punk rock, it abandoned punk’s emphasis on authenticity and often pursued a deliberate artificiality, drawing on the critically derided forms such as disco and glam rock. It owed relatively little to the foundations of early popular music in jazz, folk music or the blues, Later synth-pop saw a shift to a style more influenced by other genres, such as soul music.

Synthwave

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Synthwave is a microgenre of electronic music that draws predominantly from 1980s films, video games, and cartoons, as well as composers such as John Carpenter, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, and Tangerine Dream. Other reference points include electronic dance music genres including house, synth, and nu-disco. Some artists, like Dance With The Dead and Zombie Hyperdrive also include elements of 1980s rock and metal music. It is primarily an instrumental genre, although there are occasional exceptions to the rule. Common tempos are between 80 and 118 BPM, while more upbeat tracks may be between 128 and 140 BPM. “Outrun” is a subgenre of synthwave that was later used to refer more generally to retro 1980s aesthetics such as VHS tracking artefacts, magenta neon, and gridlines. The term comes from the 1986 arcade racing game Out Run, which is known for its soundtrack that could be selected in-game and its 1980s aesthetic. According to musician Perturbator (James Kent), outrun is also its own subgenre, mainly instrumental, and often contains 1980s clichéd elements in the sound such as electronic drums, gated reverb, and analogue synthesizer bass lines and leads—all to resemble tracks from that time period. There is also a visual component on synthwave album covers and music videos. According to PC Gamer, the essence of outrun visuals is “taking elements of a period of ’80s excess millennials find irresistibly evocative, and modernizing them so they’re just barely recognizable.” Other subgenres include dreamwave, darksynth, and scifiwave. Invisible Oranges wrote that darksynth is exemplified mainly by a shift away from the bright “Miami Vice vibes” and “French electro house influences” and “toward the darker electronic terrains of horror movie maestro composers John Carpenter and Goblin” also infused with sounds from post-punk, industrial and EBM.

Syriac chant

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Historical setting of Christian chant#

Historically, Syria has had a long attachment to Christian chant. Due to geographical locations, modern day Syria was one of the first areas to be exposed to Christendom brought by the early disciples of Christianity from Jerusalem. Syrian chants have been spread throughout regions of the world by Syrian immigration. This diaspora has brought many of the Syrian liturgical traditions to both neighboring and distant countries. The movement of a people, forced or unforced, establishes a desire to bring their culture with them. The Christian chants of Syria have remained thus far as oral traditions and have been passed down through the generations, who have kept loyally to their faith and culture. Ethnomusicologist Dorchak discusses the use of culture as a means to strengthen and resist culture loss when threatened. A culture attacked and marginalized throughout its history will rely greatly on its cultural values/ principles. This oral transmission of religious chants present in Syrian culture is signet of a culture strengthened by marginalization and diaspora. The cause for the majority of Syrian diaspora is due to geopolitical and religious conflicts. Syria has been a place of conflict due to its rich resources and geographical placement bridging Europe to North Africa as well as the many different religious beliefs present within the Middle East. Since the introduction of Christianity and the first Syrian chants, Syrian culture has been confronted by such empires as * the Roman Empire prior to the conversion of Constantine; * the Persian Empire’s conquest in 611; * the Islamic conquests led by Mohamad prior to his death in 632, A.D.; * the Shi’ites and the religious persecution of rural regions of Syria, home to previous Islamic conquest; the conflicts of the crusades and the Islamic forces of the Middle East. * The main expulsion of Syrian Christians was during the Ottoman rule in the Levant and the massacres that took place in Damascus. These historical events provide sufficient context to why Christian Syrian chant may have remained an oral culture and is lacking in historical or archeological sources. There may have been a musical notation system invented for Syrian chant but is no longer known of as it lost through the many conquests Syria has faced. The most recent diaspora has led to Syrian refugee camps throughout the Middle East and the destruction of Syrian cities and villages, along with architecture and culture.

