Your Guide to Classical Music

A comprehensive guide to everything classical music. From the great composers to the best recordings, we have you covered.

Introduction to Classical Music

Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to the period of Western art music from the 17th century to the 19th century. It is generally considered to be divided into three major periods: the Baroque period, the Classical period, and the Romantic period.

What is Classical Music?

Classical music is art music produced or rooted in the traditions of Western culture, including both liturgical (religious) and secular music. While a more precise term is also used to refer to the period from 1750 to 1820 (the Classical period), this article is about the broad span of time from before the 6th century AD to the present day, which includes the Classical period and various other periods. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common-practice period.

A Brief History of Classical Music

Classical music is art music produced or rooted in the traditions of Western culture, including both liturgical (religious) and secular music. Historically, the term ‘classical music’ refers specifically to the period from 1750 to 1820 (the Classical period), during which Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven achieved everlasting global fame. The early 20th century (the Modernist period) witnessed further innovations in musical language that had far-reaching effects.

Classical music is generally considered to have arisen out of the Older Music period of Europe, which encompasses all music written before the year 1000 AD. Ancient Greek musical theory science influenced many of the great composers who followed, including Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Many of the surviving pieces from this era are liturgical works (sacred music composed for church services), including plainchant melodies, Gregorian chants and Mass settings.

During the Middle Ages (roughly from 1000-1400 AD), vocal music experienced something of a golden age with the development of Ars Nova (“New Art”), an innovative style that emphasized emotional expressiveness and technical virtuosity. One of its most famous practitioners was Guillaume de Machaut, whose works were hugely influential on future generations of composers.

The Renaissance period (1400-1600) saw a continued focus on vocal music, as well as a shift towards secular (non-religious) works such as madrigals, chansons and motets. This was also a time when instrumental music began to develop independently from vocal compositions, with greats such as Giovanni Gabrieli writing pieces specifically designed to showcase the power of brass and strings played in large halls and cathedral spaces.

The Baroque era (1600-1750) is arguably one of the most important periods in classical music history, giving rise to some of the genres and composer names we still know today. Opera was born during this time, as was orchestral Music, with Bach and Vivaldi emerging as two giants of their respective crafts. There was also a renewed focus on religious music, particularly in Catholic parts of Europe where composers such as Marc-Antoine Charpentier wrote some of their finest sacred works.

Finally, we come to what is perhaps the most famous period in classical musical history: The Classical era (1750-1820). It was during this time that Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven not only changed the face of Western art music but created legacies that would last long after their deaths. The three composers worked within different genres – Haydn focusing on string quartets and symphonies, Mozart on operas and piano concertos, Beethoven on piano sonatas and symphonies – but all shared a common goal: to push musical boundaries and create something truly new and original.

And that is what classical music has come to represent: A 200 year (and counting!) journey of continual innovation by some truly remarkable individuals. It is a genre that has inspired emotion and intellectual intrigue in listeners for centuries, with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

The Different Genres of Classical Music

There are many different types of classical music, each with their own unique characteristics. Opera, for example, is a type of classical music that combines singing and acting. Orchestral music is another type of classical music that is performed by a group of musicians called an orchestra. Choral music is another type of classical music that is sung by a choir.

Baroque Music

Baroque music is a style of Western art music composed from approximately 1600 to 1750. This era followed the Renaissance and was succeeded by the Classical era. The word “baroque” comes from the Portuguese word barroco meaning “misshapen pearl”, a negative description of the ornate and heavily ornamented music of this period. Later, the name came to apply also to its architecture, with its eccentricities. The Baroque period saw the creation of tonality: coherent harmonic language characterized by functional tonality and the establishment of structural nodes. During the Baroque period, monophonic music became richer due in part to Orlando Gibbons’s development of counterpoint and Frescobaldi’s establishment of figured bass accompanying relationships. Also, composers began to write for orchestras (such as Lully) and mixed vocal/instrumental ensembles (such as Emilio de’ Cavalieri).

The term “Baroque” is generally used by music historians to describe a broad range of styles from a wide geographic region, mostly in Europe, composed over a period of approximately 150 years. Although baroque music was characterized by intricate musical details and exaggerated emotional effects, it was also fundamentally based on relatively simple harmonic structures—often just two or three chords alternating in fairly regular patterns—and on melodic phrases that were often quite predictable in their outline.

Classical Music

Classical music is a vast and diverse genre that has something to offer everyone. From the grandiose symphonies of Beethoven to the delicate piano works of Chopin, there is a wealth of music to choose from.

The following is a guide to the different genres of classical music, so that you can find the perfect piece to suit your mood.

Orchestral music:
Orchestral pieces are written for a large ensemble of instruments, usually including the string, brass, and wind sections. This genre also includes concertos, where a solo instrument is featured alongside the orchestra.

Examples:
-Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor
-Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major

Chamber music:
Chamber music is written for a small group of instruments, typically between two and eight players. This genre often features more intimate pieces with a greater focus on harmony and counterpoint.

