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153-410: In classical music , a fugue ( / f juː ɡ / , from Latin fuga , meaning "flight" or "escape") is a contrapuntal , polyphonic compositional technique in two or more voices , built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches), which recurs frequently throughout the course of the composition. It is not to be confused with

306-424: A fuguing tune , which is a style of song popularized by and mostly limited to early American (i.e. shape note or " Sacred Harp ") music and West Gallery music . A fugue usually has three main sections: an exposition , a development , and a final entry that contains the return of the subject in the fugue's tonic key. Fugues can also have episodes, which are parts of the fugue where new material often based on

459-477: A harpsichord , and were often led by the lead violinist (now called the concertmaster ). Classical era musicians continued to use many of the instruments from the Baroque era, such as the cello, contrabass, recorder, trombone, timpani, fortepiano (the precursor to the modern piano ) and organ. While some Baroque instruments fell into disuse e.g. the theorbo and rackett, many Baroque instruments were changed into

612-487: A demonstration of compositional expertise. Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck , Girolamo Frescobaldi , Johann Jakob Froberger and Dieterich Buxtehude all wrote fugues. Fugues were incorporated into a variety of musical genres , and are found in most of George Frideric Handel 's oratorios . Keyboard suites from this time often conclude with a fugal gigue . Domenico Scarlatti has only a few fugues among his corpus of over 500 harpsichord sonatas. The French overture featured

765-400: A few notes near the beginning). When the answer is an exact transposition of the subject into the new key, the answer is classified as a real answer ; alternatively, if the intervals of the subject are altered in any way, the answer is a tonal answer . When the subject begins with a prominent dominant note, or when there is a prominent dominant note very close to the beginning of the subject,

918-511: A fugue, the subject may be altered by inversion, retrograde (where the subject is heard back-to-front), diminution (the reduction of the subject's rhythmic values by a certain factor), augmentation (the enlargement of the subject's rhythmic values by a certain factor), or any combination thereof. The excerpt below, bars 7–12 of J.S. Bach's Fugue No. 2 in C minor, BWV 847, from the Well-Tempered Clavier , Book 1 illustrates

1071-516: A living construct that can evolve with the times". Despite its decline in the last third of the 20th century, there remained at the end of the century an active core of composers who continued to advance the ideas and forms of modernism, such as Pierre Boulez , Pauline Oliveros , Toru Takemitsu , George Benjamin , Jacob Druckman , Brian Ferneyhough , George Perle , Wolfgang Rihm , Richard Wernick , Richard Wilson , and Ralph Shapey . Two musical movements that were dominant during this time were

1224-432: A minor key (Ries' Concerto No. 3, Brahms' Symphony No. 4, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 1), the minor dominant (Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2, Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2), the submediant (Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony"), the relative minor (Beethoven's "Triple Concerto", Ries' Concerto No. 6), or the parallel major (Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1). Saint-Saens' Piano Concerto No. 3 even modulates to

1377-639: A process that climaxed in the early 20th century with very large orchestras used by late romantic and modernist composers. A wider array of percussion instruments began to appear. Brass instruments took on larger roles, as the introduction of rotary valves made it possible for them to play a wider range of notes. The size of the orchestra (typically around 40 in the Classical era) grew to be over 100. Gustav Mahler 's 1906 Symphony No. 8 , for example, has been performed with over 150 instrumentalists and choirs of over 400. New woodwind instruments were added, such as

1530-481: A quick fugal section after a slow introduction. The second movement of a sonata da chiesa , as written by Arcangelo Corelli and others, was usually fugal. The Baroque period also saw a rise in the importance of music theory . Some fugues during the Baroque period were pieces designed to teach contrapuntal technique to students. The most influential text was Johann Joseph Fux's Gradus Ad Parnassum ("Steps to Parnassus "), which appeared in 1725. This work laid out

1683-518: A remarkable marriage of boldly distinctive melodic lines weaving in counterpoint yet creating a coherent harmonic logic . The use of written notation also preserves a record of the works and enables Classical musicians to perform music from many centuries ago. Although Classical music in the 2000s has lost most of its tradition for musical improvisation , from the Baroque era to the Romantic era, there are examples of performers who could improvise in

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1836-473: A set of five transcriptions for string quartet, K. 405 (1782), of fugues from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier , introducing them with preludes of his own. In a letter to his sister Nannerl Mozart , dated in Vienna on 20 April 1782, Mozart recognizes that he had not written anything in this form, but moved by his wife's interest he composed one piece, which is sent with the letter. He begs her not to let anybody see

1989-574: A set of twenty-five variations and a concluding fugue, all based on a theme from George Frideric Handel's Harpsichord Suite No. 1 in B♭ major , HWV 434. Franz Liszt 's Piano Sonata in B minor (1853) contains a powerful fugue, demanding incisive virtuosity from its player: Classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world , considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It

2142-401: A tonal answer is usually necessary. To prevent an undermining of the fugue's key , this note is transposed up a fourth to the tonic rather than up a fifth to the supertonic . For the same reason, it is possible for the answer of such a subject to be in the subdominant key. During the answer, the voice in which the subject was previously heard accompanies with new material. If this new material

2295-514: A triple fugue for organ.) A counter-fugue is a fugue in which the first answer is presented as the subject in inversion (upside down), and the inverted subject continues to feature prominently throughout the fugue. Examples include Contrapunctus V through Contrapunctus VII , from Bach's The Art of Fugue . During the Baroque period, counter-fugues were sometimes called by the Latin name fuga contraria . German composer Johann Mattheson coined

2448-406: A wider range of chromatic possibilities in hard-to-tune keyboard instruments. Although J.S. Bach did not use equal temperament, changes in the temperaments from the then-common meantone system to various temperaments that made modulation between all keys musically acceptable made possible his Well-Tempered Clavier . Baroque instruments included some instruments from the earlier periods (e.g.,

2601-573: Is (are) presented simultaneously with the subject in the exposition (e.g. as in Kyrie Eleison of Mozart's Requiem in D minor or the fugue of Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 ), and (b) a fugue in which all subjects have their own expositions at some point, and they are not combined until later (see for example, the three-subject Fugue No. 14 in F ♯ minor from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2 , or more famously, Bach's "St. Anne" Fugue in E ♭ major, BWV 552 ,

2754-409: Is a collection of fugues (and four canons ) on a single theme that is gradually transformed as the cycle progresses. Bach also wrote smaller single fugues and put fugal sections or movements into many of his more general works. J.S. Bach's influence extended forward through his son C.P.E. Bach and through the theorist Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718–1795) whose Abhandlung von der Fuge ("Treatise on

2907-564: Is a fugue, and there are fugal passages in the last movements of his Piano Sonatas in A major, Op. 101 and A ♭ major Op. 110 . According to Charles Rosen , "With the finale of 110, Beethoven re-conceived the significance of the most traditional elements of fugue writing." Fugal passages are also found in the Missa Solemnis and all movements of the Ninth Symphony , except the third. A massive, dissonant fugue forms