Syriac sacral music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Syrian hymnody#

To the general considerations of hymnody and hymnology must be added some bearing particularly on the structure and liturgical use of hymns (), exclusive of poetical homilies or discourses (), which belong to the narrative and epic class, while the hymns are lyrical. The chief basis of Syriac metre is fixed number of syllables of the verses, without distinction of long and short syllables, as in several modern languages. Verses of all lengths from two to twelve are known, but the metres most used in hymnody are dodecasyllabic verses of twelve syllables formed of three equal measures (4+4+4), heptasyllabic verses of seven syllables formed of two measures (4+3 or 3+4), and pentasyllabic verses of five syllables also formed of two measures (2+3 or 3+2). These verses may be employed alone or grouped in strophes, the latter form being most frequent in hymns composed of verses of five and seven syllables. A strophe is generally composed of equal verses, but it sometimes happens that the first of the last verse is in a different measure from the other verses of the strophe. All the strophes of a hymn are usually of the same construction. Besides variety of metre and division into strophes, the Syrians prior to the ninth century knew no other artifice than the arrangement of acrostic poems. The acrostic played an important part, in Syriac hymnody and its use, especially the alphabetic acrostic, seems to have been introduced in imitation of the Psalms and the Lamentations of Jeremias. Sometimes the acrostic is linear, simple when each verse begins successively with one of the twenty-two letters of the Syriac alphabet, multiple, when two, three, or more verses begin with the same letter without, forming strophes; sometimes it is strophic, when each strophe is marked by a letter of the alphabet. This letter may be only at the beginning of the first verse or it may be repeated at the beginning of each verse of the strophe. introduced in imitation of the Psalms and the Lamentations of Jeremias. There may be two or more successive strophes beginning with the same letter, each letter regularly marking the same number of strophes throughout the poem, which thus consists of forty-four strophes, of sixty-six, or of any other multiple of twenty-two. The verbal acrostic is more rare. The name of Jesus Christ, of Mary, or the saint in whose honour the hymn is composed serves to form linear or strophic acrostics. St. Ephraem signed some of his poems with his acrostic. From the ninth century the influence of Arabic poetry made itself felt in Syriac hymnody, especially by the introduction of rhyme, this manner of marking the final stroke of a verse had been hitherto unknown, the rare examples held to have been discovered among older authors being merely voluntary or fortuitous assonances. But the Syrians made varied use of rhyme. There are poems in which all the verses have the same rhyme as in the “Kasida” of the Arabs. In others, and these are more numerous, the verses of each strophe have a single rhyme that is not the same for all the strophes. In others the verses of a strophe rhyme among themselves, with the exception of the last, which repeats the rhyme of the first strophe like a refrain. In acrostic poems the rhyme is sometimes supplied by the corresponding letter of the alphabet; thus the first strophe rhymes with a, the second with b, etc. There may also be a different rhyme for the first two measures and for the last. These are the most frequent combinations, but there are others. Most ancient Syriac hymns, e.g., those of St. Ephraem, Narses and Balai, although composed for one or two choirs, were not originally intended for liturgical use properly so called but addressed as much to the laity as to clerics, and date from a period when the codification of harmony was not yet regularly established. The result of adapting these hymns to liturgical offices was that they underwent various modifications: * In the assignment of authorship—the Syrian Jacobites and the Maronites in adopting those of Nestorian origin either suppressed the name of the author or substituted the name of one whom they considered orthodox, most frequently St. Ephraem * In revision, those too long were shortened and heterodox expressions were modified—thus the term “Mother of Christ” was replaced by “Mother of God”, etc. * In general arrangement, especially by the addition of a refrain when there was none in the original. Thus a hymn by St. Ephraem, the acrostic of which forms the name “Jesus Christ”, begins with the