Brass soundscapes since the end of the modern era

Abstract

During this period Europe was facing turbulent times due to various upsurges of the common people against their feudal rulers. Consequently despotism emerged as a natural solution to this instability. These revolutionary attitudes towards stability and order experienced in the Classical Era were manifested in all the socio-cultural context. In the political scene, the most significant event was the French Revolution which was mainly the common people's outburst against aristocratic authority. All around Europe people started to look for freedom in every sense of the word. In this case, people were looking to get rid of their servantile way of living and eventually obtain an identity of their own. Beethoven had a great admiration for Bonaparte, so much so that he dedicated the ' Eroica ' Symphony to him. As soon as Bonaparte declared himself Emperor Napoleon, he tore off the dedication. In most of the cases, as soon as a stabilising force is established in a particular era, a conflicting element arises with innovative ideas which later on serve as the basis for the next era. Years before the 19th century, Europe had already started to stir its fixed frameworks of classicism, paving way to a more liberal and revolutionary tendencies to be eventually idolised in the Romantic Era. In music, especially in orchestral works, the most effective device that the composer uses to project his ideas is orchestration. Therefore, even orchestration underwent a "revolution" in itself when compared to the previous standards established primarily by Haydn in his symphonies. Looking at the forces employed by various composers for their orchestral writings, one notices that along the years, the wind instruments started to expand whereas the strings and the timpani generally remained in the same combinations. The brass instruments used by Haydn were horns and trumpets with the latter serving to give bright martial colour to the composition. Similarly Mozart in his opera ' Don Giovanni ' added trombones to convey more vividly his musical thoughts.