- Classical music, it gets a bad wrap. That's mostly just because people aren't familiar with it. I mean, you can immediately tell the difference between Kanye and Madonna, but if I ask you, "Who wrote better operas, Verdi or Wagner?" you might be completely lost, I mean, I was. I'm Nick Douglas, and I too, want to appreciate classical music more, but it can be hard to know where to start. So, I'm here to ease your apprehension, and help you find classical music that you'll actually love. (bright classical music) Contemporary pop music has it easy, because we can appreciate most of it with little to no effort. The forms and the genres we're used to hearing are highly consistent in structure and tone. So, we're all familiar with verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus. Understanding and appreciating classical music starts the same way. It's about understanding structure, context, and the trends, and having a healthy dose of patience. First, some vocab will help. Songs have lyrics. Pieces are just music. Pieces can be songs, but saying pieces will help you sound a lot smarter. Most classical music is cataloged using opus numbers. Opus is just Latin for work, and it's noted with an Op. Some composers have specific catalog systems, named after the people who invented them. Mozart's works us K.V. Bach uses B.W.V. So, when you see Chopin, Opus nine, number two, Nocturne in E-flat, that means it's Chopin's ninth cataloged work, the second movement in that work, the piece is a nocturne, which is like a genre, a piece typically invoking a night time mood, and the key, or foundational scale of the piece is E-flat major. Now, none of this makes it easier to remember some of these very long titles. Naming pieces didn't catch on until much later, and many of the names we associate with famous pieces, like Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, were just nicknames given by fans. The credit specifically for that one, goes to 19th century music critic, Ludwig Rellstab. - [Ludwig Voiceover Portrayal] The opening movement invokes a boat, visiting, by moonlight, the primitive landscapes of Lake Lucerne. - If you can't remember which opus is which, use your imagination, and assign your own memorable titles to your favorite pieces. It'll give you a more personal connection to the music, and will help you articulate what kinds of moods and images you're hearing. We have to talk in broad strokes, 'cause we have over 600 years of music to cover, but in general, there are five periods of classical music: medieval, baroque, classical, romantic, and modern. Unless, you're into Gregorian chants, we could skip over medieval music for now. The most useful place to start is with the grand daddy himself, Johann Sebastian Bach, or Bach Senior, or The Master of Fugues. Cool, so, what's a fugue? Simply put, it's a music structure that was most popular in the early 1700s, and composers like Bach, wrote hundreds of these to show off, experiment, and have fun. It's a very technical staple of music. It can be very mathematical and formula driven, so it really helps to know the formula. By and large, a fugue sounds like this. First, a musical subject is introduced. ("Little Fugue" by Johann Sebastian Bach) Then other voices echo the subject. Then, there's an exploration section, that develops on the subject more broadly, ("Little Fugue" by Johann Sebastian Bach) until we return to the subject in the recapitulation, the recap. ("Little Fugue" by Johann Sebastian Bach) When you listen to a fugue, decipher what the subject is, since the point of a fugue is to weave that musical idea into as many different combinations as possible. It might not be apparent on the first listening, so be ready to keep things on repeat. Understanding the structure and intention behind classical music makes appreciating and enjoying it so much easier. So, tune in to your imagination and settle in for some mind-bending music. And check out our Lifehacker Spotify playlist for a starter pack of excellent Baroque pieces.
