The Beatles at Shea Stadium (1965)

The legendary British band Beatles took the world by storm during the 1960s. Their performance at Shea Stadium in 1965 is often cited as one of the most significant moments in the history of rock music. With a record-breaking crowd of over 55,000 fans, it marked the first-ever stadium rock concert.

The hysteria surrounding The Beatles was unparalleled, and their music had already become the soundtrack of a generation. As John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr took the stage, the screams of adoring fans filled the air. Despite the primitive sound equipment of the era, the sheer energy and excitement of the band and the audience made this concert an unforgettable experience.

Woodstock (1969)

Woodstock, the iconic music festival held in 1969, defined an era and became a symbol of counterculture. Highlighting a lineup of renowned rock and folk music icons such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, and Santana became a three-day commemoration of music, harmony, and affection.

The festival drew an estimated 400,000 attendees, and the performances are etched into the annals of rock history. Jimi Hendrix’s performance of the “Star-Spangled Banner” using his electric guitar remains an enduringly influential and emotionally resonant moment in rock music.

Queen at Live Aid (1985)

Live Aid, a global benefit concert organized to raise funds for famine relief, featured a stunning lineup of artists from various genres. However, it was Queen’s electrifying performance that stole the show. Freddie Mercury’s charismatic stage presence and the band’s impeccable musicianship left the Wembley Stadium audience and millions of viewers worldwide in awe.

Queen’s performance, featuring timeless hits such as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Radio Ga Ga,” and “We Will Rock You,” is frequently celebrated as one of the most exceptional live shows in the annals of rock music. The band’s ability to engage the crowd and create a sense of unity through music was nothing short of magical.

Nirvana Unplugged (1993)

In 1993, Nirvana, led by the enigmatic Kurt Cobain, unexpectedly departed from their signature grunge sound and performed an acoustic set for MTV Unplugged. This intimate performance showcased the band’s versatility and Cobain’s raw, emotional songwriting.

The concert, which showcased haunting interpretations of tracks such as “All Apologies” and a spine-tingling rendition of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World,” is regarded as one of the most emotionally charged instances in the history of rock music. Tragically, it would also be one of Cobain’s final public appearances before his death.

Radiohead’s OK Computer Tour (1997)

Radiohead’s “OK Computer” tour in 1997 marked a pivotal moment in the band’s career and the evolution of rock music. Known for their innovative sound and thought-provoking lyrics, Radiohead’s live performances during this tour were nothing short of transformative.

The fusion of visuals, artistry, and the band’s intricate music created an immersive experience for concertgoers. Tracks like “Paranoid Android” and “Karma Police” were performed with such enthusiasm and exactitude that they etched an indelible mark on the memories of all those fortunate enough to attend.

U2’s 360° Tour (2009-2011)

U2, one of the world’s biggest rock bands, embarked on their groundbreaking 360° Tour from 2009 to 2011. Its innovative stage design set this tour apart, featuring a massive circular structure called “The Claw.” This design allowed for a 360-degree view of the stage, ensuring no audience member had a bad seat.

U2’s performances during this tour were a spectacle of music and technology. Timeless hits such as “With or Without You” and “Where the Streets Have No Name” struck a chord with both long-time enthusiasts and newcomers, propelling this tour to become one of the most financially successful in the annals of music history.

Conclusion: The Enduring Legacy of Rock Concerts

Rock concerts can transcend time and transport us to different eras and emotional landscapes. The performances mentioned above are just a glimpse into the rich tapestry of rock music’s live history. From the youthful exuberance of The Beatles to the groundbreaking innovation of U2, these concerts have left an indelible mark on the world of music.

As technology advances, the way we experience live music may change, but the magic of a great rock concert will always remain. It’s the energy of the crowd, the connection between the artists and their fans, and the unforgettable moments that make live performances an enduring force in the world of music.

Whether you were lucky enough to attend one of these iconic concerts or are discovering them through recordings and stories, the power of live rock performances will continue to inspire and captivate generations to come.

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MODERNISM

Music between 1910 and 1960.

