Composing Styles

Baroque

Tonality is based on major and minor keys rather than modal scales. Modulation to related keys provides areas of contrast, while return to the home key balances the complete form.

Baroque

Melodies often have long phrases of unequal length, except in popular style dance pieces. Motivic development is important, along with melodic ornamentation.

Baroque

Rhythmic motion tends to be rapid, especially in the bottom line of the texture. Harmonic motion is rapid, as well.

Baroque

Diatonic triads, V, chords, and a few chromatic V, chords are used primarily, often enriched by an abundance of non-chord tones.

Baroque

Contrapuntal texture predominates, often with the greatest activity occurring in the top and bottom lines of the texture.

Classical

Tonality organizes music on a large scale, as in Baroque music. Rapid modulation through remote keys is heard at times, especially in the development sections of sonata form.

Classical

Melodies are lyrical in style and often have phrases of equal length. Different sections in large forms feature melodies of contrasting style.

Classical

Rhythm is slower moving than in Baroque music producing a slower rate of chord changes. Contrasting themes have contrasting rhythms.

Classical

The harmonic vocabulary is mostly diatonic with chromatic chords or keys introduced as special expressive factors.

Classical

Homophonic texture predominates.

Romantic

Tonality may be more important as an expressive factor than as an organizing factor. Modulation to remote keys (C major to Eb or E major) is common.

Romantic

Melodies often have wide range, unequal phrase lengths, and chromaticism.

Romantic

Harmonic vocabulary is rich. Many chromatic triads or seventh chords are added to diatonic triads and seventh chords.

Romantic

Homophonic texture still predominates, but it is rhythmically activated by figuration or a free adaptation of Baroque contrapuntal techniques.

Contemporary

Tonality is replaced by the twelve-tone chromatic scale in some music. In other works, two keys (bi-tonality) or several keys (poly-tonality) may be used at the same time. In tonal music, dissonance is more prevalent and more freely treated than in earlier music.

Contemporary

Melodies tend to have many wide leaps and a very wide range or many repeating tones and a very narrow range.

Contemporary

Rhythm is important as an organizing factor and as an expressive factor. At times, the rhythm can be rather complicated with frequent changes of meter.

Contemporary

Contrapuntal texture is favored, as in Baroque music. Homophonic texture is enlivened by active rhythms and frequent harmonic dissonances.