9 great composers explained in 9 emotions

when listeners are asked to describe the

effect of a given music

they will often describe the music in

emotional terms

the emotional significance of music has

been recognized since the beginning of

civilization

think of homer’s odyssey

in which ulysses could only resist

the power of the siren songs by being

tied to the mast of his ship and pluck

the ears of his crew

now fast forward to the middle ages

when a musical notation system was

developed that would prove the basis for

magnificent musical works by such

composers as bach mozart beethoven and

schubert what we commonly refer to as

classical or western art music today

now although some people find their way

into it naturally others

find it boring tedious complicated

overwhelming or just simply too long

i think that the point that gets lost

here is that classical music just like

most other types of music

is really a source of emotional

empowerment and

reward

and yes

many works of classical music can be

long meaning they last more than three

minutes

but think of this as an asset

rather than eliciting fleeting moods

this music can take you on a veritable

emotional journey

and so here is the idea of my talk

let’s take something that we all share

and know about namely emotion

and use this as a gateway into something

that most of us or many of us know less

about namely classical music

now when you hear the word emotion

you may think of

terms such as happiness sadness anger

surprise or fear maybe

but can these standard emotion

categories really capture the essence

and the richness of music evoked

emotions

now our lab has done years of research

into this and the answer is no they

can’t

nor can the labels that you will see

occasionally popping up in the subtitles

of tv series such as ominous eerie or

cheerful because these labels describe

the music

not anything that you yourself feel

in fact our research

has shown that music evoked emotions can

be broadly very broadly categorized in

nine spheres of emotions

the first one is wonder that’s ulysses

you know being so overwhelmed by the

sirens

moved amazed

then we have transcendence which is

related but has also spiritual

components including states such as

being overwhelmed or odd

then we found nostalgia is quite often

induced by music

and it can be directed towards the past

it’s often filled with inspiring uh

memories but also towards the future

when it becomes more like some

indistinct longing

tenderness we know that one think of the

fact that most songs are love songs

i think that tranquility speaks for

itself

and of course music can be a source of

enormous joy

and it can instill a sense of strength

and power

and finally it can be a source of

tension making you nervous or edgy or

suspense in a state of suspense

and it can also induce sadness

now we call this the gems model of

musical emotion because it was created

in geneva geneva music emotion scales

but gems of course also does suggest

that there is something particularly

valuable to these emotions which i think

is indeed the case

now this system is extremely useful

because at once it’s possible to

organize entire musical libraries

according to the emotions that the

tracks evoke

and not just any subjectively chosen

emotion tags but

emotional labels that research has shown

reflect what listeners actually feel in

response to music

in what follows

i’m going to use these emotions to

present you a gateway into classical

music by introducing composers nine

great composers

uh through the lens of these emotions

now of course the output of any composer

is so vast that it cannot be fully

captured by a set of specific emotions

and yet

i think each great composer has

something very unique about his music

about the sound and that also includes

the types of emotions that their music

induces

now obviously it will certain music will

tend to have a certain emotional effect

on most listeners

much of the time but of course not on

all listeners and not all of the time

because there are factors such as

culture and taste and mood also play a

role

when showcasing now some of the emotions

i have selected to represent the

composers i have also to say that it is

research inspired but it was also

creatively

amplified by my own listening

experiences

some of the uh composers that i will

present and the emotions i will

present also some music samples that

illustrate it

and when that’s not the case and for

those of you that will

look and watch this presentation online

i have placed listening suggestions in

the top right corner so that can take

you further in your exploration so let’s

start chronologically with

bach

brought the art of counterpoint to its

highest level

picture a room in which four people

speak at the same time

that’s not great that’s a situation you

want to avoid but give them melodies

four different melodies to sing and it

can sound wonderful

but it’s very hard to achieve and no one

mastered that art better than bach

by bringing order into an enormous

complexity of notes bach clears your

head

and he can help you recover from turmoil

next to these tranquility inducing

emotions

his music can also be very spiritual

and evocative of transcendence type

emotions

whereas other works are just full of

joyful vigor and you can i think find

some of these emotions if you listen to

these

suggestions that you find in the top

right corner

