Art music
| Periods and eras of Western classical music |
|
|---|---|
| Early | |
| Medieval | c. 500–1400 |
| Renaissance | c. 1400–1600 |
| Common practice | |
| Baroque | c. 1600–1750 |
| Classical | c. 1730–1820 |
| Romantic | c. 1780–1910 |
| Impressionist | c. 1875–1925 |
| Modern and contemporary | |
| c. 1890–1975 | |
| 20th century | (1900–2000) |
| c. 1975–present | |
| 21st century | (2000–present) |
Art music (also known as Western classical music, cultivated music, serious music, canonic music, or more flippantly, "real music" and "normal music") is an umbrella term that refers to musical traditions, implying advanced structural and theoretical considerations and a written musical tradition. The main tradition in the Western world is usually called classical music. "Serious" or "cultivated" music are terms frequently used as a contrast for ordinary, everyday music (popular and folk music, also called "vernacular music"). After the 20th century, art music was divided into two extensions: "serious music" and "light music".
This term is mostly used to refer to music descending from the tradition of Western classical music. This is the common definition referred by many musicologists and scholars. Many of these authors, however, tend to be critical or prudent with respect to certain implications of this classification. Those authors most particularly associated with critical musicology movement and popular music studies like Philip Tagg tend to reject latent social elitism that has sometimes been associated with this classification.
Tagg refers to it as one of an "axiomatic triangle consisting of 'folk', 'art' and 'popular' musics." He explains that each of these three is distinguishable from the others according to certain criteria. Some other authors interested in music theory may define art music differently. Musician Catherine Schmidt-Jones for example defines art music as "a music which requires significantly more work by the listener to fully appreciate than is typical of popular music." In her view, "[t]his can include the more challenging types of jazz and rock music, as well as Classical."
While often used to refer primarily to Western historical classical music, the term may refer to:
The term refers primarily to classical traditions (including contemporary as well as historical classical music forms) that focus on formal styles, invite technical and detailed deconstruction and criticism, and demand focused attention from the listener. In strict western practice, art music is considered primarily a written musical tradition, preserved in some form of music notation, as opposed to being transmitted orally, by rote, or in recordings (like popular and traditional music).
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