# Does Anyone Else Find the Title of, "Classical Era/Period," Annoying?



## Bevo (Feb 22, 2015)

The Classical Era is my personal favorite era of classical music, and while I'm happy that many of the composers that I've found were very prolific, I get very annoyed searching for new composers that were well regarded, yet are mentioned less. I say this because when I search for Classical Era composers on google or amazon, Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven always come up, but then it reveals composers from all the eras due to it all being referred to as "Classical," music as a whole genre. I know there are other great composers out there during this era, but even with there being recordings of them out there, they're so hard to find because using the word "Classical" pulls up composers from all the eras on most search engines. An example is looking for albums of classical era composers on amazon prime. Most composers of that era don't have albums, but there are some out there for those like Dittersdorf and Rossetti, but unless you know their specific names, you can't find them like you can when searching something like "Romantic," or "Baroque." Am I the only one annoyed by this?


----------



## bewegt (Apr 9, 2017)

Yes, very frustrating. This is why I wish sites that sell music (CDs, downloads, streaming, etc) would allow users to tag recordings with their own descriptive terms. There would no doubt be some abuse of the tagging system but it would be drowned out by more meaningful tags on which users reached some consensus, such as "Romantic", "Baroque", "Second Viennese", etc. And it would also allow finer categorization within those categories. The term "Classical" might be hard for us to reclaim but we could use an alternative term, such as "Classical Era".

Online classification of "classical" (in the broadest sense) music leaves much to be desired and it would be sensible to put it in the hands of those who are passionate about it.


----------



## Jacred (Jan 14, 2017)

Yes, because search queries and most people for the matter don't differentiate between classical and Classical. Also, I don't like how modern music is subdivided into so many styles but 'classical' music is just lumped together into one big category, seeing as many of the pieces that count as 'classical' music are so stylistically different.

But the general usage of the word 'classical' is so ingrained in society that it's impossible to retract.


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I'm too busy listening to music to care. I have enough REAL problems.


----------



## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

Here is a list.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Classical-era_composers


----------



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Alfacharger said:


> Here is a list.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Classical-era_composers


Ya, I would think just type Classical Era composers in google and you can find names and then search their particular works on youtube.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Yes, it's annoying. But I live with it.


----------



## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

I propose we unite and lobby to have it officially renamed to "post-Baroque, pre-Romantic" era.


----------



## Bevo (Feb 22, 2015)

Alfacharger said:


> Here is a list.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Classical-era_composers


I've looked at that list, but again, due to many of these composers taking a bit of a backseat, it's hard to find recordings of their works unless you search for their specific names. I mean Hoffmeister is an example. He's not quite up there with Mozart and Haydn, but there are some recordings of his works, where as there aren't any for John Alcock. It's just that you can simply type in "Romantic composers," or "Baroque composers" and albums with multiple composers from those eras with pop up, but putting in ANYTHING having to do with the Classical Era and composers from every era show up. It's just frustrating.


----------



## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

Some classical CD online retailers allow you to search for CDs by era. You can then sort between different composers from within that era. HBDirect is one site that does that. Use this link and then click on composers on the 2nd blue bar (the one right below where it says "Use the options below to refine X Matching Records"). Other retailers probably have something similar, but HBDirect is the one I'm familiar with. You can check prices on other sites once you find the CDs you like. Anyway, I hope that helps.

https://www.hbdirect.com/browse_classical.php?v_0=time_period&time_period=Classical


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

I miss the option who cares.


----------



## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Best to search using "18th century composers". It's my favorite period, by far.


----------



## Razumovskymas (Sep 20, 2016)

Bevo said:


> The Classical Era is my personal favorite era of classical music, and while I'm happy that many of the composers that I've found were very prolific, I get very annoyed searching for new composers that were well regarded, yet are mentioned less. I say this because when I search for Classical Era composers on google or amazon, Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven always come up, but then it reveals composers from all the eras due to it all being referred to as "Classical," music as a whole genre. I know there are other great composers out there during this era, but even with there being recordings of them out there, they're so hard to find because using the word "Classical" pulls up composers from all the eras on most search engines. An example is looking for albums of classical era composers on amazon prime. Most composers of that era don't have albums, but there are some out there for those like Dittersdorf and Rossetti, but unless you know their specific names, you can't find them like you can when searching something like "Romantic," or "Baroque." Am I the only one annoyed by this?


Ever thought about buying some books and do some reading? Because when you do that you'll be soon complaining about the abundance of classical-era composers and you won't know where to start.


----------



## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

It is indeed annoying that _Classical _and _classical_ denote two different things. But I fear that, like the QWERTY keyboard, we are now stuck with it.


----------



## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

No.................................................................................


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

brianvds said:


> It is indeed annoying that _Classical _and _classical_ denote two different things. But I fear that, like the QWERTY keyboard, we are now stuck with it.