The twentieth century was a time when technology changed the world. Music as an integral part of human life also underwent global change. Composers overturned many of the musical rules of the past and found new, bold themes and new ways to express them.

One of the significant figures who changed music in the first half of the century was Arnold Schoenberg, an Austrian and then American composer, conductor, and musicologist. The group of musicians he led decided that tonal music (the logical construction of proportional chords) had exhausted itself, and they proposed so-called atonal music and a 12-tone system of composition (known as “dodecaphony” or “serial technique”). Such music ceased to be melodic and harmonious; not all composers embraced their ideas.

EXPRESSIONISM

Expressionism-formed in the 1st decade of the 20th century

Expressionism in music was formed in the 1st decade of the 20th century; a number of its elements can be seen in the latest works of H. Mahler (“Song of the Earth”, 1908; the 9th, 1909 and unfinished 10th symphonies) and operas. R. Strauss (Salome, 1905; Elektra, 1908).

However, it is mostly connected with the work of composers of the so-called new Viennese school – A. Schoenberg (the head of the school), A. Berg, and A. Webern. Schoenberg, who began his path with works close to late romanticism, came to deny the romantic ideals, changing them with moods of unaccountable anxiety, fear of reality, pessimism and skepticism.

Composers of this movement developed a range of special means of musical expression; they rejected broad melodic and clear tonal foundations; the principle of atonality contributed to the expression of fragile states of mind and inexplicable vague anxiety.

Many of the works are laconic, giving only hints of some image or mental experience (in Webern’s cycle “5 Pieces for Orchestra”, 1910, some parts last less than 1 minute).

Works written in dodecaphonic technique, are based on different kinds of repetitions of so-called series, which is, according to representatives of this school, the development of the principles of formation of Baroque music and early classicism. One of the early typical examples is Schoenberg’s monodrama “Waiting” (1909).

In Webern’s work, E. is reborn in a different stylistic formation, dominated by an abstract and rationalistic constructive beginning. Therefore, it was Webern who was recognized as the founder of post-war musical avant-gardism.

Atonal music (Greek a – negative particle; literally – extra-tonal music), a concept referring to music that has no tonal organization of sounds. It emerged in the early 1900s and was associated with the composers of the new Viennese school (A. Schoenberg, A. Berg, A. Webern). The main feature of A. m. – The absence of the unifying ratio of tones with the main center of the harmony – the tonic. Hence, the amorphous musical speech, the disintegration of the harmony’s structural functions, the dissonant level of sound, etc.

CONSTRUCTIVISM

Constructivism finds expression in the combination of rigid, sharply dissonant consonances, syncopated, broken rhythmic figures. The music of Constructivism often uses jazz sounds. Despite the controversy that heated up around this trend, Constructivism as a style is alive today and enjoys well-deserved respect. Extreme direction in the art of the XX century, which received especially wide development after the First World War.

Constructivism is marked with the cult of the machine, it dehumanizes the human being, and diminishes or completely negates the ideological and emotional content of art. As applied to music, it reduces creativity to the “construction” of sound forms, the combination of various elements of the musical form.

NEOCLASSICISM

Neoclassicism – a movement in the music of the 20th century, which sought to revive the artistic images, forms and stylistic techniques of classical period music, which in this case refers to a variety of musical schools of the 18th century and earlier centuries.

Neoclassicism in music was a twentieth-century trend, especially relevant in the period between these two world wars, during which composers sought to return to the aesthetic precepts associated with the broadly defined notion of “classicism,” namely, order, balance, clarity, economy, and emotional restraint.

Also, Neoclassicism was a reaction against unrestrained emotionalism and felt the formlessness of the latter Romanticism, as well as a “call to order” after the experimental ferment of the first two decades of the twentieth century.

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Along with the controlled shifting of the voice benefits of stronger and clearer melodies, counterpoint also usually became a decorative touch, often used near the end of a piece or for a solitary movement. Instead, simple patterns such as arpeggios and, in piano music, Alberti’s bass (an accompaniment with a repeating pattern, usually in the left hand) were used to enliven the movement of the piece. confusing additional voice. Several well-defined forms dominated the now popular instrumental music: sonata, symphony, and concerto, although none were specifically defined. or taught at the time, as now, in music theory. All three performed from the sonata form, which is both the superior of the entire work and the structure of a single movement. The sonata form was formed in the classical era and became the forms of instrumental compositions throughout the nineteenth century.

