The beginning of classical music

Postado por Unknown novembro 07, 2017

The beginning of classical music

Classical music is art musical produced or rooted in the traditions of western music, including both liturgica (religious) and secular music. While a more accurate term is also used to refer to the period from 1750 to 1820 (the cassical periodoo), 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-practic period.

European art music is largely distinguished from many other non-European classical and some popular msiccal forms by its system of staff notation, in use since about the 11th century. Western staff notation is used by composers to indicate to the performer the pitches (which form the melodies, basslines and chords), tempo, metre and rhytims for a piece of music. This can leave less room for practices such as improvisation and ad litibum ornamentation, which are frequently heard in non-European art music and in popular-music styles such as jazz and blues. Another difference is that whereas most popular styles adopt the song (stropic) form or a derivation of this form, classical music has been noted for its development of highly sophisticated forms of instrumental music such as the fugue, concerto, symphony, sonata, and mixed vocal and instrumental styles such as opera.

The term "classical music" did not appear until the early 19th century, in an attempt to distinctly canonize the period from Johhann Sebastian Bach to Beethoven as a golden age.The earliest reference to "classical music" recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is from about 1836.

Given the wide range of styles in European classical music, from Medieval plainchant sung by monks to Classical and Romantic symphonies for orchestra from the 1700s and 1800s to avant-garde atonal compositions for solo piano from the 1900s, it is difficult to list characteristics that can be attributed to all works of that type. However, there are characteristics that classical music contains that few or no other genres of music contain, such as the use of music notation and the performance of complex forms of solo instrumental works (e.g., the fugue). Furthermore, while the symphony did not exist prior to the late 18th century, the symphonhy ensemble —and the worrks written for it—have become a defining feature of classical music.

Photo by Johan Sebastian Bach