Not everywhere:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AZERTY


----------



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I find that when I hear new music or new composers, the period they are from only comes into my conciousness some time later in the process of absorbing the new material. I remember when the recording of the Bach first keyboard concerto was released, with Glenn Gould and Lenny, I only tuned it in on the radio during the second movement, Adagio, and thought it was Rachmaninoff! (I was young). It was only upon hearing the final movement and the announcer say Bach that I was corrected in my thinking. Only a little later did I connect the radio experience with the TV presentation of the Bach, with the same two musicians. So for me anyway, I've found it's better to serendipitously find new music that I like first, and then pigeonhole it later as to period.


----------



## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> I propose we unite and lobby to have it officially renamed to "post-Baroque, pre-Romantic" era.


I vote for "Classical in the Narrow Sense, Not in the Broad Sense" Music.

:tiphat:

Kind regards,

George


----------



## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

It is merely one of many instances of the usually minor inconveniences caused by the imprecise nature of common language. And yet we all seem to go on with our daily lives, more or less, and the world keeps spinning, and the sun rises and sets, etc.


----------



## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Pugg said:


> Not everywhere:
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AZERTY


Trust the French to be different! No doubt they also have their own term for the Classical period.


----------



## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

Imagine the outcries if rock, hard rock, album rock, singer-songwriter, bubblegum, boy band, rock and roll, New Wave, British Invasion, Second British Invasion, grunge, death metal, speed metal, heavy metal, disco, punk, rap, hip-hop, Old Skool, synthpop, R & B, and country (AND western - "both kinds") were all simply called Pop music.


----------



## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Totenfeier said:


> Imagine the outcries if rock, hard rock, album rock, singer-songwriter, bubblegum, boy band, rock and roll, New Wave, British Invasion, Second British Invasion, grunge, death metal, speed metal, heavy metal, disco, punk, rap, hip-hop, Old Skool, synthpop, R & B, and country (AND western - "both kinds") were all simply called Pop music.


Chez nous, they ARE all simply called Pop music.


----------



## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

I do, yes. Any time I use the word "classical" as an all-encompassing term for Western orchestral music, some pedant has to be like "you mean _romantic_, not classical!" if I had been speaking of Tchaikovsky, for example. And then of course if I want to refer to the Classical era specifically, it becomes incredibly difficult to differentiate it. I've sometimes taken to referring to the era as "capital-C Classical" in speech. Oy. Even so, the lines between the eras are often blurred. You can't simply label all composers and all works neatly under "romantic", "classical", "modern", etc. I tend to refer to things more by time and specific style than I do by era. The eras not un-useful (hehe), but they're not very useful to me anymore.


----------



## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

Pat Fairlea said:


> Chez nous, they ARE all simply called Pop music.


I generally say "rock and pop" for the sake of being a little more inclusive, although I might be hard-pressed to delineate a specific distinction.


----------



## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

brianvds said:


> It is indeed annoying that _Classical _and _classical_ denote two different things. But I fear that, like the QWERTY keyboard, we are now stuck with it.


Any _real_ classical music fan should be using a Dvorak keyboard anyway. The inventor of the Dvorak keyboard layout is a distant relative of Antonin Dvorak.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

I find the modern era to be a more annoying title.
Music written before my dead grandparents were born is not modern.


----------



## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

Pat Fairlea said:


> Chez nous, they ARE all simply called Pop music.


Chez moi, I have some other, more..._interesting_ words to describe at least some of them!


----------



## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Totenfeier said:


> Chez moi, I have some other, more..._interesting_ words to describe at least some of them!


Ah. Rap music with an additional initial letter?


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

brianvds said:


> Trust the French to be different! No doubt they also have their own term for the Classical period.


They use them in Belgium also.


----------



## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

Pat Fairlea said:


> Ah. Rap music with an additional initial letter?


Ah, but rap is not music. This is not to denigrate rap in any way. There are many...um, _forms of artistic expression (yeah...yeah, that's the ticket_...) that are not music.


----------



## Guest (Apr 11, 2017)

Bevo said:


> I've looked at that list, but again, due to many of these composers taking a bit of a backseat, it's hard to find recordings of their works unless you search for their specific names. I mean Hoffmeister is an example. He's not quite up there with Mozart and Haydn, but there are some recordings of his works, where as there aren't any for John Alcock. It's just that you can simply type in "Romantic composers," or "Baroque composers" and albums with multiple composers from those eras with pop up, but putting in ANYTHING having to do with the Classical Era and composers from every era show up. It's just frustrating.


I picked three random composers from the wiki list referenced above, and all three had recordings at the top of the amazon search list: Perti, Graupner and Falckenhagen. All obscure and all have their own page too.

How about you select a composer first, then look for a recording?

https://www.amazon.com/Perti-Moses-...&ie=UTF8&qid=1491919664&sr=1-1&keywords=perti

https://www.amazon.com/Graupner-Orc...=UTF8&qid=1491919759&sr=1-1&keywords=graupner

https://www.amazon.com/Hagen-Falcke...8&qid=1491919823&sr=1-1&keywords=falckenhagen


----------

