Classical Western
The European art music tradition spanning from medieval plainchant through Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and into 20th-century modernism and minimalism.
Sub-topics
European music from roughly 500-1400 CE. Gregorian chant, troubadour songs, early polyphony. Sacred and secular traditions before notation standardized. Hildegard von Bingen.
Ornate, dramatic European art music (1600-1750). Tonal harmony, basso continuo, fugue, concerto grosso. Bach, Handel, Vivaldi. The foundation of Western harmonic language.
The age of elegance, balance, and form (1750-1820). Sonata form, symphony, string quartet. Haydn, Mozart, early Beethoven. Clarity and emotional restraint.
Emotional intensity, expanded orchestras, nationalism, and individual expression (1820-1900). Beethoven, Chopin, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Brahms. Art as feeling.
Late 19th-early 20th century movement emphasizing atmosphere, color, and mood over structure. Debussy, Ravel. Parallel fifths, whole-tone scales, shimmering orchestration.
Early-mid 20th century break with Romantic tradition. Atonality, serialism, neoclassicism, primitivism. Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Bartok. Radical reinvention of what music could be.
Repetitive structures, gradual transformation, and consonant harmony — a reaction against serialist complexity in the 1960s-70s. Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, La Monte Young.
Art music from the late 20th century onward — spectral music, post-minimalism, electroacoustic, new complexity. John Adams, Kaija Saariaho, Thomas Ades. Pluralistic and eclectic.
Dramatic vocal art form combining music, theater, and spectacle, born in Florence around 1600. Monteverdi, Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini. The total work of art.
Intimate ensemble music for small groups without conductor — string quartets, piano trios, sonatas. Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Bartok. The art of musical conversation.