Editing History of music (section)

===Western classical music===
{{Main|Western classical music}}

====Renaissance====
{{Main|Renaissance music}}
{{see also|List of Renaissance composers}}
[[File:DufayBinchois.jpg|thumb|[[Guillaume Du Fay]] (left), with [[Gilles Binchois]] (right) in a {{circa|1440}} [[Illuminated manuscript]] copy of [[Martin le Franc|Martin le Franc's]] ''Le champion des dames'']]

The beginning of the Renaissance in music is not as clearly marked as the beginning of the Renaissance in the other arts, and unlike in the other arts, it did not begin in [[Italy]], but in northern Europe, specifically in the area currently comprising central and northern [[France]], the [[Netherlands]], and [[Belgium]]. The style of the [[Burgundian school|Burgundian]] composers, as the first generation of the [[Dutch School (music)|Franco-Flemish]] school is known, was at first a reaction against the excessive complexity and mannered style of the late 14th century ''[[ars subtilior]]'', and contained clear, singable melody and balanced [[polyphony]] in all voices. The most famous composers of the Burgundian school in the mid-15th century are [[Guillaume Dufay]], [[Gilles Binchois]], and [[Antoine Busnois]].

By the middle of the 15th century, composers and singers from the [[Low Countries]] and adjacent areas began to spread across Europe, especially into Italy, where they were employed by the papal chapel and the aristocratic patrons of the arts (such as the [[Medici]], the [[House of Este|Este]], and the [[Sforza]] families). They carried their style with them: smooth polyphony which could be adapted for sacred or secular use as appropriate. Principal forms of sacred musical composition at the time were the [[mass (music)|mass]], the [[motet]], and the [[laude]]; secular forms included the [[chanson]], the [[frottola]], and later the [[madrigal (music)|madrigal]].

The invention of [[printing]] had an immense influence on the dissemination of musical styles, and along with the movement of the Franco-Flemish musicians, contributed to the establishment of the first truly international style in European music since the unification of Gregorian chant under Charlemagne.{{Citation needed|date=February 2018}} Composers of the middle generation of the Franco-Flemish school included [[Johannes Ockeghem]], who wrote music in a contrapuntally complex style, with varied texture and an elaborate use of [[canon (music)|canonical]] devices; [[Jacob Obrecht]], one of the most famous composers of masses in the last decades of the 15th century; and [[Josquin des Prez]], probably the most famous composer in Europe before [[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina|Palestrina]], and who during the 16th century was renowned as one of the greatest artists in any form. Music in the generation after Josquin explored increasing complexity of [[counterpoint]]; possibly the most extreme expression is in the music of [[Nicolas Gombert]], whose contrapuntal complexities influenced early instrumental music, such as the [[canzona]] and the [[ricercar]], ultimately culminating in [[Baroque music|Baroque]] [[fugue|fugal]] forms.

By the middle of the 16th century, the international style began to break down, and several highly diverse stylistic trends became evident: a trend towards simplicity in sacred music, as directed by the [[Counter-Reformation]] [[Council of Trent]], exemplified in the music of [[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina]]; a trend towards complexity and [[chromaticism]] in the madrigal, which reached its extreme expression in the [[avant-garde]] style of the [[Ferrara School]] of [[Luzzasco Luzzaschi|Luzzaschi]] and the late century madrigalist [[Carlo Gesualdo]]; and the grandiose, sonorous music of the [[Venetian School (music)|Venetian school]], which used the architecture of the Basilica [[San Marco di Venezia]] to create [[polychoral|antiphonal]] contrasts. The music of the Venetian school included the development of [[orchestration]], ornamented instrumental parts, and [[basso continuo|continuo]] bass parts, all of which occurred within a span of several decades around 1600. Famous composers in [[Venice]] included the Gabrielis, [[Andrea Gabrieli|Andrea]] and [[Giovanni Gabrieli|Giovanni]], as well as [[Claudio Monteverdi]], one of the most significant innovators at the end of the era.

