Expert: Pat G - 3/1/2009

Question
what are different types of classical music?

Answer
Hi, Jessica,

The term "classical music" is used in two different ways. It is used to refer to a collection of music which has been composed over the last 600 years, but it is also used to refer to a specific period of time during those years, the classical period. Typical of the music of the classical period are composers such as Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. It was characterized by a fair amount of complexity, and was the time during which the symphony developed very well. You had figured bases and melodies, and chords, all used alternately to produce a piece of music with many different musical ideas.

Before the classical period were two major periods. Renaissance music is first, and reminds me of the music often used with scenes in castles in movies. This is the period I know least about. At that time or a little later, there were composers like Purcell and Pachelbel, the latter who wrote a rather well known piece known as Pachelbel's Canon. Simple accompaniment went with a melody line.

Between the renaissance and classical periods is the baroque period. The most well known composer from this period is probably Johann Sebastian Bach. The music often consisted of polyphonic music, in which a given melody would be performed by one instrument or voice, and then another would take up the same melody a bit later, sometimes starting on the same key, sometimes starting on a different key, such as a fifth away from the other. The interweaving is known as a fugue and the different instruments or voices performing the melody line blended into nice harmonies. Not all of the music was fugal in nature, however. At this time, concertos of one or more solo instruments were composed. Vivaldi composed many concerti grossi, which consisted of a number of solo stringed instruments, each with its own part. Organ music was composed for very well developed and massive organs, and the organ was in reality the first music synthesizer. However, the valved trumpet still hadn't been invented! Keyboard instruments included the clavichord and harpsichord, but not yet the piano. The forte piano, as it is known, came into its own during the time of Beethoven. A concerto always had some kind of ensemble as well, except that in a concerto grosso, the ensemble was all made up of solo instruments.

After the classical period is a period I would call romantic/impressionistic. Romantic music tends to be in the customary scales, while impressionistic music is characterized more by whole tone scales, where there are six notes each a whole tone above and below the adjacent tones. Typical of this period would be the music of Chopin, Debussy, Ravel and others.

In the twentieth century, music exploded in many, many different directions. People like Schoenberg started out composing in earlier styles, but eventually went to music characterized by the tone row. This was an attempt to break all the rules, but in the process, they formed their own rules! The tone row consisted of all the tones, not just seven, but all twelve. The rule was that you couldn't repeat a given pitch until all had been used once. This style is characterized by a lot of cacophony. Other innovations include the work of John Cage, who was influenced by eastern music to some extent, but also liked to compose things that were more "happenings" than music. For example, he "composed" one piece in which each player tuned a radio to a different frequency, and what you heard were what the radios were all playing at once. Another piece consisted of a pianist sitting down at a piano, opening the lid, putting his hands in his lap and leaving them there for several minutes, whereupon he closed the lid and got up. In my opinion, there was a lot of gimmickry in all of this. While all of this was going on, you also had neoromantic composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and other Russian composers. A lot of this music was also composed during the transition between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. All the while a lot of other things were happening. You had Ligeti, for instance, who composed some pieces in a very narrow range, only a few notes apart from each other for the entire piece, although he composed other things as well. And the Japanese started to produce composers who often had somewhat similar sounding works, especially lamenting war. Then there are the minimalists, such as John Adams and Philip Glass. Their music was characterized by precisely rhythmic repetitions of the same arpeggios and similar figures, for about eight measures give or take, whereupon the instruments all shifted to a different chord. These same composers also branched out into other styles. More and more, Asian music was incorporated in many compositions as well. Then there is space music, which tends to be tranquil. It is often somewhat simple and not very complex. In addition, you have composers like Arvo Pärt, who composed somewhat similar music, and people like Henryk Gorecki, whose music feels more brooding to me. I am sure I am leaving out a number of other important movements in music, but you get the idea.

Thank you for the interesting question!