Classical Music Periods

Like other human pursuits the creation of music has evolved over time. Music History Scholars look back over
time, and attempt to break that evolution up into stages, in the same way Paleontologists and Historians classify
other types of change. Such a classification system is always going to be a simplification. In reality music has
evolved in a more gradual manner with a number of smaller revolutionary steps along the way. Still a broad
classification is helpful to make sense of the complexity and give labels to different styles and techniques of
music. Although there are some differences of opinion about the dates for different transitions (there is always a
degree of overlap), most musicologists are agreed on the overall shape of musical development. Below is a quick
summary of the key periods of musical development, but we also recommend that you take a look at the Classical
Composers Poster from Carissimi which lists more than 900 composers mapping them out across a timeline.
The breakdown into music periods concentrates on Western Classical Music not because there wasn't music
elsewhere in the world, but simply because that is the type of musical tradition which we focus on at mfiles. In
our summary of that classification, we have used the following names and dates for the different musical eras:

Early Music (before 9th Century)

Medieval or Gothic (9th to 14th centuries)
Renaissance (15th and 16th centuries)
Baroque (1600 - 1750)
Classical (1750 - 1820)
Romantic (1820 - 1910)
Modern (1910 - present)

Our Composer Timelines page has composer timeline digrams for the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical,
Romantic and Modern Periods, plus a full listing (with links and references) of all the 600+ composers included on
the diagrams.

Early Music (before 9th Century):

Although music has undoubtedly been a feature of human society for many thousands of years, not very much is
known about its early history. It is not until the time of some the ancient civilisations that writings and sometimes
pictures and artifacts have recorded the use of musical instruments. It is assumed that some music may have
been improvisatory and that any technical aspects of music will have been passed via oral traditions, experienced
musicians passing their skills by example to students. In this respect the learning of musical techniques is no
different from other skills.
In the later centuries of this period, formal musical traditions were being incubated in the catholic monasteries
of the time, and the church was to play a major role in the subsequent development of music. A formal approach
to the unaccompanied singing of religious texts in Latin was developed, called Gregorian Chant named after Pope
Gregory I of the 6th Century AD. This singing or "plainsong" often centred around a single note with a few notes
either side of it. The equivalent of keys used at this time were called Modes which roughly corresponds to scales
starting on different white notes on a piano.

Medieval or Gothic (9th to 14th centuries):

Over the years many human endeavours have had the benefit of language. In particular a written language can
convey a lot of information about past events, places, people and things. But it is difficult to describe music in
words, and even more difficult to specify a tune. It was the development of a standard musical notation in the
11th century that allowed music to be documented in a physical form. Now music could be communicated
efficiently, and succeeding generations would know something about the music of their ancestors.

It was the demands of the church that required a musical notation, and so the earliest written
music was largely Church Music. The plainchant of this time was still unaccompanied, but new developments
were starting to appear. The singing might alternate between two parts for solo singers or choirs, or two parts
might be sung together in a style called Organum. In early Organum a second part simply followed the main part
at a fixed interval so that the two parts moved in parallel. Later the supporting parts became more independent
of the main one and this freedom led to early forms of harmony. Outside of the church's influence, Minstrels and
Troubadours were entertaining in the castles of Europe, with music and song a key part of their unwritten
repertoire.
Composers from this period were usually monks, and mostly their names were not written down. Among the few
names we do know about today are Hildegard von Bingen (a nun and Abbess) and Guillaume de Machaut. Two
examples of Gregorian Chant originating from this period are the Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) and the Pange
Lingua(Tell Tongue).

Renaissance (15th and 16th centuries):

The Rennaissance period is well-known as a time of rapid development in all forms of

learning and the arts. There was a new self-sustaining freedom of expression which spread throughout much of
Europe, and incubated many new ideas and schools of thought. The church was still very powerful and its
influence was everywhere, yet the reformation brought a degree of freedom to religious thinking and some hymns
which we recognise today were written in this period. A shift in power also meant that the secular needs of the
Royal Courts were as important as those of the church in sponsoring new musical material. So as well as music for
the Mass, there were Motets and Madrigals setting texts and verse to music, as well as a number of dance forms.
Music styles became more complex with multiple parts for different instruments and further developments in
harmony. Instruments such as the recorder and lute were common as well as early versions of today's instruments.
The creativity of this period was given further impetus by the invention of the printing press which brought
standardisation to the previously hand-written forms of musical notation, and allowed many more copies to be
made.
Key composers of this period include Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, John Taverner, Josquin des Prez and Giovanni
Palestrina.

