Music History Style Periods (broad generalizations)	William Wieland

(approx. dates)	Middle Ages (476–1450)	Renaissance (1450–1600)	Baroque Period (1600–1750)	Classical Period (1750–1820)	Romantic Period (1820–1900)	Modern Era (1900–today)
Performers:	Mostly Sacred Vocal Music Survives	Singers & Some Instruments (Recorders, Lutes, Organs, Viols...)	Modern Strings, Winds like today, Basso Continuo, Harpsichords, & Singers	String Quartets, Chamber Orchestras (+ Clarinets), Pianos, & Singers	Chamber Ensembles, Symphony Orchestras, & Singers	All + Saxophones, More Percussion, Electronics, & Non-western Instruments
Notation:	First Written Music	Printed Music	Figured Bass	Standard	Standard	Some New Notation
Pitch:	Pythagorean Tuning	Just Intonation	Mean-tone Temperament	Equal Temperament	Equal Temperament	All + Microtones
Dynamics:	No Indications	First Markings	Terraced Dynamics	Cresc. & Dim.	Extremes	All
Texture:	Monophony & First Polyphony	Polyphony (4 to 6 independent parts) & Monophony	Melody, Bass, & Chords as well as Polyphony	Mostly Homophony (Melody & Accompaniment)	Mostly Homophony (Melody & Accompaniment)	All
Rhythm:	Natural Breathing, Words, Rhythmic Modes	Gentle Flow & Steady Pulse	Clear Time Signatures (or complete freedom!) Unity	Clear Meter Variety	Rubato	All + Assymetry & Polyrhythm
Scales:	Modes (solfčge invented)	Modes plus Musica Ficta	Major & Minor	Major & Minor	Major & Minor	All + Whole Tone, Blues, & Octatonic
Melody:	Mostly Conjunct	Mostly Conjunct	Sequences & Ornamentation	Like Popular Song (Tuneful & Memorable)	Wide Ranges, Leitmotifs, Thematic Transformation	All
Harmony:	Many Perfect Intervals Consonance:Dissonance about 3:1	Major & Minor Triads Consonance:Dissonance about 4:1	Triads & 7th Chords, Tonic & Dominant, Figured Bass	Slow Harmonic Rhythm & Closely Related Keys	Remote Modulations & More Dissonance	All + Polychords, Quartal & Quintal Chords, Tone Clusters, and Atonality
Forms:	Chant Masses, Motets, and Ballades	Masses, Motets, and Madrigals	Suites, Fugues, Operas, Oratorios, Cantatas, Binary, Ternary, Ritornello	Symphonies, Concertos, Operas, Sonatas, Rondos, Minuet & Trio	Symphonies, Tone Poems, Art Songs, Song Cycles, Operas, Character Pieces	All
General:	Solemn Worship & Relaxed Spaciousness	Purity, Rationalism, Imitation, & Humanism	One Mood per Piece, Frequent Ornaments, & Continuous Movement	Balance, Proportion, Symmetry, Clarity, Elegance, Transparency, & Noble Simplicity	Emotion, Longing, Freedom, Individuality, Nationalism, & Nature	Diversity—Impressionism, Expressionism, Primitivism, Neoclassicism, Serialism, Populism, Minimalism
(a few) Composers: (oldest to youngest)	Hildegard von Bingen, Léonin, Pérotin, Machaut	Dunstable, Dufay, Ockeghem, Binchois, Josquin, Tallis, Palestrina, Lassus, Byrd, Victoria, Gabrieli, Victoria, Gesualdo, Monteverdi (Gabrieli and Monteverdi are also Baroque.)	Schütz, Strozzi, Lully, Buxtehude, Corelli, Pachelbel, Purcell, Vivaldi, Rameau, Telemann, Bach, Handel, Scarlatti (2)	Gluck, Bach's sons, Haydn (2), Clementi, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert (The last two are also Romantic.)	Rossini, Berlioz, Hensel, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann (2), Liszt, Verdi, Wagner, Bruckner, Brahms, Bizet, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Dvorák, Grieg, Fauré, Elgar, Puccini, Mahler, Sibelius, Beach, Rachmaninoff	Debussy, R. Strauss, Satie, Schoenberg, Ives, Ravel, Bartók, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Gershwin, Copland, Shostakovich, Barber, Messiaen, Cage, Lutosławski, Britten, Bernstein, Ligeti, Pärt, Tower, Adams, Saariaho, Higdon, Adès, Shaw