Examples:
-Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major
-Haydn’s String Quartet in D minor, Op. 76 No. 2 “Fifths”

Opera:
Opera is a genre of classical music that combines singing and acting to tell a story. It is usually performed in an opera house by professional opera singers and musicians.

Examples:
-Verdi’s La traviata
-Puccini’s Madame Butterfly

ballet: A ballet is a type of stage performance that combines dance with acting and often features lavish costumes and sets.. It usually tells a story or adapting one from another source such as literature or another art form.. Examples: The Nutcracker , Swan Lake

Romantic Music

The Romantic era in music lasted from about 1800-1910. This period saw composers move away from the structured, balanced forms of the Classical era toward more expressive, emotional styles. The Romantic composers were influenced by literature, philosophy, and art, and they sought to convey these ideas in their music. The result was a period of great creativity and experimentation in which new musical genres and forms were developed.

One of the most important genres to emerge during the Romantic era was the symphony. Symphonies are large-scale orchestral works that typically consist of four movements (or sections). The first movement is usually in sonata form, while the second is a lighter, more lyrical movement. The third movement is often a minuet or scherzo (a light-hearted dance), and the fourth is a lively finale. Many of the most famous symphonies were composed during the Romantic era, including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (“Choral”), Brahms’ Symphony No. 4, Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”), Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 (“Pathetique”).

Opera also became an important genre during the Romantic era. Composers began to experiment with new musical forms and harmonic progressions in order to create more expressive opera scores. This resulted in operas that were longer and more complex than those of the previous era. Some of the most famous operas from this period include Verdi’s La traviata, Wagner’s The Ring Cycle, Puccini’s La boheme, and Strauss’ Salome.

The piano also became an important instrument during the Romantic era as composers wrote increasingly complex works for it. Piano sonatas, concertos, preludes, etudes, mazurkas, nocturnes, waltzes, and other pieces were composed for solo piano or for piano and orchestra. Famous composers who wrote piano music during this period include Beethoven (who wrote 32 piano sonatas), Chopin (who wrote many famous etudes and preludes), Liszt (who wrote highly virtuosic etudes and concertos), Schumann (whose “Carnival” is one of his most well-known pieces), Brahms (a master of Germanic romanticism), Tchaikovsky (whose “The Seasons” is a set of 12 short pieces for solo piano), Rachmaninoff (whose “Prelude in C-sharp Minor” is one of his most popular pieces), and Debussy (whose “Clair de lune” is one of his most beloved works).

Modern Classical Music

Modern classical music is a term used to describe a wide variety of styles of music that were written in the 20th and 21st centuries. It includes both music composed in the traditional Western tonal system as well as music that uses atonality or other experimental techniques.

Some common styles of modern classical music include:
-Impressionism: This style is characterized by its use of thin textures, delicate melodies, and subtle harmonies. Claude Debussy is one of the most famous composers of impressionist music.
-Expressionism: This style is often intense and emotional, with large dynamic movements and extended techniques. Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg were two important composers of expressionist music.
– Minimalism: This style is marked by its use of repetition, stasis, and simplicity. Examples of minimalistic music can be found in the works of Steve Reich and Philip Glass.

The Different Forms of Classical Music

There are many different forms of classical music, from opera to symphonies to solo pieces. Each one has its own unique history, style, and purpose. In this guide, we’ll explore the different forms of classical music and their key features.

Opera

Classical music is often divided into different genres, each of which has its own characteristic form and style. Some of the most common genres are opera, symphony, concerto, and chamber music.

Opera is one of the oldest and most popular forms of classical music. It is a dramatic form of musical theater in which the story is told through music, song, and dance. Operas are usually performed in an opera house by professional opera singers and musicians.

The symphony is another popular form of classical music. It is a large-scale orchestral work that typically has four movements (fast-slow-fast-slow). A symphony typically lasts for 30-40 minutes and is performed by a symphony orchestra.

A concerto is a piece of classical music written for one or more solo instruments (usually a piano or violin) and an orchestra. The solo instrument(s) play(s) the melody while the orchestra provides accompaniment. Concertos are usually three movements long (fast-slow-fast).

Chamber music is a form of classical music written for a small group of instruments (usually 2-5). The instruments usually play together in harmony, but each instrument also has its own independent part to play. Chamber music can be written for any combination of instruments but is often written for strings (violin, viola, cello, double bass).

Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often written by composers for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning common today: a work usually consisting of multiple distinct sections or movements, often four, with the first movement in sonata form. Symphonies are almost always scored for an orchestra consisting of a string section, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments which altogether number about 40 to 100 musicians. Symphonies are notated in a musical score, which contains all the instrument parts. Orchestral musicians play from parts which contain just the notated music for their own instrument.

