Four periods of Western music

The Period of Religious Music

Classical music in Europe developed during the Elizabethan period of the Middle Ages, a period dominated by Gregorian religious music.

The worship and belief in Christianity was nothing like this at the time. The power of the church in Europe during the medieval period was higher than the state and all social situations, and religion was a direct influence on politics and music. So the music of that time was only purely for religious purposes, sung in churches and not accompanied by musical instruments, but the music of this period played a very important role in the later development of music.

The Renaissance period

After 1450, Europe entered the Renaissance period, because Europe was politically unstable at that time, and the prestige and power of the church had gradually weakened, and the bourgeoisie began to sprout. In order to adapt to the development of society and people's new ideas at that time, the Renaissance movement began in all fields of music and culture.

During this period, traditional European music began to take shape. Music at this time also not only religious music, secular music also began to produce, a variety of musical instruments also produced and enriched a lot, for the upcoming baroque music period to make the pavement.

The Baroque period

The Baroque period (c. 1600-1750) was an important early form of classical music, characterized by polyphonic music, ornate and complex. Although Baroque music has broken through the complete order and innocence of religious music and become richer in expression, the music of this period is still influenced by a lot of religious music throughout the development of classical music, revealing an austere atmosphere.

But the music of the Baroque period became more liberalized in relation to previous forms of music, and the emergence of various musical genres and the maturation of instruments gave the music of the period a special flavor that was sought after by future generations.

Musicians in the Baroque period were numerous and far more prolific than in modern times. The most important figures in the Baroque era would be the musicians Handel, Vivaldi, and Bach.

Hendel and Bach were both known for the keyboard instruments of the era, the organ and the harpsichord, but composed in slightly different forms. Handel accomplished more in opera, while Bach always concentrated on various instrumental compositions, leaving a large number of classic instrumental works for posterity. Violin music of this period is close to maturity, and Vivaldi's contribution cannot be ignored.

The Classical Period

The end of the Baroque Era was marked by Bach's death, and then came the Classical Period (c. 1750-1820). The music of this period inherited the achievements of the European tradition of polyphony and tonal music, and established important musical forms such as the sonata, concerto, and symphony, and chamber music was also developed during this period, which had an important influence on the development of music afterward.

The music of the Classical period was relatively rigorous, inheriting the rationality of the Baroque era, but incorporating more of people's emotions, and achieving unity among the two. Therefore, the music of the classical period is richer in content, with the integration of musical art.

The Romantic Period

After 1820, with the end of the Classical period, Romantic music began to sprout. The music of this period was much richer in form, and was the closest to modernity of the peak of classical art, and most of the most acceptable classical music came from this period.

Romantic music has paid more attention to the human spirit and subjective emotional expression, the performance of natural scenery is more prominent, the use of ethnic and folk music is more frequent, can be said to be a real tendency to the masses.

Expanded information

Western music to the lyre, aulos as the symbol of music emblem. The seven-stringed lyre, also known as the lila, was originally made of tortoise strings and was plucked by finger plectrums to produce sound, and in the course of its development there have been many variations, the most important of which is the kithara.

The Kithara belongs to the Lira family of musical instruments, developed from the Lira, with 5 strings to 11 strings or even more ranging from 7 strings, also known as the 7-stringed zither, the Kithara zither is larger in shape, the sound is also louder than the average Lira, often well-designed, exquisitely decorated, due to the complexity of the playing skills are more difficult to understand, often used by professional performers. The common lira sound is relatively soft, often used for singing accompaniment and poetry chanting, mostly for amateur professionals like to use.

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