3060-461: Is absent. The subject concludes on the quarter note (or crotchet) B ♭ of the third beat of the second bar, which harmonizes the opening G of the tonal answer. The later codettas may be considerably longer, and often serve to develop the material heard in the subject/answer and countersubject and possibly introduce ideas heard in the second countersubject or free counterpoint that follows. They may also be present to delay, and therefore heighten

3213-495: Is followed by an entry in the dominant of the relative major or minor when the fugue's subject requires a tonal answer. In the fugues of earlier composers (notably Buxtehude and Pachelbel ), middle entries in keys other than the tonic and dominant tend to be the exception, and non-modulation the norm. One famous example of such non-modulating fugue occurs in Buxtehude's Praeludium (Fugue and Chaconne) in C, BuxWV 137. When there

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3366-523: Is frequently seen from the perspective of individual or groups of composers , whose compositions, personalities and beliefs have fundamentally shaped its history. Rooted in the patronage of churches and royal courts in Western Europe , surviving early medieval music is chiefly religious , monophonic and vocal, with the music of ancient Greece and Rome influencing its thought and theory. The earliest extant music manuscripts date from

3519-437: Is in this time that the notation of music on a staff and other elements of musical notation began to take shape. This invention made possible the separation of the composition of a piece of music from its transmission ; without written music, transmission was oral, and subject to change every time it was transmitted. With a musical score , a work of music could be performed without the composer's presence. The invention of

3672-400: Is no entrance of the subject and answer material, the composer can develop the subject by altering it. This is called a counter-exposition , which often uses the inversion of the subject, although the term is sometimes used synonymously with middle entry and may also describe the exposition of completely new subjects, such as those encountered in double fugues . In any of the entries within

3825-458: Is not strict, and the setting less formal. See for example, variation 24 of Beethoven 's Diabelli Variations Op. 120 . The term fuga was used as far back as the Middle Ages , but was initially used to refer to any kind of imitative counterpoint, including canons , which are now thought of as distinct from fugues. Prior to the 16th century, fugue was originally a genre. It was not until

3978-417: Is one of the only female composers mentioned." Abbey Philips states that "[d]uring the 20th century the women who were composing/playing gained far less attention than their male counterparts." Exposition (music) The term is most widely used as an analytical convenience to denote a portion of a movement identified as an example of classical tonal sonata form . The exposition typically establishes

4131-604: Is required. Performance of classical music repertoire requires a proficiency in sight-reading and ensemble playing, harmonic principles, strong ear training (to correct and adjust pitches by ear), knowledge of performance practice (e.g., Baroque ornamentation), and a familiarity with the style/musical idiom expected for a given composer or musical work (e.g., a Brahms symphony or a Mozart concerto). The key characteristic of European classical music that distinguishes it from popular music , folk music , and some other classical music traditions such as Indian classical music ,

4284-461: Is reused in later statements of the subject, it is called a countersubject ; if this accompanying material is only heard once, it is simply referred to as free counterpoint . The countersubject is written in invertible counterpoint at the octave or fifteenth (two octaves). The distinction is made between the use of free counterpoint and regular countersubjects accompanying the fugue subject/answer, because in order for it to be heard accompanying

4437-615: Is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music , as the term "classical music" can also be applied to non-Western art musics . Classical music is often characterized by formality and complexity in its musical form and harmonic organization , particularly with the use of polyphony . Since at least the ninth century it has been primarily a written tradition, spawning a sophisticated notational system, as well as accompanying literature in analytical , critical , historiographical , musicological and philosophical practices. A foundational component of Western culture , classical music

4590-405: Is that the repertoire tends to be written down in musical notation , creating a musical part or score . This score typically determines details of rhythm, pitch, and, where two or more musicians (whether singers or instrumentalists) are involved, how the various parts are coordinated. The written quality of the music has enabled a high level of complexity within them: fugues , for instance, achieve

4743-401: Is typically defined as the era between the formation and the dissolution of common-practice tonality . The term usually spans roughly two-and-a-half centuries, encompassing the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods. Baroque music is characterized by the use of complex tonal counterpoint and the use of a basso continuo , a continuous bass line. Music became more complex in comparison with

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4896-446: Is usually based upon some musical idea heard in the exposition. Each episode has the primary function of transitioning into a new key for the next entry of the subject, and may also provide release from the strictness of form required by the exposition. André Gedalge , a teacher of Maurice Ravel , stated that the episode of the fugue is generally based on a series of imitations of the subject that have been fragmented. Further entries of

5049-411: Is usually the key relationships and the sense of "arrival" at the dominant that is used by analysts in identifying the exposition. The exposition in classical symphonies is typically repeated, although there are many examples where the composer does not specify such a repeat, and it never is repeated in concertos. In the recapitulation , the material in the exposition is repeated or paraphrased either in

5202-407: Is written according to certain rules. The composer has more freedom once the exposition ends, though a logical key structure is usually followed. Further entries of the subject will occur throughout the fugue, repeating the accompanying material at the same time, and often accompanying key changes. The various entries may or may not be separated by episodes or occur in stretto . A fugue begins with

5355-640: The Eroica Symphony (1805). Beethoven incorporated fugues in his sonatas, and reshaped the episode's purpose and compositional technique for later generations of composers. Nevertheless, fugues did not take on a truly central role in Beethoven's work until his late period. The finale of Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata contains a fugue, which was practically unperformed until the late 19th century, due to its tremendous technical difficulty and length. The last movement of his Cello Sonata, Op. 102 No. 2

5508-487: The Baroque flute , Baroque oboe , recorder and the bassoon . Brass instruments included the cornett , natural horn , natural trumpet , serpent and the trombone . Keyboard instruments included the clavichord , the tangent piano , the harpsichord , the pipe organ , and, later in the period, the fortepiano (an early version of the piano). Percussion instruments included the timpani , snare drum , tambourine and

5661-524: The Carolingian Empire (800–888), around the time which Western plainchant gradually unified into what is termed Gregorian chant . Musical centers existed at the Abbey of Saint Gall , the Abbey of Saint Martial and Saint Emmeram's Abbey , while the 11th century saw the development of staff notation and increasing output from medieval music theorists . By the mid-12th century France became

5814-573: The First Viennese School , sometimes called the "Viennese classics", a coupling that remains problematic by reason of none of the three being born in Vienna and the minimal time Haydn and Mozart spent in the city. While this was an often expressed characterization, it was not a strict one. In 1879 the composer Charles Kensington Salaman defined the following composers as classical: Bach , Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Weber , Spohr and Mendelssohn . More broadly, some writers used

