Music has been around for centuries, from the very beginning of the time of man to our present day. When most people think of classical music, they include all periods of the Western music history, except for the popular music which started to develop in the 20th century. The Western music history is, however, devided into several periods of which the Classical period, followed by the Romantic period is central in today’s music world.
Early Music is a standard term, which usually refers to the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods of Western music. We generally define early music as a period ending when the Baroque period came to a halt in 1750, following the death of Johannes Bach. However, there is such an extraordinary array of prehistoric and ancient music, which is generally referred to as primitive. This primitive music was given the name because it was considered to have been produced in preliterate cultures. Following that, ancient music began its new path in 1500s Europe, where it received an extensive influx of composition and influence.
The oldest song known was written in cuneiform, and dates over 4000 years old. Deciphered by a University of California at Berkeley professor, it was shown to be composed in harmonies of thirds, while using a Pythagorean tuning of a diatonic scale. Ancient Greek music was also discovered, through ancient drawings and ancient writings, which describes the musical technique at the time. This technique shows very strong indications of polyphony, as well as an introduction to stringed instruments. Today, early music describes European classical music from approximately 476 AD until the end of the Baroque era. The music that was written and performed during this time encompasses so many different cultural as well as musical traditions, sadly, very little is known about it.
Ancient music
The only music that is known to have survived from before 800 is the music of the Roman Catholic Church. This is commonly referred to as the Gregorian chant, named after Pope Gregory I. Although it was named after Pope Gregory I, it is believed that the Gregorian chant was composed by many people in the centuries of time between Gregory and Charlemagne. In the ninth century, the church attempted to unify chant traditions, and attempted to suppress the non-Gregorian liturgy. At this time, is the first polyphonic music was sung by different nations. In addition, during the same century, notation was reinvented. Soon after, several schools of polyphony began cropping up across Europe around 1100. They included schools of organum, polyphony, secular song and eventually began their secular music of the early Renaissance period.
Renaissance
The Renaissance period was an exemplary time in the history of music, because there came the ideas, forms and musical aesthetic that had largely been exterminated in the early 13th century. Although the Renaissance period in music is not clearly defined, it began in northern Europe around France, the Netherlands and Belgium. It gained renown as a clear and balanced polyphony, versus the overly complex style of the late 14th century. This led to more composers from the Low Countries who were able to adapt this new, smooth polyphony to either secular or sacred use. With the invention of printing, this had an extraordinary influence on musical styling, which led to middle generation composers to write their music in a varied texture, complex styles and intricate canonical methods. Although may increasingly popular by the likes of Albrecht, Gombert, and des Prez, by the middle of the 16th century, this style began to break down. It began to reveal an increasingly diverse trend of style in sacred music, increased complexity and chromaticism in the Madrigal, all the way to the sonorous and grand music created by the Venetian school. The Venetian school also instituted a new development of orchestrated and ornamental instrumental parts. Some of the more famous composers of the time included Giovanni, Andrea and Monteverdi.
Baroque
Later in the century, most of Europe had developed differentiated traditions, which paved the way for sacred music composers such as Tallis and Byrd, as well as Madrigalists the adapted the music to their own tastes. Most composers of the time wrote a lot of organ music, and used polyphonic forms that were based on Protestant chorales, as well as writing music for guitar. This increase in writing of organ music established the basis for the renowned Baroque style as well as the uniquely French musical diction that was used in secular chants by such composers as Costeley and Le Jeune. After 1600, music started becoming tonal rather than modal. This led the way to the development of tonality, major scales, minor scales, and cadential points within compositions. This led to more instrumental music, definition of major music forms and the rich and glorious creation of the compositions of Bach, Vivaldi and Handel of the Baroque period.