Baroque (1600 - 1750):

In the arts the word Baroque often implies elaborated decorated. This is certainly true of
some of the music of the period, but there were also many fundamental changes in its structure. The church's
influence continued to decrease, and some composers of the day had a degree of freedom beyond their normal
duties of composing for religious and secular occasions. In terms of style, further advances were made in turning
the earlier "organum" into the modern harmony of today. Harmony was often indicated by the use of a figured

bass to accompany a melody. A figured bass is a baseline with harmonies stated but not fully written out, giving
scope for a degree of improvisation.
Instrumental suites consisting of a number of movements based on dances, and concertos created the basis for
the classical forms to come. Some preludes and all fugues used multiple independent parts in a technique known
as polyphony or counterpoint, and the rise of opera married song and story-telling into a new art form. Replacing
the modal system, a new form of keyboard tuning was introduced based on splitting octaves into 12 equal
intervals. Called Equal Temperament or Well-Tempered, this enabled different keys to be used without
distortion, and it was easier to modulate between keys.
All of these separate developments made this a time of rapid change which laid the foundation for the Classical
period to come. Key composers of the Baroque era include Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric
Handel, Johann Pachelbel, Georg Phillip Telemann, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Henry Purcell, Arcangelo
Corelli, Antonio Vivaldi, Domenico Scarlatti, Allesandro Scarlatti, Tomaso Albinoni, Claudio Monteverdi, MarcAntoine Charpentier and Francois Couperin.

Classical (1750 - 1820):

Towards the end of the Baroque period, some composers were already setting off in new directions. The sons of
Bach (CPE and JC) for example were already seeking new avenues away from the styles of their father, and a
freer movement of artists and musicians between European countries helped to give them inspiration. During
thisclassical period, the forms instigated by the church were still there, but for the most part the major
composers of the day worked for the royalty or nobility of the time. Nevertheless public concerts were becoming
more popular during this time, and concert halls and opera houses were attended in all major cities.

It is in this period that many familiar "forms" were conceived, and the music of this time was
often thought of as being abstract and pure rather than depicting anything in particular. Indeed instrumental
music was more common than vocal forms. The concept of a Theme and Variations reached its zenith in this
period, Sonata Form was the foundation of Symphonies,Concertos and String Quartets as well as Sonatas, and
works were not given titles but merely called things like "Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major". The strict definition
of form (and the concept of music being abstract and detached) was seen as a major constraint by some later
composers, but allowed the great composers of the day the creative tools to build many acknowledged
masterpieces.
The great composers of this period were Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, Johann Christian Bach, Johann
Stamitz,Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Luigi Boccherini and Christoph von Gluck with others
such as Franz Schubert and especially Ludwig van Beethoven being seen as transitional and indeed instrumental in
bringing about the Romantic period.

Romantic (1820 - 1910):

The Romantic era was another period of rapid evolution in music. From the foundations laid
down by the Classical masters, composers were now composing from the heart. The fact that composers were no
longer employees but independent meant that they could follow their own direction, composing music that
pleased themselves. Of course composers still had to live so they accepted commissions, made deals with
publishing houses, composed music with commercial value, and promoted their own music through concerts
across Europe and other parts of the world. Many composers of the time were also very skilled performers or
conductors and would therefore go on tour with their new works. Thus composers were among the celebrities of

