A Brief History of Western Music
Created | Updated Oct 20, 2010
Western Music is generally broken down into 6 periods.
They are:
<BR/>
<h4>
<a href="#1">1. Medieval (400-1400)</a></h4>
<h4>
<a href="#2">2. Renaissance (1400-1600)</a></h4>
<h4>
<a href="#3">3. Baroque (1600-1750)</a></h4>
<h4>
<a href="#4">4. Classical (1750-1800)</a></h4>
<h4>
<a href="#5">5. Romantic (1800-1900)</a></h4>
<h4>
<a href="#6">6. 20th Century (1900- )</a></h4>
<p>Each of these periods have certain characteristics which remain
the same throughout. However, lesser characteristics may change within the period, and so
you have works which fall into, say, the early Romantic period as opposed to the late
Romantic.</p>
<h3>
<a NAME="1"></a>1. The Medieval Period (400-1400)</h3>
<p>Prior to about 900, nearly all music we have any record of is of
a simple, one line structure called Plainchant (one melodic line being sung in unison
by everybody). More complex music existed, but as it was secular and not sacred, we have
very few, if any, written accounts of it.
<BR/>Gradually, over the next 500 years, people began to expand on this
simple structure by adding voices. At first, these voices were sung a fixed interval
(usually a fourth or fifth) above or below the original line. This was called organum.
At some point, someone got the idea of having two different lines moving at the same time (that
is, not at a fixed interval). Usually the higher of these lines would be fairly
florid, while the lower was a slower, pre-existing plainchant (also known as the cantus firmus).
By 1300, three and four voice compositions were being written. These works are referred
to as polyphonic (many voices), to distinguish them from the monophony (single voice)
of simple plainchant.</p>
<h3>
<a NAME="2"></a>2. The Renaissance (1400-1600)</h3>
<p>By 1400 or shortly thereafter, several composers were writing polyphony
in a slightly different way. Instead of using a slower bottom voice and faster
upper voices, they made all voices equal in rhythmic variety. And instead of using four
different chants, they used a single chant which was stated in each of the voices, upon their entrance,
and the developed differently from one voice to the next. This led to
a more unified sounding work, and gave rise to a number of contrapuntal (note-against-note)
forms, such as the canon (exact repetition in all the voices), the canzon (a succession
of themes, each developed and then discarded, sometimes separated by short sections
of very little polyphony), and the fugue (one theme developed extensively).
<BR/>Most of the development during this period was made in Italy.
This is natural, as the Catholic church was the dominant force during this period, and was
headquartered in Rome. Many of the best musicians wrote masses and other works
for the church; nearly all of these works are in Latin, as this was the language used for
services at the time. However, with the Reformation and rise of Protestantism in the latter
16th century, the nature of the music had to change.</p>
<h3>
<a NAME="3"></a>3. The Baroque Period (1600-1750)</h3>
<p>One of the major changes in daily life around 1600 was the switch
from the Catholic church to various Protestant sects. (In Germany, the major sect
was Lutheranism.) The result of this change was that the language of the services was switched
from Latin to German. Because most people had not spoken Latin, the masses
could be as ornate as the composer desired. But if the language was understandable by the
majority of the people, the music should be simple enough that they could understand the words.
As a result, the Catholic Latin mass was no longer needed, but new German services were.
New hymns (chorales) were written to provide music for these services.
These were primarily homophonic (simple chordal structure) in nature, contrasting with the
polyphony that continued in instrumental and Latin works.
<BR/>By the mid-1700’s, polyphony had reached its peak. Several composers
began to explore simpler styles of writing, such as symphonies and concertos,
which had been foreshadowed in preludes, partitas, and other non-polyphonic forms
of the Baroque. This, along with a gradual secularization of music, led to the Classical
period.</p>
<h3>
<a NAME="4"></a>4. The Classical Period (1750-1800)</h3>
<p>This is a rather curious period in musical history. Very little
was done to change the basic musical language, aside from the abandonment of polyphony.
