Expert: Pat G - 3/16/2010

Question
Hi there.
I would like to know how to distinguish different periods in classical music. I will be taking my grade 8 classical guitar this summer, and I understand that part of the exam is to comment on a piece of music that is played to me, including points on the above.
I have been reading a little around the subject, and understand also that with time, music has developed in complexity. However, I don't really know what separates Ancient, Baroque, Classical, Renaissance and so on. In a way, especially in my field, I suppose the instruments used are a giveaway, given the relative youth of the guitar, but of course I can't rely on that, what with Lute suites commonly being played on guitar and so on.
I don't even know if you can definitively state that any given piece is from one era, just by listening to it. But if there are markers that I can listen out for, that would be most helpful. Perhaps some key examples of the styles would be good too.
You might think that I should have a knowledge of this, seeing as I am taking a relatively advanced exam, but I am coming from it via the route of fingerstyle guitar, having taken a long break from classical, so my knowledge is very patchy.
I look forward to hearing from you. Many thanks in advance

Answer
Hello, David,

I could write a book on this, you know! :)

It would be overly simplistic to say that classical music has increased in complexity. As I explain different eras, perhaps you will see what I mean.

Renaissance music is characterized by different things, such as some music sung by a single voice or in unison (Gregorian chant), or with relatively simple chordal accompaniment. Things really did start to get complex in the Baroque era. If you look at the architecture, everything was very ornate (provided people had the money to spend on that sort of thing). The music is characterized by contrapuntal writing. Counterpoint is when a melody is played by one instrument or sung by one voice, and then another chimes in with the same melody a few bars later.  Not all Baroque music is contrapuntal, however. The organ very much came into its own during this era, and as you know, an organ is a very complex instrument, while at the same time, trumpets were still valveless, since valved instruments had not yet been invented. This means that trumpet parts tended to be high in pitch because you can only get melodies by playing the different "overtones" at such a high register. As you may be aware, you have a fundamental note (say middle C), and twice the frequency will give you C an octave higher. Then when you hit the next overtone, it's only a fifth: G. Then you get another C, going up in pitch, followed by a third (E) and so forth. The higher you go, the closer together the notes are. So in Baroque music, expect the trumpet parts to be high and bright. The quintessential composer of Baroque music was JS Bach, but other noted composers include Telemann, Vivaldi, and Handel. During this era, you also hear a lot of modal music, incorporating scales other than major and minor, as the half tones appear in different places in the scale. There was also a lot of modal music during the Renaissance; it was probably even more popular then.

Each composer tends to have signature melodies and other figures that help you to recognize their music.

Classical music begins with composers such as Mozart and Haydn. It is characterized by melodies with figured base lines. Counterpoint has largely fallen out of favor. This is the era when symphonies became popular. Also, replacing the Concerto Grosso, you had groups made up to play music such as string quartets. Later composers include Beethoven. Beethoven added much dynamic range; he often composed things that would have soft passages interspersed with loud, more frantic passages (listen to the Pathetique Sonata for an example). As the classical era developed, you got composers like Brahms and Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn was able to write great counterpoint, and often incorporated it into his work. This was also the era in which the harpsichord was largely replaced with the newly invented fortepiano. The fortepiano is different from our modern piano in that the notes do not sustain as well, and tend to sound more tinny. Compositions of that era are sometimes played on the modern piano (which is also used to play Bach harpsichord works), but people who use authentic instruments use fortepianos. You'll hear Mozart played on period instruments, for example.

It's not clear to me that the guitar didn't exist in other parts of the world, in spite of the fact that people were still composing for the lute during the Baroque era. But already in the classical era, there were pieces written for guitar, although Baroque composers such as Vivaldi wrote pieces for lute or mandolin that are also played on the guitar (though he mainly wrote for bowed stringed instruments). And as you may know, the guitar is the most widely played instrument in the world. There are also stringed instruments in Asia that have something in common with the guitar, although they might also be characterized as precursors.