the time, and there a degree of showmanship involved with ever longer and more elaborate works played by huge
orchestras and choirs.
Played using "modern instruments" the music of this period is very familiar to us today, especially those "popular
favourites" which are still played frequently today. The language of this music is also familiar from its influence
on music for film and television. That it was able to make this transition was the result of its dramatic power and
ability to convey both the extremes and subtleties of emotion. This kind of power needed new techniques and
audiences heard ever more complex harmonies and rhythms, and the leitmotif was invented. Many composers
sought new directions, and different "schools of thought" branched out in different directions. Examples of this
being the impressionists who used notes to paint musical pictures or impressions, and the nationals who
embraced the folk tunes and styles of their own countries. Classical forms were also stretched so that for some
composers the symphony became a symphonic or tone poem, which might tell a story for example. Not all the
music of this time was orchestral. Chamber music for smaller forces was also very common, and musical
miniatures for solo instruments or singers could be heard in smaller venues or played by ordinary people.
As well as Beethoven and Schubert, composers of the Romantic period include Frederic Chopin, Felix
Mendelssohn,Hector Berlioz, Johannes Brahms, Edvard Grieg, Antonin Dvorak, Robert Schumann, Georges Bizet,
Giuseppe Verdi,Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Anton Bruckner, Camille Saint-Saens, Gustav
Mahler, Erik Satie,Claude Debussy, Modest Mussorgsky.

Modern (1910 - present):

If the Romantic period saw the start of some fragmentation into different schools, this
trend continued and accelerated into the modern era. There were those who continued to develop older
traditions: the neo-classicists, the late romantics and the impressionist schools still prevailed, and those who took
a new path with atonal music, serialism and later with experimental and minimalist music. Some composers
created thematic material which could hardly be called "melodies", introducing dissonant intervals and different
scales, and unusual rhythms and cross-rhythms were explored. There were composers, considered extreme by
some audiences, who used traditional instruments in unconventional ways, overturned principles previously
considered fundamental, and questioned the roles of composer, musician and listener. Experimental composers
used randomisation techniques, or gave unusual instructions which might not include any conventional musical
notation at all.

While classical music became more elite, popular music (which had been around for centuries)
found a new mass audience, with the advent of recordings, radio and television. These new media had an
insatiable demand for music, and film music in particular required much original music and recruited composers
educated in the classical traditions. Popular music in turn had a strong influence on serious music, and jazz and
other ideas became incorporated into the concert repertoire. The same electricity which powered the new
media, also fuelled new gadgets for amplification and powered new instruments such as the electric guitar and
synthesisers. More recently it has become possible to create and manipulate sound solely withincomputers, in a
similar way to their use for creating graphics and animations for those same media. With all these developments
music is much more accessible around the world, and as styles and techniques are invented, re-invented and
combined this in turn stimulates further invention and discovery.
Composers of the modern period include Richard Strauss, Edward Elgar, William Walton, Ralph Vaughan
Williams,Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Sergei Rachmaninov, Zoltan Kodaly, Igor Stravinsky, Bela Bartok, George
Gershwin, Maurice Ravel, Francis Poulenc, Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Anton Webern, Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri
Shostakovich, John Cage, Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Benjamin Britten,
Olivier Messiaen, Henryk Gorecki, Gyorgy Ligeti, John Corigliano, Aaron Copland, John Williams, Georges Auric,
Darius Milhaud, Malcolm Arnold.

History[edit]
Periods of
Western classical music
AD / CE

Early
Medieval

c. 5001400

Renaissance

c. 14001600

Common practice
Baroque

c. 16001760

Classical

c. 17301820

Romantic

c. 17801910

Modern and contemporary

Modern

c. 18901930

20th century
Contemporary
21st century

19012000
c. 1975present

2001present

Main article: History of music

The major time divisions of classical music are the early music period, which includes Medieval (5001400)
and Renaissance (14001600), the Common practice period, which includes the Baroque (1600
1750), Classical (17501830) and Romantic (18041949) periods, and the modern and contemporary period, which
includes 20th century (19002000) and contemporary (1975current).

The dates are generalizations, since the periods overlapped and the categories are somewhat arbitrary. For
example, the use ofcounterpoint and fugue, which is considered characteristic of the Baroque era, was continued
by Haydn, who is classified as typical of the Classical period. Beethoven, who is often described as a founder of the
Romantic period, and Brahms, who is classified as Romantic, also used counterpoint and fugue, but other
characteristics of their music define their period.
The prefix neo is used to describe a 20th-century or contemporary composition written in the style of an earlier
period, such as Classical or Romantic. Stravinsky's Pulcinella, for example, is a neoclassical composition because it
is stylistically similar to works of the Classical period.

