(Don't look at it, my self-control is too poor, I haven't finished the two chapters from the day before yesterday until today.)
The secularization process in the development of Western music is actually a transition from religious music to non-religious music, or secular music. The biggest difference between religious music and secular music lies in whether the content of the music is related to religion.
The secularization process in the development of Western music is actually the transition from monophonic music to polyphonic music, from polyphonic to monophonic, and from vocal music to instrumental music. The development of Western music mainly went through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Baroque period.
Medieval period.
From the early Middle Ages until the 11th and 12th centuries, musical activity revolved primarily around church worship. The history of Western music, for at least the first thousand years of the Christian era, is inherently a history of Christian worship. While various forms of secular music undoubtedly existed during this period, they remain unrecorded, leaving only liturgical music. The sung texts in worship are called chants, specifically Gregorian chant. Gregorian chant holds immense significance in Western history. In a sense, the entire history of Western medieval church music revolves around the development, refinement, and expansion of Gregorian chant.
The emergence of polyphonic music was epoch-making in the history of Western music. The earliest recorded polyphonic music in the West is the organum, and the parallel organum marked the first step in Western music's transition from monophony to polyphony. This earliest polyphonic music was followed by the disconte, conductus, and motet. These vocal polyphonic songs were the most important musical genres of the Middle Ages. This shift from monophony to polyphony within Western religious music paved the way for the deepening secularization of Western music.
Renaissance period.
The Renaissance is an extremely important ideological and cultural movement in European history, which has had a great impact on many aspects of European culture, art, natural sciences and so on.
With the recovery and development of the economy, the rise of cities and the improvement of living standards, people have gradually changed their previous pessimistic and desperate attitude towards real life and started to pursue the pleasures of worldly life.
As one of the major categories of art, music was naturally deeply affected. Although the music of the Renaissance still maintained close ties with religion, it had a clear secular tendency.
The humanistic spirit wanted to break through the shackles of religiousism. At this time, under the influence of the humanistic spirit, Western music took a breakthrough step in the process of secularization, and secular music entered its golden age.
Since the 15th century, the Franco-Flemish pan-European musical language has long dominated, enriching Europe's musical language. Its development and prosperity gradually changed the monotony of European music, which was dominated by religious genres. Since the 16th century, instrumental music has also gradually increased and developed independently. These new trends have injected new fuel into the secularization of Western music. Tonal music, on the other hand, emerged during the Renaissance.
Baroque period.
The Baroque period was a crucial stage in the secularization of Western music. It intensified the shift from vocal to instrumental music, and also accelerated the transition from polyphonic to tonal music.
During the Baroque period, both vocal and instrumental music experienced rapid development. During this period, vocal and instrumental music developed in parallel, unlike the Renaissance, when vocal music dominated. In the vocal field, the most prominent developments included monophonic songs and the emergence of new genres such as opera, oratorio, and cantata. Overall, the dramatic quality of vocal works intensified, with composers striving to more vividly and accurately express the rich emotional content of lyrics through music. During this period, instrumental music rose to a new level of prominence, eventually surpassing vocal music in importance. The creation of music tailored to the technical characteristics of specific instruments formed a lingua franca of Baroque instrumental music. This creativity also demanded exceptional skill from performers, with many of the most famous Baroque composers, such as Corelli, Vivaldi, and Bach, also masters of their instruments. Their passion for instrumental music led to the creation of new instrumental forms and genres, such as the fugue, sonata, and concerto. For the first time in musical history, instrumental music assumed such prominence and flourished unprecedentedly. The musical aesthetics of "emotionalism" was the driving force behind the deepening of Western secularization during the Baroque period. The transition from polyphonic texture to tonal texture in the West also occurred during the Baroque period.
In summary, the secularization process of Western music development began with religious church worship music in the Middle Ages. During this period, the transformation from monophonic music to polyphonic music was completed. Polyphonic music reached its peak during the Renaissance, giving rise to tonal music, which was consolidated during the Baroque period. During the Baroque period, vocal and instrumental music developed in parallel, and instrumental music became increasingly important in music. From the above, we can see that from the Middle Ages to the Baroque period, Western music developed along the path of secularization in religious church worship music. A brief discussion on the second creation of the song "My Love, Can You Hear Me?"
Abstract: As one of the interludes in the epic opera The Long March, the song "Can You Hear Me, My Love" is one of its most classic pieces. This article explores the re-creation of this song from multiple perspectives, striving to better grasp the performance of the song and to create it in a complete and outstanding manner.
Keywords: "My Love, Can You Hear Me?", secondary creation, folk singing style, singing.
"The Long March" is a large-scale epic opera created by the National Centre for the Performing Arts to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Long March of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. Directors Tian Qinxin and Yang Xiaoyang, composer Yin Qing, librettist Zou Jingzhi, and other top Chinese artists took three to four years to meticulously write and compose. Through the moving stories of characters like Political Commissar Peng and Colonel Zeng, the opera depicts the tenacity, courage, willingness to sacrifice, and fearlessness of hardship during the Long March. While incorporating traditional Chinese elements, "The Long March" also embodies contemporary aesthetics. It recounts key historical events of the Long March, starting from Ruijin after the Red Army's defeat in the Fifth Anti-Encirclement and Suppression Campaign. It comprehensively depicts the Red Army's 25,000-mile journey across grasslands and up snow-capped mountains. The vivid portrayal of minor characters and incidents throughout the opera makes this epic opera incredibly captivating and immersive, while the characters' unwavering resolve to overcome untold hardships and dangers is deeply moving. This epic masterpiece naturally features numerous classic interludes. Songs like "My Love, Can You Hear Me?", "Peach Blossoms Bloom in My Heart in March," "I Don't Know What to Say," and "I Can't Bear to Leave You" are beloved by audiences, and each is a frequent solo performance at numerous concerts. This article examines one of these classics, "My Love, Can You Hear Me?", exploring various perspectives and exploring how to recreate the song.
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