It’s interesting how intense discussions between musicologists can get when they try to place certain composers in certain periods of music. Sometimes, they can’t even agree what a period is named!

Look beyond the academics of classical music, however, and you’ll find some interesting points about how some periods were named.

The baroque era, featuring J.S. Bach, Vivaldi and Pachelbel, may have had its name derived from a word signifying an irregular pearl. Strange, isn’t it?

The term was first used during the classical period, when music of the baroque period was seen as over-exuberant as compared to the symmetry and balance in classical music. It certainly wasn’t complimentary! The name was applied retrospectively and had originally been used disparagingly.

Ironically, the classical period ideals of clarity and proportion were partly derived from the works of the 16^th-century Italian architect Palladio, whose foundations sprung from the same Italian Humanist movement that created opera, a key feature in Baroque music.

The classical period was given its name for a rather weak reason. “Classical” originally referred to ancient Greek and Roman art. Mozart’s works were said to be worth continued study, like the masterworks of Greek and Roman art. Hence the name! Somebody must have forgotten about all the other composers.

“Classical” is also used to refer a large chunk of Western music spanning many centuries, from as far back as the Renaissance to the present. It causes a good lot of confusion sometimes!

The reason behind this is probably the concept of the universality of musical language. This was declared an aim in music during the classical period; the theorist Johann Joachim Quantz remarking as early as 1752: “… A music that is accepted and recognized as good not by one country only … but by many peoples … must, provided it is based as well on reason and sound feeling, be beyond all dispute the best.”

The style of the classical period effectively transcended national boundaries, but it was mainly within Europe, and its most celebrated proponents were in fact all associated with Vienna. Up till today, it is still difficult to say that classical music (in the wider sense) is universal.

The romantic movement was dominant throughout much of the 20^th century. It might be a contradiction to speak of anything as unified as a romantic “movement,” as the romantic composers’ reactions against the Enlightenment ideas of reason and order were naturally non-rational and disordered.

The romantic period was characterized by a heightened interest in nature and rebellion against established social rules and conventions. Emphasis was placed on the individual’s expression of emotion and imagination. The term “romantic” may have been used as it referred to something being imaginative and visionary. Certainly nothing to do with love!

“Impressionism” is easy to understand. The impressionist movement in music was led by the French composer Claude Debussy, who viewed it as a reaction to both the classical and romantic movements. Impressionism emphasized tonal colour and mood rather than formal structures like the sonata and the symphony.

The lush and somewhat vague harmony and rhythm in impressionist music are used to evoke suggestions of mood, place and natural phenomena. It seeks to create an impression rather than to tell everything outright, hence the name.

“Modern” it was for its time, but no more. Enough said!

“Neo-Classical” is another weird name. I’ve always considered it somewhat of an oxymoron. Neo-Classical music generally followed the Classical model, but then “Neo-” means “new and different,” so sometimes I wonder why how different it is!

Furthermore, how new is music that was composed 50 years ago?

“Contemporary” classical music refers to works by composers who lived within the past 50 years or so. A very apt name at the moment, as the composers are our contemporaries. But would someone like to tell me what they’ll name this period some 100 years down the road?

But hey, it doesn’t really matter what they name it, as long as it sounds good!