ARTS 100 Music Experience Description

**Essay Excerpt***

Music is, in fact, a universal language. Within this paper an analysis of five musical works will come under consideration. One musical piece will each come from the Romantic, Classical, and Baroque periods. The final two pieces will come from the 80s. The analysis of each musical work will include the composition, composer, performer, style, a description of the each piece, melody, rhythm, and a summary of the musical impression.

Baroque Period

The first musical piece will come from the Baroque Period. The title of this classical style work is Fugue In G Minor, BWV 542. The composer is Johann Sebastian Bach. This particular piece, however, is a performance by E. Power Biggs in 1988. The entire performance is an organ. The rhythm within the piece seems to change within certain points but is fairly the same throughout the musical work. However, there are a few moments when timing changes from upbeat to a slower rhythm. The melody softens in certain moments of the piece resembling a soft flute (only for a moment) and picks back up again into a frenzy of high-end organ keys. The harmony between organ keys compliments one another as if building into a greater musical work throughout the piece with time as an essence. Tonality is high throughout with the exception of the few softer moments, which is brief. The musical texture is light with the organ as the only layer. The musical form sounds like an intense dance of musical notes intertwining one another in a circular pattern.

Initially I did not like this piece because it reminded me of Bram Stoker's Dracula. However after the second listen I grew to appreciate it.

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