Historical periods in WCT

1. Periodization in classical music

2.  Medieval (??? – 1400)
 Renaissance (1400-1600)
 Baroque (1600-1750)
 Classical (1750-1830)
 Romantic (1830-1920)
 Modern (1920-??)

3.  Innovation
 Shifts in Cultural Attitudes
 Technology
 Boredom

4.  “Middle Ages” or “Dark Ages”
 Domination of Church and Court
 Societal divisions
 Wealth or poverty
 Well-schooled or not at all

5.  Sacred music
 Courtly love songs
 Dance pieces
Key Characteristics: Monophonic, Dominated by Church and Court

7.  Ancient Greek & Roman ideals
 Humanism
 Learning, Literacy, Exploration

8.  Rich harmony
 Close relationship with text
 Mostly a capella, but…
 Also dance pieces
Key Characteristics: a Capella harmony, text-driven

9. Josquin des Prez
(1440-1521)

10. Handel & Bach

11.  Light & Shade
 Perspective
 Active rather than static
 Contrast

16.  Absolute Monarchs
(Louis XIV)
 Elaborate palaces,
clothing, habits, and
music

17.  Dramatic shifts in dynamics, other elements
 Highly active texture
 Frilly, fussy melodies

18. Haydn & Mozart

19.  Kant’s “Moral Law Within”
 Equal Rights
 Social Reform
 Democracy
 Interest in common good

20.  Music for General Public
 Public Concerts
 Simple, immediately pleasing, balanced
 Generalized emotion, not individual

21. Romanticism (1830-1920)
Berlioz, Liszt, Brahms

22.  Individual Truth
 Nature and the Supernatural
 Longing for the unattainable

23.  Pushed boundaries
 Freelance composing
 Artist as hero, Artist as outsider

24.  Reconsideration of established forms
 Musical storytelling
 Fragments & Monoliths
 Expanded harmonies, unbalanced melodies,
rhythmic freedom, internal logic

26.  20th Century
 Extreme fragmentation of styles
 Reconsideration of inherited tradition
 Influence of popular music

27.  Impressionism
 Expressionism
 Abstraction / Experimentation

32.  Minimalism
 Polystylism