Classical music
Periods of European art music
Early
Medieval
(500–1400)
Renaissance
(1400–1600)
Baroque
(1600–1760)
Common practice
Baroque
(1600–1760)
Classical
(1730–1820)
Romantic
(1815–1910)
Modern and contemporary
20th century
(1900–2000)
Contemporary
(1975–present)
Classical music is a broad term that usually
refers to mainstream music produced in, or
rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical
and secular music, encompassing a broad
period from roughly the 9th century to
present times.[1] The central norms of this
tradition became codified between 1550 and
1900, which is known as the common prac-
tice period.
European music is largely distinguished
from many other non-European and popular
musical forms by its system of staff notation,
in use since about the 16th century.[2]
Western staff notation is used by composers
to prescribe to the performer the pitch,
speed, meter, individual rhythms and exact
execution of a piece of music. This leaves less
room for practices, such as improvisation and
ad libitum ornamentation, that are frequently
heard in non-European art music (compare
Indian classical music and Japanese tradition-
al music) and popular music.[3][4][5]
The public taste for and appreciation of
formal music of this type waned in the late
1900s in the United States and United King-
dom in particular.[6] Certainly this period has
seen classical music falling well behind the
immense commercial success of popular mu-
sic, in the opinion of some, although the num-
ber of CDs sold is not indicative of the pop-
ularity of classical music.[7]
The term "classical music" did not appear
until the early 19th century, in an attempt to
"canonize" the period from Johann Sebastian
Bach to Beethoven as a golden age.[8] The
earliest reference to "classical music" recor-
ded by the Oxford English Dictionary is from
about 1836.[9][10] Many writers feel that
"classical" is an inappropriate term for main-
stream and avant-garde music written since
the latter part of the 19th century; hence the
common usage of scare quo