The period from the mid-15th century to about 1600 is usually subdivided into three ages: early, from about 1425 to 1490, the age of Guillaume Dufay and Jean d'Okeghem; high (1490-1520), the age of Josquin des Prez; and late, the age of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. The period before 1550 has also been called the age of the Netherlanders, from the leading role played by composers of present-day Belgium, The Netherlands, and northern France. In the last half of the 16th century the mainstream of European polyphony was also represented by nationals other than the Italian Palestrina especially William Byrd in England, Tomas Luis de Victoria in Spain, the Netherlander Orlando di Lasso in Germany, and Philippe de Monte in Austria.

The period from the mid-15th to the 17th century marked an amalgamation of the Netherlanders' and Italians' techniques, culminating in the music of Josquin. His influence was felt for the remainder of the era. In his works the elaborate polyphony of the north and the chordal, harmonically controlled style of the south are fused into a rich and expressive language the perfect union of words and music.

The Italian madrigal was a relative latecomer in the Renaissance, the term in a title first appearing in 1530. It was intended as a return to an elevated style from antiquity but drew on the contemporary style of the sacred motet and on Josquin's sonorous chansons. The Netherlanders predominated at first, and it was not until the middle of the century that Italian composers began to contribute with a new and detailed expressiveness. It influenced all national secular part songs but found a special naturalized home in Elizabethan England with such composers as Byrd, Thomas Morley, John Wilbye, Thomas Weelkes, Orlando Gibbons, and Thomas Tomkins.

During the Renaissance, instrumental music freed itself from its dependence on vocal models and emerged as an individual style. Although it continued to be composed "apt for voices or viols," as the Elizabethans put it, music developed that reflected the capabilities of performers and the technical possibilities of instruments.Back

The period from about 1600 to 1750 is known as the baroque era. Music, like the architecture and painting of the time, was designed on a grand scale. Several developments brought music close to its modern forms. One was the birth of opera.

'Dafne', a poem by Ottavio Rinuccini set to music by the Florentine composer Jacopo Peri, was first performed in 1597. Three years later the same artists collaborated on 'Euridice'. Impressed by this work, Claudio Monteverdi enlarged opera's scope and variety with his 'Orfeo', which marked the beginning of opera as it is known today. Later the Italian-born Jean-Baptiste Lully, the first major composer of ballet music, became known as the "father of French opera."

Another innovation of the baroque period was the oratorio a work written for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra. This had a religious subject and was presented without theatrical action. The Latin oratorios of Giacomo Carissimi were as significant as the operatic works of Monteverdi.

The baroque age brought an increased interest in instrumental music. Keyboard instruments including the clavichord, harpsichord, and organ were in general use. Memorable works for these instruments were written by such composers as Domenico Scarlatti, Francois Couperin, and Jean-Philippe Rameau.

Stringed instruments became more popular through the innovations in design effected by the Amati family and by Antonio Stradivari, who began making violins as the Amatis' apprentice. Arcangelo Corelli gave the violin a new emphasis in the concerto grosso music for a small group of solo instruments playing in alternation with the full orchestra. Other composers for strings were Giuseppe Tartini, notable for the baroque solo sonata, and Antonio Vivaldi.

In the works of Henry Purcell in England, the Italian and French styles merged with the English madrigal tradition. Notable was his instrumental music and his opera 'Dido and Aeneas'. There was a gradual eclipse of the old church modes upon which Western music until that time had been based. Two of them the modes known as the Greek Ionian and Aeolian became the major and minor scales familiar in present-day Western music.

These developments of the baroque era culminated in the works of two giants of the time Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. Both were born in Germany in 1685. Back

In the second half of the 18th century music found new and important expression in the works of the Austrian composers Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In contrast to the grand works of the baroque era, the compositions of the classical period were dignified, emotionally restrained, and marked by great clarity. In place of the intricate texture of the polyphonic works, music now tended to be more homophonic having a single predominant melody, with a chordal accompaniment.

