A part of every human society, music is an art that easily lends itself to alliances with words, as in song, and with physical movement, as in dance. Throughout history, music has been important to ritual and drama and has been said to reflect and influence human emotion. Music takes many forms, from the simplest tune to the grandest full-scale symphony.

Beginnings of music

Music is one of the oldest arts. The earliest human beings learned how to produce sounds themselves by singing, striking a skin stretched over a hollow log, or blowing horns made from animal bone or wood. These sounds were first probably made for signalling purposes; later people came to realize that the sounds they made could be arranged in ways that were pleasing to them.

From earliest times, music provided a background to religious ceremony or storytelling. For example, as early as 4000 BC, the Sumerians of Mesopotamia (in what is now Iraq) chanted hymns in honor of their gods. In a similar way, the ancient Egyptians used their voices as well as musical instruments to communicate with their gods. In ancient India, religious story-songs called the Vedic hymns were chanted during ceremonies. Music was also a part of religious ritual and festivals in ancient China.

The earliest Greek poets, such as Homer, chanted epic stories to the sound of the lyre, a stringed musical instrument. Music and dancing were also important elements in Greek plays.

Middle Ages

The Roman Catholic church was an important part of the development of music in Europe during the Middle Ages. Many of the early musical forms were developed for use with religious services. It is believed that in the 6th century Pope Gregory I created a collection of chants. These came to be called Gregorian chant, or plainsong. The various prayers and ceremonies of the Church had their own specific plainsong melodies.

By the end of the 9th century in Europe, the plainsong melodies were expanded. Other melody lines were added to the main plainsong tune. This provided the first examples of harmony, the form of music in which two or more musical sounds are heard at the same time. By about the 9th century, musicians in Europe had also developed a system of writing music down so that other musicians could reproduce the music. Outside Europe the teaching and learning of music was to remain an essentially oral matter. Many other cultures continue to rely on improvisation in performances of music. That is, musicians make the music up as they perform rather than playing or singing notes that have been composed and written down in a set combination by someone else.

Non-religious music also gained popularity during the Middle Ages. Performers known as troubadours in southern France and minnesingers in Germany sang, danced, and played musical instruments for audiences in royal courts. In Germany the minnesingers were succeeded in the 14th century by groups of performers called Meistersingers who were townspeople rather than nobility.

Renaissance

During the period known as the Renaissance, people in Europe developed a great interest in the arts, particularly music and painting. New song forms, notably the Italian and English madrigals were important musical inventions of the period. Also during this period instrumental music began to be separated from vocal music. Before the 14th or 15th century instruments were used mostly as settings for songs, as substitutes for voices in vocal music with more than one part or to provide music for dancing.

Baroque era

The period from the late 16th century to the mid-18th century is called the baroque era. Music, like the architecture and painting of the time, was designed on a grand scale. The birth of opera represented this grand style. It was also part of a new tradition of listening to music for its own sake. Performances of music in home, church, and theatrical productions have a long history. But the first public opera house opened in 1637 in Venice, and the first public concerts for which admission was charged appeared in London in 1672. Later Germany and France also began to experiment with the form, but the modern concert was not a significant feature of musical life until the late 18th century. In addition, the modern orchestra came about, and most of the musical instruments used in orchestras took on their early modern forms during this time as well.

Two of the greatest composers of the baroque era were Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. Both were born in Germany in 1685. Bach composed hundreds of works for the organ, for orchestras, and for choral groups. In addition to more than 40 operas, Handel composed music for orchestras, a variety of specific musical instruments, and voices. His best-known work is an oratorio, or piece for orchestra and chorus based on religious texts, called the Messiah.

Classical age

The middle of the 18th century saw the start of the next phase in the history of music, the classical age. When the phrase classical music is mentioned, many people think of serious music that is different from popular, folk, or jazz music. But for music experts, true classical music is the music written from about 1750 to 1820, mostly in the Austrian city of Vienna. In this period, a number of musical forms were created, including the symphony (a long musical composition for an orchestra) and string quartet (a musical composition for two violins, a viola, and a cello). In contrast to the grand works of the baroque era, the compositions of the classical period were dignified, emotionally restrained, and marked by great clarity.

Three composers from the classical age stand out: Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven. Haydn composed more than 100 symphonies as well as many operas, string quartets, and music for the piano. His works helped to increase the popularity of the string quartet throughout Europe.

Considered a musical genius by many music experts, Mozart was an accomplished musician by the time he was 8 years old. During his life he composed almost every type of music that existed, including symphonies, string quartets, sonatas, operas, and concertos.