5967-769: The Renaissance , including the more complex voicings of motets . During the earlier medieval period , the vocal music from the liturgical genre, predominantly Gregorian chant , was monophonic , using a single, unaccompanied vocal melody line. Polyphonic vocal genres, which used multiple independent vocal melodies, began to develop during the high medieval era , becoming prevalent by the later 13th and early 14th century. Notable Medieval composers include Hildegard of Bingen , Léonin , Pérotin , Philippe de Vitry , Guillaume de Machaut , Francesco Landini , and Johannes Ciconia . Many medieval musical instruments still exist, but in different forms. Medieval instruments included

6120-483: The Romantic era , the exposition is often bracketed by repeat signs, indicating that it is to be played twice. This is something which is not always done in concert from the 20th Century onwards. A fugue usually has two main sections: the exposition and the body. In the exposition, each voice plays its own adaptation of the theme, in either a subject or an answer; they also provide countersubjects ( counterpoints ) to

6273-438: The Western world , and conversely, in many academic histories the term "Western music" excludes non-classical Western music. Another complication lies in that "classical music" is sometimes used to describe non-Western art music exhibiting similar long-lasting and complex characteristics; examples include Indian classical music (i.e. Carnatic Music Hindustani music and Odissi Music ), Gamelan music, and various styles of

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6426-449: The art song , symphonic poem and various piano genres were important vessels. During this time virtuosity was celebrated, immensity was encouraged, while philosophy and nationalism were embedded—all aspects that converged in the operas of Richard Wagner . By the 20th century, stylistic unification gradually dissipated while the prominence of popular music greatly increased. Many composers actively avoided past techniques and genres in

6579-474: The castanets . One major difference between Baroque music and the classical era that followed it is that the types of instruments used in Baroque ensembles were much less standardized. A Baroque ensemble could include one of several different types of keyboard instruments (e.g., pipe organ or harpsichord), additional stringed chordal instruments (e.g., a lute), bowed strings, woodwinds, and brass instruments, and an unspecified number of bass instruments performing

6732-421: The contrabassoon , bass clarinet and piccolo and new percussion instruments were added, including xylophones , snare drums , celestas (a bell-like keyboard instrument), bells , and triangles , large orchestral harps , and even wind machines for sound effects . Saxophones appear in some scores from the late 19th century onwards, usually featured as a solo instrument rather than as in integral part of

6885-527: The fall of the Western Roman Empire by 476 to about 1400. Monophonic chant, also called plainsong or Gregorian chant , was the dominant form until about 1100. Christian monks developed the first forms of European musical notation in order to standardize liturgy throughout the Church. Polyphonic (multi-voiced) music developed from monophonic chant throughout the late Middle Ages and into

7038-680: The flute , the recorder and plucked string instruments like the lute . As well, early versions of the organ and fiddle (or vielle ) existed. Medieval instruments in Europe had most commonly been used singly, often self accompanied with a drone note, or occasionally in parts. From at least as early as the 13th century through the 15th century there was a division of instruments into haut (loud, shrill, outdoor instruments) and bas (quieter, more intimate instruments). A number of instrument have roots in Eastern predecessors that were adopted from

7191-461: The guitar , the cittern , the bandora , and the orpharion . Keyboard instruments with strings included the harpsichord and the clavichord . Percussion instruments include the triangle , the Jew's harp , the tambourine , the bells, the rumble-pot, and various kinds of drums. Woodwind instruments included the double-reed shawm (an early member of the oboe family), the reed pipe , the bagpipe ,

7344-416: The impressionist beginning around 1890 and the expressionist that started around 1908. It was a period of diverse reactions in challenging and reinterpreting older categories of music, innovations that lead to new ways of organizing and approaching harmonic, melodic, sonic, and rhythmic aspects of music, and changes in aesthetic worldviews in close relation to the larger identifiable period of modernism in

7497-437: The lyre (a stringed instrument similar to a small harp ) eventually led to several modern-day instruments of a symphonic orchestra. 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. Medieval music includes Western European music from after

7650-460: The standard concert repertoire are male composers, even though there have been a large number of women composers throughout the history of classical music. Musicologist Marcia Citron has asked "[w]hy is music composed by women so marginal to the standard 'classical' repertoire?" Citron "examines the practices and attitudes that have led to the exclusion of women composers from the received ' canon ' of performed musical works". She argues that in

7803-465: The systematic notational practices of Ancient Greece centuries before. The 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. However, there are some indisputable musical continuations from the ancient world . Basic aspects such as monophony , improvisation and

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7956-537: The transverse flute , the recorder , the dulcian , and the crumhorn . Simple pipe organs existed, but were largely confined to churches, although there were portable varieties. Printing enabled the standardization of descriptions and specifications of instruments, as well as instruction in their use. Vocal music in the Renaissance is noted for the flourishing of an increasingly elaborate polyphonic style. The principal liturgical forms which endured throughout

8109-517: The 16th century and is derived from the French word fugue or the Italian fuga . This in turn comes from the Latin fuga , which is itself related to both fugere ("to flee") and fugare ("to chase"). The adjectival form is fugal . Variants include fughetta ("a small fugue") and fugato (a passage in fugal style within another work that is not a fugue). A fugue begins with the exposition and

8262-414: The 16th century that fugal technique as it is understood today began to be seen in pieces, both instrumental and vocal. Fugal writing is found in works such as fantasias , ricercares and canzonas . "Fugue" as a theoretical term first occurred in 1330 when Jacobus of Liege wrote about the fuga in his Speculum musicae . The fugue arose from the technique of "imitation", where the same musical material

8415-431: The 1750s and 1760s, it fell out of use at the end of the century. Brass instruments included the buccin , the ophicleide (a replacement for the bass serpent , which was the precursor of the tuba ) and the natural horn . Wind instruments became more refined in the Classical era. While double-reed instruments like the oboe and bassoon became somewhat standardized in the Baroque, the clarinet family of single reeds

8568-462: The 17th century, the term fugue has described what is commonly regarded as the most fully developed procedure of imitative counterpoint. Most fugues open with a short main theme, called the subject, which then sounds successively in each voice . When each voice has completed its entry of the subject, the exposition is complete. This is often followed by a connecting passage, or episode , developed from previously heard material; further "entries" of

8721-416: The 1800s, women composers typically wrote art songs for performance in small recitals rather than symphonies intended for performance with an orchestra in a large hall, with the latter works being seen as the most important genre for composers; since women composers did not write many symphonies, they were deemed not to be notable as composers. In the "... Concise Oxford History of Music , Clara S[c]humann

8874-469: The 18th century from several earlier types of contrapuntal compositions, such as imitative ricercars , capriccios , canzonas , and fantasias . The Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), well known for his fugues, shaped his own works after those of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562–1621), Johann Jakob Froberger (1616–1667), Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706), Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583–1643), Dieterich Buxtehude (c. 1637–1707) and others. With

9027-592: The Baroque style. These included a fugue in C minor, K. 426, for two pianos (1783). Later, Mozart incorporated fugal writing into his opera Die Zauberflöte and the finale of his Symphony No. 41 . The parts of the Requiem he completed also contain several fugues (most notably the Kyrie, and the three fugues in the Domine Jesu; he also left behind a sketch for an Amen fugue which, some believe, would have come at

