3 ms·

One only needs to translate all that Latin to figure out most of it means a form of dance. Classical music was pop for it's time. People danced, drank, and eve

One only needs to translate all that Latin to figure out most of it means a form of dance. Classical music was pop for it's time. People danced, drank, and even had massive riots when a controversial composer came to town.

soundwave106 8y ago
Music for the church (often written by the same composers) is a counterpoint to this. I doubt too many people are dancing during requiems and masses. :) Also, there is music as the background to a theatrical performance (opera being the classic example of that). However if we really want to compare the most popular pieces of each time, we really can't look at the "art classical". Most "art classical" wasn't even the most popular back then, from what I gather (though occasionally an "art classical" composer did make a popular tune that became well known). It's difficult to find "top sales" lists of the old sheet music songs (which is probably the best parallel to modern record charts), but one someone put together for the US (https://thetop100songsofalltime.com/top-100-songs-of-the-1890s/ https://thetop100songsofalltime.com/top-100-songs-of-the-189...) has, for the link example of the 1890s, mostly popular short tunes (in the 1890s, "tin pan alley" style). Of what I recognize (there's a lot of songs on this list that frankly seems to have disappeared over time), there's some that probably would be the dance of its time. I wouldn't say all I recognize is "music to dance to" mainly because there are definitely some ballads among the tunes, as well as some Sousa marches, and songs which are probably more "sing-alongs". I'm guessing that most of these songs aren't exactly "works of art" in the way the original poster intended. :) But they were light entertainment for the time (ala pop today), and that's fine. Modern pop music also has some ballads that do not necessarily function as dance music, too. I think the biggest difference between music then and music now, is that the dominant way to make a living was to compose sheet music for other musicians to play. Recordings quite literally changed all of this.
- dizzystar 8y ago
  A lot of things we call classical today was actually pretty low down and vulgar music. Here's a bit of Mozart: http://mentalfloss.com/article/55247/3-dirty-songs-mozart http://mentalfloss.com/article/55247/3-dirty-songs-mozart Chopin, for example, wrote 59 marzukas, which is music for a traditional Polish dance of the same name. Beethoven wrote many dance songs, especially waltzes. Albeniz, especially wrote music derived from traditional music. Suite Espanola is a wonderful exploration here. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suite_Española_No._1,_Op._47 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suite_Española_No._1,_Op._47 I could go all night on this topic, but the point is that, although we don't recognize the music as dance, it was to the people of that time.

soundwave106 8y ago

Music for the church (often written by the same composers) is a counterpoint to this. I doubt too many people are dancing during requiems and masses. :) Also, there is music as the background to a theatrical performance (opera being the classic example of that). However if we really want to compare the most popular pieces of each time, we really can't look at the "art classical". Most "art classical" wasn't even the most popular back then, from what I gather (though occasionally an "art classical" composer did make a popular tune that became well known). It's difficult to find "top sales" lists of the old sheet music songs (which is probably the best parallel to modern record charts), but one someone put together for the US (https://thetop100songsofalltime.com/top-100-songs-of-the-1890s/ https://thetop100songsofalltime.com/top-100-songs-of-the-189...) has, for the link example of the 1890s, mostly popular short tunes (in the 1890s, "tin pan alley" style). Of what I recognize (there's a lot of songs on this list that frankly seems to have disappeared over time), there's some that probably would be the dance of its time. I wouldn't say all I recognize is "music to dance to" mainly because there are definitely some ballads among the tunes, as well as some Sousa marches, and songs which are probably more "sing-alongs". I'm guessing that most of these songs aren't exactly "works of art" in the way the original poster intended. :) But they were light entertainment for the time (ala pop today), and that's fine. Modern pop music also has some ballads that do not necessarily function as dance music, too. I think the biggest difference between music then and music now, is that the dominant way to make a living was to compose sheet music for other musicians to play. Recordings quite literally changed all of this.

dizzystar 8y ago
A lot of things we call classical today was actually pretty low down and vulgar music. Here's a bit of Mozart: http://mentalfloss.com/article/55247/3-dirty-songs-mozart http://mentalfloss.com/article/55247/3-dirty-songs-mozart Chopin, for example, wrote 59 marzukas, which is music for a traditional Polish dance of the same name. Beethoven wrote many dance songs, especially waltzes. Albeniz, especially wrote music derived from traditional music. Suite Espanola is a wonderful exploration here. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suite_Española_No._1,_Op._47 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suite_Española_No._1,_Op._47 I could go all night on this topic, but the point is that, although we don't recognize the music as dance, it was to the people of that time.