Instrumental

Instrumental music is music that is performed with instruments without voices. It is thus the antithesis of vocal music.

Term

In the definition, it always went to the questions of whether instruments ever announce something, and if so, whether they are meant to imitate the human voice. One of the traditional tasks of musical instruments, which are independent of speech and vocals, includes temporary, military, hunting or traffic control signals as well as the accompaniment of dance and march. This is especially evident in the history of brass instruments. In stylized form, these functions are present today in art music.

A sharp separation of instrumental music and vocal music is made ​​only in Western music history. Even in the ancient form vocals and instrument sound unit. Their separation based on the fact that musical instruments were regarded as something Pagan in the Christian Middle Ages and were excluded from the chants of the liturgy.

Only since the late Middle Ages the musical instruments begin to emancipate, but often replace missing vocals. Since about 1700 the musical instrument is, however, a model of the singing voice, the instrumental coloratura even be reasonably expected. Significant technical innovations in this period were the well-tempered keyboard instruments tuned and gradually completed chromaticism in the winds.

Ludwig Finscher limited in his article instrumental music in the new edition of the music lexicon The music in the past and present to the period between the 13th and 16th century, in which a detachment of instrumental music from the music textvertonenden happened.

History

Formation

Lute and organ tablatures have been the norm in the 15th century. Dance arrangements make has always been a big part of playing music on instruments and lead to the form of the suite. Since the later 16th century is mainly produced in Italy an independent instrumental music with genres such as the Ricercar and the Toccata.

Solo and trio sonatas and the concerto grosso form a first peak of purely instrumental composition in the 17th century. At the end of the century, the solo concerto is created. The preludes and fugues by Johann Sebastian Bach tend already to the parting of the harmonics from the polyphonic harmony of the individual voices.

Classical

The opera symphony or overture arises mainly from the suite and develops after the end of the basso age in the 18th century to the symphony of Viennese classicism, which in a sense forms the summit of European orchestral music and as a historicist genus persists into the 20th century.

In addition, there are forms for smaller ensembles such as the divertimento or serenade. The string quartet is a kind of chamber music, which is mainly intended for connoisseurs. On solo keyboard instruments dominated the Sonata.

19th century

In the 19th century the Coloristic wins thanks to new and more sophisticated musical instruments in importance (see Instrumentation). Instrumental Music program is created, which is based on extra-musical content. A telling or remembering without words often suggests the popular salon music. The gesture of a " speech without words " have often solo character piece and a full orchestra, the symphonic poem. Some directions of popular instrumental music emancipate itself from its function as a clock: from dance music separates the concert waltz and by the military music, emancipated the brass band.

For an ideal image purely instrumental music that supports or imitates neither language nor movement, the so-called absolute music. Richard Wagner, from which comes the expression, used it disparagingly and believed that the history of music " detached from the pantomime, absolute instrumental music " with a had gone astray. His adversary Eduard Hanslick moved the opposite position.

The development of the piano sound leads to specific forms such as the Etude gathered to art. Improvisation as the musical paraphrase enjoy great popularity.

Modern

By moving away from the term aesthetics since the beginning of the 20th century created a music that is based again on classical and baroque models. Twelve-tone technique and serialism later lead to a new clarity and brittleness of the instrumental sound.

Through the inclusion of noise ( musique concrète ), electronic musical instruments and later the computer, the notion of instrumental music is relativized and expanded.

Instrumental

In the entertainment and popular music, the term is instrumental (English )

• For a (pure ) instrumental or
• For the arrangement of a vocal track without vocals ( instrumental version ).

Linguistically scene often referred to as an instrumental beat (English ) is called.