INTRODUCTION TO CLASSICAL MUSIC

By Ron Jones

rejones7@msn.com

2016

Click HERE to return to the main web page for this Introduction to Classical Music. 

Hi. My name is Ron Jones. I live in Albuquerque New Mexico. This introduction to Classical Music derives from a live class I gave in Albuquerque in 2014. Several friends, relatives, and other acquaintances mentioned to me that they wish they could have heard the class. So I have produced this web version.

If you would like a printed copy of all the commentary and a CD of all the MP3 files, please email the author at the address above.

I focus in this class on the four commonly identified eras of classical music, namely, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Twentieth Century. Yes, there are two uses of the word "classical" here: a general type of music, covering the whole four centuries from 1600 to 2000 AD, and a specific era within that type covering about 1825 to 1900. I will explain these four terms and others as we proceed.

BASIC ERAS:

Baroque:          1600 to1750

Classical:         1750 to 1825

Romantic:        1825 to 1900

20th Century:  1900 to 2000

(also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_classical_music_composers_by_era)

Files are arranged so that they sort alpha-numerically in the correct presentation order. For example:

BARQ 051 GERM - Bach - Cantata 147.mp3

The first four characters tell the eras abbreviated as:

BARQ: Baroque

CLAS: Classical

ROMA: Romantic

ROPE: Romantic Opera

TWEN: Twentieth Century

The second field is just a sequencing number.

The third field is an abbreviation of the country the composer is from.

            GERM: Germany

            ITAL: Italy

            RUSS: Russia 

etc.

The fourth field is the last name of the composer.

The remainder is a brief description of the music.

Note: The textual commentary paragraphs are labelled for my own use and for use on the CD version of this class. You may ignore them.

CREDITS 

I need to point out that, of course, I do not own any of these music media and therefore there is a question of fair use of them. So what I have done is cut most segments to about three minutes. I think that is a fair compromise, especially considering that this whole CD could be considered to be one long advertisement for Amazon.com. Amazon.com has an incredible library of very cheap, high quality classical music available as MP3 files. The majority of the music segments in the class are from Amazon. The remainder are from many sources.

I should also mention that I use

1. iTunes as an organizational tool for all this digital music

2. a free online tool called mp3cut.net to trim mp3 files

3. a free downloadable program from mp3gain.sourceforge.net to adjust voice and music file to similar volume levels

YOUR EXPERIENCE

My hope for you who listen to this music and read the commentary is that you will find composers, or eras, of classical music which you will want to explore on your own. If you thereby derive even a tenth of the pleasure of listening to classical music that I have been privileged to experience, I think you will find the experience very worthwhile.  If you had difficulties or suggestions, please email at the address listed at the top.

Click HERE to return to the main web page for this Introduction to Classical Music.