[[File:Mensuralnotation-Missa papae marcelli.jpg|thumb|Sheet music for part of the ''[[Missa Papae Marcelli]]'' by [[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina]]]]
Most parts of Europe had active and well-differentiated musical traditions by late in the century. In England, composers such as [[Thomas Tallis]] and [[William Byrd]] wrote sacred music in a style similar to that written on the continent, while an active group of home-grown madrigalists adapted the Italian form for English tastes: famous composers included [[Thomas Morley]], [[John Wilbye]] and [[Thomas Weelkes]]. Spain developed instrumental and vocal styles of its own, with [[Tomás Luis de Victoria]] writing refined music similar to that of Palestrina, and numerous other composers writing for the new guitar. Germany cultivated polyphonic forms built on the Protestant [[chorale]]s, which replaced the Roman Catholic Gregorian Chant as a basis for sacred music, and imported the style of the Venetian school (the appearance of which defined the start of the Baroque era there). In addition, Dutch and German composers, particularly [[Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck]], wrote enormous amounts of [[organ (music)|organ]] music, establishing the basis for the later Baroque organ style which culminated in the work of [[Johann Sebastian Bach|J.S. Bach]]. France developed a unique style of musical diction known as [[musique mesurée]], used in secular chansons, with composers such as [[Guillaume Costeley]] and [[Claude Le Jeune]] prominent in the movement.

One of the most revolutionary movements in the era took place in Florence in the 1570s and 1580s, with the work of the [[Florentine Camerata]], who ironically had a reactionary intent: dissatisfied with what they saw as contemporary musical depravities, their goal was to restore the music of the ancient Greeks. Chief among them were [[Vincenzo Galilei]], the father of the astronomer, and [[Giulio Caccini]]. The fruits of their labors was a declamatory melodic singing style known as [[monody]], and a corresponding staged dramatic form: a form known today as [[opera]]. The first operas, written around 1600, also define the end of the Renaissance and the beginning of the Baroque eras.

Music prior to 1600 was [[musical mode|modal]] rather than [[Tonality|tonal]]. Several theoretical developments late in the 16th century, such as the writings on scales on [[mode (music)|modes]] by [[Gioseffo Zarlino]] and [[Franchinus Gaffurius]], led directly to the development of common practice tonality. The major and minor scales began to predominate over the old [[church modes]], a feature which was at first most obvious at cadential points in compositions, but gradually became pervasive. Music after 1600, beginning with the tonal music of the Baroque era, is often referred to as belonging to the [[common practice period]].

====Baroque====
{{Main|Baroque music}}
{{see also|List of Baroque composers}}
{{Listen
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|filename=Toccata et Fugue BWV565.ogg
|title=Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 by J.S. Bach
|description=Performed by Ashtar Moïra
}}
[[File:Johann Sebastian Bach.jpg|thumb|upright=0.5|[[J. S. Bach]]]]
The Baroque era took place from 1600 to 1750, as the [[Baroque|Baroque artistic style]] flourished across Europe and, during this time, music expanded in its range and complexity. Baroque music began when the first operas (dramatic solo vocal music accompanied by orchestra) were written. During the Baroque era, [[polyphony|polyphonic]] [[Counterpoint|contrapuntal]] music, in which multiple, simultaneous independent melody lines were used, remained important (counterpoint was important in the vocal music of the medieval era).{{Clarify|date=April 2018}}<!--But not in the Renaissance? Or what?--> German, Italian, French, Dutch, Polish, Spanish, Portuguese, and English Baroque composers wrote for small [[Musical ensemble|ensembles]] including [[String section|strings]], [[Brass instrument|brass]], and [[Woodwind instrument|woodwinds]], as well as for [[choir]]s and keyboard instruments such as [[organ (music)|pipe organ]], [[harpsichord]], and [[clavichord]]. During this period several major music forms were defined that lasted into later periods when they were expanded and evolved further, including the [[fugue]], the [[Invention (musical composition)|invention]], the [[sonata]], and the concerto.<ref name="sdsu">{{Cite web |last1=Thornburgh |first1=Elaine |author-link=Elaine Thornburgh |last2=Logan |first2=Jack |title=Baroque Music |url=http://trumpet.sdsu.edu/M345/Baroque_Music1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905175129/http://trumpet.sdsu.edu/M345/Baroque_Music1.html |archive-date=5 September 2015 |access-date=27 October 2015 |publisher=trumpet.sdsu.edu}}</ref> The late Baroque style was polyphonically complex and richly ornamented. Important composers from the Baroque era include [[Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck]], [[Johann Sebastian Bach]], [[Arcangelo Corelli]], [[François Couperin]], [[Girolamo Frescobaldi]], [[George Frideric Handel]], [[Jean-Baptiste Lully]], [[Jean-Philippe Rameau]], [[Claudio Monteverdi]], [[Georg Philipp Telemann]], [[Domenico Scarlatti]] and [[Antonio Vivaldi]].