9180-501: The Baroque tendency for complexity, and as a reaction the simpler and song-like galant music and empfindsamkeit styles were developed. In the shorter but pivotal Classical period (1730–1820) composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Joseph Haydn , and Ludwig van Beethoven created widely admired representatives of absolute music , including symphonies , string quartets and concertos. The subsequent Romantic music (1800–1910) focused instead on programmatic music , for which

9333-468: The Classical era forms (even as those were being codified), with free-form pieces like nocturnes , fantasias , and preludes being written where accepted ideas about the exposition and development of themes were ignored or minimized. The music became more chromatic, dissonant, and tonally colorful, with tensions (with respect to accepted norms of the older forms) about key signatures increasing. The art song (or Lied ) came to maturity in this era, as did

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9486-453: The Classical era, the composer-performer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was noted for his ability to improvise melodies in different styles. During the Classical era, some virtuoso soloists would improvise the cadenza sections of a concerto. During the Romantic era, Ludwig van Beethoven would improvise at the piano. Almost all of the composers who are described in music textbooks on classical music and whose works are widely performed as part of

9639-469: The Classical era. Haydn's most famous fugues can be found in his "Sun" Quartets (op. 20, 1772), of which three have fugal finales. This was a practice that Haydn repeated only once later in his quartet-writing career, with the finale of his String Quartet, Op. 50 No. 4 (1787). Some of the earliest examples of Haydn's use of counterpoint, however, are in three symphonies ( No. 3 , No. 13 , and No. 40 ) that date from 1762 to 1763. The earliest fugues, in both

9792-590: The French classique , itself derived from the Latin word classicus , which originally referred to the highest class of Ancient Roman citizens . In Roman usage, the term later became a means to distinguish revered literary figures; the Roman author Aulus Gellius commended writers such as Demosthenes and Virgil as classicus . By the Renaissance , the adjective had acquired a more general meaning: an entry in Randle Cotgrave 's 1611 A Dictionarie of

9945-538: The French and English Tongues is among the earliest extant definitions, translating classique as "classical, formall [ sic ], orderlie, in due or fit ranke; also, approved, authenticall, chiefe, principall". The musicologist Daniel Heartz summarizes this into two definitions: 1) a "formal discipline" and 2) a "model of excellence". Like Gellius, later Renaissance scholars who wrote in Latin used classicus in reference to writers of classical antiquity ; however, this meaning only gradually developed, and

10098-697: The Salzburg Cathedral, the young Mozart composed ambitious fugues and contrapuntal passages in Catholic choral works such as Mass in C minor, K. 139 "Waisenhaus" (1768), Mass in C major, K. 66 "Dominicus" (1769), Mass in C major, K. 167 "in honorem Sanctissimae Trinitatis" (1773), Mass in C major, K. 262 "Missa longa" (1775), Mass in C major, K. 337 "Solemnis" (1780), various litanies, and vespers. Leopold admonished his son openly in 1777 that he not forget to make public demonstration of his abilities in "fugue, canon, and contrapunctus". Later in life,

10251-473: The achievements of classical antiquity. They were thus characterized as "classical", as was the music of Jean-Baptiste Lully (and later Christoph Willibald Gluck ), being designated as "l'opéra française classique". In the rest of continental Europe , the abandonment of defining "classical" as analogous to the Greco-Roman World was slower, primarily because the formation of canonical repertoires

10404-448: The aforementioned Mahler and Strauss as transitional figures who carried over from the 19th century. Postmodern music is a period of music that began as early as 1930 according to some authorities. It shares characteristics with postmodernist art – that is, art that comes after and reacts against modernism . Some other authorities have more or less equated postmodern music with the "contemporary music" composed well after 1930, from

10557-400: The application of most of the characteristics described above. The fugue is for keyboard and in three voices, with regular countersubjects. This excerpt opens at last entry of the exposition: the subject is sounding in the bass, the first countersubject in the treble, while the middle-voice is stating a second version of the second countersubject, which concludes with the characteristic rhythm of

10710-487: The arts of the time. The operative word most associated with it is "innovation". Its leading feature is a "linguistic plurality", which is to say that no single music genre ever assumed a dominant position. The orchestra continued to grow during the early years modernist era, peaking in the first two decades of the 20th century. Saxophones that appeared only rarely during the 19th century became more commonly used as supplementary instruments, but never became core members of

10863-407: The basis for writing motets as well. Palestrina's imitative motets differed from fugues in that each phrase of the text had a different subject which was introduced and worked out separately, whereas a fugue continued working with the same subject or subjects throughout the entire length of the piece. It was in the Baroque period that the writing of fugues became central to composition, in part as

11016-713: The basso continuo,(e.g., a cello, contrabass, viola, bassoon, serpent, etc.). Vocal oeuvres of the Baroque era included suites such as oratorios and cantatas . Secular music was less common, and was typically characterized only by instrumental music. Like Baroque art , themes were generally sacred and for the purpose of a catholic setting. Important composers of this era include Johann Sebastian Bach , Antonio Vivaldi , George Frideric Handel , Johann Pachelbel , Henry Purcell , Claudio Monteverdi , Barbara Strozzi , Domenico Scarlatti , Georg Philipp Telemann , Arcangelo Corelli , Alessandro Scarlatti , Jean-Philippe Rameau , Jean-Baptiste Lully , and Heinrich Schütz . Though

11169-524: The brief English Madrigal School . The Baroque period (1580–1750) saw the relative standardization of common-practice tonality , as well as the increasing importance of musical instruments , which grew into ensembles of considerable size. Italy remained dominant, being the birthplace of opera , the soloist centered concerto genre, the organized sonata form as well as the large scale vocal-centered genres of oratorio and cantata . The fugue technique championed by Johann Sebastian Bach exemplified

11322-609: The choruses of his mature oratorios The Creation and The Seasons , as well as several of his later symphonies, including No. 88 , No. 95 , and No. 101 ; and the late string quartets, Opus 71 no. 3 and (especially) Opus 76 no. 6. The young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart studied counterpoint with Padre Martini in Bologna. Under the employment of Archbishop Colloredo , and the musical influence of his predecessors and colleagues such as Johann Ernst Eberlin , Anton Cajetan Adlgasser , Michael Haydn , and his own father, Leopold Mozart at

11475-409: The common practice period, such as traditional tonality, melody, instrumentation, and structure. Some music historians regard musical modernism as an era extending from about 1890 to 1930. Others consider that modernism ended with one or the other of the two world wars. Still other authorities claim that modernism is not associated with any historical era, but rather is "an attitude of the composer;

11628-405: The countersubjects and/or other free contrapuntal accompaniments. Middle entries tend to occur at keys other than the tonic. These are often closely related keys such as the relative dominant and subdominant , although the key structure of fugues varies greatly. In the fugues of J.S. Bach, the first middle entry occurs most often in the relative major or minor of the work's overall key, and

