All Topics  
Ballade (musical form)

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Ballade (musical form)
 
 
  Topics Ballade (musical form) Topic Home

A ballade (French for "ballad") refers to a one-movement musical piece with lyrical and dramatic narrative qualities.

term ballade was used to describe one type of musical setting of French poetry common in the 14th and 15th centuries. One of the formes fixes
Formes fixes

Formes fixes are French language poetry forms of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries which were translated into musical forms, particularly the forms of songs....
, the ballade typically featured a prominent upper voice, which was texted, and two lower voices which may have been vocalise
Vocalise

A vocalise is a vocal exercise without words, which is sung on one or more vowel sounds. The singing of vocalise is called vocalization.Vocalise dates back to the mid-18th century....
d or performed with instruments.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Ballade (musical form)'
Start a new discussion about 'Ballade (musical form)'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


A ballade (French for "ballad") refers to a one-movement musical piece with lyrical and dramatic narrative qualities.

Medieval ballades

The term ballade was used to describe one type of musical setting of French poetry common in the 14th and 15th centuries. One of the formes fixes
Formes fixes

Formes fixes are French language poetry forms of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries which were translated into musical forms, particularly the forms of songs....
, the ballade typically featured a prominent upper voice, which was texted, and two lower voices which may have been vocalise
Vocalise

A vocalise is a vocal exercise without words, which is sung on one or more vowel sounds. The singing of vocalise is called vocalization.Vocalise dates back to the mid-18th century....
d or performed with instruments. Guillaume de Machaut
Guillaume de Machaut

Guillaume de Machaut, sometimes spelled Machault, , was an important Middle Ages France poet and composer. He is one of the earliest composers for whom significant biographical information is available....
 is the most famous composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 of polyphonic
Polyphony

In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voice , as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chord s ....
 ballades; the style continued to be popular among composers of the Ars subtilior
Ars subtilior

Ars subtilior is a musical style characterized by rhythm and musical notation complexity, centered around Paris, Avignon in southern France, also in northern Spain at the end of the fourteenth century and England in the early fifteenth century....
, though it fell out of fashion by the middle of the 15th century.

The poetic form is typically A–a–B, in which the B is a shorter, concluding line, or refrain
Refrain

A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in Poetry; the "chorus" of a song. Poetry fixed forms that feature refrains include the villanelle, the virelay, and the sestina....
 (sometimes called an envoi
Envoi

In poetry, an envoi is a short stanza at the end of a poem used either to address an imagined or actual person or to comment on the preceding body of the poem....
). The two "a" sections use the same melody but with different texts.

Romantic ballades

Late 18th century Germans used the term ballade to describe folklike narrative poetry (following Johann Gottfried Herder
Johann Gottfried Herder

Johann Gottfried von Herder was a Germany philosophy, Theology, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the periods of Age of Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, and Weimar Classicism....
), some of which was set to music by composers such as Johann Friedrich Reichardt
Johann Friedrich Reichardt

Johann Friedrich Reichardt was a Germany composer, writer and music critic....
, Carl Friedrich Zelter
Carl Friedrich Zelter

Carl Friedrich Zelter was a Germany composer, conductor and teacher of music....
, and Johan Rudolf Zumsteeg
Johan Rudolf Zumsteeg

Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg was a Germany composer and conducting.Zumsteeg championed the operas of Mozart in Stuttgart, staging the first performances there of Die Zauberfl?te, Don Giovanni, and Cosi fan tutte....
. In the nineteenth century, Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann, sometimes given as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is one of the most famous Romantic music composers of the 19th century....
 and Carl Loewe also composed ballades.

Instrumental ballades

In the 19th century, the title was given by Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin

Fr?d?ric Chopin was a composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic music period. He is widely regarded as the greatest Polish composer, and one of music's greatest tone poets....
 to four important, large-scale piano
Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
 pieces (opus number
Opus number

Opus, from the Latin word opus meaning "work", is usually used in the sense of "a work of art".The Latin plural of opus, "opera", is used to refer to the genre of music drama ....
s 23, 38
Ballade No. 2 (Chopin)

The Ballade No. 2 in F major, Op. 38 is the second of the four Ballade for piano Solo by Fr?d?ric Chopin.It was composed from 1836 to 1839 in Nohant and on the Spain island of Majorca....
, 47 and 52
Ballade No. 4 (Chopin)

The Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52 is the fourth of Polish composer Fr?d?ric Chopin's Ballade for solo piano. It was composed in 1842 in Paris, France and Nohant, France and revised in 1843....
), the first significant application of the term to instrumental music. A number of other composers subsequently used the title for piano pieces, including Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms , composer and pianist, was one of the leading musicians of the Romantic music. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene....
 (the third of his Klavierstücke opus 118
Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118 (Brahms)

The Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118, are some of the most beloved items that the composer Johannes Brahms wrote for the solo piano. Completed in 1893 and dedicated to Clara Schumann, the collection was the second to last composition to be published during Brahms' lifetime....
, and the set of four Ballades opus 10
Ballades, Op. 10 (Brahms)

The Ballades, Op. 10, constituted some of the finest examples of lyrical piano music written by Johannes Brahms during his youth. They were dated 1854 and dedicated to his friend Julius Otto Grimm....
), Edvard Grieg
Edvard Grieg

Edvard Grieg was a Norway composer and pianist who composed in the Romantic period. He is best known for his Piano Concerto , for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's Play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces....
 (Ballade in the Form of Variations
Ballade in the Form of Variations

Ballade in the Form of Variations on a Norwegian Folk Song in G minor, Op. 24, is a large scale work by Edvard Grieg. It is in the form of theme and variations, the theme being the Norway folk song Mountain Song....
, opus 24, a set of variations
Variation (music)

In music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition: reiteration with changes. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre or orchestration....
), Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy

Achille-Claude Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he is considered one of the most prominent figures working within the field of Impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions....
, Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt was a Kingdom of Hungary composer, virtuoso pianist and teacher.Liszt became renowned throughout Europe for his great skill as a performer during the 19th century....
 (who wrote two) and Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Fauré

Gabriel Urbain Faur? was a French composer, organist, pianist, and teacher. He was the foremost French composer of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers....
 (opus 19, later arranged for piano and orchestra). Ballades for instruments other than the piano have also been written. In the 20th century, Frank Martin
Frank Martin (composer)

Frank Martin was a Switzerland composer, who lived a large part of his life in the Netherlands....
 wrote six ballades for instruments such as the cello, viola and flute.

See also

  • Piano ballad
    Piano ballad

    Piano ballad is a term often used to refer to a piece for solo piano in the 19th century, during the Romantic music era. It was a term used to refer to a piece written in a "narrative" style, and was often lyrical in nature....
  • at
  • List of ballades by Guillaume de Machaut