do you know of any classical songs that have multiple melodies at the same time???

Question

if it where on piano that would be the best, but it does not have to be. i am trying to compose with multiple melodies and am looking for some ideas, and remembered that my piano teacher talked about some of the old dead dudes( mozart, chopin, bach, etc...)having some pretty cool songs with multiple melodies, and am looking for stuff like that. and also is there a term for such a song?

hey sorry, i didn't mean the old dead dudes in a disrespectful way, there just really is not a title for all the greats of classical music. don't tell me i don't know classical music. i prob know a lot more then most of you. i have played. chopin prelude no. 4,15,20,22. clair de lune by debussy, moonlight sonata by beethoven. and much, much more. so don't give me crap about stuff i love.

Answer 1

The "old dead dudes" you mentioned were masters of composition. One of the aspects of composition they learned was counterpoint -- literally note against note. Not only would they write with multiple melodies, they would set the same melody against itself in a polyphonic technique known as imitation. Check out the Bach 2-part Inventions for examples of this. Fugues are a little more complex, employing a subject (a melody) and setting it against a countersubject (a secondary melody). I have tried many times to write a decent one, and haven't succeeded -- it is very hard to do.

One of the great examples of multiple melodies in a composition is the last movement to Mozart's 41st Symphony, known as the "Jupiter" Symphony. At the end of the work he take the 5 themes that he has presented earlier and plays them *all at once* -- an astounding feat. Check it out.

I think it is terrific that you are trying your hand at composing.

Good luck

Answer 2

Yeah, it's called polyphony, or counterpoint.

Bach was a master of it, maybe the greatest. But there are very complex rules that he followed that you need to learn if you're going to compose that sort of music. If your piano teacher doesn't know these rules, you may need a teacher specifically for composition.

Here are some things that you might want to keep in mind.

Contrary motion - It generally sounds better if the melodies move against each other, ie, as the top melody goes up, the bottom moves down.

Interval - In baroque music it was thought that keeping the melodies within seven notes of each other sounded the best.

Harmony - Don't rely too much on notes that fall within a single cord, or your music won't sound like it flows. Only use simple harmony to end a phrase, or to otherwise give special significance to a single point of the music.
Any two notes sound good together under the right circumstances.

Structure - Polyphonic music must be well organized or it won't make sense to your ear. Look up fugues and cannons, and the sonatas of Mozart and Haydn for good examples of how to structure a composition so that your counterpoint isn't confusing.

There are many more rules than these.
You don't have to follow them, but they're a good thing to know. Bach himself broke them constantly in inventive ways, which is one of the reasons he is so highly regarded.

Answer 3

Bach of course is the best known composer for "multiple melodies"

But for a contrast listen to a much older composer, Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), for the same technique.

A very good example of multiple melodies played at the same time is the last movement of Mozart's 41st symphony KV 551 , the "Jupiter" symphony.

Mozart introduces us to five (5) different themes and then plays them all at the same time. Technically it is a Fugue in the style of Bach but each entry is with a different melody.

By the way, Woody Allen said of the Jupiter Symphony "it proves the existence of God."

Answer 4

Well you wont get very far referring to Bach, Mozart, and Chopin as "some old dead dudes", no matter how hard you try. Im guessing that u havent ever heard a classical or Romantic piece before. Try listening to Bach's Fugues, mabey you'll become converted to a new Religion.

Answer 5

Try the Bach Brandenburg concerti. Also try the Kyrie from the Mozart Requiem.

Bach especially wrote a lot of fugues. And as much as I hate to be negative, I also take issue with referring to the old masters as "old dead dudes." I have heard very little popular music which equals Mozart or Bach in quality.

Answer 6

It is possible, that your teacher thought of a certain genre, which actually uses more than one previously existing melodies, sung or played simultaneously. It is called "quodlibet", and you can find a nice example in J. S. Bach's Goldberg Variations. The practice of singing quodlibets is much earlier than this baroque piece, and I suppose it came from old German traditions, but I'm not sure. The Bach family liked to sing them, just for fun (the melodies used for quodlibets were usually funny ones in themselves, as well), and as I understood it, this practice was half improvisatory (at least in combining the different melodies). I advise you to listen to that movement, and see the sheet music of that, as well.
Good luck!

Answer 7

I know Bach tends to mix in multiple melodies. I play classical guitar and pieces like Bourree in E minor have at least 2 melodies at the same time. Good luck!

Answer 8

Try Bach's double Violin Concerto in D minor.

Answer 9

Oh "Songs"

The self styled virtuoso has overseen the fact that a Song ( lied ) is a SONG. Not a Symphony, not a Sonata, not a Concerto.

So NO there is no Term for such a Song!

Answer 10

Yes! My favorite, at this tyme, is "Jesu [Jesus] Joy of Man's Desiring". I'm very sure
you've heard it...I reciently downloaded a copy of it from some-darned- where...[can't remember now], but the left hand and the right are different [dis-simular] melodies...
It's, of course, by J.S. Bach.