Music Periods

baroque time

1600 - 1750

baroque composer

bach, handel, vivaldi, purcell

baroque features

ornamentation, baroque instruments - harpsichord, basso continuo, contrapuntal textures, terraced dynamics

basso continuo

harpsichord playing single line bassline and cello or double bass playing chords

classical period time

1750 - 1820

classic composers

Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven

classic features

regular phrasing, regular cadences, alberti bass, functional harmony, melody dominated homophony, sonata form, piano, use of keys

romantic time

1820 - 1910

romantic composers

Chopin, Schumann, Brahms

romantic features

adventurous harmonies and modulations, free structure and form, use of rubato, larger range of dynamics, use of 7th 9th and 11th, nationalism

expressionist composers

schoenberg, webern

expressionist features

disjunct, atonal, dissonance, angular melodies, extreme contrast of dynamics

minimalist composers

glass, reich

minimalist features

metamorphosis (small changes made over time till it is entirely new), additive and subtractive melodies, phase shifting (parts played simultaneously but out of synchronization)