Roots[edit]
Main article: Ancient music
Burgh (2006), suggests that the roots of Western classical music ultimately lie in ancient Egyptian art music
via cheironomy and the ancient Egyptian orchestra, which dates to 2,695BCE. [12] This was followed by early
Christian liturgical music, which itself dates back to the Ancient Greeks[citation needed]. Development of individual tones and
scales was done by ancient Greeks such as Aristoxenus and Pythagoras.[13]Pythagoras created a tuning system and
helped to codify musical notation. Ancient Greek instruments such as the aulos (a reed instrument) and the lyre (a
stringed instrument similar to a small harp) eventually led to the modern-day instruments of a classical orchestra.
[14]

The antecedent to the early period was the era of ancient music from before the fall of the Roman Empire (476

AD). Very little music survives from this time, most of it from Ancient Greece.

Early period[edit]

A musician plays thevielle in a fourteenth-century Medievalmanuscript.

The chanson Belle, bonne, sage byBaude Cordier, an ars subtilior piece included in the Chantilly Codex.

Johannes Ockeghem, Kyrie "Au travail suis," excerpt

Main articles: Medieval music and Renaissance music

See also: List of Medieval composers and List of Renaissance composers
The Medieval period includes music from after the fall of Rome to about 1400. Monophonic chant, also called
plainsong or Gregorian chant, was the dominant form until about 1100.[15] Polyphonic (multi-voiced) music developed
from monophonic chant throughout the late Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, including the more complex
voicings of motets. The Renaissance period was from 1400 to 1600. It was characterized by greater use
of instrumentation, multiple interweaving melodic lines, and the use of the firstbass instruments. Social dancing
became more widespread, so musical forms appropriate to accompanying dance began to standardize.
It is in this time that the notation of music on a staff and other elements of musical notation began to take shape.
[16]

This invention made possible the separation of the composition of a piece of music from itstransmission; without

written music, transmission was oral, and subject to change every time it was transmitted. With a musical score, a
work of music could be performed without the composer's presence.[15]The invention of the movable-type printing
press in the 15th century had far-reaching consequences on the preservation and transmission of music. [17]
Typical stringed instruments of the Early Period include the harp, lute, vielle, and psaltery, while wind instruments
included the flute family (including recorder), shawm (an early member of the oboe family), trumpet, and
the bagpipes. Simple pipe organs existed, but were largely confined to churches, although there were portable
varieties.[18] Later in the period, early versions of keyboard instruments like the clavichord and harpsichord began to
appear. Stringed instruments such as the viol had emerged by the 16th century, as had a wider variety of brass and
reed instruments. Printing enabled the standardization of descriptions and specifications of instruments, as well as
instruction in their use.[19]

Common practice period[edit]

The common practice period is when many of the ideas that make up western classical music took shape,
standardized, or were codified. It began with the Baroque era, running from roughly 1600 to the middle of the 18th
century. The Classical era followed, ending roughly around 1820. The Romantic era ran through the 19th century,
ending about 1910.
Baroque music[edit]

Baroque instruments includinghurdy gurdy, harpsichord, bass viol,lute, violin, and baroque guitar

Main article: Baroque music

See also: List of Baroque composers
Baroque music is characterized by the use of complex tonal counterpoint and the use of a basso continuo, a
continuous bass line. Music became more complex in comparison with the songs of earlier periods. [11] The
beginnings of the sonata form took shape in the canzona, as did a more formalized notion of theme and variations.
The tonalities of major and minor as means for managing dissonance andchromaticism in music took full shape.[20]
During the Baroque era, keyboard music played on the harpsichord and pipe organ became increasingly popular,
and the violin family of stringed instruments took the form generally seen today. Opera as a staged musical drama
began to differentiate itself from earlier musical and dramatic forms, and vocal forms like
the cantata and oratorio became more common.[21] Vocalists began adding embellishments to melodies.
[11]

Instrumental ensembles began to distinguish and standardize by size, giving rise to the early orchestra for larger

ensembles, with chamber music being written for smaller groups of instruments where parts are played by individual
(instead of massed) instruments. The concerto as a vehicle for solo performance accompanied by an orchestra
became widespread, although the relationship between soloist and orchestra was relatively simple. The theories
surrounding equal temperament began to be put in wider practice, especially as it enabled a wider range of
chromatic possibilities in hard-to-tune keyboard instruments. Although Bach did not use equal temperament, as a
modern piano is generally tuned, changes in the temperaments from the meantone system, common at the time, to
various temperaments that made modulation between all keys musically acceptable, made possible Bach's WellTempered Clavier.[22]
Classical period music[edit]