The actual number of instruments employed in a particular work varies from piece to piece, depending on the nature of the work and/or its historical context. For instance, a Baroque dance suite for harpsichord might be played by a single harpsichordist (one player), whereas a Beethoven piano concerto used two pianists and an orchestra of about 80 players. The term “symphony” is often applied to music that is not programme music; that is, music that is not intended to tell a story or paint a picture. symphony.”

Concerto

The concerto (plural concerti or, often, the anglicised concertos) is a musical composition, typically in three movements, in which one solo instrument (for instance, a piano, violin, cello or flute) is accompanied by an orchestra or concert band. It is accepted that its characteristics include the following:
-One or more solo instruments accompanied by an orchestra or concert band.
-The solo instrument(s) shares the spotlight with the rest of the ensemble for sections of the piece.
-The piece as a whole is usually in three movements.

Sonata

A sonata is a composition for one or more instruments in three or four movements in which the first and last movements are in sonata form and the middle movements are in a related key, usually a Scherzo or a slow movement. The term “sonata” comes from the Italian word for “sound” and originally meant simply a piece of music. The classical period saw the development of the sonata as a distinct form, in which a larger work was divided into sections, or movements, each with its own tempo, mood, and character.

The Different Instruments Used in Classical Music

Classical music is a genre of music that typically includes the use of a number of different instruments. These instruments can include the violin, piano, cello, and flute. In this guide, we’ll take a look at some of the different instruments that are commonly used in classical music.

Strings

The string family of instruments is the largest in the orchestra. All strings instruments are played with a bow or by plucking the strings. The main instruments in the string family are the violin, viola, cello and double bass. The instruments of the string family are divided into two groups: bowed strings and plucked strings.

The violin is the smallest and highest pitched instrument in the string family. It is held under the chin and played with a bow. The viola is very similar to the violin, but it is slightly bigger and has a lower, deeper sound. The cello is even bigger than the viola and it has a very rich, deep sound. The double bass is the biggest instrument in the string family. It has a deep, ‘thumpy’ sound.

The bowed strings are:
-Violin
-Viola
-Cello
-Double bass

The plucked strings are:
-Guitar
-Bass guitar
-Banjo
-Mandolin
-Ukelele

Woodwinds

The woodwind family of instruments features those that are played using a single reed mouthpiece, such as the clarinet, or a double reed mouthpiece, like the oboe. In both cases, the player blows air across the sharp edge of the mouthpiece which then vibrates. This air vibration is what produces the sound you hear when someone is playing a woodwind instrument.

Other instruments in the woodwind family are flutes, piccolos and bassoons.

The flute is a high-pitched instrument that is played by blowing air across an opening in the side of the instrument. The player can produce different tones by covering and uncovering circular holes along the body of the flute with their fingers. There are many different types of flutes, including concert flutes, alto flutes and bass flutes.

The piccolo is similar to a flute but it is smaller and has a higher pitch. It is usually used to play higher notes that are too high for the regular flute.

The bassoon is a large woodwind instrument with a long, curved body and a double reed mouthpiece. It produces a deep, rich sound and is often used in symphony orchestras.

Brass

Brass instruments are made of metal and have a cup-shaped mouthpiece. The tone is produced by the player’s lips vibrating against the mouthpiece.

The most common brass instruments are:
-Trumpet
-French horn
-Trombone
-Tuba

Percussion

Percussion instruments are musical instruments that are played by banging or shaking, like drums, cymbals, maracas, and claves. Percussion instruments are usually made of wood, metal, or ceramic. The word percussion comes from the Latin word percUSSio, which means “to strike”; percussion instruments are struck with sticks, mallets, or your hands.

Most classical music features at least some percussion instruments. The percussion section of an orchestra can includeDefinition: a wide variety of instruments, from the very small (like cymbals) to the very large (like bass drums). Here are some of the most common percussion instruments you’ll find in an orchestra:

Bass drum: the largest and lowest-pitched drum; usually played with a pedal
Snare drum: a small drum with wires (or “snares”) stretched across the bottom head; gives a sharp sound when played
Timpani (or kettledrums): large drums that can be tuned to different pitches; often used to create suspense in music
Xylophone: a wooden instrument with bars of different lengths that produce different pitches; often used in children’s music
Marimba: a wooden instrument similar to a xylophone, but with thicker bars that give it a deeper sound
Vibraphone: like a xylophone, but with metal bars; has motors that make the bars vibrate to create a “wah-wah” sound

Conclusion

The Future of Classical Music

The genre of classical music is often seen as being stuck in the past, unresponsive to the ever-changing trends in music. While it is true that classical music has its roots in centuries-old traditions, the genre is far from being stagnant. In fact, classical music is currently experiencing a renaissance of sorts, with a new generation of performers and composers breathing new life into the art form.

The future of classical music looks bright, with a renewed interest in the genre among both performers and audiences. With innovative new takes on traditional pieces and exciting new commissioned works being composed all the time, classical music is sure to continue to evolve and thrive in the years to come.