Music History
In the study of music history, there are five major periods--baroque, classical, romantic, impressionistic, and modern/20thcentury. These periods are characterized by the style of music that was being created.Baroque music includes such things as counterpoint (two tunes played together that are opposites). An example of this would be Bach's inventions.
Classical music takes things a step further and by the time Beethoven is nearing the end of his life, the stage is set for the Romantic period.
Romantic music uses much more dynamic change. This is exemplified very well in Wagner's music whose signature sound was completely new and overwhelming to people of his day.
Impressionistic music sounds less precise and somewhat "fuzzy" as it is intended to convey suggestions or impressions, but nothing exact.
Twentieth century or modern music saw some real changes. Some composers began using a matrix to create pieces from the twelve tones of the chromatic scale. Some created music based on chance. Others created some very enjoyable music--Summertime by Gershwin and Rodeo by Copland, for example.
The question now is--how will the twenty-first century of music be remembered?
Click here to see some representative composers from each of these five periods of music.