The next era is Romantic. Mendelssohn already shows signs of Romantic style. The melodies tend to be lush and rich, and there is much variation in musical ideas in a composition such as a symphony. You'll hear different parts of the orchestra talking to each other, for example. Romantic composers would include people like Chopin. Neoromantic composers such as Rachmaninoff also come to mind. The standard major and minor scales are still in use. But quickly following on this style is Impressionistic, with composers such as Debussy and Ravel (but not his Bolero, which is in a totally different style), for example. The characteristic here is the frequent use of the whole tone scale, where every note is a full tone away from its neighbor.

About this time, you also hear some magnificent organ works, particularly by French composers, and the violin concertos become exceedingly difficult to play. The development of the violin concerto and its techniques followed the invention of a new kind of bow. Instead of the bow being shaped like the bow used with arrows, it became a slightly curved stick, with the curve toward the instrument rather than away from it.

Following that, and following the decline of Christianity as a major artistic influence, you found composers who started out in Romantic style (such as Schoenberg), but who eventually adopted the idea that the rules were meant to be broken and even discarded. They wanted to dispense with rules altogether, but they ended up substituting a new set of rules. For example, you have 12 tone music, which uses every note in the western scale, and one of the rules (yes, they had new rules) is that you can't repeat a given note until all have been played. These pieces are characterized by dissonance. Many of these composers (such as Shostakovich) were products of great political unrest and repressive governments. They had no hope, and you hear that in their music. Dissonance reached such a height that now the music becomes downright unpleasant to listen to, and you also see this kind of nihilism in the art of the day; paintings are bright swatches of clashy colors, seemingly placed at random on the canvas. These pieces weren't necessarily more complex (I would argue they moved away from complexity in favor of chaos), but they are often more difficult to play because they're not intuitive, and they often don't fit the instruments well. And some people really went off the deep end, people such as John Cage, who composed several pieces (if you care to call it composing) in which the performers simply dial around on radios, for example, and whatever is playing is "blended" with everything else in a kind of cacophony. Cage was also influenced by eastern music, though it is difficult for me to recognize these elements, because his music really not all that faithful to them.

But there were now new influences as well. As I mentioned before, there were many Neoromantic composers (or composers who brought romantic styles into the 20th century), particularly Russians, such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Glazunov, and many others. And there were also Scandinavian composers such as Sibelius and Carl Nielsen (but who starts to move more toward dissonance). And other French composers such as Saint-Saens. And there were new styles as well, such as minimalism (Philip Glass, John Adams), though these composers also developed different styles that moved more toward other modern music. At this point, there are so many different styles of music that it is hard to keep up with them!

The best thing you can do is listen to a lot of classical music. As you listen, you will learn to recognize different composers, because you will hear their signatures in many pieces of music. A continuous feed of good classical music (not incorporating dissonant music) can be had over the internet by streaming audio from WCPE in North Carolina. To find out how to take advantage of their music, visit http://theclassicalstation.org/ Other online classical stations play more modern pieces and dissonant as well. I think it is telling that most of these dissonant pieces are not frequently played, and the composers are virtually unknown.

There is much that I have left out, but these are just the thoughts that occur to me as a result of your question, and I hope it is helpful.



PS Thank you for the very kind rating and your wonderful comment! Certainly, I like to talk a lot and share what I know.

I listened to 5 of the 6 pieces by Schoenberg. I didn't care for them. I'd be more curious about your reaction. The one piece by Schoenberg which I do like and regard as memorable is Verklärte Nacht. There may be others, but I'm not acquainted with them.

Several people have told me John Cage is a thoughtful man, but he sure doesn't think in ways that please me personally. I suspect he was making a statement of some kind with his 3+ minutes of silence on the piano, but I wouldn't pay good money to go to a concert consisting of that piece and some of his radio pieces. I think music should be beautiful. Prepared piano doesn't sound that nice to me, either, although with the right composing, I might liken it to electronic compositions that I do like. Regardless of whether the piece has meaning or not, or whether the composer is thoughtful or not, if it doesn't make my heart sing, or do something else which makes me feel nurtured, or whatever, I don't like it. There are a couple of composers who composed pieces memorializing things like the atomic bomb on Hiroshima; one is called a Threnody. I can relate to the music because the situation evokes a sense of wanting to help humanity, and the expression is very well done. But I don't see the point of what John Cage wrote. Of all the composers, he's probably the one I like the least.

Good luck in your studies.