# Periods of Western music



## AvantThought (Feb 26, 2013)

Answering a question on another thread led me to this thought:

Broadly speaking, what is/are your favorite period(s) of Western music? What about it(them) do you particularly like?


I always admired pre-tonal and 20th century music/composers. I have a fancy for modality and interesting rhythms (maybe with the slightest pinch of tonality).


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## BartokBela (Mar 12, 2013)

My favorite periods are baroque and 20th century composers (starting with Debussy). What I like about baroque, are the beautiful, relaxing harmonies. I also enjoy the cantatas and masses much more than opera. I also find it interesting to analyse the counterpoint, and listen to each voice individually.

The 20th century music is also a favorite, because it intrigues me how these composers tried to push the boundaries in so many different ways. Schoenberg invented the twelve-tone technique, making music "rational" again. Stravinsky on the other hand tried to convey the raw, primitive emotions (not in all his works of course, I'm referring to The Rite of Spring). Bartok studied folk music and created a wonderful hybrid.

In general I'm "fan" of each era, they all have their pro's and contra's. I try to spread my listening time to each era about equally, they all have composers whom I admire.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

Oh, the Romantic period, you know; from early to late. I like everything about it and there's nothing in it that don't like, really. It's just the sensible response to modern life. There's a few people who transcend romanticism into something even greater (Beethoven, Wagner, Hegel), but they don't form a genre or period.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Easier to say what I like slightly less.

I like all the periods with the possible exception of early Mannheim school classical. But I do love the later classical of Haydn, late Mozart, Kraus and Beethoven.

Other than that all periods are equally filled with wonders.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

As Satie said about 'From Dawn to Noon on the Sea' from La mer: "I like the bit about quarter to eleven."


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

KenOC said:


> As Satie said about 'From Dawn to Noon on the Sea' from La mer: "I like the bit about quarter to eleven."


Sounds a bit like Mr Wagner then - some beautiful moments but awful quarters of an hour.


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## Daimonion (Apr 22, 2012)

Xaltotun said:


> There's a few people who transcend romanticism into something even greater (Beethoven, Wagner, Hegel), but they don't form a genre or period.


The music of Hegel is even greater than those of Beethoven or Wagner;-)


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

BartokBela said:


> In general I'm "fan" of each era, they all have their pro's and contra's. I try to spread my listening time to each era about equally, they all have composers whom I admire.


When I taught literature, though I had my favourite period (the 18th century Augustan style) I was fascinated by the way the prose & poetry slotted into the taste in architecture, clothes, gardening, beliefs about personality - you name it - of their era. And the same is true of music. There are pieces from every period - 'even' the 20th century - that I love. But I like medieval music through to baroque best. With baroque, it's the pattern that I like; with medieval music & its modal system, it's the 'strangeness'.

But BartokBela, I so agree with you!


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Ingenue said:


> ... the same is true of music. There are pieces from every period - 'even' the 20th century - that I love. But I like medieval music through to baroque best. With baroque, it's the pattern that I like; with medieval music & its modal system, it's the 'strangeness'.


Quite agree. I like the difference given by modal music and also like mainly baroque. I can like music from most periods, but I think when you abandon tonality, you lose all sense of order and rationality. I find "modern" music like "modern" literature e.g. Joyce and Finnegans Wake a little indigestible - a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Taggart said:


> Quite agree. I like the difference given by modal music and also like mainly baroque. I can like music from most periods, but I think when you abandon tonality, you lose all sense of order and rationality.


Do you have a reason for believing this, or is it just prejudice? Modern music is just as organized as any other.

Anyway, answering the question, I enjoy all periods of Western classical music, but my particular forte is between 1850 and 1950.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

My favorite period is XXth century, i.e., Modern and Contemporary.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

Daimonion said:


> The music of Hegel is even greater than those of Beethoven or Wagner;-)


Well his words are like music to my ears! But yeah, the arts, even absolute music, are to me a form of thinking, and thus comparable.


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