The major contribution during this period was the enlargement of many aspects
of music. The orchestra was developed, the opera was made into a more continuous
work, and the level of complexity in writing was reduced somewhat. However, this
brief period introduced a more virtuositic style of playing on many instruments, and set the
stage for a major harmonic expansion during the next century.</p>
<h3>
<a NAME="5"></a>5. The Romantic Period (1800-1900)</h3>
<p>The shift from the Baroque to the Classical had resulted in a change
of thought from the horizontal (polyphony and the sense of line) in music to the vertical
(chordal structure). The romantic period led to a massive enlargement in what was acceptable
as far as chordal progressions went. By the middle of the 19th century,
composers had begun to ‘borrow’ chords that technically should not have been used in the way
they were (that is, chords from keys only distantly related to the tonic would be introduced
during the course of the progression). This resulted in a breakdown of tonality,
and by the later part of the period, nearly any chord could be used with very minimal preparation. Modulations to distant keys were sudden and severe.
<BR/>The scale of works also continued to mushroom. By the end of the
century, massive operas of three or more hours were being written; symphonies of an
hour and a half were common, and perhaps two hundred or more players would be needed to
perform these titanic works. Everything seemed to be getting bigger; even chamber
works were of a scale only dreamed of before.</p>
<h3>
<a NAME="6"></a>6. The 20th Century (1900- )</h3>
<p>By 1900, something had to happen to change music. Several
things did, all of which had a pronounced effect on the next hundred years of writing.
<BR/>Firstly, popular and ‘classical’ music began to separate. Jazz,
and (later) Rock, became the music of the masses, and classically trained composers found themselves
without the numbers of listeners that their predecessors had enjoyed. Secondly,
many composers abandoned the idea of a tonal center, consonance, or harmonic progression
altogether, resulting in atonality, dissonance, and free use of borrowed chords
becoming common. And eventually, the ‘classical’ world fractured into many different
groups, most of which began to write much smaller pieces again. Some would even revolt
against the preciseness of notation that many Romantic composers prided themselves
on, leaving some or all aspects of their works to chance.</p>
<p>No prominent school of thought has yet arisen to claim that it is the
true 20th century descendant of Romanticism. As such, many scholars think that
the 20th Century Period will continue until the middle of the 21st century.
They are:
<BR/>
<h4>
<a href="#1">1. Medieval (400-1400)</a></h4>
<h4>
<a href="#2">2. Renaissance (1400-1600)</a></h4>
<h4>
<a href="#3">3. Baroque (1600-1750)</a></h4>
<h4>
<a href="#4">4. Classical (1750-1800)</a></h4>
<h4>
<a href="#5">5. Romantic (1800-1900)</a></h4>
<h4>
<a href="#6">6. 20th Century (1900- )</a></h4>
<p>Each of these periods have certain characteristics which remain
the same throughout. However, lesser characteristics may change within the period, and so
you have works which fall into, say, the early Romantic period as opposed to the late
Romantic.</p>
<h3>
<a NAME="1"></a>1. The Medieval Period (400-1400)</h3>
<p>Prior to about 900, nearly all music we have any record of is of
a simple, one line structure called Plainchant (one melodic line being sung in unison
by everybody). More complex music existed, but as it was secular and not sacred, we have
very few, if any, written accounts of it.
<BR/>Gradually, over the next 500 years, people began to expand on this
simple structure by adding voices. At first, these voices were sung a fixed interval
(usually a fourth or fifth) above or below the original line. This was called organum.
At some point, someone got the idea of having two different lines moving at the same time (that
is, not at a fixed interval). Usually the higher of these lines would be fairly
florid, while the lower was a slower, pre-existing plainchant (also known as the cantus firmus).
By 1300, three and four voice compositions were being written. These works are referred
to as polyphonic (many voices), to distinguish them from the monophony (single voice)
of simple plainchant.</p>
<h3>
<a NAME="2"></a>2. The Renaissance (1400-1600)</h3>
<p>By 1400 or shortly thereafter, several composers were writing polyphony
in a slightly different way. Instead of using a slower bottom voice and faster
upper voices, they made all voices equal in rhythmic variety. And instead of using four
different chants, they used a single chant which was stated in each of the voices, upon their entrance,
and the developed differently from one voice to the next. This led to
a more unified sounding work, and gave rise to a number of contrapuntal (note-against-note)
forms, such as the canon (exact repetition in all the voices), the canzon (a succession
of themes, each developed and then discarded, sometimes separated by short sections
of very little polyphony), and the fugue (one theme developed extensively).