A pioneer composer of the period was Christoph Willibald Gluck. Ridding the operatic form of its excesses, Gluck increased the importance of the orchestra and permitted the choruses to summarize the events of the story. His first work using the new techniques was 'Orfeo ed Euridice'. Back

Influenced by the literature and painting of the era, 19th-century music was marked by intensely personal expressions of emotion. In order to assert their individuality with greater freedom, composers disregarded the confines of set forms. They enjoyed writing music that was more pictorial than earlier works and often attempted to imitate nature.

The new compositions often lacked the cheerfulness of the classical era. In the quest for self-expression, composers of the Romantic period were imbued with a solemn concern for detail. Great German composers of the age were Franz Schubert and Felix Mendelssohn sometimes called romantic classicists and Robert Schumann.

Schubert

Although Schubert died at 32, he wrote more than 600 songs. They represented a new kind of musical expression that he did much to perfect the art song, or lied, in which there is perfect artistic balance between the solo voice and the piano accompaniment. The art song differs from the folk song in that it is often based upon the text of a poem and conveys subtle shades of emotion and feeling.

Schubert, a melodic genius, also wrote symphonies, chamber music, piano music, masses, and operas. His most famous symphony is the 'Unfinished'.

Mendelssohn

A leading conductor and concert pianist as well as a composer, Mendelssohn is also noted for achieving unusual orchestral effects on the organ. He did much to revive interest in the music of Bach.

Mendelssohn's 'Italian' and 'Scotch' symphonies reflect the aura of these countries, and 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (which includes the 'Wedding March') is equally evocative. His 'Violin Concerto in E Minor' is well known, and the oratorio 'Elijah' is second only to the 'Messiah' in popularity. Back

'Les Preludes' is an example of the symphonic poem, a type of program music originated by Liszt. Later known also as a tone poem, it is often based upon a poem or a literary excerpt. It is symphonic in spirit, rather than in form. Back

Nationalism The Bohemian Composers

Another strong trend in the music of the second half of the 19th century was nationalism. Of course, nationalism had been reflected in earlier music that was distinctively German or French. Now, however, composers consciously created music to express their national character, often borrowing from the popular songs and folk music of the people.

Nationalism in Bohemia (now a part of the Czech Republic) found its musical expression through the compositions of Bedrich Smetana. His comic opera 'The Bartered Bride' is set in a Bohemian village, and his symphonic poem 'The Moldau' captures the spirit of his native countryside.

Antonin Dvorak, a pupil of Smetana, used Bohemian dance rhythms in his 'Slavonic Dances'. There was some use of native American themes in his compositions after he had visited the United States; his symphony 'From the New World' was inspired by spirituals.

Russian Nationalists

In Russia, nationalistic music began with Mikhail Glinka, who is remembered for his opera 'A Life for the Czar'. Glinka and Aleksandr Dargomyzhski inspired a group of composers to band together as The Five to create music based on Russian culture. Dargomyzhski's opera 'The Stone Guest' became the bible of the new school.

Of the five composers, Cesar Cui and Mili Balakirev the only professionally trained musicians of the group are little known today. A third, Aleksandr Borodin, is remembered chiefly for the orchestral tone poem 'In the Steppes of Central Asia' and the 'Polovtsian Dances' from the opera 'Prince Igor'.

The fourth composer, who came closest to creating truly Russian music, was Modest Musorgski. Folk-music rhythms and unusual scales from music of the Russian Orthodox church characterize his pieces. His works include a descriptive piece for orchestra, entitled 'Night on Bald Mountain', and 'Pictures at an Exhibition', a set of piano pieces that were later arranged for orchestra by the French impressionist composer Maurice Ravel.

The fifth member of the group, Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov, wrote dramatic compositions of rhythmic force and vivid orchestral color. He is noted for the opera 'The Golden Cockerel' and the orchestral suite 'Scheherazade'. In his powerful 'Russian Easter Festival' overture he used themes of the Russian church.

Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky was another Russian composer who used brilliant tone color. His Sixth ('Pathetique') Symphony is widely known, and he created the music for three famous ballets 'The Nutcracker', 'The Sleeping Beauty', and 'Swan Lake'. Tchaikovsky's '1812' overture, 'Marche Slav', and 'Italian Capriccio' have been programmed so often that they are now considered war-horses.

Other Nationalist Composers of the 1800s

In Norway, nationalist feeling influenced Edvard Grieg. He is known for his 'Lyric Pieces' and the 'Peer Gynt' suites, based on his incidental music for the play by Henrik Ibsen.

The strong nationalist sentiment conveyed in the music of Jean Sibelius was deemed an expression of patriotism in Finland. The tone poem 'Finlandia' was composed when his country was under Russian domination. The great Finnish epic 'Kalevala' inspired his symphonic poem 'Kullervo'.

The first of the Spanish nationalists was Isaac Albeniz, composer of the piano suite 'Iberia'. Manuel de Falla studied in Paris, but his work typifies the Hispanic character for example, 'Nights in the Gardens of Spain'. An Andalusian Gypsy tale inspired his ballet 'El Amor Brujo'.

In France, Camille Saint-Saens tried to free music from the German influence. The first symphonic poem composed by a Frenchman was his 'Omphale's Spinning Wheel'. 'Danse Macabre', another of his four symphonic poems, is still popular. Both Saint-Saens and Gabriel Faure, composer of the lyrical drama 'Penelope', are credited with the rebirth of French music for the concert hall. Emmanuel Chabrier heralded the 20th-century French school. In the 1880s his work such as the vivid orchestral suite 'Espana' was influenced by Spanish folk music.

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By the turn of the century musical works were becoming more widely known through technological advances. Composers were searching for new kinds of musical expression. Just as painters had turned from realism to impressionism, composers began to write in a more subtle style. This new style was a reaction against the emotional excesses of the Romantic school.

The first composer to be called an impressionist was a Frenchman, Claude Debussy. Debussy used shifting harmonies, based on the whole-tone scale, to give listeners an impression, rather than a clear visualization, of what they were hearing as in his cycle of 'Nocturnes' for orchestra.

Igor Stravinsky was born in Russia. After achieving renown in France, he moved to the United States. Originally a composer of ballet music, he aroused storms of protest with 'The Rite of Spring', first performed in Paris in 1913. He made daring experiments with harmony and drew on a wide knowledge of music of all kinds for his effects.

Another controversial composer was Arnold Schoenberg. Trained in the Romantic school, he abandoned existing scales in favor of the 12-tone series, previously used only in short passages. This system, which permitted a freer use of harmony, was also used by two pupils of Schoenberg Alban Berg, celebrated for his opera 'Wozzeck', and Anton von Webern.

Bela Bartok, a Hungarian steeped in the folk tunes of his native country, used this music and other sources for experiments in dissonance. Zoltan Kodaly, another composer who drew on a Hungarian background, showed a strong lyric and melodic sense.

The influence of jazz is evident in the works of Darius Milhaud, composer of the ballet music for 'La Creation du Monde'. Milhaud was a member of the group of avant-garde composers known as Les Six, who flourished in Paris after World War I. The leader of the six modernists was Arthur Honegger. In 'Pacific 231' Honegger attempted to translate into music the sounds and rhythms of a locomotive.

Modernism was fused with the spirit of the classical period in the compositions of German-born Paul Hindemith. He made use of atonality, but his work showed a dependence upon the strict forms of Bach and Mozart and was referred to as neoclassic.

In Britain, Ralph Vaughan Williams used English folk music as a basis for his works, which include 'A Sea Symphony' and 'Pastoral Symphony'. He and Sir Edward Elgar, who wrote 'Pomp and Circumstance', were the most representative English composers after Purcell. Of a later generation, Benjamin Britten showed a gift for setting an appropriate mood without departing from the simplest structure.

