The Comparison The Two Time Periods: Beethoven And Bieber
Over the course of the semester, my classmates and I were able to learn about many different composers of the classical time period which was music generally made before the 19th century. Music that was made after the 19th century was considered the modern time period. Typically, classical music is made with many instruments of different families whereas modern music uses both lyrics and instruments to express the feelings behind those songs. The composers from each time period made their music in different ways. I’m going to compare the two time periods through artists of both the classical and the modern time period. Ludwig Van Beethoven from the 18th century and Justin Bieber from the 21st century.
Ludwig Van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany on December 16, 1770 to his mother, Maria Magdalan Van Beethoven and his father, Johann Van Beethoven. Beethoven was the oldest out of three. He had two younger brothers Caspar and Johann. Growing up Beethoven was constantly surrounded by music. His own grandfather, Kapellmeister Ludwig Van Beethoven was an affluent musician in the city of Bonn.
Around the age of four, Beethoven's father began to teach him how to play music in hopes he would become the next music prodigy as Wolfgang Mozart once was. His father started to become very abusive towards his music. Everytime Beethoven played a wrong note his father would brutality beat him. The abuse would go to the extent of locking his son in the basement with no sleep to practice more. A few years later at the age of seven, Beethoven attended Tirocinium, a Latin elementary school. Early on in his education, Beethoven began to show signs of dyslexia. Reading music came more naturally to him than reading words. Not even three years later Beethoven dropped out of school to solely focus on his music with Chrustian Gottlob Neefe, his teacher. Two years later, after much studying, Beethoven issued his first piece of music which would kick start his music career.
In 1787, Beethoven moved to Vienna, Austria to study music with Joseph Haydn specifically piano. There he was able to meet other composers such Antonio Slieri and Johann Albrechtsberger. With them, he was able to study vocal composition and how to write music. Shortly after, Beethoven made a series of piano trios (Opus 1) which would soon become an enormous success. Beethoven composed many successful pieces after that. As he became more successful, Beethoven was going deaf. He could no longer hear the words of a conservation. His life became miserable. He could longer enjoy the things he had in the past. Beethoven died at the age of 56, on March 26, 1827 of post-hepatitic cirrhosis of the liver.
One of Beethoven's best known compositions was Eroica: Symphony No. 3. This symphony was composed in 1803. This composition was dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, the emperor of France at the time. Although, just one year older,Beethoven admired Napoleon as he saw him as godlike figure. Eroica: Symphony No. 3 is broken up into four movements. One being called Scherzo. As the movement starts the flute, violin, clarinet, and cello are being played. At this time both the violins and flute are using a mezzo forte dynamic. At 0:50 the orchestra rapidly crescendos as the tempo gets faster. At 1:15 the music goes back to mezzo forte dynamic as the tempo slows. At 1:51 the orchestra uses pianissimo dynamic as the tempo slows even more. At 2:00 the violins rapidly crescendo as the tempo gets faster. At 2:22 the violins use a mezzo piano. At 2:33 the orchestra gradually uses forte dynamic as the tempo gets faster. The french horn is introduced to the movement. At 2:45 the french horns shift back and forth from using a mezzo piano and a mezzo forte dynamic. At 3:02 the bassoon is introduced using a mezzo piano dynamic as the tempo fastens. At 3:45 the frech horns shift back and forth from using a mezzo piano and a mezzo forte dynamic again. At 4:30 the violins use a pianissimo dynamic as the tempo gets slower. At 4:46 the temp fastens. At 5:00 the orchestra rapidly crescendos. At 5:20 the orchestra rapidly decrescendos as the tempo gets slower. At 5:36 the orchestra rapidly crescendos as the dynamic changes to forte. This ends the symphony.
Justin Bieber was born on March 1,1994 in Stratford, Ontario, Canada to his mother Pattie Mallette. Beiber at a young age started to show interest in music. He even taught himself how to play many instruments such as guitar, drums, piano, and trumpet. His mother Pattie created a YouTube channel where she posted various videos of Justin performing his many talents. The videos became an internet sensation so much that Scooter Braun, a talent manager noticed Beiber. Within two years of him being noticed he signed a record deal with Usher. At the age of 15, Beiber created his first single One Time which instantly became an international success. He then released his album called My World. In 2010, he released his 2nd album My World 2.0. Not even a year later he released Never say Never with an extra holiday album. In 2012, the album Believe was released selling over 374,000 copies the first few days. The following year Journal was released but unlike Beibers past albums this wasn't a hit. A few years later, Bieber made a return with the album Purpose which continued his success.
One of Bieber's famous hit songs is What do you mean. This song was released in 2015. The song was inspired by girls in Beibers expierence that say one thing but mean another. As the song starts you can hear the ticking of clocks in the background as well as the piano. The dynamic is piano as the tempo is slow. At 0:45 the piano uses forte dynamic as the tempo gets faster. At 1:15 the flute is introduced into the song. The flute is using a piano dynamic as the tempo stays the same. At 1:40 the flute disappears and all that can be heard is the ticking of the clocks. The tempo gets slower. At 2:00 the music rapidly crescendos and all instruments can be heard as the tempo gets faster. At 2:30 the flute is using a piano dynamic as the tempo gets faster. At 3:00 he music rapidly crescendos and all instruments can be heard as the tempo stays the same. At 3:25 the music rapidly decrescendos as the song comes to an end.
