Like everything on earth, music has a history, an exceptionally facsinating past of its own. Like the subject, its history is all the more worth looking at.

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The Medieval(approx. 1200-1400) and Renaissance(1400-1600) Times

Types of compostition most commonly used in these 2 periods are: motet, madrigal, mass, chorale, anthem, toccata, ricercare, fugue, etc. Their ways of writing at that time was "imitation". The style was widely used during the period.

Several upstanding composers are: Claudio Montverdi, William Bryd, thomas morley, John Dowland.





Baroque Period (1600-1750)

The name was derived from the contemporary architecture style. "Baroque" is used to describe the bold exuberant style of buildings during that period.

The best works of the period were written from the hands of the master of the time: J.S. Bach, Vivaldi, A.Scarlatti, Purcell, and Handel. During this time, the skill of writing in major and minor keys grew important and took over ancient church modes.

Due to the development of writing at counterpoint a few features came into being for example: invertible counterpoint, shorter notevalues, syncopation, figured bass, etc.

During this period composers start to compose for a particular instrument rather than wirte scores that can be played by various different instruments.

In the 17th century, composers begin to write in measures following a distinctive rhythm pattern set off by a single time signature at the beginning of the compostition.

The most important development of the period is the developement of opera which combines acting, singing and music.

Another development of the period is that of Concerto Grosso. This consists of a small group of 2-5 players---concertino; and a lager group of 10-20 players ---ripieno. The 2 groups play in alternation and combination with each other.

Antonio Vivaldi wrote over 450 concerti grossi, while J.S Bach wrote the six famous Bradenburg Concertos.





The Classical Period (1750-1820)

Music in this period has he characteristic of being rigid and compact in form.

A few of the leading composers of the time are the masters who are familiar to us all : Josef Hadyn, Wolfgang Mozart. A dominating figure at the end of the period is Ludwig van Beethoven.

This is the greatest period of change in musical development. During this period there emerged several principal forms for musical composition. The sonanta form was established by J. Hadyn, now, the form is largely used in quartet, symphonies, concertos and sonatas.

In the mid-18th century, the harpsichord was replaced by the piano. The growing love for the instrument displayed in the public, led to the emergence of the solo concertos. Concerto Grosso of the baroque period gradually disappeared. Mozart remained a mastercomposer for concertos of this kind. During the late 18th century there was the birth of mordern symphony orchestra. There was a gradual discarding of the figured bass and the disappearing of the harpsichord. The violins in the orchestra became important.

During this period there was the introducton to crecsendo and diminuendo carefully used in the composition of orchestral works.

In the late classical period (early 19th century) Beethoven established his own unique feature in his own compositions. Beethoven replaced the classical minuets with his dynamic Scherzo.

There was a period called "Storm and Stress" during the Classical Period. This was a period of time was emotionalism was at it's height. At this time compositions were highly dramatic. In Gluck and Mozart's pieces, emotionalism was evident, but the master of this style was Josef Haydn, particularly his symphonies of string quartets.





Romantic Period (1800-1900)

The name refers to the composers' concern on the emotional depiction of the piece of writing. During this period, compositions, composers put their main attention on that the piece can vividly create and evoke an atmosphere. the difference between Romantic and Classical is that the classical period aims at bringing out the beauty of the structure if the piece. For Romanticism, there's usually a story or a scene behind the musical piece.

A few of the more outstanding composers of the period are : Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Dvorak, etc.

During this time comes the rapid growth of literature. Poems and ballads were set to music by romantic masters. Franz Schubert led German lieder to its peak during the period. This setting of literature to music is called lyrical Romanticism. The other kind is dramatic Romanticism by Dvorak, Lizst and Wagner, etc. These usually uses the music to capture a specific story or scene.

During this period, the taking over of the harpsichord by the piano carried on. This led to the birth of the numerous names and titles now that describe a piece's contents or structure, for further outlet of the scene behind the music, for example Impromtu, Prelude, Nocturne, Fantasy, Rhapsody; then the range extneded to include names of dances, example, waltz, mazurka, Polonaise, Ecossaise,etc.

Another development of the period is that of symphonic poems by Franz Liszt. Symphonic poems reached its peak throught the hands of Richard Strauss.

Another important mark of the period is that of literature combined with music. Richard Wagner, a successful German opera writer named operas "Music Drama" emphazizing that both drama and music are equally important in the whole performance.

During this period here was the invention of the saxaphones and tubas.





Nationalism (1800-1930)

There was a development of nationalism when the composers were awaken and became patriotic. Composers of each country, not wanting to be dominated by the German and Italian stles of music, each developed an individual style, expressing their deep sense of belonging to their home country. Composers of same countries grouped to write songs for the period. There was "Mighty Five in Russia" and "Les Six" in France. Other individual composers include: Greig from Norway, Dvorak of Czech, Chopin of Poland, etc.





Impressionism (1880-1940)

A period when music describes the composers individual perception of the world and reality. Unlike Romanticism, Impressionism tries to express the composer's feeling, rather than evoke an atmosphere.

Some famous composers of the period are : Debussy and Ravel.

Debussy's music usually require large orchestration but doesn't produce such a loud sound. He added expressiveness to strings through various manners he employed.





20th century Developments

There was the development of Serealism which discards the tradition of tonal melodies and adapted a whole idea of atonality. Some composers of Serealism are Schoenberg, Webern, etc.

There was development of Jazz and emergence of rock and roll in America. These influenced composers like Copland, Gershwin, Stravinsky, etc. Film music also made an impact during the period. Composers like Walton, Gershwin, etc. contributed to the field of making film music.