The music

from the ancient greece until the classical period

The ancient greek muses

Music comes from the Ancient Greek muses, who were the nine goddesses of art and science.

Calliope Clio Erato

Euterpe Polyhymnia Terpsichore

Thalia Urania Melpomene

Music actually began around 500 B.C. when Pythagoras experimented with acoustics and how math related to tones formed from plucking strings.

The main form of music during the Middle Ages was the Gregorian chant, named for Pope Gregory I. This music was used in the Catholic Churches to enhance the services.

It consisted of a sacred Latin text sung by monks without instrumentation.

Towards the end of the Middle Ages, about the 12th century, music began to move outside of the church. French nobles called troubadours and trouveres were among the first to have written secular songs.

Music of this time was contained among the nobility, with court minstrels performing for them.

There were also wandering minstrels who would perform music and acrobatics in castles, taverns, and town squares. These people were among the lowest social class, along with prostitutes and slaves, but they were important because they carried information, newspapers did not exist yet.

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The Renaissance 1450-1600

During the Renaissance Period, vocal music was still more important than instrumental. A humanistic interest in language created a close relationship between words and music during this time.

Composers began to write music to give deeper

meaning and emotion to the words in their songs.

Renaissance music is very emotional music

Musicians still worked in the churches, courts, and towns

Music was becoming more popular during this time. Much of this was due to the invention of the printing press, which could circulate copies of music. The number of composers also began to increase.

The Baroque Age 1600-1750

People of this time believed that music could move the listener in more ways than one. Opera was a major ideal for this belief.

Churches, aristocratic courts, opera houses, and municipalities wanted music. Composers were pressured to write new music because audiences did not want to hear pieces of music in the “old-fashioned” style.

The composers of the courts were paid well and more prestigious, but they were still considered a servant of the court. They could not quit nor vacation without the patron’s permission.

The demand for music in the church was greater so they employed musicians, although they were paid less and had less status than the court musicians. In the Baroque Age, a person became a musician usually by being the son of a musician or an apprentice.

The Classical Period 1750-1820

The melodies in classical music have an easy tune to remember. Although they may be complex compositions, there is usually a basic melody to follow.

Most classical composers began to want to control their own music, not make music according to what someone else wanted.

During the eighteenth century, the economy began rising and people starting making more money. The middle class had larger homes, nicer clothes and better food. They also wanted aristocratic luxuries such as theatre, literature, and music.

The palace concerts were usually closed to the middle class, so there were public concerts. Many people were not satisfied with always going to concerts to listen to music; they wanted it in their homes as well. They wanted their children to take music lessons and play as well as the aristocratic children.