German music
Wagner based his operas dealing with the history of Germany
and folklore, and most importantly they included the Ring of the Nibelung
(belonging to the year 1874). In context of the 20th century German music, opera
composers such as Engelbert Humperdinck and Richard Strauss are of great
importance. They wrote operas which were meant for young audiences.
Beyond the
border in Austria, twelve-tone music form was innovated by Arnold Schoenberg
.And he used dissonance and rhythm instead of traditional harmonies and
melodies. Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill collaborated on some of the great works
produced by the German theater. This included works such as The Three-Penny
Opepa and Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.
It is worth mentioning that Baroque music was the first music to use tonality in the modern sense. It is also known for its artistic use of counterpoint and ornamentation. At the end of the 16th century it originated in Northern Italy.
The style then migrated quickly to Germany. Germany back then was one of the most active hubs of early Baroque music. In the German music context Early German Baroque composers included Johann Schein, Heinrich Schütz, Samuel Scheidt, and Michael Praetorius.
In the first half of the 18th century in the work of Johann Sebastian Bach was undoubtedly the culmination of the Baroque era. Numerous Baroque works were written by Bach. These included fugues preludes, the Brandenburg Concertos violin and wind cantatas, The Passion of St. John, concertos for harpsichord, orchestral suites,
The Passion of St. Matthew, and the Christmas Oratorio. Contemporaries of Bach included Georg Friedrich Haendel and Georg Philipp Telemann. The former is widely known for the oratorio Messiah.