11781-572: The court of Imperial China (see yayue for instance). Thus in the later 20th century terms such as "Western classical music" and "Western art music" came in use to address this. The musicologist Ralph P. Locke notes that neither term is ideal, as they create an "intriguing complication" when considering "certain practitioners of Western-art music genres who come from non-Western cultures". Complexity in musical form and harmonic organization are typical traits of classical music. The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED ) offers three definitions for

11934-518: The decline of sophisticated styles at the end of the baroque period , the fugue's central role waned, eventually giving way as sonata form and the symphony orchestra rose to a more prominent position. Nevertheless, composers continued to write and study fugues; they appear in the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), as well as modern composers such as Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) and Paul Hindemith (1895–1963). The English term fugue originated in

12087-481: The development of medieval musical thought. However, scholars, medieval music theorists and composers regularly misinterpreted or misunderstood the writings of their Greek and Roman predecessors. This was due to the complete absence of surviving Greco-Roman musical works available to medieval musicians, 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

12240-436: The dominance of text in musical settings are prominent in both early medieval and music of nearly all ancient civilizations. Greek influences in particular include the church modes (which were descendants of developments by Aristoxenus and Pythagoras), basic acoustical theory from pythagorean tuning , as well as the central function of tetrachords . Ancient Greek instruments such as the aulos (a reed instrument ) and

12393-544: The early 15th century, Renaissance composers of the influential Franco-Flemish School built off the harmonic principles in the English contenance angloise , bringing choral music to new standards, particularly the mass and motet . Northern Italy soon emerged as the central musical region, where the Roman School engaged in highly sophisticated methods of polyphony in genres such as the madrigal , which inspired

12546-526: The end of the Sequentia). Ludwig van Beethoven was familiar with fugal writing from childhood, as an important part of his training was playing from The Well-Tempered Clavier . During his early career in Vienna , Beethoven attracted notice for his performance of these fugues. There are fugal sections in Beethoven's early piano sonatas, and fugal writing is to be found in the second and fourth movements of

12699-525: The end of the century. Prominent composers of this era include Ludwig van Beethoven , Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , Frédéric Chopin , Hector Berlioz , Franz Schubert , Robert Schumann , Felix Mendelssohn , Franz Liszt , Giuseppe Verdi , Richard Wagner , Johannes Brahms , Alexander Scriabin , Nikolai Medtner , Edvard Grieg , and Johann Strauss II . Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss are commonly regarded as transitional composers whose music combines both late romantic and early modernist elements. At

12852-413: The end of the era, of nationalism in music (echoing, in some cases, political sentiments of the time), as composers such as Edvard Grieg , Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov , and Antonín Dvořák echoed traditional music of their homelands in their compositions. In the Romantic era, the modern piano , with a more powerful, sustained tone and a wider range took over from the more delicate-sounding fortepiano. In

13005-417: The entire Renaissance period were masses and motets, with some other developments towards the end, especially as composers of sacred music began to adopt secular forms (such as the madrigal ) for their own designs. Towards the end of the period, the early dramatic precursors of opera such as monody, the madrigal comedy , and the intermedio are seen. Around 1597, Italian composer Jacopo Peri wrote Dafne ,

13158-412: The entry of one of the voices may not be heard until considerably later. For example, in J.S. Bach's Fugue in C minor for Organ, BWV 549, the subject entrance in the lowest voice (played by the organ pedals), is not heard until near the end of the fugue. Further entries of the subject may follow the initial exposition either immediately or separated by episodes. Episodic material is always modulatory and

13311-583: The epic scales of grand opera , ultimately transcended by Richard Wagner 's Ring cycle . In the 19th century, musical institutions emerged from the control of wealthy patrons, as composers and musicians could construct lives independent of the nobility. Increasing interest in music by the growing middle classes throughout western Europe spurred the creation of organizations for the teaching, performance, and preservation of music. The piano, which achieved its modern construction in this era (in part due to industrial advances in metallurgy ) became widely popular with

13464-426: The exposition of its subject in one of the voices alone in the tonic key. After the statement of the subject, a second voice enters and states the subject with the subject transposed to another key (almost always the dominant or subdominant , with the latter being less common), which is known as the answer . To enable a natural harmonic progression, the answer may also be altered slightly (usually by changing one or

13617-445: The exposition to alternate entrances of the subject (S) with entrances of the answer (A). However, this order is occasionally varied. For example, the exposition from J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 Fugue No. 1 in C Major, BWV 846 uses a SAAS (subject-answer-answer-subject) exposition. A brief codetta is often heard connecting the various statements of the subject and answer, smoothly connecting each and often facilitating

13770-403: The extraordinary profundity of this fugue ." By the beginning of the Romantic era , fugue writing had become specifically attached to the norms and styles of the Baroque. Felix Mendelssohn wrote many fugues inspired by his study of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach . Johannes Brahms' Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel , Op. 24, is a work for solo piano written in 1861. It consists of

13923-402: The final entry of the subject is considered to be the final coda and is normally cadential . A simple fugue has only one subject, and does not utilize invertible counterpoint . A double fugue has two subjects that are often developed simultaneously. Similarly, a triple fugue has three subjects. There are two kinds of double (triple) fugue: (a) a fugue in which the second (third) subject

14076-692: The finale of his String Quartet, Op. 130 (1825); the latter was later published separately as Op. 133, the Große Fuge ("Great Fugue"). However, it is the fugue that opens Beethoven's String Quartet in C ♯ minor, Op. 131 that several commentators regard as one of the composer's greatest achievements. Joseph Kerman (1966, p. 330) calls it "this most moving of all fugues". J. W. N. Sullivan (1927, p. 235) hears it as "the most superhuman piece of music that Beethoven has ever written." Philip Radcliffe (1965, p. 149) says "[a] bare description of its formal outline can give but little idea of

14229-522: The first work to be called an opera today. He also composed Euridice , the first opera to have survived to the present day. Notable Renaissance composers include Josquin des Prez , Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina , John Dunstaple , Johannes Ockeghem , Orlande de Lassus , Guillaume Du Fay , Gilles Binchois , Thomas Tallis , William Byrd , Giovanni Gabrieli , Carlo Gesualdo , John Dowland , Jacob Obrecht , Adrian Willaert , Jacques Arcadelt , and Cipriano de Rore . The common practice period

14382-541: The former court musician John Banister began giving popular public concerts at a London tavern; his popularity rapidly inaugurated the prominence of public concerts in the London. The conception of "classical"—or more often "ancient music"—emerged, which was still built on the principles of formality and excellence, and according to Heartz "civic ritual, religion and moral activism figured significantly in this novel construction of musical taste". The performance of such music