The early classical period was inaugurated by the Mannheim School, which included composers such as Johann Stamitz, Franz Xaver Richter, Karl Stamitz, and Christian Kannabich. He had a profound influence on Joseph Haydn and, through him, on all subsequent European music. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a central figure of the classical period, and his phenomenal and varied works in all genres define the perception of this period. Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert were composers in transition, leading into the Romantic period, with their expanded use of genres, forms, and even functions of music.

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EUROPE
During the Middle Ages in Europe, a new type of musical culture emerges – a feudal culture that combines professional art, amateur musicianship, and folklore.

Since the church dominates all areas of spiritual life, the basis of professional musical art is the activity of musicians in churches and monasteries.

Secular professional art is represented at first only by singers who create and perform epic tales at court, in the homes of the nobility, among warriors, etc. (bards, skalds, etc.).

Over time, amateur and semi-professional forms of knightly music-making developed: in France – the art of troubadours and troublers (Adam de la Al, XIII century), in Germany – minnesingers (Wolfram von Eschenbach, Walter von der Vogelweide, XII-XIII centuries), as well as urban craftsmen. In feudal castles and towns all kinds, genres and forms of songs (epic, “dawn”, rondo, le, virele, ballads, canzones, laudes, etc.) are cultivated.

New musical instruments, including those that came from the East (viola, lute, etc.) enter the life, ensembles (unstable compositions) appear. Folklore flourishes in the peasant environment. There are also “folk professionals”: storytellers, traveling synthetic artists (jugglers, mimes, minstrels, shpielmans, skomorokh).

The transition from neumas, which only approximately indicated the character of melodic movement, to linear notation (Guido d’Arezzo, 11th century), which made it possible to fix exactly the pitch of tones and then their duration, contributed to the fixation, preservation and spread of traditions and standards (but also their gradual renewal updating).

In Western Europe from the 6th-7th centuries a strictly regulated system of monodic church music based on diatonic keys (Gregorian chant) that unites recitation (psalmody) and singing (hymns) was formed.

At the turn of the 1st and 2nd millenniums polyphony emerges. New vocal (choral) and vocal-instrumental (chorus and organ) genres were formed: organum, motet, conduit, and then mass. In twelfth-century France, the first compositional (creative) school was formed at the Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral (Léonin, Perotin).

At the turn of Renaissance (ars nova style in France and Italy, XIV century) in professional music single voices are replaced by polyphony, music gradually begins to free from purely practical functions (service of church ceremonies), it increases the importance of secular genres, including songs (Guillaume de Machaut).

EASTERN EUROPE AND ASIA
Eastern Europe and Transcaucasia (Armenia, Georgia) developed their own musical cultures with independent systems of harmonies, genres, and forms.

Byzantium, Bulgaria, Kievan Rus and later Novgorod saw the flowering of Znamenny chant (Znamenny chant), based on the system of diatonic voices, limited to purely vocal genres (troparia, verses, hymns, etc.) and using a special system of notation (hooks).

At the same time in the East (Arab Caliphate, Central Asian countries, Iran, India, China and Japan) a feudal musical culture of a special type is being formed. The culture is characterized by wide spread of secular professionalism (both court and folk). It acquires virtuoso nature, limitation by oral tradition and monodic (melodies without accompaniment) forms which however reach high refinement in melodic and rhythmical style. ).

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Romanticism is an ideological and artistic movement in European and American culture of the late 18th century and the first half of the 19th century.

In music Romanticism was formed in the 1820s and remained significant until the early 20th century. The leading principle of Romanticism is a sharp contrast between ordinaryness and dreams, everyday life and the higher ideal world created by the creative imagination of the artist.

