Consisting essentially of four dance forms that were then popular-the allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue-the suites they composed were based on contrasting tempos, metres, and rhythmic patterns. The most influential steps were taken in France by composers for the lute or the clavecin (harpsichord). Suites based on variations of one movement appeared in England suites in which each of four dances had its own rhythmic character, melodically based on the first dance, were written in Germany sets of dances with no internal relationships to each other were common in Italy. Through much of the 16th century, composers in the several countries sought to expand the dance pair into a unified dance suite. Early 16th-century dance tunes in all countries of western Europe usually had appeared in pairs: one was slow, stately in mood, and in duple metre (i.e., with two beats to the measure) the other fast, lively in mood, usually in triple metre, and often melodically similar to the first.
Parallel to the developments that led from the vocal chanson, in France, to the instrumental canzona, primarily in Italy, was the development of the dance suite. One such type, characterized by elaborate figurations and ornamented melodies, became influential in England late in the 17th century and played a role in the works of Henry Purcell. Soon original canzonas for organ, modelled on the transcriptions, and for small instrumental ensembles, were composed. The earliest transcriptions differed from the French arrangements in treating the original chanson with greater freedom, adding ornaments and flourishes, and sometimes inserting new material. The chanson travelled to Italy about 1525, became known as canzona, and was transcribed for organ. That sectional form retained in the arrangements later became a striking feature. The typical chanson was characterized by contrasts in musical texture and often in metre the effect of the whole was that of a short composition in several even shorter sections. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content.Ī more important source of later chamber music is to be found in the arrangements of 16th-century chansons (songs of French origin composed usually for four voices on a variety of secular texts), some for voices and lute, others for lute alone. In place of those effects are refinement, economy of resources, and flawless acoustical balance. Rich displays of varied instrumental colour, and striking effects produced by sheer sonority, play little part in chamber music. Music written for combinations of stringed or wind instruments, often with a keyboard ( piano or harpsichord) as well, and music for voices with or without accompaniment have historically been included in the term.Īn essential characteristic of chamber music results from the limited size of the performing group employed: it is intimate music, suited to the expression of subtle and refined musical ideas. Since the “home”-whether it be drawing room, reception hall, or palace chamber-may be assumed to be of limited size, chamber music most often permits no more than one player to a part. In its original sense, chamber music referred to music composed for the home, as opposed to that written for the theatre or church. SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!Ĭhamber music, music composed for small ensembles of instrumentalists.Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.
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