+547 It's kind of crazy to think that audiences back in the Classical period who heard a piece they liked in concert couldn't say, "Wow, I'm gonna go download that from iTunes/buy the CD." At best, they'd think, "Let me write down the piece and maybe one day I can see it in concert again," amirite?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

The reason most classical music has repeats is because most audiences wouldn't hear the music more than once because concerts weren't typically performed more than once. So sections and melodies were frequently repeated so it could be heard again.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

You can't conclude that. Melodies were repeated because the best music has a sense of familiarity in it. That's why verses/choruses are repeated in modern music. If the whole song/piece is constant new material, the listener gets bored.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

That's the origin of the habit of shouting "encore" at concerts--because people knew they literally might never hear the piece again. And yeah, melodies are repeated because that's how sonata form works. Every (good) form of music, modern or otherwise involves some degree of repetition.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Poison the well doesnt has choruses

by Anonymous 13 years ago

@rocky. Well yeah in modern music it's repeated and changed because it gets boring but in the 16/17/1800s thats not how it worked. Like I said performances weren't given twice so repeats were used to make the music memorable.

by Anonymous 13 years ago