by John Devera

Created on: January 10, 2008

Classical music refers to music that has endured, that is serious in form and nature, or is written in response to the critically accepted nature of art music. What this means is that one branch of classical music, that which has endured, was at one time popular music. Mozart's pieces were things that young people danced to and that shocked their elders. That may not be the only similarity it had with Nine Inch Nails and Metallica, but that's enough. Then there's that kind of classical music that no one really listens to, like John Cage, for instance. It's music that is commentary on the history of music and tries to fit into that legacy, that canon established and continued through the centuries. And it defines itself in opposition to what is popular.

But as an introduction to classical music, we need to get beyond a definition and into classification.

Notice that I am not including dates. I've got two reasons for that. First, I'm too lazy to look them up on Wikipedia. Second, they are arbitrary and pretty silly. These ages of music are a continuum, and one blends into the other pretty subtly.

First comes pre-Baroque and medieval music. Meideval music is limited by a tiny number of instruments to work with, and that meant no orchestral pieces. The musical instruments they had were often limited in range and volume, too. Vocal music was limited to everyone singing the same thing at the same time, and sounded nearly like praying or chanting. This is no conincidence, since most of the vocal music from this time comes from the Church. The lighter stuff sounds mostly like folk music, and there are very few noteable composers from this period.

Baroque music gets started because the nobility and the Church started competing with each other for talented composers and musicians. Most of the music from this period is very religious, but there are exceptions. Small orchestras are formed, the harpsichord gets its day in the sun, and choirs have multiple parts. During the Baroque period, composers like Bach and Vivaldi and Handel are experimenting with melodies and harmonies. Rhythm and volume stay pretty static, though there are some surprises, but the real fireworks are in the melody. Just remember this: complicated equals pretty. that's what they believed. Long and drawn out melodic themes escalate into trills and fugues and toccata. This is a mathematician's favorite music because of the intricate counterpoint and simple rhythm.

The Baroque moves into the Classical as

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