Baroque and Classical Music The Baroque period in music lasted from approximately 1600 to 1750 though both the dates and the name are arbitrary. During this period of musical history the artistic form of opera developed as did the art of thoroughbass, probably the most distinctive feature of baroque music.Thoroughbass included the art of improvising over a figured bass. This was the dominant characteristic of instrumental music. National characteristics in music began to evolve as did new  forms such as the cantata, sonata and oratorio. It is thought that performances by immense vocal and instrumental ensembles were a balance to solo virtuosity. Some of this is debated today and the large B-minor Mass of J.S. Bach, for example, may have been intended for a small ensemble instead of a massive chorus. Expressionism and restraint stood side by side during the baroque period with limited use of dynamics and considerable use of ornamentation. Counterpoint and thoroughbass culminating in the art of fugue and the fugue at its best occurred during the Baroque period. Composers who were not only prolific but who also had a profound influence on later generations of composers included J.S. Bach, Couperin, Telemann, Krebs, Frescobaldi, Scarlatti and Vivaldi. Classical music refers to a very specific period of musical composition and it also refers to very specific stylistic matters. Unfortunately, the term is used by most novitiates to refer to any of the courtly, salonesque and art music written and performed during the last four or more centuries. The classical period as such lasted from approximately 1750 until 1820 although the dates could be extended to include some predecessors and second-rate antecedents (i.e., 1730-1850). The classical era was accentuated by the genius of Mozart and Haydn as well as the latter's extensive symphonic work and longevity. During this time most musicians were still considered members of the servant class but music was spreading more and more from the courts to the public through academies (concerts) that were performed in the hopes of attracting a larger public for making a profit. Beyond self-promotion, Classical music above all else, was trying to recover the "classicism" of Greece and Rome. Music was one of the last forms to go through this Renaissance and it occurred approximately three hundred years later than the other "rebirths" in the arts. There was little to discover from the past regarding the music of Greece and Rome per se; accordingly, there is no Neo-classicism, at this time, in music. However, the simplicity and the balance that were laudable in the structural forms of architecture were now lauded and brought to bear on the music of this period. Form and content must be balanced and the forms of classical music which were relevant in all aspects of music were found in the simple form ABA of the sonata. Exposition, development and recapitulation were all that was needed from the music and all that was required. But the evolution of music depended entirely upon this simple formula. Yes the  music was taken to the limits of formalized structure but emotion and expression were present as well. The expressions were not of a personalized nature where we might feel Mozart's grief at his mother's death but instead we can feel that love which he had for his family in an abstract and depersonalized way. Musically such feelings are not fully expressed until the Romantic era. Formal ABA structures, stabile key relations and cadences could be developed into almost anything as long as there remained some relationship with the original, expository devices and the developing section of the sonata or symphony. The sonata as a structural form and powerful force in musical development helped to yield further developments and a great deal of productivity in such forms as the trio sonata, quartets, concerti and symphonies. The culminating figure of the Classical Period was arguably Mozart who took the formal structures to their limits and seemed to supersede the boundaries while remaining in the boundaries. The transition figure between the classical and the Romantic periods, however, was Beethoven. Representatives of the Classical period included Mozart, Haydn, J.C. Bach, J.C.F. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, Muzio Clementi, early Beethoven, and Karl Maria von Weber.

The Romantic Era Though exact dates for the Romantic period are less distinguishable from those of the Baroque and Classical periods, the time frame for this period is often associated simply with the nineteenth century. From approximately 1830-1900 the century begins with the births of Mendelssohn, Schumann and Chopin -- who were producing music by the 1830s -- and ends with the advent and dissolve of Wagner and Brahms, who were born within just a few years of Chopin and Schumann. Few of the early Romantics were appreciated during their lifetimes but an early Romantic was not determined simply by the date of her/his birth. Political and social changes had occurred at the end of the last century and the beginning of the Romantic century is clarified if one understands the revolutions. The individual had come to be important and music began to give this expression. What better instrument than the piano could give expression to these ideas for it also had just come into its own. It was an instrument played by the individual with all of the expressiveness one instrument could realize. The personal feeling of the composer and performer could be given voice through this instrument. Dynamics, colors, harmonies, touch, and timbre were all at the disposal of the performer and the composer. Romanticism was the fruition of the instrument and the socio-political mind-set of the early and mid-eighteenth centuries. Music became more expressive and less formalized. Modulations between major and minor keys could occur often in any single composition. Dynamics, harmonics and playing took on new emotive qualities that were latent in the "older" works. Suspended chords, lush basses, and rich, full sonorities that filled the mind with images and sensations characterized much of Romantic music. Toward the end of the Romantic era people were beginning to question whether it could go any farther -- which indeed it did -- but there was nevertheless a return to the classical with some of these "new" characteristics still in tact. Wagner was unto himself in certain aspects of his music but Brahms epitomized the Romantic ideal and the return to Classicism. His harmonies were rich but restrained and quite familiar to those who were still offended by those new and brash composers (Chopin, Schumann, Liszt). Quantities of music were written and in some cases they explored the piano to its fullest capacity (Chopin's Etudes and Preludes). Schumann and Chopin both wrote almost entirely for the piano something which had not been done before and is not likely to happen often in the future. The Romantic period is not just known for its expressive individuality but also as the century of the piano. With the neo-classicists and the truly romantic musicians anyone who is familiar with "classical" music has probably come to it by way of the Romantics. Many adaptations of these works have been transcribed and transformed. Some hear Mendelssohn's "Reformation Symphony" and find their way toward the Baroque. Others hear Rachmaninov and are taken deeper into the complexities of Romanticism or towards the unusually harmonic inventions of the Twentieth century. Composers who highlighted the Romantic era include Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt. Schubert. Mendelssohn, Wagner, Brahms, Grieg, Moussorgsky, Sibelius and Smetana.

The Nationalist Era Nationalism in music is a phenomenon of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Composers specifically wanted the music of their people -- their folk traditions -- contained within their compositions. This movement was particularly strong in what were regarded as secondary countries especially after the solidarity or unification of a number of "historically" prevalent people. Germany and Italy, for example, were unified for the first time during the last half of the nineteenth century, as distinct nations. Composers began taking pride in their origins and their nationalities. Accordingly they used folk melodies, folk elements and story-lines from the mythos of the people to inform their compositions. Such composers included Smetana, Dvorak, Grieg, Janacek, Sibelius, Holst, Ives and Vaughan Williams.

Twentieth Century Classical Twentieth century classical music takes us from the Romantic to aleatory techniques and from computer generated sounds to the sounds generated by an audience that has just had their ties clipped and toothpaste squeezed upon them. The Romantics can of course include Debussy who even experimented with polytonality -- two or more key signatures at once -- and some who experimented with pandiatonicism in which no accidentals are used. Aleatory techniques are highly experimental and seem to remove the composer from the process of composition. The twelve tone scales of Schoenberg and the Viennese grammatical school are included as elements in the musical scene of the Twentieth century. Where does one draw the line at defining or characterizing Twentieth century music? One does not, or, they risk credibility. Adoptions of jazz, eastern music and instrumentation as well as experimentation that has not even been cognized, are all aspects of Twentieth century music in the classical venue. Composers have included Schoenberg, Alkan, Berg, Vila-Lobos, Hindemith, Bartok, Dvorak, Debussy, Copland, Ives, Harris, Britten, and Barber but there is hardly a single defining characteristic which would include all of these people in the same category. The only characteristic that works in unifying these composers is temporal; they all have composed music in the twentieth century.

This article is a collage of brief introductions taken from All Music Guide.