now next mozart’s music has that never

abating

spirited flow to it

it is evocative of joy and

vivacity never sentimental

there is a natural warmth to his music

it’s basically like almost the feel of a

human heartbeat

that can be evocative of genuine

tenderness and even romantic love of

which of course mozart’s operas tell

fascinating stories

but as human as his music is

there is something non-human about it

and it’s the miraculous perfection

i recently read a book whose author was

a tormented adolescent and he says

mozart saved his life

upon hearing mozart for the first time

he had an epiphany

you don’t leave a world that contains

such marvels and beauty

let’s see

now you know probably who comes next

beethoven he is the uncontested titan of

classical music

almost even looking at the portrait you

can sense there is something forceful

and overbearing about him and his legacy

and indeed more often than not his music

tells stories of turmoil

struggle defiance and triumph over

adversity and it does so with a

completely new sonority bigger louder

richer

and that gives the emotions in the power

and tension sphere particular prominence

but in his later works there is also a

mystical

component to his music that evokes

transcendence type emotions if you want

to experience them all look no further

than his ninth symphony but you can also

encounter and explore them in the other

suggestions i have placed in the corner

there

now when schubert

died

one year after beethoven he was just 31

years old he was constantly out of money

and he moved in and out with friends

and he could not

afford to buy a piano

much of his music is songs and um it

tends to evoke visions of happiness of

bliss that can paradoxically feel so sad

because you realize they’re just that

visions dreams that will never

materialize

hence the core emotional theme of his

music

is longing

his music is permeated by

bittersweet beautiful harmonies but also

sudden e-returns that can make you

shiver

take a listen

chopin was a slim physically frail man

of aristocratic manners

he did not compose any symphonies or

operas but he radically changed the way

the piano sounds

in fact

relative to previous composers i mean as

much as their music their piano music

was captivating and original it almost

sounds clumsy in comparison

although his music can sound majestic

it’s the mix of nostalgia and tenderness

that gives this music its very

particular feel and if you want to

experience that tune into the nocturnes

or any of the other suggestions that you

can see there

now the next composer that put me a

little bit into a difficult situation

because it could have been any of the

following

brahms

list mendelssohn schumann verdi wagner

but you know i found it’s time to veer

out of western europe and so

get to know tchaikovsky his music

embraces a very

rich range of emotions in fact

his ballet suites put you right in the

middle of fairy tales

inducing wonder type emotions

but his symphonic music can really fire

you up with energy or expose you to um

the most nostalgic kind of melancholy

now our next composer that’s maybe a bit

of a controversial choice i do actually

see that

but call it my wild pick

brookner

essentially crashed into musical life

like a meteor his music is highly

original

he has no precursors and practically no

successor maybe with the exception of

gustav mahler

his symphonies have tremendous spans

organ-like sonorities they’re evocative

of vast mountain landscapes or

awe-inspiring cathedrals

for his fans at least

the music carries a message that is

connected to the infinite

therefore transcendence captures the

emotional effect of this music perhaps

better than any other emotion but you

will also experience a lot of power

related emotions and tranquility related

emotions

let’s tune into the beginning of his

seventh symphony

claude debussy had nothing but scorn and

derision for the conventional rules of

composition as a student at the piano he

would shock his teachers with strange

chords that were not supposed to exist

let alone follow one another whereas

previous composers used sound to bring

musical ideas to life for wc

sound is the real deal itself and so

the magical uh sort of dazzling um

sounds that he actually extracts

especially from the piano but also the

orchestra

proved peerless

to evoke the essence of a given

atmosphere or a particular setting also

lending his music an incredibly sensuous

feel

next we hear klash atraverle fei

which is bells through leaves

and is apparently inspired by a

traditional french villagers to sound

church bells all the way from all saints

to all souls day

now dbc’s radical new music was taken

further mainly by three composers namely

arnold schoenberg igor stravinsky and

bella bartok

of the three i have picked

as my final composer bella bartok

because of his

extremely expressive uncompromising edgy

angular music decidedly non-romantic

often inspired by somewhat

somber hungarian peasant songs

his music also stands out

because it brings maybe music’s most

important feature rhythm so much into

focus in fact his rhythms are very

complex lending his music enormous

tension listen to this

with this big ban

our journey ends today

we all knew before that there are

various ways

to get to know classical music

when you go out today you know there is

a difference fun way to do it and it’s

very simple

through the emotions you’d like to

experience

[Applause]

you