Sergei Prokofiev blended modernism, classicism, and Russian nationalism in his many compositions. His 'Peter and the Wolf' has acquainted generations of children with the instrumentation of the orchestra through its use of individual instruments and distinctive themes to identify each character.

Despite the handicap of writing music acceptable to the Soviet Union's Communist regime, such talents as Dimitri Shostakovich and Aram Khachaturian flourished. Several of Shostakovich's symphonies are considered masterpieces; Khachaturian's 'Gayne' ballet suite produced a popular song 'The Saber Dance'.

A new genre of nationalism emerged with the creation of Latin American music. Mexican composers included Carlos Chavez ('Sinfonia India') and Silvestre Revueltas ('Sensemaya'). Afro-Cuban folk music inspired Cuba's Ernesto Lecuona ('Malaguena'). Alberto Ginastera of Argentina used folk elements in orchestral, ballet, and chamber music. The most prolific Latin American composer was Brazil's Heitor Villa-Lobos ('Bachianas Brasileiras').

After World War II a new school of post-Schoenberg serialism (based on the 12-tone series) developed, with Stravinsky reflecting the change. His 'Threni' (1958) and 'Movements for Piano and Orchestra' (1960) used a freer approach to the row order, and his musical textures became more sparse.

The German Hans Werner Henze and the Italian Luigi Dallapiccola also composed significant serial works. A leading American practitioner of the technique was Milton Babbitt.

In France Olivier Messiaen began with a post-impressionist style combined with Oriental modes and rhythmic patterns ('Turangalila-Symphonie', 1949). He extended serial organization beyond pitch to include rhythm, duration, and intensity ('Four Studies on Rhythm', 1949). He soon combined serial structure with birdsong ('Catalog of Birds', 1956).

Two of Messiaen's pupils Pierre Boulez in France and Karlheinz Stockhausen in Germany probably stretched serialism to its limits. Both were also pioneers in aleatory, or chance, music in which indeterminate elements are left for the performer to realize. The American John Cage was another composer who experimented with aleatory music.

In the 1980s, melody of a uniquely 20th-century kind reasserted itself among composers. The minimalist composers Americans Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and John Adams formed one group. Their main influences were the simple harmonic and highly repetitive melodic patterns of the music of India, Bali, and West Africa. Another type of melody was represented by the intense atmospherics of Witold Lutoslawski of Poland and Peter Maxwell Davies and Michael Tippett of England.

Electronic music, as opposed to music played on electronic instruments, began in 1948 with Pierre Schaeffer in Paris. Called musique concrete, it used natural sounds that were recorded on tape and then combined and altered or distorted to form a unified artistic whole. The ten-movement 'Symphony for One Man Only', composed by Schaeffer and his collaborator, Pierre Henry, in 1949-50, is a landmark in the development of tape music.

When the music synthesizer was introduced in 1955 in Princeton, N.J., it made virtually every kind of sound or combination of sounds available to the composer. Babbitt was an early exponent of the instrument with his 'Composition for Synthesizer' in 1961.

The next step was the computer. An early example of computer music was 'Illiac Suite' for string quartet, which was "composed" by the Illiac digital computer at the University of Illinois in 1957. The computer was programmed to generate random integers that represented pitches and note values. The integers were then screened by instructions based on traditional rules of composition. A further development in 1963, engineered by Max V. Mathews at the Bell Telephone Laboratories, was the direct synthesis of sound programmed by a deck of punched cards. This eliminated the need for a performer.

Composers have utilized the electronic technology in combination with conventional performance. Edgard Varese's 'Deserts' (1954) is scored for wind instruments, percussion, and three interpolations of electronic sound. Babbitt combined the synthesizer with both recorded and live soprano voices in 'Philomel' (1964).