Initially, romanticism was a fundamental opponent of classicism. The antique ideal was opposed to the art of the Middle Ages, the distant exotic countries. Romanticism discovered the treasures of folk art – songs, tales and legends. However, the opposite of romanticism to classicism is still relative, as the Romantics perceived and further developed the achievements of the classics. Many composers were greatly influenced by the work of the last Viennese classic, L. Beethoven.

The principles of Romanticism were asserted by outstanding composers of different countries. They are K. M. Weber, , H. Berlioz, F. Mendelssohn, R. Schumann, F. Chopin, F. Schubert F. Liszt. R. Wagner J. Verdi

For the Romantic musician, the process is more important than the result, more essential than the achievement. On the one hand, they gravitate towards the miniature, which they often include in a cycle of other, as a rule, pieces of different character; on the other, they assert free compositions in the spirit of romantic poems. It was the Romantics who developed a new genre – the symphonic poem. Very great is the contribution of romantic composers in the development of symphony, opera and ballet.

Among the composers of the second half of the 19th and the early 20th centuries: in their works the Romantic traditions promoted the assertion of humanistic ideas – Johannes Brahms, Alexander Bruckner, H. Mahler, R. Strauss, E. Grieg, B. Smetana, A. Dvorak and others.

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By the mid-15th century, composers and singers from the Netherlands and surrounding territories began to spread throughout Europe, especially to Italy, where they were employed by the papal chapel and aristocratic patrons of the arts (such as the Medici, Este and Sforza families). They carried with them their own style: smooth polyphony that could be adapted for spiritual or secular use as needed. The main forms of sacred music composition at that time were the mass, motet, and laude; secular forms included the chanson, frottola, and later madrigal.

The invention of printing had a tremendous impact on the dissemination of musical works. styles and, together with the Franco-Flemish musicians’ movement, helped to create the first truly international style in European music since the unification of Gregorian chant under Charlemagne. Among the composers of the middle generation of the Franco-Flemish school were Johannes Ockeghem, who wrote music in a complex counterpoint style, with varied texture and careful use of canonical techniques; Jakob Obrecht, one of the most famous composers of the masses in the last decades of the 15th century; and Josquin de Pré, probably the most famous composer in Europe before Palestrina, and who in the 16th century was known as one of the great artists in any form. Music of the generation after Josquin explored the increasing complexity of counterpoint ; perhaps most strikingly expressed in the music of Nicholas Gombert, whose counterpoint complexities influenced early instrumental music such as canzona and ricercar, eventually leading to Baroque fugal forms.

By the middle of the sixteenth century, the international style began to break down, and several highly diverse stylistic trends became apparent: A tendency toward simplicity in sacred music, as was directed by the Counter-Reformation of the Cathedral of Trent, embodied in the music of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina ; the tendency toward complexity and chromaticism in madrigals, which reached its extreme expression in the avant-garde style of the Ferrara School of Luzzaschi and the madrigalist of the late century, Carlo Gesualdo ; and the grand, sonorous music of the Venetian School, which used the architecture of the Basilica of San Marco di Venezia to create antiphonal contrasts. Music of the Venetian School included the development of orchestration, ornamental instrumental parts, and continuo bass parts, all of which took place over several decades around 1600.

By the end of the century, most parts of Europe had active and well-differentiated musical traditions. In England, composers such as Thomas Tallis and William Byrd wrote spiritual music in a style similar to that written on the continent, while an active group of homegrown madrigalists adapted the Italian form. to the taste of the English: notable composers included Thomas Morley, John Wilby, and Thomas Velkes. Spain developed its own instrumental and vocal styles: Thomas Luis de Victoria wrote exquisite music similar to that of Palestrina, and many other composers wrote for the new guitar.

One of the most revolutionary movements of the era took place in Fentilor in the 1570s and 1580s through the work of a Florentine chamber who, ironically, had a reactionary intent: dissatisfied with what they saw as modern musical vices, they were to restore the music of the ancient Greeks. Chief among them were Vincenzo Galileo, father of the astronomer, and Giulio Caccini. The fruit of their labor was a declamatory melodic style of singing known as monody, and a corresponding stage dramatic form: the form known today as opera.

