When the baroque period came around, and all the “rules” of western harmony were etched into stone for the subsequent generations of musicians, art became surrounded by the need for strength and opulence. There was no room for the observation of nature when the newly threatened catholic church needed to show its grandiose by flaunting God’s power through the construction of monumental works like the St. Mark’s Basilica and Bernini’s design of the Piazza San Pietro. Then came the return to humanism during the classical era, when most art was focused on the ideals of the enlightenment. As all minds were set on defining the perfect position of man in the order of the universe, there was still no time for focus on God’s inferior creations.

Finally, with the rise and slow descent into senility and deafness that afflicted Beethoven, the most well respected and serious instrumental music composer in the world began to take nature seriously. Perhaps, and I speculate, Beethoven took his daily walks through the gardens and outskirts of Vienna to absorb as much of the world as he would lose as he became deaf. Or maybe, he was trying to reconnect with the joys of childhood and the outdoors. Well, whatever the reason, Beethoven began producing music to reflect his view of nature. It led him to write the 6th symphony, the Pastoral symphony, one of Beethoven’s pieces of programmatic music, about the country life. This symphony, the first symphony with titled movements, was premiered at the same concert as the more famous 5th, but was better received by the audience.         

Beethoven’s dive into the sounds of nature gave future composers the courage, and more importantly, the precedent, to pay more attention to our tree and animal cohorts. Notably, Oliver Messiaen, the French modern composer and distinguished educator, created a piece based completely around bird song (check out Messiaen on birds here). Messiaen loved birds. He would even go out into the garden and transcribe the songs of individual birds. 

Recently, I read an article in the New York Times Magazine about David Teie, a Cellist with the National Symphony, who wanted to write a series of pieces based on the calls of monkeys. He recorded the calls of Cotton-Top tamarins, took them to his cello, and wrote pieces depicting their “calm” vocalization, and their “agitated” vocalization. Teamed with scientists who study the Tamarins, they found that the pieces had a serious effect on the tamarin behavior. As a control, they played the tamarins some human music, which they did not respond to (except for Metallica which had a calming effect). Then they played the music written specifically for the tamarins. These pieces came together as Teie hoped, the “calming” pieces relaxed the tamarins and the “agitating” pieces provoked nervousness (you can hear the pieces here.    

Then, of course, there are the animals themselves. Perhaps the most famous composers in the Animal Kingdom are the Humpback Whales. They produce some of the most complex music in the Animal Kingdom. Their songs are remarkably complex, using repeating harmonics, rhythms, and movements- probably the closest to human music there is (check out this awesome repository of whale song). Yet, each animal has their own unique sounds. Has anyone ever auto-tuned a duck?