<BR/>Most of the development during this period was made in Italy.
This is natural, as the Catholic church was the dominant force during this period, and was
headquartered in Rome. Many of the best musicians wrote masses and other works
for the church; nearly all of these works are in Latin, as this was the language used for
services at the time. However, with the Reformation and rise of Protestantism in the latter
16th century, the nature of the music had to change.</p>
<h3>
<a NAME="3"></a>3. The Baroque Period (1600-1750)</h3>
<p>One of the major changes in daily life around 1600 was the switch
from the Catholic church to various Protestant sects. (In Germany, the major sect
was Lutheranism.) The result of this change was that the language of the services was switched
from Latin to German. Because most people had not spoken Latin, the masses
could be as ornate as the composer desired. But if the language was understandable by the
majority of the people, the music should be simple enough that they could understand the words.
As a result, the Catholic Latin mass was no longer needed, but new German services were.
New hymns (chorales) were written to provide music for these services.
These were primarily homophonic (simple chordal structure) in nature, contrasting with the
polyphony that continued in instrumental and Latin works.
<BR/>By the mid-1700’s, polyphony had reached its peak. Several composers
began to explore simpler styles of writing, such as symphonies and concertos,
which had been foreshadowed in preludes, partitas, and other non-polyphonic forms
of the Baroque. This, along with a gradual secularization of music, led to the Classical
period.</p>
<h3>
<a NAME="4"></a>4. The Classical Period (1750-1800)</h3>
<p>This is a rather curious period in musical history. Very little
was done to change the basic musical language, aside from the abandonment of polyphony.
The major contribution during this period was the enlargement of many aspects
of music. The orchestra was developed, the opera was made into a more continuous
work, and the level of complexity in writing was reduced somewhat. However, this
brief period introduced a more virtuositic style of playing on many instruments, and set the
stage for a major harmonic expansion during the next century.</p>
<h3>
<a NAME="5"></a>5. The Romantic Period (1800-1900)</h3>
<p>The shift from the Baroque to the Classical had resulted in a change
of thought from the horizontal (polyphony and the sense of line) in music to the vertical
(chordal structure). The romantic period led to a massive enlargement in what was acceptable
as far as chordal progressions went. By the middle of the 19th century,
composers had begun to ‘borrow’ chords that technically should not have been used in the way
they were (that is, chords from keys only distantly related to the tonic would be introduced
during the course of the progression). This resulted in a breakdown of tonality,
and by the later part of the period, nearly any chord could be used with very minimal preparation. Modulations to distant keys were sudden and severe.
<BR/>The scale of works also continued to mushroom. By the end of the
century, massive operas of three or more hours were being written; symphonies of an
hour and a half were common, and perhaps two hundred or more players would be needed to
perform these titanic works. Everything seemed to be getting bigger; even chamber
works were of a scale only dreamed of before.</p>
<h3>
<a NAME="6"></a>6. The 20th Century (1900- )</h3>
<p>By 1900, something had to happen to change music. Several
things did, all of which had a pronounced effect on the next hundred years of writing.
<BR/>Firstly, popular and ‘classical’ music began to separate. Jazz,
and (later) Rock, became the music of the masses, and classically trained composers found themselves
without the numbers of listeners that their predecessors had enjoyed. Secondly,
many composers abandoned the idea of a tonal center, consonance, or harmonic progression
altogether, resulting in atonality, dissonance, and free use of borrowed chords
becoming common. And eventually, the ‘classical’ world fractured into many different
groups, most of which began to write much smaller pieces again. Some would even revolt
against the preciseness of notation that many Romantic composers prided themselves
on, leaving some or all aspects of their works to chance.</p>
<p>No prominent school of thought has yet arisen to claim that it is the
true 20th century descendant of Romanticism. As such, many scholars think that
the 20th Century Period will continue until the middle of the 21st century.