====Classical====
{{Main|Classical period (music)}}
{{see also|List of Classical-era composers}}
{{multiple image
| perrow            = 2
| total_width       = 300
| image1            = Joseph Haydn.jpg
| image2            = Wolfgang-amadeus-mozart 1.jpg
| image3            = Joseph Karl Stieler's Beethoven mit dem Manuskript der Missa solemnis.jpg
| image4            = Franz Schubert by Wilhelm August Rieder 1875 larger version.png
| footer            = The principal composers of the [[Classical period (music)|Classical]] period and the [[Transition from Classical to Romantic music|transition to Romanticism]], collectively known as the [[First Viennese School]]. Clockwise, from top left: [[Joseph Haydn]] ([[Thomas Hardy (English painter)|Hardy]], 1791); [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] ([[Johann Nepomuk della Croce|della Croce]], 1781); [[Ludwig van Beethoven]] ([[Joseph Karl Stieler|Stieler]], 1820); and [[Franz Schubert]] ([[Wilhelm August Rieder|Rieder]], 1875).
}}

The music of the [[Classical period (music)|Classical period]] is characterized by [[homophonic texture]], or an obvious [[melody]] with [[accompaniment]]. These new melodies tended to be almost voice-like and singable, allowing composers to actually replace singers as the focus of the music. Instrumental music therefore quickly replaced [[opera]] and other sung forms (such as [[oratorio]]) as the favorite of the musical audience and the epitome of great composition. However, opera did not disappear: during the classical period, several composers began producing operas for the general public in their native languages (previous operas were generally in Italian).

Along with the gradual displacement of the voice in favor of stronger, clearer melodies, counterpoint also typically became a decorative flourish, often used near the end of a work or for a single [[Movement (music)|movement]]. In its stead, simple patterns, such as arpeggios and, in piano music, [[Alberti bass]] (an accompaniment with a repeated pattern typically in the left hand), were used to liven the movement of the piece without creating a confusing additional voice. The now-popular instrumental music was dominated by several well-defined forms: the [[sonata (music)|sonata]], the [[symphony]], and the [[concerto]], though none of these were specifically defined or taught at the time as they are now in [[music theory]]. All three derive from [[sonata form]], which is both the overlying form of an entire work and the structure of a single movement. Sonata form matured during the Classical era to become the primary form of instrumental compositions throughout the 19th century.

The early Classical period was ushered in by the [[Mannheim School]], which included such composers as [[Johann Stamitz]], [[Franz Xaver Richter]], [[Carl Stamitz]], and [[Christian Cannabich]]. It exerted a profound influence on [[Joseph Haydn]] and, through him, on all subsequent European music. [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] was the central figure of the Classical period, and his phenomenal and varied output in all genres defines our perception of the period. [[Ludwig van Beethoven]] and [[Franz Schubert]] were transitional composers, leading into the Romantic period, with their expansion of existing genres, forms, and even functions of music.

====Romantic====
{{Main|Romantic music}}
{{see also|List of Romantic composers}}
[[File:Robert u Clara Schumann 1847.jpg|thumb|upright=0.5|[[Clara Schumann|Clara]] and [[Robert Schumann]]]]
In the Romantic period, music became more expressive and emotional, expanding to encompass literature, art, and philosophy. Famous early Romantic composers include [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]], [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]], [[Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]], [[Vincenzo Bellini|Bellini]], [[Gaetano Donizetti|Donizetti]], and [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]]. The late 19th century saw a dramatic expansion in the size of the [[orchestra]], and in the role of concerts as part of [[urban culture|urban]] society. Famous composers from the second half of the century include [[Johann Strauss II]], [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]], [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]], [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]], [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]], and [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]. Between 1890 and 1910, a third wave of composers including [[Edvard Grieg|Grieg]], [[Antonín Dvořák|Dvořák]], [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]], [[Richard Strauss]], [[Giacomo Puccini|Puccini]], and [[Jean Sibelius|Sibelius]] built on the work of middle Romantic composers to create even more complex&nbsp;– and often much longer&nbsp;– musical works. A prominent mark of late 19th-century music is its nationalistic fervor, as exemplified by such figures as Dvořák, Sibelius, and Grieg. Other prominent late-century figures include [[Camille Saint-Saëns|Saint-Saëns]], [[Gabriel Fauré|Fauré]], [[Sergei Rachmaninoff|Rachmaninoff]], [[César Franck|Franck]], [[Claude Debussy|Debussy]] and [[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov|Rimsky-Korsakov]].