The Classical period was an era of classical music between roughly 1730 and 1820. The German composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is widely regarded as the greatest composer who ever lived.
Let's identify some of the best known western music composers who lived during the 17th and 18th centuries and composed baroque, romantic and classical music.
17th Century - Famous composers of the Baroque period
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
George Frederic Handel (1685-1759)
Henry Purcell (1659-95)
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672)
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
Heinrich Schütz (German: [ʃʏt͡s]; 18 October [O.S. 8 October] 1585 – 6 November 1672) was a German composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and one of the most important composers of the 17th century.
18th Century - Famous composers of the Romantic period
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) ...
Franz Liszt (1811-1886) ...
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) ...
Richard Wagner (1813-1883) ...
Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847) ...
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) ...
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) ...
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
The Romantic period started around 1830 and ended around 1900, as compositions became increasingly expressive and inventive. Expansive symphonies, virtuosic piano music, dramatic operas, and passionate songs took inspiration from art and literature.
The Classical period falls between the Baroque and the Romantic periods. Classical music has a lighter, clearer texture than Baroque music, but a more sophisticated use of form. It is mainly homophonic, using a clear melody line over a subordinate chordal accompaniment, but counterpoint was by no means forgotten, especially in liturgical vocal music and, later in the period, secular instrumental music.
It also makes use of style galant which emphasized light elegance in place of the Baroque's dignified seriousness and impressive grandeur. Variety and contrast within a piece became more pronounced than before and the orchestra increased in size, range, and power.
Johannes Brahms was the great master of symphonic and sonata style in the second half of the 19th century. He can be viewed as the protagonist of the Classical tradition of Joseph Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
Book Title: Music in the Western World
The book provides letters, critiques or concert reviews at that time. Piero Weiss was an Italian-American pianist and musicologist. Born in Trieste, his mother was a symphony violinist and the niece of novelist Italo Svevo. In 1938, at the age of 10, he fled Fascist Italy with his family, ending up in New York City in 1940. Source: ThriftBooks (online reseller).
Music in the Western World is an excellent anthology of source readings in western music history. Texts are well-chosen and entirely relevant to the period being discussed. You get to hear from all sorts of people, from composers, to critics, to philosophers, and the texts offered take the form of letters, articles, reviews, autobiographies. All is given within a clear historical context, with reference to such events as the Reformation, French Revolution, and World Wars. Source: ThriftBooks (online reseller).
Maurizio Pollini is an Italian pianist born in Milan, Italy. He is known for performances of compositions by Beethoven, Chopin and Debussy, among others.
Michel Block (Piano)
Born: Jun 12, 1937 - Antwerp, Belgium
Died: March 4, 2003 - Bloomington, Indiana, USA
The Belgian pianist, Michel Block, was born in Antwerp to French parents. He was still a child when his family moved to Mexico, where his grandfather had settled in 1870. Block's father, likewise born in Europe, had moved to Mexico when he was 19. Block studied piano there as a youth, later relocating to New York where he enrolled at the Juilliard School. Among his teachers was Beveridge Webster.
