Music History in 3 Songs

Ancient/Renaissance/Baroque

(Earliest known recorded music - 1750ish

Classical to Romantic

(1750ish - 1920ish)

Post War - Modern

(1920ish  - Present)

While music has been found in all cultures throughout the world, there has always been the problem of preserving what came before. If there is no audio recording, then there must be written sheet music. In fact, the earliest known musical writing is thought to be a carving on an ancient tomb stone. Nevertheless, we find that music actually predates any records that have survived.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525 - 1594)  was an Italian Renaissance composer who was considered the greatest writer of his age. He is credited with saving "mainstream" music at a time when the Roman Catholic Church controlled much of the world. The Church had decided that there were problematic issues with music that would lead people toward evil, and sought to put severe restrictions on its performance. Palestrina had a concert with the Pope (who was effectively the most powerful world leader in Europe at the time)and the musicians gave a performance that (along with his political skills) convinced the Pope that music is not inherently evil and could be used to inspire.

This era of music in history was defined by a centuries long shift away from "approved" music. Composers were experimenting with new sounds and combinations that led to many of the splits we see in modern music. Before this time period, music was pretty much whatever had been approved by the powers in charge - whether that be churches, or governments.  We start to see a massive shift away from feudal systems (kings and castles) and a push toward people-centered systems of government (republics and democracies).

There were no recordings, as of yet, so all music was live and you could only hear what had been commissioned. Now, finally, composers began writing music for artistic sake and to the tastes of everyday people,  not just to fulfill the whims of those in power.

Samuel Barber was an American composer (1910 - 1981). This piece. Adagio for Strings, has been adapted for many uses, and is used today in many video-games and movies.

This is where things really start to feed our modern ideas of music. There are no more constraints, music can be made by anyone with the use of instruments, voices, technology, and electronic additions. In fact, the biggest difference between this age of music and the others is Recording Technology.  Having the ability to record music has gotten much easier over time, and it is directly responsible for the music that we listen to today.

This is an example of a "classical" composer who blended all of these things. He even had the music video animated, and a virtual choir perform. You can find the video on YouTube. Eric Whitacre (b. 1970) is still a very active musician who pioneered the "Virtual Chorus," a project where singers recorded themselves singing at home to a guide track, and he later went in an edited all the recordings together.