European classical music

:This article is about the genre of classical music in the Western musical tradition. For articles on classical music of non-Western cultures, see: List of classical music traditions, For the period of music in the late 18th century see Classical music era,

The nature of classical music

Classical music is primarily a written musical tradition, preserved in music notation, as opposed to being transmitted orally, by rote, or in recordings. While differences between particular performances of a classical work are recognized, a work of classical music is generally held to transcend any particular performance of it. Works that are centuries old often are performed far more often than works recently composed. The use of notation is an effective vehicle for transmitting classical music because all active participants in the classical music tradition are able to read music and are schooled in both historical and contemporary performance practices. Normally, this ability comes from formal training, which usually begins with learning to play an instrument, and sometimes continues with instruction in music theory and composition. However, there are many passive participants in classical music who enjoy it without being able to read it or perform it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Classical music is meant to be experienced for its own sake. It is unlike other forms of music that serve merely as an adjunct to other forms of entertainment. Performances of classical music often take place in a relatively solemn atmosphere, with the audience expected to maintain silence and remain immobile during the performance, so that everyone can hear each note and nuance. The performers usually dress formally, a practice which is often taken as a gesture of respect for the music, and performers normally do not engage in casual banter or other direct involvement with the audience. Amateur private readings of chamber music are more informal home occasions.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Written transmission, along with the veneration bestowed on classical works, has important implications for the performance of classical music. To a fair degree, performers are expected to perform a work in a way that realizes the original intentions of the composer, which during the 19th century became stated ever more explicitly (down to the level of small, note-by-note details) in the score. Indeed, deviations from the composer's intentions are sometimes condemned as outright ethical lapses. Yet the opposite trend--admiration of performers for new "interpretations" of the composer's work, can be seen, and it is not unknown for a composer to praise a performer for achieving a better realization of the composer's original intent than the composer was able to imagine. Thus, classical music performers often achieve very high reputations for their musicianship, even if they do not compose themselves.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Classical composition often aspires to a very complex relationship between the affective (emotional) content of the music, and the idea content. There is, in the most esteemed works of Classical music, an intensive use of Musical development, the process by which a musical germ idea or motif is repeated in different contexts, or in altered form, so that the mind of the listener consciously or unconsciously compares the different versions. The classical genres of sonata form and fugue employ particularly rigorous forms of musical development. (See also History of sonata form)

Related Topics:
Emotional - Idea - Musical development - Sonata form - Fugue - History of sonata form

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Another consequence of the primacy of the composer's written score is that improvisation plays a relatively minor role in classical music--in sharp contrast to traditions like jazz, where improvisation is central. Improvisation in classical music performance was far more common during the Baroque era, and recently the performance of such music by modern classical musicians has been enriched by a revival of the old improvisational practices. During the Classical period, Mozart and Beethoven sometimes improvised the cadenzas to their piano concertos--but tended to write out the cadenzas when other soloists were to perform them.

Related Topics:
Improvisation - Jazz - Baroque - Mozart - Beethoven - Cadenza - Piano concerto

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Art music, concert music, and orchestral music are terms sometimes used as synonyms of classical music.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Complexity

Classical works are generally considered to display great musical complexity through heavy use of development, modulation (changing of keys), little outright repetition, and a wide use of musical phrases that are not default length--that is, four or eight bars long.

Related Topics:
Development - Modulation

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Also, in classical music very long works (30 minutes to three hours) may be built up hierarchically from smaller units (phrases, periods, sections, and movements). Structural levels are distinguished by Schenkerian analysis.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Emotional content

As with many fine art forms, classical music often aspires to communicate a quality of emotion which has a transcendant quality, expressing universals of the human condition. They argue that this deeper reserve of expression allows classical music to reach what has been called the "sublime" in art. Examples often cited in this argument are religious works such as the Masses of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven or Dvořák, or in works such as Beethoven's setting of Friedrich Schiller's poem, Ode to Joy, in the 9th symphony, which has often been used as a celebratory work at moments of national liberation or celebration, as in the Japanese practice of performing it to observe the New Year.

Related Topics:
Masses - Friedrich Schiller - Ode to Joy - Japanese

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Instruments

Classical and popular music are distinguished to some extent by their choice of instruments. For the most part, the instruments used in common practice classical music are nonelectrical and were invented prior to the mid-19th century (often, much earlier), and codified in the 18th and 19th centuries. They consist of the instruments found in an orchestra, together with a few other solo instruments (such as the piano, harpsichord, organ). The electric guitar plays an extremely prominent role in popular music, but naturally plays no role in classical music, and only appears occasionally in the classical music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Both classical and popular musicians have experimented for the last several decades with electrical or electronic instruments (for instance, the synthesizer or electronic tape), and instruments from other cultures (such as the gamelan).

Related Topics:
18th - 19th - Orchestra - Piano - Harpsichord - Organ - Electric guitar - Synthesizer - Gamelan

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Permanence

One criterion that might be said to distinguish classical music is staying power. For instance, some of the works of J. S. Bach are now almost 300 years old, yet they continue to be widely performed. In contrast, Big band music, a popular music genre of several decades ago, seems to be proving ephemeral in comparison.

Related Topics:
J. S. Bach - Big band

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bach had many contempories whose music was mediocre at best, and today their music is forgotten, surviving perhaps in libraries. The repertoire of classical music is skewed toward works recognized as excellent by listeners over long periods of time.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Influences between classical and popular music

Classical music has always been influenced or taken material from popular music. Examples include Erik Satie, Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera, and postminimalism, as well as much postmodern classical music.

Related Topics:
Erik Satie - Kurt Weill - The Threepenny Opera - Postminimalism - Postmodern

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Classical music and folk music

Composers of classical music have often made use of folk music, that is, music created by untutored musicians, spread by word of mouth. Often, they have done so with an explicit nationalist ideology; in other cases they have simply mined folk music for thematic material. See:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Béla Bartók
• Johannes Brahms
• Haydn and folk music
• Zoltán Kodály
• Bedřich Smetana
• Henry Cowell
• Ralph Vaughan Williams
• Hall Johnson