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The Classical music Portal

Classical music is a broad term that designates the art music of Western cultures. The works performed by classical musicians are selected from a tradition of written music dating back to the Middle Ages. Much of this music was originally composed as church music or for the entertainment of the aristocracy. Starting about the mid 18th century, classical music began to be composed for a public of classical music listeners, and it is this audience that continues to support the tradition today. Classical music is commonly divided into historical eras, including Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern. Culturally, classical music stands out for the intensive training that serious participants must undergo, as well as the tendency of its listeners to cherish, even venerate, particular works and their composers.
  

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A piano prepared for a performance of Sonatas and Interludes

Sonatas and Interludes is a collection of twenty pieces for prepared piano by American avant-garde composer John Cage (1912–1992). It was composed in 1946–1948, shortly after Cage's introduction to Indian philosophy and the teachings of art historian Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, both of which became major influences on the composer's later work. Significantly more complex than his other works for prepared piano, Sonatas and Interludes is generally recognized as one of Cage's finest achievements.The cycle consists of sixteen sonatas (which have practically nothing in common with the classic sonata form) and four interludes. The aim of the pieces is to express the eight permanent emotions of the rasa Indian tradition. In Sonatas and Interludes, Cage elevated his technique of rhythmic proportions to a new level of complexity.In each sonata a short sequence of natural numbers and fractions defines the structure of the work and that of its parts, informing structures as localized as individual melodic lines.

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Did you know...

... that Johann Sebastian Bach (pictured) is only one of 53 'musical Bachs' in several generations?

... that the Longest non-repetitive piano piece is The Road, composed by Frederic Rzewski, and lasts about 10 hours?

... that Gioacchino Rossini wrote his comic opera The Italian Girl in Algiers in less than three weeks?

... that the shortest opera is Darius Milhaud’s The Deliverance of Theseus, which lasts only 7 minutes?

... that the piece 4'33" by John Cage is made up entirely of silence from the performer?

... that Stockhausen's Helikopter-Streichquartett is played by a string quartet and four helicopters?

... that Niccolò Paganini commissioned Berlioz's Harold en Italie, and never paid for it?

... that Evgeni Kostitsyn's Third Symphony requires 9 conductors?

... that Georg Philipp Telemann is considered the most prolific composer ever, with more than 3000 works registered?

  

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Quotes

"Music is at once the product of feeling and knowledge, for it requires from its disciples, composers and performers alike, not only talent and enthusiasm, but also that knowledge and perception which are the result of protracted study and reflection." —Alban Berg

"My faith is the grand drama of my life. I'm a believer, so I sing words of God to those who have no faith." —Olivier Messiaen

"I'm a revolutionary, money means nothing to me." —Frédéric Chopin

"Music, even in situations of the greatest horror, should never be painful to the ear but should flatter and charm it, and thereby always remain music." —W.A. Mozart

"And when they encounter works of art which show that using new media can lead to new experiences and to new consciousness, and expand our senses, our perception, our intelligence, our sensibility, then they will become interested in this music." —Karlheinz Stockhausen

"Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend." —Ludwig van Beethoven

"Music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all." —Igor Stravinsky

"Emphasis on the common emotive or affective origins of music and words in the first cries of humankind undermines words." —Jean Philippe Rameau

"I have long been convinced that my artistic ideal stands or falls with Germany. Only the Germany that we love and desire can help us achieve that ideal." —Richard Wagner

"Music is the wine which inspires one to new generative processes, and I am Bacchus who presses out this glorious wine for mankind and makes them spiritually drunken." —Ludwig van Beethoven

"I give bird songs to those who dwell in cities and have never heard them, make rhythms for those who know only military marches or jazz, and paint colors for those who see none." —Olivier Messiaen

"Music is enough for a life -- but a life is too short for music." —Richard Strauss

"Music conveys a prophetic message, revealing a higher form of life towards which mankind evolves." —Arnold Schoenberg

  

Major periods

History of European art music
Early
Medieval (500 – 1400)
Renaissance (1400 – 1600)
Common practice
Baroque (1600 – 1760)
Classical (1730 – 1820)
Romantic (1815 – 1910)
Modern and contemporary
20th century classical (1900 – 2000)
Contemporary classical (1975 – present)

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