Chamber music originally refers to "family-style" music played in the room, and later it was extended to music played in relatively small places. Refers to small instrumental music played by several instruments, (excluding one instrument, one instrument is a solo) mainly refers to ensemble music and small instrumental ensemble music, which is different from large orchestral music.

Characteristics of chamber music:

① Because each part of chamber music ensemble has considerable independence and individuality, its writing techniques are usually complex and meticulous. In addition to the general theme development techniques, diversified polyphonic music techniques are also of great significance in ensemble.

(2) Compared with symphony works, chamber music ensemble is delicate and subtle, paying more attention to the skill and expression form of each instrument, and it is also more detailed in the musical instrument combination relationship of each voice.

③ Among all chamber music ensembles, the string quartet is the most important and representative ensemble form. This is because it has the most diverse playing skills, the richest expressive force, and is best at singing melodies, while the range, range and timbre contrast are also very wide. German classical composer Haydn is the earliest outstanding master of this genre.

The development history of chamber music;

① Chamber music was produced in Italy at the end of 16. This is a small instrumental ensemble.

②16 ——1At the beginning of the 8th century, the music at that time was divided into three categories: church music, drama music and chamber music. At that time, the venue and scale of chamber music were different from church music and drama music. It is vocal music or small instrumental music played in private (aristocratic) homes, forming the earliest form of chamber music.

(3) From the middle of18th century to the first half of19th century, as music gradually entered the civic class, the venue for performance also changed from private houses to public music venues, which changed the meaning of chamber music and became modern chamber music played by a few musical instruments (mainly string quartets), regardless of the specific venue.

④ 65438+From the middle to the end of the 9th century, most important chamber music works were written by German composers, such as Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms. Although the combination of musical instruments mainly follows the form of classical period, some changes have taken place, usually a duet combination of two to nine people.

⑤ In the 20th century, traditional chamber music was greatly challenged, mainly in two aspects. On the one hand, it comes from mixed timbre combination: due to the appearance of electronic synthetic music and the application of new composition methods, a wide range of unusual instrument combinations have been produced in the field of chamber music, looking for new timbre combinations; On the other hand, it comes from staffing: there are chamber music schools such as chamber music symphony (edited by more than a dozen people), chamber music concerto, chamber music opera and so on.

Representative works of chamber music:

Schubert piano quintet "Fish"

This is the only piano quintet in Schubert's life, which was commissioned by a very rich Austrian patron and amateur cellist Sylvester Bao ·mg· Art. Schubart was imprisoned for political reasons. He longed for the freedom of prison life, so he wrote the poem Trout.

The difference between Schubert's quintet and the general quintet is that the instrument combination is piano, double bass, cello, viola and violin. The double bass is rarely used as an instrument for chamber music, but Schubert replaced the usual second violinist with it.

(2) Stockhausen Sirius.

Use unusual musical instrument combinations, such as electronic synthesizer, trumpet, bass clarinet, soprano and bass.

(3) Britten's "Twist the Screw"

This song needs six or seven soloists, woodwind instruments, string quartets plus double bass, harp, percussion instruments, piano and piano.

④ Mozart's Quartet in F Major

The song was written in 178 1 year. This work occupies a special position in Mozart's chamber music works, because it is the only oboe quartet created by Mozart. The instruments of the quartet include oboe, violin, viola and cello. Mozart's love for chamber music creation in his later years is vividly shown in this work.