CJ Replay: Ten Periods of Choral Music History

       Choral music requires its own historical organization for two reasons: (a) many traditional terms, such as "Classic" and "Romantic," are confusing because choral music combines words (literature) and music; and (b) many historical divisions, especially after 1600, have been created to account for operatic, soloistic, or instrumental ensemble styles that are not obvious in the choral repertory.

       If the periodization of choral music is not to be based on traditional areas borrowed from art history  (Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, etc.), it must be upon something within choral music itself. To this end I have attempted to isolate the basic changes/innovations in the history of choral music which were important enough to interest composers in abandoning traditional techniques and attempting new ones. The following ten items are my suggestions:

 

1. 8th century: Pepin's and Charlemagne's decision to accept the Roman rite

2. 12th century: expansion of responsorial/antiphonal techniques to include counterpoint

3. 15th century: choral counterpoint-a "renaissance"

4. 16th century: new relationship between text and music

5. 16th century: the concerted style

6. 17th century: use of the concerted style to create large-scale works

7. 18th century: the "style galant" – an harmonic based style

8. 19th century: the influence of musical historicism

9. 19th-20th centuries: choral music for a commercial market

10. Mid-20th century: a new use of text–the. Phonetic

 

(From the Choral Journal article “Toward a Periodization for Choral History: Part II,” by Alan A. Luhring.)