Music genres

The term genre refers to a particular category or distinct style of music (or of film, literature, or other creative products). A genre or category is defined by various conventions or typical characteristics that have developed over time. Conventions refer to typical stylistic criteria, characteristics, or standards that artists and the public have come to expect, for example, in the various musical forms, techniques and characteristics that audiences of a particular genre expect. The term genre (pronounced /ʒɑn.ɹə/ among more academic or formal speakers, or more informally, /dʒɑn.ɹə/) derives from the French genre /ʒɑn.ɹə/, meaning 'kind, sort'.

A well developed and popular genre music can have subtypes, or subgenres. Whether one speaks of a major style as a genre or subgenre can depend on context. For example, in the overall context of music, one could refer to rock/pop, jazz, classical, country, folk music, and others as genres. But within the context of, say, jazz, where very well developed and distinct subtypes exist, then within a strictly jazz context, one could speak of soft jazz, acid jazz, fusion, modal jazz, big band, swing, and others as specific genres.

The term music genre differs from musical form, which refers to musical pieces or performances with particular formats, structures, or performance methods. For example, baroque is a genre of classical music, which is often associated with certain musical forms, such as concertos and oratorios, but concertos are a format found in most any genre of classical music.

In listing and describing various musical genres below, the various types may be grouped first by general genre, time period, and/or region.

1 Preclassical

This refers to a time period, rather than an actual genre, and includes various popular and folk varieties from medieval and Renaissance periods. It also includes some styles of early classical, especially formal choral and religious styles that are technically part of the Western classical tradition, but precede the baroque and Classical periods that are popularly thought of as classical music. Examples include:

• Medieval popular music of various European countries
• Gregorian chant (starting from medieval times)
• Popular Renaissance music of various European countries
• Renaissance choral music (largley religious)
• Madrigal music (secular)

2 Art music / Classical music

Art music refers to classical music forms, such as Western classical music, or non-Western music traditions in various cultures. Art music uses formal styles that require technical musical skill, and focused attention from listener to appreciate them. It is passed down in written or non-written form, and is thus expected to last for a long time and to be performed from one generation to the next. In Western classical, the music is compositional, within a written musical tradition, while in some cultures it may not necessarily have been written down. Non-Western forms of art music include classical Chinese Yayue and Nanguan music forms, Korean Jeongak, Japanese Gagaku, varieties of Indian classical music, and others.

Western classical music is compositional music, that is, by a recognized composer, who writes pieces to be performed by others (usually professional musicians with technical expertise in music) in classical performance formats (such as orchestras or smaller ensembles). It is composed with the intention of being timeless, that is, it is created with the hope or intention of being preserved and performed in the future. It is thus different from popular or folk music, which can be more temporary, or is performed mainly for entertainment. The earliest classical music comes from the medieval and Renaissance periods, and were dominated by ecclesiastical (church) music forms, such as chant and choral music. Afterwards, more classical music is secular, especially from the Classical era and later.

2.1 Medieval

• Gregorian chant (starting from medieval times)

Notable Medieval composers include Hildegard of Bingen, Léonin, Pérotin, Philippe de Vitry, Guillaume de Machaut, Francesco Landini, and Johannes Ciconia.

2.2 Renassance

The musical Renaissance era lasted from 1400 to 1600, and featured more use of instruments and a greater variety of instruments.

• Renaissance choral music (largley religious)
• Madrigal music (secular)

Notable Renaissance composers include Josquin des Prez, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, John Dunstaple, Johannes Ockeghem, Orlande de Lassus, Guillaume Du Fay, Gilles Binchois, Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Giovanni Gabrieli, Carlo Gesualdo, John Dowland, Jacob Obrecht, Adrian Willaert, Jacques Arcadelt, and Cipriano de Rore.

2.3 Baroque

Baroque music is characterized by the use of complex musical forms, such as tonal counterpoints and a continuous bass line. Vocal works of the Baroque era included suites such as oratorios and cantatas. Important composers of this era include Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, George Frideric Handel, Johann Pachelbel, Henry Purcell, Claudio Monteverdi, Barbara Strozzi, Domenico Scarlatti, Georg Philipp Telemann, Arcangelo Corelli, Alessandro Scarlatti, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Jean-Baptiste Lully, and Heinrich Schütz.

2.4 Classical Era

Though the term classical music includes all formal Western art music from the medieval era to the present day, the Classical Era was a specific period from the 1750s to the early 1820s, in which many musical format, performance forms, and compositional styles were standardized.

Major composers of this period include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Joseph Haydn, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Johann Christian Bach, Luigi Boccherini, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Muzio Clementi, Antonio Salieri, and Johann Nepomuk Hummel.

2.5 Romantic Era

The Romantic era spans the early 19th century to the early 20th century. Romantic music is characterized by more emphasis on melody, and especially more attention to expressive and emotional elements, in a manner analogous to romanticism in art and literature. More free-form pieces emerged like like nocturnes, fantasias, and preludes, in which traditional and classical ideas about musical form and structure became less important.

Prominent composers of this era include Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Frédéric Chopin, Hector Berlioz, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Liszt, Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Wagner, Johannes Brahms, Alexander Scriabin, Nikolai Medtner, Edvard Grieg, and Johann Strauss II. Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss.

2.6 Modernism

Modern classical consists of a large variety of very different styles.