I have never really enjoyed studying history. This is unfortunate, because I have always believed that one of the main purposes in studying history is to realize trends among the decades, centuries, millenniums, etc. in order to both understand why things are what they are today and prevent the same mistakes from happening again (... whoa, award for the longest, wordiest sentence ever?).

I really don't know what motivated me to do my music history reading today. Granted, we have a test on Monday, but usually I just skim my notes and wing it. This is probably why I have always gotten Cs in history.

The last two semesters of music history have been wretched. "Music in Culture" sounds interesting but really boiled down to a blow-off, boring overview of 3 or 4 cultures (with a strong emphasis in the Native American flute), and "Ancient Times to Baroque" was simply overwhelming (and how many identical gregorian chants can one memorize, really?). I hesitated to add history this semester for fear of burn-out. It ended up being one of my only options, so with great hesitancy I added "Late Baroque to Romantic" to my schedule and gritted my teeth.

Surprisingly, I have been intrigued. Our professor does a great job of weaving classical music's significance into the threads of history by assigning relevant readings (who knew that was possible?!) in moderate doses. She loves Haydn, Bach, and Mozart, but especially Beethoven (who now my proclaimed "favorite" composer of the period). When we listen to excerpts of various symphonies, she closes her eyes and occasionally bobs her head for emphasis. It's great! I can't help but smile when I watch her. Her passion for classical music, however nerdy it may be, is totally inspiring.

ANYWAY, to the point. The more I read the chapters in Music in the Western World, the more I realize that art (visual art and music, namely) have often been the main catalyst for social reform. In the same way that much of music's style reflects the type of present government, "avant garde" music is usually a foreshadowing of the people's desire for government reform.

For example, in the 18th century opera seria was the main style for Italian opera. This style, literally meaning "serious opera," consisted of conservative instrumental arrangements (mostly strings), aristocratic cast (servant characters were always minor) , moderate dynamics (neither soft nor loud volume), and serious themes. Around the time of literary "Enlightenment" (when philosophers like Rousseau and Paine were prominent writers), music began to change its style as well.

Composers started small by writing comic intermezzos, or short, comedic plays that were performed during the intermission of an opera seria. The most famous of these plays is La Serva Padrona, in which a servant girl forces her master to marry her by staging a bullied fight and locking him in a bedroom. While the theme of servant manipulation of their masters is common to us now, it was shockingly revolutionary in the late 1700s. La Serva Padrona became more popular than its contemporary rivals, and the public began to demand more comic intermezzos.

Rousseau immediately grasped this new style of opera, and declared it "enlightened." French operas mimicking this style exploded into the music scene, and became a hallmark of the middle class. The French Revolution of 1789 is greatly attributed to the new themes of opera, in which characters married for love, not duty. This message embodied competing class ideals, in which "the self-made class began to threaten that of hereditary priviledge" (MWW 14).

I really didn't mean to make this an essay review as much as an excited blog about music's influence on society and history. It gives new excitement to my pursuit of a music degree. Not only do I now have a vision for educating children in the most beautiful of art forms, but also a piece in the reform of society and government. My support and/or performance of the "avant garde" or other new interpretations of music will directly influence the new trends that become "normal." How exciting is that?!