An independent-minded person, Beethoven expressed ideas rather than only feelings in music. Beethoven started writing in the classical style but soon created compositions of a new kind. He used clashing chords in a way that many considered shocking. Beethoven created many compositions for a variety of solo instruments as well as symphonies and chamber music, or pieces for a small group of instruments. He continued to compose even after he began to lose his hearing. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with its choral setting of a poem called Ode to Joy, is one of his best-known works.

Romanticism

In the early 18th to the late 19th century, the school of thought known as romanticism was dominant in Europe. Romanticism glorified feeling, intuition, inspiration, and human creativity. Composers who followed in this tradition wanted to express grand, non-musical ideas like Beethoven had. Composers of this age also wrote music that attempted to imitate nature.

One of the most famous 19th-century composers was Richard Wagner. He revolutionized opera with such spectacular works as Die Meistersinger and Lohengrin. Wagner aimed to unite upon equal terms the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. He preferred to call his works music dramas, rather than operas.

Another strong trend in the music of this time was nationalism. Nationalism is strong loyalty and devotion to a particular nation. To express their nationalism, composers often borrowed from popular songs and folk music from their home country. For example, the music of the composer Franz Liszt was much inspired by his native land, Hungary. Some of his compositions borrow from traditional Hungarian folk songs. Similarly the Russian composers Modest Mussorgsky and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov chose Russian subjects for their works and often used themes taken from or inspired by Russian folk songs.

In addition to Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Schubert, Peter Tchaikovsky, and Johannes Brahms were some of the many composers who distinguished themselves during this time. Another Austrian, Schubert created music in both the classical and romantic styles. He wrote more than 600 songs and used a new kind of musical expression—the art song. In this type of song, the solo voice and the piano accompaniment reach a perfect artistic balance. In contrast with the folk song, the art song is often based on the text of a poem and conveys finer shades of emotion and feeling.

Chopin, originally from Poland, wrote almost entirely for the piano. His music conveys emotions through the use of freer forms. Chopin's waltzes reflect the elegant life of Paris society, where he lived for most of this life. He also composed music that used the colorful rhythms of Polish folk dances.

The Russian-born Tchaikovsky is known for his romantic music. His ballets, such as The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, are still performed around the world today. Tchaikovsky also composed operas and orchestral works. His famous 1812 Overture celebrates Russia's defeat of the French general Napoleon.

Brahms was a popular German composer and musician in the 19th century. He created works in both the romantic and classical styles. Brahms composed symphonies, pieces for the piano and violin, chamber music, and choral and vocal music.

20th century and beyond

The 20th century was a time of great experimentation in music. By the beginning of the century, impressionism had emerged as a major movement in music. Musical impressionism uses unusual musical scales and hazy, moody sounds to create an overall effect, just as the impressionist school of painters did with paint. A well-known impressionist composer was the Frenchman Claude Debussy. Debussy used different harmonies to give listeners an impression of what they were hearing, rather than a clear image. The Russian-born Igor Stravinsky also made bold experiments with harmony and sounds.

The Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg invented a system of composition called serialism, or twelve-note music, which overthrew the whole idea of harmony and melody. Schoenberg and his followers wrote operas, orchestral works, chamber music, and songs using this technique and opened up a whole new pathway in music.

In the United States during the 20th century, many new types of music were created. Jazz, music with lively rhythms and often-improvised melodies, became popular at the beginning of the century. Among the jazz-influenced American composers was Aaron Copland. Copland used jazz sounds in his symphonies. Notable are his early ballets—Billy the Kid, Rodeo, and Appalachian Spring. George Gershwin was another popular musician who incorporated jazz sounds into his music. His famous works include the orchestral piece Rhapsody in Blue and the opera Porgy and Bess. Leonard Bernstein was another jazz-oriented musician. Bernstein composed music for the well-known musical West Side Story.

In addition to jazz music, other popular music forms were created in the United States. For example, the musical form called the blues developed in the rural South and spread to the northern United States. In the second half of the 20th century, rock music became popular in the United States and around the world and still thrives today.

Another important trend of the late 20th century was minimalism, a type of music in which one basic idea is repeated over and over again. Typical minimalists are the American composers Steve Reich and Philip Glass. The composer John Cage experimented with form in other ways. In his works Cage introduced the idea of chance or randomness. For Cage even silence can be music.

As the 20th century progressed, musicians and composers all over the world began taking advantage of technology and creating electronic music using computers rather than instruments. Technological advances have also made it possible to hear and record music in a variety of ways including on the radio, through the Internet, and on compact discs. These trends have continued into the 21st century as advancements in music recording continue to be made with new technologies.