Classical music

The term "classical music" is usually used in English to describe the art music of a culture. This article is about the classical music of Western culture: for articles on the classical music of other cultures, see classical music (disambiguation)

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In a Western context, classical music is generally a classification covering music composed and performed by professionally-trained artists with strong theoretical background behind them, and relatively rigidly programmed.

Art music is a term widely used to describe classical music and other serious forms of artistic musical expression. Especially referring to serious music composed after 1950.

In music history there is a slightly more specific meaning of the term classical music, meaning music from a period in musical history covering approximately Haydn to Beethoven -- roughly the second half of the 18th century. When used in this sense, the initial C of Classical music is sometimes capitalised to avoid confusion. An article about this era can be found at Classical Music Era. This article is about the more general usage.

Competent performances of a classical work tend to be similar since there is a strong emphasis in reflecting as much as possible the original idea of the composer, whereas popular music is far more improvisational. The terminology has since been extended to other cultures, so that one can also speak of, for example, classical Chinese music.

Some fans of classical music claim that the major difference between classical music and popular works is that between art and light entertainment. This is doubtful, since many "popular" works show a high level of artistry and musical innovation and many "classical" works are unashamedly crowd-pleasing. Classical music also has a far smaller audience than popular music. This can partly be attributed to many economic, cultural and educational factors extrinsic to the music.

Classical music is still very popular when applied in film scores however, and film's have an important role in introducing people to classical music.

Classical music's canon contains works from hundreds of years of composition, and from this some of the most revolutionary, representative, and superior works of this extensive, well-preserved selection can be enjoyed today with confidence that they sound very similar to performances in the composer's time. Popular music, because of the lack (until relatively recently) of comparable institutional memory, does not have the same tradition of preserving intact its works and places a much greater emphasis on the contemporary. However, with at least 75 years of the existence of audio recordings of popular music's greatest performers, and extensive theoretical studies of popular music techniques and history having developed, such a distinction is becoming harder and harder to make. One may wonder whether this will eventually lead to older forms of popular music becoming regarded as part of the classical repertoire.

Classical and popular music are distinguished to some extent by their choice of instruments. The instruments used by classical music are mostly those found in an orchestra, together with a few other solo instruments (piano, organ, etc.). Instruments invented in the twentieth century or outside western musical traditions (for instance, bass guitar, synthesizer, and didgeridoo) are rarely used.

Classical music forms include the symphony, opera, concerto and chamber music.

The term "classical" in musical circles is used to distinguish the period between the Baroque and Romantic. In this sense classical music begins approximately with Haydn and Mozart and ends with Beethoven encompassing most of the late 18th century. It is distinguished by the use of dynamic contrasts to accent suspension and return to the tonic. Earlier composers did not have as many tools of dynamic contrast; later composers found more varied uses for those tools.

Classical-period music is distinguishable from Baroque music by its plainness of style, without the heavy and complex Baroque figurations, and from Romantic music by its general emotional coolness and its regularity of form. Classical music was written specifically for the sake of music; there is no grand design or no emotion built into it. Forms pioneered in the classical period include the symphony, and the concerto saw considerable development.

Also in the classical period there were many operas and concertos composed by famous musicians such as Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn - who started writing and composing at age 8. Those three are the most favored composers of the classical period. All started very young and were only greatly appreciated long after their death. Except for the fact that their fathers also composed, they were not well known to everyone until their greatest works (which in two cases were completed just before their death).

Classical music (with a small c) is often referred to as "serious music," especially in the academic sense or whenever new music of its kind is presented.

more forms?

more/better description needed, is anyone a Music major?

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Commonly denotes the "art," nonfolk musical traditions of Western Europe. Styles have developed by era which are characteristic of the time for instrument use, predominant musicality, etc.

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• Early Music
  • Medieval Music
  • Renaissance Music
  • Baroque Music
• Classical Music Era
• Romantic period in music
• Impressionist Music
• Expressionist Music[?]
• Nationalism
• Modern Classical Music
• Contemporary Music[?]
• Film Music[?]

Some musical terms that come from the study and history of Western Classical music include:

• Polyphony
• Tonality[?]
• Atonality
• Musical tuning
• Counterpoint
• Timbre
• Melody
• Harmony
• Rhythm
• Musical form[?]
• Musical Interpretation
• Musical voices[?]
• Musical color[?]
• Tone Row

Competitions for classical music

List of classical composers

Classical music of non-Western cultures includes:

• Indian classical music - The origins of Indian classical music can be found from the oldest of scriptures the Vedas. Saamaveda, one of the four vedas describes music at length. Medival classification of Indian Classical Music can be done broadly into two categories...
  • Carnatic music - This music tradition from South India is replete with songs eulogizing various Hindu Gods(predominantly Vishnu and his incarnations) or the Vedic spirit. In short Bhakthi[?] is the key element. Saint Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar[?] and Syama Sastry[?] are regarded as the trinity of carnatic music. Semmangudi[?] Srinivasa Iyer, MS Subbulakshmi, Mangalampalli BalaMuraliKrishna[?], DK Pattammal[?] are the arts' greatest living performers.
  • Hindustani music[?] - This one from North India is predominantly more liberal than it's south Indian counterpart. The prime themes of Hindustani music are Rasleela[?] of Krishna and the Nature in all its splendour. Pt.Bhimsen Joshi[?], Pt.Ravi Shankar[?], Pt.Hariprasad Chaurasia[?] and Zakir Hussain[?] are the arts' great living performers.