Age of Enlightenment

Hello Bloggers!

            So we’ve been talking about the Age of Enlightenment in class lately and my first thought was “yes! I know about this!” I had learned about the Enlightenment in High School. I found it to be such an interesting time in history. People’s views with everything changed, they went from viewing everything with faith and optimism to viewing life with ideas in science and logic. Philosophers like John Locke, Voltaire and Thomas Hobbes began to emerge and introduce new ideas and theories. The Age of Enlightenment changed the world socially, scientifically, and musically.

I had always learned about the philosophers of the time and scientific aspect of the Age of Enlightenment but never the musical aspect. It was really interesting; I would have never realized that the music was created to fit the aspects of the Enlightenment. We looked at songs made during the Enlightenment and found how much they represented the ways of Enlightenment. The music we listened to was repetitive and organized, which we also saw in the architecture of the Palace of Versailles and other buildings made in that time. The architecture shows repetition in the Greek style pillars and columns, and the symmetry of the windows and décor on the outside and inside of the palace. While in the music the phrases were repetitive and organized. I also saw how Opera was affected by the Enlightenment. I watched an Opera called Don Giovanni in class, the music for the Opera was written by Mozart and the text used in the Opera was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. I noticed how the Enlightenment affected the Opera. The songs in Don Giovanni were balanced and symmetrical; the characters would sing back and forth to each other. The song’s texture would start out light but would become deep with the two singers singing together in the end. I always thought in Opera the characters just sang I never thought there was enlightenment ideals like symmetry put into it.

            The Age of Enlightenment was also a time for society to grow. Reading became very popular in that time making the literacy rate skyrocket. The music of the time also became popular to a broader audience because of the growing middle class. The simpler melodies made it easier and more common for people to learn how to play instruments. I found this fascinating, that this enlightenment caused a wave of change. People were influenced by the growing trends of the time, which still happens today. Also the fact that something that was rare at the time, like reading and playing an instrument became something everyone did. I believe this also became possible because of the rising middle class. Before the enlightenment there was a big gap socially between the upper and lower class people, the upper class of society had large amounts of authority with everything but with the Enlightenment there was a chance for the lower class to rise and take some of that authority. They could now do things that the upper class did as well. I love how people have this will to achieve; if a person wants something they will strive to achieve it.

I believe the Age of Enlightenment made the culture richer, and the theories being presented made people think logically causing new ideas still used today. If the Age of Enlightenment didn’t happen the world would be very different today. Music, Architecture, Society, and Art would be made and viewed differently. The Age of Enlightenment made people’s lifestyle and views alter, changing the world.

-Kelsey