Three Newby Questions

1) In my 1969 Enc. Britannica, the term 'classical music' is not mentioned. The publication does refer to 'popular music,' 'chamber music,' 'opera,' 'symphony' etc. but not 'classical music.' Similarly, 'Primer Of Facts About Music' published in 1908 does not refer to the term 'classical music.' Why?

2) Sopranos Lucrezia Agujari and Ellen Beach Yaw-Goldthwaite are said to have sung C''''. Dame Nellie Melba ranged from B-flat to F'''. In addition to range and intensity, what other factors are considered in evaluating voice?

3) How does Charlotte Church compare to the great sopranos?

Thanks,

No clue. Classical music is not a technical term, but it is no less technical than 'popular music'.

Vibrato, tone, category (dramatic, lyric, heroic), not to mention the obvious (beauty of interpretation and sound).

The consensus here is that she is over-rated; some people here really really hate her

My Oxford is mum, too, but my 1969 American Heritage dictionary says under Classical: '3. Music. a. Pertaining to or designating the European music, as that of Haydn and Mozart, of the latter half of the 18th century. b. Designating any music in the educated European tradition, as distinguished from popular or folk music.'

Don;t know.

Don't care.

Classical music is a popular, i.e. non-technical term. Whe worked in European broadcasting, we used the term 'serious music', but this was a wide concept: the EBU working party on serious music included one or two jazz experts; sometimes they were the same people. In any case, as far as the Britannica is concerned, in 1969 the words 'music' and 'music-lover' used unqualified still referred almost exclusively to classical music. So a French classical music radio station would call itself - and still does - France-Musique.

Intonation, tone (however good a singer or instrumentalist performs technically, if they haven't a good tone no-one will want to listen to them), and timbre if you want to differentiate; then there would be phrasing and, at the nuts and bolts level, breath control.

She doesn't. Even at the nuts and bolts level.

brojack wrote

In 1908, what we now consider 'Classical' music was still contemporary popular music. Prior to 1990, the term 'Classic Rock' didn't exist either(some people would consider it an oxymoron). Prior to then, the Rock Music that would be dubbed 'Classic' was just contempory popular music. I guess when a musical style ceases to be contemporary and popular, the spin doctors in the music marketing business tag the term 'Classic' or 'Classical' onto it. It sounds so much better than referring to it as 'outdated music'. Interestingly enough, in the academic world, the term 'Classics' refers to the subjects of ancient Greek and Latin Literature. Does anyone know when the designation 'Classics' came to be applied to 'Greek and Roman studies'?

Jarl Sigurd

to listen to a cello concerto and piano concerto composed by Jarl Sigurd, visit: http://www.mp3.com/JarlSigurd

I didn't really want to respond to this, but I also didn't want anyone to get the impression that this statement actually held any relation to the truth.

How disappointing. I wanted to file The Man On The Flying Trapeze (1868) between Mahler and Mendelssohn. :o)

No.

There was popular music in 1908

In my CD collection I have popular music from all time periods filed in amongst my classical recordings, but at least I knew the difference.

Jarl, look in the New Grove Dictionary of Music. I remember it having a very good article on 'popular music'. Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven may have been popular in a broader sense of that term, but they never wrote 'popular music'.

And it is my understanding that wheras the term 'classical' music is popular terminology, the terms 'popular music' and 'folk music' are more academic terminology. That is why the Library of Congress has no subject heading for 'classical music' they just use the term 'music'. But the Library of Congress does have subject headings for 'folk music' and 'popular music'.

That is also why you will find an article in the New Grove for 'popular music', but not one for 'classical music.' Classical music, in its broadest sense, is what you have left once you've taken away popular music and folk music.

That makes it unpopular elitist ... oops ...

'Classic' rock is generally attributed to music that began in the late 60s, e.g., Clapton and Cream, although many 'classic' rock stations include the Beatles and Stones from earlier in the decade.

However, Elvis and the other founding fathers of 1950's rock 'n' roll are not included, at least not on any 'classic' rock FM station that I ever heard.

This subject has been discussed at some length in both the 1950s and 1960s popular music groups.