The Classical Period (1750-1820)
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The cornerstone of Classical music composition was balance. The gaudy, overly ornate style favored in the Baroque age fell out of favor in the Classical period. This new style was reflected in the titles of the pieces of the day. Compositions no longer used flowery titles like "The Four Seasons". Instead, compositions had more matter of fact titles like "Piano Concerto No. 9."
New musical forms of this period included minuets, rondos, symphonies and sonatas. Harmony continued to include polyphonic elements, though imitative polyphony had fallen out of favor. Harmony was predominantly a single-line melody with an accompaniment and the use of cadences (a particular series of chords that signals the end of a musical phrase) was introduced.
The major innovation in instrumentation was the invention of the pianoforte, which literally means "soft-loud". Previous versions of keyboard instruments were not pressure sensitive. For example, the sound produced by a harpsichord was the same whether you "tickled the ivories" or jumped up and down on them like Jerry Lee Lewis. The style of Classical period compositions was also more dynamic, containing soft and loud passages in the same movement, than earlier periods.
Representative composers: Stamitz, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven.
The Romantic Period (1820-1900)
Where the Classical period was balanced and refined, the Romantic era is marked by expressive compositions. Poems were set to music and musical themes were used to tell stories. Conventions regarding proper length, number of movements and instrumentation of a piece were abandoned in favor of more expressive and experimental aspects. This led to new forms like etudes, variations and character pieces.
Chromatic harmony, a scale with 12 notes, and diminished, dominant and sevenths became widely used. Rich textures and full chords were also popular. Rhythms became more complex and used syncopation. Melodies were songlike and much more expressive, often using varied phrase lengths, more dynamic volume and tempos.
The piano gained importance and was the subject of much of the compositions of this period, including nocturnes, impromptus and etudes.
Representative composers: Schumann, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Smetana, Puccini, Mahler.
20Th Century Classical Music
The 20th century saw the relaxation of strict rules of musical form continue. Often times, the only limit to 20th century classical music was the composer's own imagination. Composers experimented with forms in which the structure and content are left to chance. One such composition is only the sound of the audience gathered to hear the performance of a piece, only to realize they are the performers and they're cough's, shuffles, etc.. is the "music".
The harmony of 20th century music is characterized by increased dissonance and use of chromatic, pentatonic and modal scales. Instrumentation has continued to evolve. Pianos are still used, but so are synthesizers and electronic keyboards. Music from the 20th century and on is often characterized by being polyrhythmic (more than one rhythm), and having a strong sense of dissonance and a vague melody. This type of music tends to be atonal and unpredictable.
Representative composers: Stravinsky, Britten, Copland, Stockhausen, Schnittke, Cage.
Task 5.3. Fill in the table using the information from the text.
Era |
New forms and genres |
Peculiarities of compositions |
Instruments |
Typical features |
Middle Ages |
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Renaissance |
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Baroque |
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Classical Period |
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Romanticism |
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20th-century |
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Task5.4. Prepare to give a short talk on each period using the data the text contains.
Task 5.5. In the text below, there are twelve words which should not be there. Can you find them?