14535-420: The fugue and manifests the hope to write five more and then present them to Baron van Swieten. Regarding the piece, he said "I have taken particular care to write andante maestoso upon it, so that it should not be played fast – for if a fugue is not played slowly the ear cannot clearly distinguish the new subject as it is introduced and the effect is missed". Mozart then set to writing fugues on his own, mimicking

14688-459: The fugue", 1753) was largely based on J.S. Bach's work. During the Classical era , the fugue was no longer a central or even fully natural mode of musical composition. Nevertheless, both Haydn and Mozart had periods of their careers in which they in some sense "rediscovered" fugal writing and used it frequently in their work. Joseph Haydn was the leader of fugal composition and technique in

14841-501: The harpsichord in The Well-Tempered Clavier , which many composers and theorists look at as the greatest model of fugue. The Well-Tempered Clavier comprises two volumes written in different times of Bach's life, each comprising 24 prelude and fugue pairs, one for each major and minor key. Bach is also known for his organ fugues, which are usually preceded by a prelude or toccata . The Art of Fugue , BWV 1080 ,

14994-477: The home key (as by Mozart), or the parallel major of the home key if it is minor (as by Beethoven), although as with the exposition, a different modulation may be used (such as to the mediant in Dvorak's "New World Symphony"). If the movement starts with an introductory section, this introduction is not usually analysed as being part of the movement's exposition. In many works of the Classical period and some of

15147-500: The hurdy-gurdy and recorder) and a number of new instruments (e.g., the oboe, bassoon, cello, contrabass and fortepiano). Some instruments from previous eras fell into disuse, such as the shawm, cittern , rackett , and the wooden cornet. The key Baroque instruments for strings included the violin , viol , viola , viola d'amore , cello , contrabass , lute , theorbo (which often played the basso continuo parts), mandolin , Baroque guitar , harp and hurdy-gurdy. Woodwinds included

15300-404: The impact of the subject proper. The counter-exposition is a second exposition. However, there are only two entries, and the entries occur in reverse order. The counter-exposition in a fugue is separated from the exposition by an episode and is in the same key as the original exposition. Sometimes counter-expositions or the middle entries take place in stretto , whereby one voice responds with

15453-434: The impact of, the reentry of the subject in another voice. Finally, they may be modulatory passages to return the fugue to the tonic. The exposition usually concludes when all voices have given a statement of the subject or answer. In some fugues, especially those with an odd number of voices, the exposition will end with a redundant entry, or an extra presentation of the theme in a voice which has already entered. Furthermore,

15606-411: The initial subject, continues by stating two or more themes (or countersubjects), which must be conceived in correct invertible counterpoint . (In other words, the subject and countersubjects must be capable of being played both above and below all the other themes without creating any unacceptable dissonances.) Each voice takes this pattern and states all the subjects/themes in the same order (and repeats

15759-414: The inversion of a perfect fifth results in a perfect fourth, which, unlike the perfect fifth, is considered a dissonance, requiring proper preparation and resolution. The countersubject, if sounding at the same time as the answer, is transposed to the pitch of the answer. Each voice then responds with its own subject or answer, and further countersubjects or free counterpoint may be heard. It is customary in

15912-475: The late 20th century through to the early 21st century. Some of the diverse movements of the postmodern/contemporary era include the neoromantic, neomedieval, minimalist, and post minimalist. Contemporary classical music at the beginning of the 21st century was often considered to include all post-1945 musical forms. A generation later, this term now properly refers to the music of today written by composers who are still alive; music that came into prominence in

16065-475: The leading tone in its first movement exposition, with no orchestral accompaniment. On the other hand, other Classical and Romantic composers strictly adhered to the traditional scheme of modulating to the dominant in a major key or the relative major in a minor key, including Haydn, Mozart, Hummel, John Field, and Mendelssohn. The exposition may include identifiable musical themes (whether melodic , rhythmic or chordal in character), and may develop them, but it

16218-409: The lens of modernism , with some abandoning tonality in place of serialism , while others found new inspiration in folk melodies or impressionist sentiments. After World War II, for the first time audience members valued older music over contemporary works, a preference which has been catered to by the emergence and widespread availability of commercial recordings. Trends of the mid-20th century to

16371-670: The likes of Jean Sibelius and Vaughan Williams infused their compositions with nationalistic elements and influences from folk songs. Sergei Prokofiev began in this tradition but soon ventured into modernist territories. At the same time, the impressionist movement, spearheaded by Claude Debussy , was being developed in France, with Maurice Ravel as another notable pioneer. Modernist classical music encompasses many styles of composition that can be characterised as post romantic, impressionist, expressionist, and neoclassical. Modernism marked an era when many composers rejected certain values of

16524-430: The major European musical center: The religious Notre-Dame school first fully explored organized rhythms and polyphony , while secular music flourished with the troubadour and trouvère traditions led by poet-musician nobles. This culminated in the court sponsored French ars nova and Italian Trecento , which evolved into ars subtilior , a stylistic movement of extreme rhythmic diversity. Beginning in

16677-500: The major impetus to fugal writing for Mozart was the influence of Baron Gottfried van Swieten in Vienna around 1782. Van Swieten, during diplomatic service in Berlin, had taken the opportunity to collect as many manuscripts by Bach and Handel as he could, and he invited Mozart to study his collection and encouraged him to transcribe various works for other combinations of instruments. Mozart was evidently fascinated by these works and wrote

16830-408: The material when all the themes have been stated, sometimes after a rest). There is usually very little non-structural/thematic material. During the course of a permutation fugue, it is quite uncommon, actually, for every single possible voice-combination (or "permutation") of the themes to be heard. This limitation exists in consequence of sheer proportionality: the more voices in a fugue, the greater

16983-538: The medieval Islamic world . For example, the Arabic rebab is the ancestor of all European bowed string instruments , including the lira , rebec and violin . The musical Renaissance era lasted from 1400 to 1600. It was characterized by greater use of instrumentation , multiple interweaving melodic lines, and the use of earlier forms of bass instruments . Social dancing became more widespread, so musical forms appropriate to accompanying dance began to standardize. It

17136-610: The mid-1970s. It includes different variations of modernist , postmodern , neoromantic , and pluralist music . Performers who have studied classical music extensively are said to be "classically trained". This training may come from private lessons from instrument or voice teachers or from completion of a formal program offered by a Conservatory, college or university, such as a Bachelor of Music or Master of Music degree (which includes individual lessons from professors). In classical music, "...extensive formal music education and training, often to postgraduate [Master's degree] level"

17289-416: The middle class, whose demands for the instrument spurred many piano builders. Many symphony orchestras date their founding to this era. Some musicians and composers were the stars of the day; some, like Franz Liszt and Niccolò Paganini , fulfilled both roles. European cultural ideas and institutions began to follow colonial expansion into other parts of the world. There was also a rise, especially toward

