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Classical music Classical music is a term with three Ancient music - the music generally distinct meanings: before the year 476, the approximate The European tradition of music which is time of the fall of the Roman Empire. associated with high culture, as Most of the extant music from this distinct from popular or folk forms period is from ancient Greece. (including works in this tradition in Medieval, generally before 1450. non-European countries). Monophonic chant, also called plainsong That tradition as well as similar or Gregorian Chant, was the dominant non-European traditions. form until about 1100. Polyphonic A particular stage in the development of (multivoiced) music developed from the European art music tradition, monophonic chant throughout the late centered in the late 18th century. Middle Ages and into the Renaissance. This article discusses classical music Renaissance, about 1450-1600, in the first sense. For the second, see characterized by greater use of List of classical music styles. For the instrumentation, multiple melodic lines third, see Classical period (music). and by the use of the first bass Classical music is a broad, somewhat instruments. imprecise term, referring to music Baroque, about 1600-1750, characterized produced in, or rooted in the traditions by the use of complex tonal, rather than of, Western art, ecclesiastical and modal, counterpoint, and growing concert music, encompassing a broad popularity of keyboard music period from roughly 1000 to the present (harpsichord and pipe organ). day. The central norms of this tradition Classical, about 1750-1820, an important developed throughout this period but era which established many of the norms reached their heights of complexity and of composition, presentation and style. development in the period between 1550 Also, the classical era is marked by the and 1900: what is known as the common disappearance of the harpsichord and the practice period. clavichord in favour of the piano, which This music evokes classical traditions, from then on would become the focuses on formal styles, invites predominant instrument for keyboard technical and detailed deconstruction performance and composition. and criticism, and demands focused Romantic, 1820-1901 a period which attention from the listener. It is codified practice, expanded the role of written down using a formal notation and music in cultural life and created a work of classical music is usually institutions for the teaching, defined by the notated version, rather performance and preservation of works of than a particular performance of it. music. Characterized by increased This music is associated with, and often attention to melody and rhythm. compared to, fine art and high culture, Modern, 1905-1985 a period which sometimes leading to accusations of represented a crisis in the values of haughtiness and exclusivity being classical music and its role within leveled at its enthusiasts. intellectual life, and the extension of Nevertheless, many "classical" pieces theory and technique. Some theorists, were the popular music of their time, such as Arnold Schoenberg in his essay and have remained popular to this day. "Brahms the Progressive," insist that The public taste for and appreciation of Modernism represents a logical formal music of this type is often progression from 19th century trends in described as having waned through the composition; others hold the opposing later part of the 20th century and into point of view, that Modernism represents the present millennium, particularly in the rejection or negation of the method the USA and UK, although it continues to of Classical composition. thrive elsewhere in the world. 20th century, usually used to describe Certainly, this period has seen the wide variety of post-Romantic styles classical music falling well behind the composed through the year 1999, which immense commercial success of popular includes late Romantic, Modern and music. Post-Modern styles of composition. The term classical music did not appear The term contemporary music is sometimes until the early 19th century, in an used to describe music composed in the attempt to "canonize" the period from late 20th century through present day. Bach to Beethoven as an era in music The prefix neo is usually used to parallel to the golden age of sculpture, describe a 20th Century or Contemporary architecture and art of classical composition written in the style of an antiquity (from which no music has earlier period, such as classical, directly survived). The earliest romantic, or modern. So for example, reference to "classical music" recorded Prokofiev's Classical Symphony is by the Oxford English Dictionary is from considered a Neo-Classical composition. about 1836. Since that time the term has The dates are generalizations, since the come in common parlance to mean the periods overlapped. Some authorities opposite of popular music. subdivide the periods further by date or Timeline style. However, it should be noted that According to one school of thought, these categories are to an extent musical works are best understood in the arbitrary; the use of counterpoint and context of their place in musical fugue, which is considered history; for adherents to this approach, characteristic of the Baroque era, was this is essential to full enjoyment of continued by Mozart, who is generally these works. There is a widely accepted classified as typical of the Classical system of dividing the history of period, by Beethoven who is often classical music composition into described as straddling the Classical stylistic periods. According to this and Romantic periods, and Brahms, who is system, the major time divisions are: often classified as Romantic. 1 A B C D 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107