Here are my reflections from this project.

 

First, I discovered the characteristics of French and German dance music. There are 3 characteristics that I found in French dance (Marais). First, it has a simple structure and chord progression, not too long. Second, it has a beautiful melodic line. Last, pieces tend to be used for parties, so the music is very pleasing and easy-listening as the background music. For German dance (Bach), it is very different from French. First, their dance music has a larger structure. Second,  texturally complex and technically demanding, and serious in tone. Because of the technical difficulties, Bach’s music can be studied as exercises. They have a more academic and intellectual intention than French dance.

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Second, I found how Romanticism affected music society, career, and musical style. The romantic style was predominant in the Nineteenth century and featured freedom from rules and limits. From this concept, music started expanding during the Romantic period. Things became on a larger scale, music became longer and harder, concert halls were getting bigger. So, more people were needed to participate to create music events. Music was no longer limited to special occasions such as church or background music for aristocrats, as it was in Marais’ and Bach’s time. 

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The musical style changed during the Romantic period because of this expansion. The development of musical instruments created the development of instrumental techniques. Composers took more time to compose and performers took more time to practice and master their skills. This is why the professions of composers and performers became increasingly separated and specialized. From what I studied, Marais and Bach both composed and performed because, in the Baroque period, music publications were not extensively available. Much old music, such as music in the Middle Age and Renaissance, were lost in time, so they had to compose music for themselves to play. But when in the Romantic period, technology not only gave access to the elite, but music also expanded to the middle-class society  and this was very different from Marais’ and Bach’s time. The Nineteenth-century was a time when music from the past was beginning to be resurrected and performed.   So, during the Romantic period, people had a lot of good music to play and many of them were used as standard repertoire for musicians. Therefore, musicians such as Rubinstein are now remembered more as a performer than as a composer, maybe because he used most of his time to practice piano, not compose. And this is how music careers changed so much from the 19th century.