17442-410: The modern day, instruments may be classified as brass, strings, percussion, and woodwind. Brass instruments in the Renaissance were traditionally played by professionals who were members of Guilds and they included the slide trumpet , the wooden cornet , the valveless trumpet and the sackbut . Stringed instruments included the viol , the rebec , the harp-like lyre , the hurdy-gurdy , the lute ,

17595-411: The modulation between the tonic and the key of the answer. The codetta, like other parts of the exposition, may be reused throughout the remainder of the fugue. The first answer must occur as soon after the initial statement of the subject as possible; therefore, the first codetta is often absent or very short. In the example shown above of J.S. Bach's Fugue No. 16 in G minor, BWV 861 , the first codetta

17748-416: The movable-type printing press in the 15th century had far-reaching consequences on the preservation and transmission of music. Many instruments originated during the Renaissance; others were variations of, or improvements upon, instruments that had existed previously. Some have survived to the present day; others have disappeared, only to be re-created in order to perform music on period instruments. As in

17901-455: The music's tonic key , and then modulates to, and ends in, the dominant . If the exposition starts in a minor key, it typically modulates to the relative major key. There are many exceptions, especially in the Romantic era. For example, to the mediant (the first movement of Beethoven's " Waldstein Sonata "), the flat mediant (Ferdinand Ries' "Pastorale" Concerto No. 5), the dominant when in

18054-414: The number of possible permutations. In consequence, composers exercise editorial judgment as to the most musical of permutations and processes leading thereto. One example of permutation fugue can be seen in the eighth and final chorus of J.S. Bach's cantata, Himmelskönig, sei willkommen , BWV 182 . Permutation fugues differ from conventional fugue in that there are no connecting episodes, nor statement of

18207-468: The opening exposition takes place in stretto form is known as a close fugue or stretto fugue (see for example, the Gratias agimus tibi and Dona nobis pacem choruses from J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor ). The closing section of a fugue often includes one or two counter-expositions, and possibly a stretto, in the tonic ; sometimes over a tonic or dominant pedal note . Any material that follows

18360-524: The orchestra, the existing Classical instruments and sections were retained ( string section , woodwinds, brass, and percussion), but these sections were typically expanded to make a fuller, bigger sound. For example, while a Baroque orchestra may have had two double bass players, a Romantic orchestra could have as many as ten. "As music grew more expressive, the standard orchestral palette just wasn't rich enough for many Romantic composers." The families of instruments used, especially in orchestras, grew larger;

18513-570: The orchestra. The Wagner tuba , a modified member of the horn family, appears in Richard Wagner 's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen . It also has a prominent role in Anton Bruckner 's Symphony No. 7 in E Major and is also used in several late romantic and modernist works by Richard Strauss, Béla Bartók , and others Cornets appear regularly in 19th century scores, alongside trumpets which were regarded as less agile, at least until

18666-526: The orchestra. While appearing only as featured solo instruments in some works, for example Maurice Ravel 's orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky 's Pictures at an Exhibition and Sergei Rachmaninoff 's Symphonic Dances , the saxophone is included in other works such as Sergei Prokofiev 's Romeo and Juliet Suites 1 and 2 and many other works as a member of the orchestral ensemble. In some compositions such as Ravel's Boléro , two or more saxophones of different sizes are used to create an entire section like

18819-701: The other sections of the orchestra. The euphonium is featured in a few late Romantic and 20th century works, usually playing parts marked "tenor tuba", including Gustav Holst 's The Planets , and Richard Strauss 's Ein Heldenleben . Prominent composers of the early 20th century include Igor Stravinsky , Claude Debussy , Sergei Rachmaninoff , Sergei Prokofiev , Arnold Schoenberg , Nikos Skalkottas , Heitor Villa-Lobos , Karol Szymanowski , Anton Webern , Alban Berg , Cécile Chaminade , Paul Hindemith , Aram Khachaturian , George Gershwin , Amy Beach , Béla Bartók , and Dmitri Shostakovich , along with

18972-528: The potential of a wider array of instruments was developed). Chamber music grew to include ensembles with as many as 8-10 performers for serenades . Opera continued to develop, with regional styles in Italy, France, and German-speaking lands. The opera buffa , a form of comic opera, rose in popularity. The symphony came into its own as a musical form, and the concerto was developed as a vehicle for displays of virtuoso playing skill. Orchestras no longer required

19125-677: The predominant music of ancient Greece and Rome , as it was a reminder of the pagan religion it had persecuted and by which it had been persecuted . 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 . The general attitude towards music was adopted from the Ancient Greek and Roman music theorists and commentators. Just as in Greco-Roman society, music

19278-522: The present day include New Simplicity , New Complexity , Minimalism , Spectral music , and more recently Postmodern music and Postminimalism . Increasingly global, practitioners from the Americas, Africa and Asia have obtained crucial roles, while symphony orchestras and opera houses now appear across the world. Both the English term classical and the German equivalent Klassik developed from

19431-409: The second bar in the second system, and the first middle entry. Here, Bach has altered the second countersubject to accommodate the change of mode . At any point in the fugue there may be "false entries" of the subject, which include the start of the subject but are not completed. False entries are often abbreviated to the head of the subject, and anticipate the "true" entry of the subject, heightening

19584-400: The simple songs of all previous periods. The beginnings of the sonata form took shape in the canzona , as did a more formalized notion of theme and variations . The tonalities of major and minor as means for managing dissonance and chromaticism in music took full shape. During the Baroque era, keyboard music played on the harpsichord and pipe organ became increasingly popular, and

19737-405: The style of their era. In the Baroque era, organ performers would improvise preludes , keyboard performers playing harpsichord would improvise chords from the figured bass symbols beneath the bass notes of the basso continuo part and both vocal and instrumental performers would improvise musical ornaments . Johann Sebastian Bach was particularly noted for his complex improvisations. During

19890-427: The subject are then heard in related keys . Episodes (if applicable) and entries are usually alternated until the final entry of the subject, at which point the music has returned to the opening key, or tonic , which is often followed by a coda . Because of the composer's prerogative to decide most structural elements, the fugue is closer to a style of composition rather than a structural form. The form evolved during

20043-481: The subject in more than one instance, the countersubject must be capable of sounding correctly when played above or below the subject, and must be conceived, therefore, in invertible (double) counterpoint. In tonal music, invertible contrapuntal lines must be written according to certain rules, because several intervallic combinations, while acceptable in one orientation, are not permissible when inverted. As an example, perfect fifths are contrapuntally acceptable, while

20196-471: The subject is heard; a stretto (plural stretti), when the fugue's subject overlaps itself in different voices, or a recapitulation . A popular compositional technique in the Baroque era , the fugue was fundamental in showing mastery of harmony and tonality as it presented counterpoint . In the Middle Ages , the term was widely used to denote any works in canonic style; however, by the Renaissance , it had come to denote specifically imitative works. Since