Joseph Haydn (17321809) c. 1770

Main article: Classical period (music)

See also: List of Classical era composers
The Classical period, from about 1750 to 1820, established many of the norms of composition, presentation, and
style, and was also when the piano became the predominant keyboard instrument. The basic forces required for an
orchestra became somewhat standardized (although they would grow as the potential of a wider array of
instruments was developed in the following centuries). Chamber music grew to include ensembles with as many as
8 to 10 performers for serenades. Opera continued to develop, with regional styles in Italy, France, and Germanspeaking lands. The opera buffa, a form of comic opera, rose in popularity. The symphony came into its own as a
musical form, and the concerto was developed as a vehicle for displays of virtuoso playing skill. Orchestras no
longer required a harpsichord (which had been part of the traditional continuo in the Baroque style), and were often
led by the lead violinist (now called the concertmaster).[23]
Wind instruments became more refined in the Classical period. While double reeded instruments like
the oboe and bassoon became somewhat standardized in the Baroque, the clarinet family of single reeds was not
widely used until Mozart expanded its role in orchestral, chamber, and concerto settings.
Romantic era music[edit]
Main article: Romantic music
See also: List of Romantic-era composers
The music of the Romantic era, from roughly the first decade of the 19th century to the early 20th century, was
characterized by increased attention to an extended melodic line, as well as expressive and emotional elements,
paralleling romanticism in other art forms. Musical forms began to break from the Classical era forms (even as those
were being codified), with free-form pieces like nocturnes, fantasias, and preludes being written where accepted
ideas about the exposition and development of themes were ignored or minimized. [24] The music became more
chromatic, dissonant, and tonally colorful, with tensions (with respect to accepted norms of the older forms) about
key signatures increasing.[25] The art song (or Lied) came to maturity in this era, as did the epic scales of grand
opera, ultimately transcended by Richard Wagner's Ring cycle.[26]
In the 19th century, musical institutions emerged from the control of wealthy patrons, as composers and musicians
could construct lives independent of the nobility. Increasing interest in music by the growing middle classes
throughout western Europe spurred the creation of organizations for the teaching, performance, and preservation of

music. The piano, which achieved its modern construction in this era (in part due to industrial advances
in metallurgy) became widely popular with the middle class, whose demands for the instrument spurred a large
number of piano builders. Many symphony orchestras date their founding to this era. [25] Some musicians and
composers were the stars of the day; some, like Franz Liszt and Niccol Paganini, fulfilled both roles.[27]
The family of instruments used, especially in orchestras, grew. A wider array of percussion instruments began to
appear. Brass instruments took on larger roles, as the introduction of rotary valves made it possible for them to play
a wider range of notes. The size of the orchestra (typically around 40 in the Classical era) grew to be over 100.
[25]

Gustav Mahler's 1906 Symphony No. 8, for example, has been performed with over 150 instrumentalists and

choirs of over 400.

European cultural ideas and institutions began to follow colonial expansion into other parts of the world. There was
also a rise, especially toward the end of the era, of nationalism in music (echoing, in some cases, political
sentiments of the time), as composers such as Edvard Grieg, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Antonn Dvok echoed
traditional music of their homelands in their compositions.[28]

20th-century, modern, and contemporary music[edit]

Igor Stravinsky and Pablo Picasso collaborated onPulcinella in 1920.

Main articles: 20th-century classical music, Contemporary classical music and 21st-century classical music
See also: List of 20th-century classical composers by birth date and List of 21st-century classical composers
Modernism (19051985) marked a period when many composers rejected certain values of the common practice
period, such as traditional tonality, melody, instrumentation, and structure. Composers, academics, and musicians
developed extensions of music theory and technique.[citation needed] 20th century classical music, encompassing a wide
variety of post-Romantic styles composed through the year 1999, includes late Romantic, Modern and Postmodern
styles of composition. The term "contemporary music" is sometimes used to describe music composed in the late
20th century through to the present day.