European Classical music and its tradition?

Question

How far is the extent of the spread of European classical music? WHy is it that there are Russian composers of classical music but not greek? Have I missed something? What countries are the producers of the baroque, classical, rennaissance, and romance traditions and why is it we never hear from many european nations?

Answer 1

     You have posted a "multiple" and rather confusing too, question, I must say.

(1) How far is the extent of the spread of European classical music?  World-wide.

(2) Why is it that there are Russian composers of classical music but not greek?  Why do bananas have "humps"?

(3) you need to clarify these questions: separate them into at least 3 or more: want even attempt them the way they are.

                                                 Alberich

      

Answer 2

Interesting question. There are composers from ALL countries. Even tiny Liechtenstein has Rheinberger to its credit. The reason for most composers seeming to come from central Europe is that until relatively recently the big musical centres were in the large powerful political areas (present-day Germany, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italian states, France and Britain).

In medieval times France, Flanders (more or less where present-day Belgium and Holland are) and Italy seemed to be the leaders in the development of music and this largely continued through the Renaissance period, with Spain having more influence than before. The Germanic states became more organised and powerful during the 17th century and that's why we have a lot of German composers coming to prominence during the Baroque (eg Schütz, Bach, Handel, Telemann). The countries most 'active' during the Baroque were:

Italian/Papal states

France

Germany

However, there are also Baroque composers from Britain, Bohemia (eg Biber, Brixi) and Poland. And less-well-known figures in other countries (like Russia, Romania and even South America).

During the 18th century the power, influence and Royal Courts of Austria-Hungary became much greater, leading to more composers gaining employment in influential circles where their music would gain currency (eg the younger Bachs, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven). Again, there is a great deal of music from other countries - it's just that political circumstances meant that it was never widely heard and so has not come down to us as readily. The main musical 'powers' of the Classical era are:

Austria-Hungary

Germanic states

The influence of Italy and France were less pronounced during the Classical era, while fine composers fromBohemia and Moravia (which were then part of Austria-Hungary) Germanicised their names and worked in the main musical centres (Vienna, Salzburg, Budapest, Prague, Pressburg (now Bratislava)). Krommer, Rosetti, Hummel and the Stamitz family are among these composers. There was also excellent Classical music in Poland, Romania, Spain and Portugal.

The influence of Austria-Hungary continued into the 19th century and the Romantic period and again many best-known composers are from central Europe (Schumann, Brahms, Chopin, Dvořák) with Russia suddenly discovering itself musically through Glinka and then composers like Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Musorgsky. Yet again, composers in all countries were active (eg France, Britain and Italy) but enjoyed a lower profile.

If you are interested in exploring some of the lesser-known (but not necessarily lesser-quality) composers, a little judicous internet research under each country should reveal some interesting results.

Good luck!

Answer 3

great question. there are in fact greek classical composers, however classical music as we know it tended to be associated with the western world. So as you venture further into eastern europe classical music tends to take on local elements and discard the elements more familiar (to listeners of classical music) that are heirlooms of Germany, France and Italy.

The main reason we have classical music from Russia is because Tsar Alexander II wanted to westernize Russia to catch up after the period of the mongol yoke. part of that was assimilating  wester Europe's musical tradition.

as to why we don't hear more of these composers? I don't know, there's plenty of good music by them worth listening to.

Answer 4

Just some observations on the above answers:

- Russia has a specific history in music; I recycle for the n-th time the answer already given:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

- Don't be misled: Mussorgski and Tchaikovsky don't share anything, it's like day and night.

- The expert who says that in 19th century 'Italian / Papal states' expressed low profile music is so tagging at least Verdi and all the romantic operatic tradition, but that's the way it is. He won't retire or rephrase his stuff.

The reason why Greece produced philosophers, Russia musicians and Germany both lies in history and it would be long to analyze. In a word, the 'courts' system is what all developed musical nations have in common: enlightened tyrants and noblesse financing music. Romanticism shook at the very base the system in politics, literature and music with the nationalistic movement, which has nothing to do with love to one's country like some fellows here think but is rather a gesture of rebellion to the dominant cultural systems.

Greece stayed out of the courts system for his detached role in european history. Not for the banana bumps. After a laughter, that observation only sounds unqualifiable.