Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach is one of the most crucial Baroque composers in music history. His mathematically crafted music still captivates listeners today.

Ludwig van Beethoven

Beethoven's music transcended the Classical period, showcasing a unique, emotional Romantic style, developed over three periods: his early, middle, and late years.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mozart was a highly prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. He showed prodigious musical ability from his earliest childhood and excelled on the keyboard and violin.

Frederic Chopin

Chopin's music, characterized by its virtuosic piano techniques, is regarded as masterpiece of Romanticism. More passion, more emotions, and more lyrical melodies.

Claude Debussy

Debussy's music, with its dreamy and atmospheric qualities, captured the essence of Impressionism. He intended to delineate the "impression" of a scene, instead of following traditional music rules.

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Rachmaninoff's lush harmonies, sweeping melodies, and virtuosic piano concertos solidified his position as a late Romantic master. Keywords: emotional depth and Russian styles


Timeline ⌛

Composers & Musicians

  • Hildegard von Bingen
  • Pope Gregory I

    • Medieval music encompasses the sacred and secular music of Western Europe during the Middle Ages. The pioneer of Medieval Music is Hildegard von Bingen , a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary. Medieval music includes liturgical music used for the church, and secular music, non-religious music; solely vocal music, such as Gregorian chant and choral music (music for a group of singers), solely instrumental music, and music that uses both voices and instruments (typically with the instruments accompanying the voices).

    Featured Music

    Gregorian Chant


    Medieval Instruments


    Music Videos

    Composers & Musicians

  • Josquin des Prez
  • William Byrd

    • Much of the rhythmic complexities of late medieval music lost favour amongst the new emerging Renaissance composers. Polyphony and counterpoint featured in both sacred and secular Renaissance music but the lines were sleeker and cadence points an increasingly important focus. This was gradually moving the harmonic attention towards the tonal system of keys we know today. For a great proportion of the Renaissance, modal music was commonplace and gives the era a unique sound quality now perhaps more associated with contemporary folk music. The music often contains intervals like the open fifth (ie: C - G), or fourths (C - F) but as the period progresses the third and sixth notes of the scale become accepted as musically appropriate to use. An even more clear line is drawn in the Renaissance between music for the Church (sacred) and music used at Court for example (secular).

    Featured Music

    William Byrd - Pavane by Lute


    Renaissance Instruments


    Music Videos

    Composers & Musicians

  • Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Antonio Vivaldi
  • George Frederic Handel

    • The Baroque saw the creation of common-practice tonality , an approach to writing music in which a song or piece is written in a particular key; this type of harmony has continued to be used extensively in Western classical and popular music. Baroque music is primarily characterized by its polyphonic texture , meaning that the music contains 2 or more independent melodic voices. In particular, Baroque music is known for its use of the counterpoint. The counterpoint is a pretty complex musical idea, but in simpler terms, counterpoint uses different, independent musical lines that sound harmonious when played together.

    Characteristics of Classical music include:

  • Polyphonic texture: multiple melodic lines in different voices
  • Unity of mood: each piece features a single emotion (i.e. a piece that begins happy will remain happy)
  • Continuity of rhythm: rhythmic patterns are often repeated throughout a piece
  • Repetition of melody: the melody is repeated; though it is distinct, it is not lyrical
  • Terraced dynamics: dynamics change suddenly rather than gradually Ornamentation (music flourishes, often fast notes, to decorate the main note)
  • Less use of instrumental music; large use of the harpsichord

    • Featured Music

    Bach's Invention No.1 in C Major


    Baroque Instruments


    Music Videos

    Composers & Musicians

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Joseph Haydn
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    • Music from the Classical period shifted away from the Baroque period's emphasis on polyphonic texture and more towards a single melody with accompaniment. This created music with less texture but with a more clearly defined melody.

    Characteristics of Classical music include:

  • Single melody with accompaniment: one voice carries the primary melody while another voice plays a simpler line that supports the melody
  • Larger variety of keys, melodies, rhythms, and dynamics
  • More contrast in a piece
  • Shorter, clearer melodies than in Baroque music
  • More emphasis on instrumental music
  • Primary forms of composition: sonata, trio, string quartet, symphony, concerto

    • Featured Music

    Mozart's Piano Sonata No.11


    Classical Instruments


    Music Videos

    Composers & Musicians

  • Frederic Chopin
  • Franz Schubert
  • Franz Liszt
  • Sergei Rachmaninoff
  • Claude Debussy
    (Impressionism)
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    • Music from the Romantic period is characterized by its much greater passion and expression than that of earlier periods. Romantic works display an expansion of form (like the key and instrumentation of a piece).
    Characteristics of Romantic music include:

  • Freer form and more personal expression of emotion
  • Emphasis on lyrical melodies and themes
  • More modulation (change in key) to unexpected keys: the overall effect of this is that it is harder for the listener to predict what will happen next in the piece
  • More chromaticism and scales other than major/minor
  • Greater variety in pitch, dynamics, and rhythm
  • Less traditional chord progressions
  • Program music(piece's title came up by composer, not by keys and scales): more pieces inspired by literary/artistic sources. For example: Claude Debussy's The Sunken Cathedral (derived from French legend).
  • Greater emphasis on nationalism: many composers infused cultural songs or dances into their works. For example, Chopin's Heroic Polonaise (Op. 53 in A Flat Major), which describes the marching of Polish army.

    • Featured Music

    Chopin's Nocturne Op.9 No.2


    Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No.2


    Debussy's Claire de Lune


    Romantic Instruments

    Music Videos

    Composers & Musicians

  • Sergei Prokofiev (Neoclassicism)
  • Igor Stravinsky (Neoclassicism)
  • Philip Glass (Minimalism)
  • John Cage (Experimentalism)

    • The most conspicuous differentiation between classical music in the Contemporary period and in previous periods is the shift in tone. Whereas music from the Common Practice Period was largely tonal, much Contemporary music is atonal . Contemporary classical music can be divided into:

    20th-century Contemporary Classical Music:
  • Varies greatly, no dominant style
  • Increased use of dissonance

    • 21st-century Contemporary Classical Music:
  • Huge variety in style, which include minimalism, experimentalism
  • Contains a variety of influences, from world music to technology
  • Many classical composers have written for film scores. For example, Philip Glass wrote "Truman Sleeps" in the film "Truman's Show", which later became a masterpiece of his work in minimalism.

    • Featured Music

    Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.3, 2nd movement

    Music Videos