The Classical Era in Music

True Classicism was a relatively short interval between the Baroque and Romantic eras

The term “classical” is often used to mean what might otherwise be called “serious” music, to distinguish it from pop, rock, folk, jazz or any other classification. These terms are never satisfactory, however, and often give rise to confusion.

That said, the term “Classical era in music”, properly defined, only applies to the relatively brief period between the end of the Baroque period (conveniently marked by the death of J S Bach in 1750) and the rise of Romanticism around 1820. Its beginning corresponded with the general rejection of Baroque and Rococo taste throughout Europe and a conscious looking back to the classical models of Ancient Greece and Rome, or at least to how they were imagined to be. This trend could be seen in visual art, furniture design, architecture, literature and much else. In music there were no classical parallels to look back to, so classical music was something quite new and original, although built on what had gone before.

It would also be a mistake to assume that every composer who had been writing in the Baroque style suddenly decided to become “classical”. These things happen gradually, and there were many cases of “overlap”, as there were at the other end of the period…