strophe: Jesus Our Lord the Christ Has appeared to us from the bosom of His Father; He has come to deliver us from darkness, And to illumine us with his resplendent light. It was preceded by the following distich, which forms the refrain: Light is arisen upon the just And joy for those who are broken-hearted. Likewise a hymn of Narses on the Epiphany begins: Error like darkness, Was stretched over creatures; The light of Christ is arisen And the world possesses knowledge. Its refrain is the following distich: The light of the appearing of Christ Has rejoiced the earth and the heavens. Syriac Hymns do not occur only in the Office that correspond to the Roman Breviary; the Syrians also made use of them in various liturgical functions, such as funeral and marriage celebrations. Simple hymns without refrain are called teshbuhte (glorifications); the name cala (voice) is given to the hymns in which each is preceded by a sentence (metrical or not) expressing a thought in conformity with that of the strophe. It is in a manner an invitation from the first choir to which the second replies by strophe, e.g.: First choir: Open to me the gates of justice. Second choir: Open to us, Lord, the great treasure, (strophe of four verses). First choir: And I will enter to praise the Lord. Second choir: At the gate of thy mercies (etc., strophe of four verses). Sometimes the strophes are interspersed with versicles from the Psalms. The hymns in the Syriac Office, which conclude the part known as sedra and replace the short prayers of the Nestorian Office, are called ba’utha (prayer, request). Most hymns of this class are in pentasyllabic verses and are the work of the poet Balai (d. about 450). They show great simplicity of thought and language and consist of two strophes, generally of six verses each, sometimes of four, as for example: During forty days Moses fasted on the mountain: And with the splendor of its light His countenance shone. During forty days Ninive fasted: And the Lord was appeased, And annulled the sentence. Instead of the occasionally occurs a metrical composition called (stairs), which are factitious arrangements of verses borrowed from various sources and arbitrarily arranged by those who co-ordinated or revised the offices, and are of no assistance in the study of Syriac hymnody. The is less frequently replaced by the augitha, a canticle in the form of a dialogue that recalls the “Victimae paschali” of the Roman Missal. All the poems of this kind known to us are of Nestorian origin, and are probably the work of Narses. They are uniformly constructed with an introduction and a dialogue; the introduction is composed of from five to ten strophes of four heptasyllabic verses; the dialogue between two persons or two groups of persons contains forty four strophes (twenty-two for each interlocutor) similar to those in the prologue and forming an alphabetic acrostic. These compositions of rather lively measure are stamped by a certain grace. The subject is adapted to the liturgical feast of the day; thus in the canticle for Christmas, the dialogue is between the Blessed Virgin and the Magi; for the Annunciation, between Gabriel and Mary; for the feast of Syrian Doctors, between Cyril and Nestorius, etc. These three kinds of hymns correspond to the three subjects that form their usual theme, praise, prayer, and instruction, but as has been said the last-named was chiefly imparted by the . Extensive study of Syriac hymnody would show whether there is any relationship between it and Byzantine hymnody, which hypothesis has had as many opponents as defenders; but this study is an undertaking fraught with difficulties, owing to the small number of documents published in satisfactory condition. Indeed, the knowledge of hymns supplied by editions of the liturgical books of Catholic Chaldeans, Syrians, or Maronites is inadequate for the reasons indicated above. The works of St. Ephraem, which contain a large number of them (authentic or apocryphal), have not been critically edited. The Nestorian Breviaries, which have most faithfully preserved the ancient texts, have never been printed and manuscripts are rare, while the collections of hymns apart from liturgical books are few and have not been sufficiently studied.

SY on Music Theory Print

Symphonic black metal

History#

Symphonic metal

Musical characteristics#

Symphonic music in Iran

History#

Symphonic poem

Background#

Symphony

Etymology and origins#

Synth-pop

Characteristics#

Synthwave

Characteristics and related terms#

Syriac chant

Historical setting of Christian chant#

Syriac sacral music

Syrian hymnody#