20349-403: The subject, and is always used together with the first version of the second countersubject. Following this an episode modulates from the tonic to the relative major by means of sequence , in the form of an accompanied canon at the fourth. Arrival in E ♭ major is marked by a quasi perfect cadence across the bar line, from the last quarter note beat of the first bar to the first beat of

20502-430: The subject, or middle entries, occur throughout the fugue. The development must state the subject or answer at least once in its entirety, and may also be heard in combination with any countersubjects from the exposition, new countersubjects, free counterpoint, or any of these in combination. It is uncommon for the subject to enter alone in a single voice in the middle entries; rather, it is usually heard with at least one of

20655-439: The subject/answer before the first voice has completed its entry of the subject/answer, usually increasing the intensity of the music. Only one entry of the subject must be heard in its completion in a stretto . However, a stretto in which the subject/answer is heard in completion in all voices is known as stretto maestrale or grand stretto . Strettos may also occur by inversion, augmentation and diminution. A fugue in which

20808-468: The symphonies and in the Baryton trios , exhibit the influence of Joseph Fux's treatise on counterpoint, Gradus ad Parnassum (1725), which Haydn studied carefully. Haydn's second fugal period occurred after he heard, and was greatly inspired by, the oratorios of Handel during his visits to London (1791–1793, 1794–1795). Haydn then studied Handel's techniques and incorporated Handelian fugal writing into

20961-454: The term gegenfuge to refer to a counter-fugue construct in his Der vollkommene Capellmeister (1739), and some German-language texts use that name to refer to a counter-fugue. Permutation fugue describes a type of composition (or technique of composition) in which elements of fugue and strict canon are combined. Each voice enters in succession with the subject, each entry alternating between tonic and dominant, and each voice, having stated

21114-646: The term "classical music" includes all Western art music from the Medieval era to the early 2010s, the Classical Era was the period of Western art music from the 1750s to the early 1820s —the era of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Joseph Haydn , and Ludwig van Beethoven . The Classical era established many of the norms of composition, presentation, and style, and when the piano became the predominant keyboard instrument. The basic forces required for an orchestra became somewhat standardized (though they would grow as

21267-442: The term "classical" to generally praise well-regarded outputs from various composers, particularly those who produced many works in an established genre. The contemporary understanding of the term "classical music" remains vague and multifaceted. Other terms such as "art music", "canonic music", "cultivated music" and "serious music" are largely synonymous. The term "classical music" is often indicated or implied to concern solely

21420-431: The terms of "species" of counterpoint , and offered a series of exercises to learn fugue writing. Fux's work was largely based on the practice of Palestrina 's modal fugues. Mozart studied from this book, and it remained influential into the nineteenth century. Haydn , for example, taught counterpoint from his own summary of Fux and thought of it as the basis for formal structure. Bach's most famous fugues are those for

21573-403: The themes in related keys. So for example, the fugue of Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 is not purely a permutation fugue, as it does have episodes between permutation expositions. Invertible counterpoint is essential to permutation fugues but is not found in simple fugues. A fughetta is a short fugue that has the same characteristics as a fugue. Often the contrapuntal writing

21726-411: The turn of the century, music was characteristically late romantic in style with its expressive melodies, complex harmonies, and expansive forms. This era was marked by the works of several composers who pushed forward post-romantic symphonic writing . Composers such as Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss continued to develop the western classical tradition with expansive symphonies and operas, while

21879-405: The versions still in use today, such as the Baroque violin (which became the violin ), Baroque oboe (which became the oboe ) and Baroque trumpet, which transitioned to the regular valved trumpet. During the Classical era, the stringed instruments used in orchestra and chamber music such as string quartets were standardized as the four instruments which form the string section of the orchestra:

22032-417: The violin family of stringed instruments took the form generally seen today. Opera as a staged musical drama began to differentiate itself from earlier musical and dramatic forms, and vocal forms like the cantata and oratorio became more common. For the first time, vocalists began adding ornamentals to the music. The theories surrounding equal temperament began to be put in wider practice, as it enabled

22185-417: The violin, viola, cello, and double bass. Baroque-era stringed instruments such as fretted, bowed viols were phased out. Woodwinds included the basset clarinet , basset horn , clarinette d'amour , the Classical clarinet , the chalumeau , the flute, oboe and bassoon. Keyboard instruments included the clavichord and the fortepiano . While the harpsichord was still used in basso continuo accompaniment in

22338-421: The word "classical" in relation to music: The last definition concerns what is now termed the Classical period , a specific stylistic era of European music from the second half of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century. The Western classical tradition formally begins with music created by and for the early Christian Church. It is probable that the early Church wished to disassociate itself from

22491-478: Was considered central to education; along with arithmetic, geometry and astronomy, music was included in the quadrivium , the four subjects of the upper division of a standard liberal arts education in the Middle Ages . This high regard for music was first promoted by the scholars Cassiodorus , Isidore of Seville , and particularly Boethius , whose transmission and expansion on the perspectives of music from Pythagoras , Aristotle and Plato were crucial in

22644-432: Was either minimal or exclusive to the upper classes. Many European commentators of the early 19th century found new unification in their definition of classical music: to juxtapose the older composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Joseph Haydn , and (excluding some of his later works ) Ludwig van Beethoven as "classical" against the emerging style of Romantic music . These three composers in particular were grouped into

22797-476: Was for a while subordinate to the broader classical ideals of formality and excellence. Literature and visual arts—for which substantial Ancient Greek and Roman examples existed—did eventually adopt the term "classical" as relating to classical antiquity, but virtually no music of that time was available to Renaissance musicians, limiting the connection between classical music and the Greco-Roman world . It

22950-579: Was in 18th-century England that the term 'classical' "first came to stand for a particular canon of works in performance." London had developed a prominent public concert music scene, unprecedented and unmatched by other European cities. The royal court had gradually lost its monopoly on music, in large part from instability that the Commonwealth of England 's dissolution and the Glorious Revolution enacted on court musicians. In 1672,

23103-406: Was not widely used until Mozart expanded its role in orchestral, chamber, and concerto settings. The music of the Romantic era , from roughly the first decade of the 19th century to the early 20th century, was characterized by increased attention to an extended melodic line, as well as expressive and emotional elements, paralleling romanticism in other art forms. Musical forms began to break from

23256-502: Was repeated starting on a different note. Gioseffo Zarlino , a composer, author, and theorist in the Renaissance , was one of the first to distinguish between the two types of imitative counterpoint: fugues and canons (which he called imitations). Originally, this was to aid improvisation , but by the 1550s, it was considered a technique of composition. The composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525?–1594) wrote masses using modal counterpoint and imitation, and fugal writing became

23409-525: Was specialized by the Academy of Ancient Music and later at the Concerts of Antient Music series, where the work of select 16th and 17th composers was featured, especially George Frideric Handel . In France, the reign of Louis XIV ( r.  1638–1715 ) saw a cultural renaissance, by the end of which writers such as Molière , Jean de La Fontaine and Jean Racine were considered to have surpassed

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