Musical Styles In The Western Era: 1600-1899

The Baroque Era

Dates: 1600-1730

Composers: Bach, Handel, Vivaldi

Features:

• Melodies with lots of ornamentation/trills.
• Patterns of notes used in sequences (same rhythm, at a lower/higher pitch).
• Strong bassline (cello/bassoon) and chords (harpsichord/organ/lute). These are the continuo - they played all the time.
• Orchestra - mainly strings.
• NO pianos, clarinets or saxophones
• Lots of scales/broken chords

The Classical Era

Dates: 1730-1830

Composers: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven

Features:

• Very structural phrasing
• Clear melody and accompaniment
• Orchestra sections - woodwind, brass, percussion (usually kettle drums) and strings.
• New instruments - piano and clarinet
• Valves in brass instruments gave them a bigger range of notes.

The Romantic Era

Dates: 1830-1899

Composers: Mendelssohn, Wagner, Tchaikowsky

Features:

• Long 'unending' melodies
• Wider range of notes
• Longer phrases - not so many cadences
• More 'colourful' chords - chromatic harmony used because composers enjoyed the sounds, rather than fitting them to a conventional pattern
• More variety in timbres
• Much wider range in dynamics - greater detail helping emotional feelings
• Detailed performance directions
• Larger instrumental and choral forces