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Medieval music (5th–15th centuries) is divided into religious (monodic Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony) and secular (troubadours and minstrels in vernacular languages).
It is marked by Christian liturgy and the development of musical notation, evolving from vocal monody to the complexity of polyphony in the Ars Nova, with instruments such as the Moorish guitar, the rebec, and the lute. -
Renaissance music (c. 1400–1600) was a period of great polyphonic flourishing, which focused on humanism, clarity, emotional expression and the development of complex vocal and instrumental textures.
It marked a transition from the Middle Ages with genres such as the madrigal and the motet, and the growing importance of instrumental music and printing for its dissemination. -
Baroque music (c. 1600–1750) was a European style that originated in Italy as a reaction against the Renaissance.
It introduced basso continuo, tonality, and new forms such as opera, sonata, and concerto, and was characterized by its opulence, powerful emotions, and contrasts.
It culminated with great figures like Bach and Handel and paved the way for the Classical period.
It is divided into Early, Middle, and Late Baroque, reflecting a context of political and social tensions. -
Classical music (c.1750–1820) was a European style centered on reason and the Enlightenment, characterized by clarity, balance, and symmetry, with key composers such as Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.
It coincided with Neoclassicism in other arts and developed in Vienna, consolidating forms such as the symphony and the sonata, and emphasizing accompanied melody and the piano as the principal instrument, seeking harmony and restrained emotion in contrast to Baroque complexity. -
Romantic music (roughly 1820–1910) was a period in classical music characterized by the primacy of emotion, individualism, and creative freedom, reacting against the order of Classicism.
This era valued personal expression, nature, and the exotic, marking the rise of virtuosity and the expansion of the orchestra. -
It was an era of revolution and diversity, marked by the break with tradition, the emergence of technology (recording, radio, electric guitar) and the rise of countless genres such as jazz, rock, blues, pop, electronica and musique concrète.
It coexisted with avant‑garde cultured styles such as Impressionism (Debussy), Expressionism/Atonalism (Schoenberg), Neoclassicism (Stravinsky) and Minimalism (Glass) with popular music that reached massive audiences.