Music and the French Revolution Report

The French Revolution began in 1789 as a substantial disruption in the human history. The people who formed it wanted to generate a new kind of human culture, do away with the upper classes, and to make all the people the same before the law. They also wanted to do away with the Christianity as well as the old method of days of the week and naming the years from the birth of Christ. In its place they called for a new faith of the utmost beings and anew style of open holidays (Cochran, 2008).

Whereas heads rolled all through the French revolution, music was playing important role in the subsequent clash position and the leaders took it seriously. They also realized it as an important tool for varying the way people believe and experience. A new law was set forcing audiences to sing republican songs in theatres sooner than operas were performed. All this came up after a school was set to teach both the new army and the national guards in 1795. Singers were motivated to write new songs which made them to have more than 1300 songs between 1789 and 1800. The le Marseillaise which is still the French national anthem song famed by that time (European Humanities Research Center, 2008).

All this made the revolutionary leaders came up with new parade approach in the major cities and prepared enormous musical ceremonies with names like celebration of the utmost Being. Musicians like Mehul, Gossec and Lesueur sung massive cantatas in the stage using the enormous orchestras of wind instruments which were more appropriate in the stages (Cochran, 2008).

Gossecs hymn for thermindor is one of the emblematic examples of the French revolutionary music.This together with other important pieces had a great impact on the French romantic musician Berlioz and also used alike enormous services in his big

Public works like symphonies funebre et triomphale. The revolutionary leaders as well encouraged a new technique of opera which came up with stories of heroes resisting oppressors called rescue operas which had a bang on the work of Beethoven. The only opera, Fidelio is also successfully a save opera (Cochran, 2008).

One of the factors which came up with the face of population in music was the design of nationalism which created an idea out of obtainable elements and also intervened in the existing circumstances and distorted it. French revolution brought about the political unsteadiness and chaos that turned Europe into the worlds goriest ground of utter confusion and interruption finally finish off in the war. The cruel redeployment of the European boundaries was determined by the people it affected held during 1814-15 at the end of the Napoleonic wars (Enrico & Heffron, 2008).

The French revolution had a great impact on the western civilization and culture; western civilization meant that most of the things that were done were changed and this included the kind of music that was being played. The music industry was changed and music that was played was modernized to suit the level of civilization in the society. Also the cultural values practiced in the society were highly changed; since music is part of the culture it was also changed to suit the new cultural norms in the society. This shows that French revolution did not only have impacts on the society and the culture but also on other aspects in the society like music (Enrico & Heffron, 2008).

French revolution also brought about change in many ideas of democratic state that are still practiced in most countries in the world today. These ideas have been passed on from one generation to another mostly through music, the reason being that music is highly valued by many people in the society and many of the ideas passed music are easily taken and understood like through the other methods (Enrico & Heffron, 2008).

Also the revolution brought about Christianity, through Christianity most of the songs that were performed traditionally were modified to Christian songs. Also there were certain kinds of music that were disregarded by Christianity hence some of the traditional music practiced were lost during this revolution period. Also it brought huge change in the wake up of the revolution given the entire devastating disturbance this movement produced in the general society (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, 2008).

There was music that was still developed during this period of time but the music gained significance later. The music began to be recognized by scholars after along period of time. This affected the music industry since the music was no longer selling and many of the people did not value this music until later. The scholars who were interested in this kind of music had a challenging time and in order to succeed in their music they had to look for a suitable place like Vienna where their supporters like Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) worked. Through this they managed to analyses different types of music that were prepared during this period and they brought back the meaning of this music in the society. (European Humanities Research Center, 2008)

The music industry was greatly influenced by the French revolution in that the most of the European music during this particular time has its roots in the French operas. The music performed during this period was based on the many issues that rose up during the French revolution like the French operas. Since French revolution also brought about civilization, this also affected the kind of music that was played during that tie and especially to the European music. The kind of music played by the Europeans was changed to suit the level of civilization that was taking place in the society at that particular time (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, 2008).

Because of the French revolution music got a new meaning and it was highly recognized in the society. Music was seen to play a very important role in the society especially in passing of certain message or information to particular group of people. Because of this scholars were highly interested in the kind of music that was being played as well as information contained in the piece of music played. More ideas on the music industry were added and music took a new dimension (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, 2008).

Also during the revolution that affected all the areas in the society political aspects were affected hence politics had great impact on the kind of music that was being played. Music was composed that addressed political issues and messages concerning political issues were passed through the music to the entire society. Politics and music in one way or another were integrated during this period. (Woods, 2001)

Music initially was for the indoor festivals that were performed in the society but with the French revolution music began to be played in out door festivals to entertain guests. This gave music a new meaning and increased the value of music in the society especially the European music. In conclusion French revolution had great impacts both positive and negative in the society and also on the music practiced in European society (Woods, 2001).

References

1. Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, (2008), The music of the French Revolution. Web.
2. Cochran K. (2008), Music and the French Revolution, 1789-1799.
3. Enrico R. & Heffron R.T, 2008, The French revolution. Web.
4. European Humanities Research Center, (2008), The politics of Opera: The French Revolution and its consequences,
5. Woods A. (2001), Figaro and French Revolution, Web.