The major time divisions of classical music up to 1900 are the Early music period, which includes Medieval (500–1400) and Renaissance (1400–1600) eras, and the Common practice period, which includes the Baroque (1600–1750), Classical (1750–1820), and Romantic (1810–1910) eras. The current period encompasses the 20th and the 21st century to date and includes the Modernist musical era and the Contemporary or Postmodern musical era, the dates of which are often disputed. The dates are generalizations, since the periods and eras overlap and the categories are somewhat arbitrary, to the point that some authorities reverse terminologies and refer to a common-practice “era” comprising baroque, classical, and romantic “periods”.[39]
Roots :
The Western classical tradition formally begins with music created by and for the early Christian Church.[40] It is probable that the early Church wished to disassociate itself from the predominant music of ancient Greece and Rome, as it was a reminder of the pagan religion it had persecuted and been persecuted by.[40] As such, it remains unclear as to what extent the music of the Christian Church, and thus Western classical music as a whole, was influenced by preceding ancient music.[41] The general attitude towards music was adopted from the Ancient Greek and Roman music theorists and commentators;[42][n 11] like in Greco-Roman society, music was seen as a central to education, and included in the quadrivium which, in combination with the trivium, made up the standard liberal arts education of the Middle Ages.[44] This high regard for music was first promoted by the scholars Cassiodorus, Isidore of Seville,[45] and particularly Boethius,[46] whose transmission and expansion on the perspectives of music from Pythagoras, Aristotle and Plato were crucial in the development of medieval musical thought.[47] However, scholars, medieval music theorists and composers regularly misinterpreted or misunderstood the writings of their Greek and Roman predecessors.[48] This was due to the complete absence of surviving Greco-Roman musical works available to medieval musicians,[48][n 12] to the extent that Isidore of Seville (c. 559 – 636) stated “unless sounds are remembered by man, they perish, for they cannot be written down”, unaware of the systematic notational practices of Ancient Greece centuries before.[49] Musicologist Gustave Reese notes, however, that many Greco-Roman texts can still be credited as influential to Western classical music, since medieval musicians regularly read their works—regardless of whether they were doing so correctly.[48]
However, there are some indisputable musical continuations from the ancient world.[50] Basic aspects such as monophony, improvisation and the dominance of text in musical settings are prominent in both early medieval in music of nearly all ancient civilizations.[51] Greek influences in particular include the church modes (which were descendants of developments by Aristoxenus and Pythagoras),[52] basic acoustical theory from pythagorean tuning,[41] as well as the central function of tetrachords.[53] Ancient Greek instruments such as the aulos (a reed instrument) and the lyre (a stringed instrument similar to a small harp) eventually led to several modern-day instruments of a symphonic orchestra.[54] However, Donald Jay Grout notes that attempting to create a direct evolutionary connection from the ancient music to early medieval is baseless, as it was almost solely influenced by Greco-Roman music theory, not performance or practice.[55]