Music prior to 1600 was modal rather than tonal. Some theoretical developments in the late sixteenth century, such as Josepho Zarlino and Franchinus Gafurius’ writings on modal scales, created directly to the development of common practice. tonality. Major and minor scales began to dominate the old church harmonies, a feature that was at first most evident in the cadential points of the compositions, but gradually became widespread. Music after 1600, beginning with Baroque tonal music, is often referred to as belonging to the period of common practice.

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Baroque music emerged at the end of the Renaissance and preceded the music of the Classical period.

The composing and performing techniques of the Baroque period became an integral and not insignificant part of the classical musical canon.

Such concepts as music theory, diatonic tonality, and imitative counterpoint were strongly developed. Musical ornamentation became very sophisticated, musical notation changed greatly, and the ways of playing the instruments evolved. The scope of genres has expanded, the complexity of musical works has grown, and such a type of work as opera has appeared. A large number of Baroque-era musical terms and concepts are still in use today.

The Baroque era saw the birth of such brilliant works as Johann Sebastian Bach’s fugues, George Frederick Handel’s Hallelujah Chorale from his Messiah oratorio, Antonio Vivaldi’s The Seasons, and Claudio Monteverdi’s Supper.

The creation by the Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) of his recitative style and the successive development of Italian opera can be considered a passing point between the Baroque and Renaissance eras. The start of opera performances in Rome and especially in Venice already signified the recognition and spread of the new genre throughout the country.

Renaissance composers paid attention to the elaboration of each part of a musical work with little or no attention to the juxtaposition of these parts. Individually each part could sound excellent, but the harmonious result of the addition was more a matter of chance than regularity.

The emergence of the figured bass indicated a significant change in musical thinking-namely, that harmony, which is “the addition of the parts into a whole,” is as important as the melodic parts of polyphony themselves. More and more, polyphony and harmony looked like two sides of the same idea of composing harmonic music: harmonic sequences were given the same attention in composing as tritons in creating dissonance.

Italy becomes the center of the new style. The Papacy, though gripped by the struggle against the Reformation, nevertheless possessing enormous monetary resources, replenished by the Habsburg military campaigns, sought opportunities to spread the Catholic faith by expanding its cultural influence.

One important center of musical art was Venice, which was at that time under both secular and ecclesiastical patronage.

EARLY BAROCCO

A significant figure of the early Baroque period, whose position was on the side of Catholicism in opposition to the growing ideological, cultural and social influence of Protestantism, was Giovanni Gabrieli. His works belong to the “High Renaissance” style (the heyday of the Renaissance). However, some of his innovations in instrumentation (assigning to a certain instrument its own, specific tasks) clearly indicate that he was one of the composers who influenced the emergence of the new style.

One of the requirements imposed by the Church on the composition of sacred music was that the texts in works with vocals must be intelligible. This necessitated a move away from polyphony to musical devices where words came to the fore. The vocals became more complex and ornate compared to the accompaniment. Thus homophony developed.

MATURE BAROQUE MUSIC (1654-1707)

The Mature Baroque is distinguished from the Early Baroque by the ubiquity of the new style and the increased separation of musical forms, especially in opera. As in literature, the ability to stream music led to a wider audience; exchanges between centers of musical culture intensified.

LATE BAROQUE MUSIC (1707-1760)

The exact line between mature and late baroque is a matter of debate; it lies somewhere between 1680 and 1720.

An important milestone can be considered the almost absolute supremacy of tonality as a structuring principle of music composition. This is particularly evident in the theoretical works of Jean Philippe Rameau, who took Lully’s place as the principal French composer. At the same time, with the advent of Fuchs’ works, Renaissance polyphony provided a basis for the study of counterpoint. The combination of modal counterpoint with the tonal logic of the cadences created a sense that there were two compositional styles in the music–homophonic, and polyphonic, with the techniques of imitation and counterpoint.

The forms discovered by the previous period had reached maturity and great variability; the concerto, suite, sonata, concerto grosso, oratorio, opera, and ballet no longer had sharply expressed national characteristics. The generally accepted schemes of compositions were established everywhere: repeated two-part form (AABB), simple three-part form (ABC) and rondo.

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