Classical Music 101

Even if you are not a fan, you are likely familiar with classical music to some extent.

You’ve heard it in movies, television commercials, and perhaps at concerts.

It has been around for centuries and can still be heard today, but it has been surpassed in popularity by many different genres of music.

However, many people are intimidated by it because it is so different from the music they are used to.

If that is you, fear not. I am here to help.

Learn more about classical music and the basics you need to know to appreciate it on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

I’ve been thinking about doing this episode for a long time, and I’ve finally decided to pull the trigger.

The goal of this episode isn’t necessarily to convert you into a classical music listener if you aren’t one. Even if you despise classical music, and I honestly don’t think anyone can make such a broad statement, it is probably worth knowing more about it so you can at least speak about what you don’t like informatively.

For many people, classical music is daunting. It is different than regular, popular music in ways that people often can’t put their finger on. There is more to it than just an artist recording a song on an album.

Some terms often appear nowhere else in music, and if you don’t have a background in the subject, you would have no reason ever to know what they mean.

So with that, let’s get started with the big question of “what is classical music”?

If you recall my episode on taxonomy, scientists have divided all life forms into various nested categories. Plants and animals are divided further up the tree of life, and trout and bass are separated much further down.

We can do something similar with music, although it is much more challenging.

The division I’m going to start with begins at the very top of the music tree and separates what we would call classical music from everything else.

Defining classical music is very difficult. People have tried to do it by instrument or by sound, and that isn’t very satisfying because there are so many edge cases.

…and before I go any further, lest someone pedantic person out there bring it up, I am aware that there is a particular period of history known as the classical period, which is usually dated from about 1730 to 1820.

I’m using the broader definition here, not the specific one.

Due to this confusion, many people have attempted to use a different name for classical music. Art music and serious music have been suggested, but neither has caught on.

After having spent far too much time researching this question, there is one definition I’ve come to agree with that provides an adequate definition of classical music, even if it isn’t perfect.

Oddly enough, it has nothing to do with sound or music itself.

Classical music is music that is composed, or that is to say, it is first written down.

Or to put it another way, the authoritative source of a classical music piece is the written score, not a recording.

This very basic definition is like the plant vs animal distinction on the tree of life.

On one side, you have classical music, and on the other side, you have almost everything else. Pop, rock, EDM, blues, hip hop, country, metal, ska, reggae, and most other popular music genres.

On the other side of the divide, recordings are usually the authoritative source of music. There are certainly covers of songs, but they are considered just that, covers.

You can buy sheet music for the most popular songs, but it is often created after the fact and rarely by the original songwriter.

Most of the talented, popular musicians of the last 100 years didn’t know how to read or write music. Prince, Paul McCartney, Eddie Van Halen, Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift, and many, many others cannot read or write music.

They are clearly very talented, but when they create something, they tend to record it as their means of preserving it, rather than writing it down using musical notation on paper.

Popular music in this tradition is usually passed down orally, or at least aurally.

On the other side of the divide is what I’ll broadly call classical music. This includes much of what you think of as classical, but also film scores, and even some artists like Duke Ellington, who you might not think of as such.

In classical music, the written score is definitive. When an orchestra performs a Beethoven symphony, they aren’t considered to be performing a cover. That is because there is no definitive reference recording. There are simply different versions and interpretations of what Beethoven wrote down.

With that out of the way, there are a host of different terms for various classical works that you might have heard of, but don’t know the exact definition for.

Let’s start with a symphony.

A symphony is a large-scale work for a full orchestra, typically in four movements, though the exact number can vary. The movements typically follow a pattern: a fast opening, a slow lyrical section, a dance-like section known as a scherzo or minuet, and a lively finale.

Symphonies are meant for concert performance, showcasing the full range of orchestral instruments.

Similar to a symphony is a concerto.

A concerto is written for a solo instrument, usually piano, violin, or cello, but it could be anything, and is accompanied by an orchestra. Its purpose is to display the virtuosity of the soloist while engaging with the rest of the orchestra. Most follow a three-movement form: fast–slow–fast.

Chamber music is written for a small group of instruments, such as string quartets, piano trios, and wind quintets. It’s designed for more intimate settings than large orchestral works.

A chamber orchestra is a smaller orchestra, and a chamber ensemble would usually just be a few players.

A string quartet is a type of chamber ensemble that usually consists of two violins, a viola, and a cello.

A sonata is usually a work for a solo instrument, often piano, or for a small duo like violin and piano. The structure typically consists of three or four movements.

Unlike symphonies and concertos, sonatas are more intimate and suited for chamber performance. Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata is a well-known example.

An etude, which is French for “study,” is primarily written to develop a performer’s technical skill on an instrument. Still, many etudes also became popular as concert works because of their musical brilliance.

A suite is a collection of shorter pieces, often dance-inspired, grouped together to be played in sequence. In the Baroque period, suites were literally collections of dances. Later composers, such as Tchaikovsky, who wrote the Nutcracker Suite used the form more freely as sets of related pieces. A full orchestra or a soloist can perform suites.

An overture is an introductory orchestral piece, written initially to precede an opera or stage work. Over time, overtures evolved into stand-alone concert pieces, such as Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, which I covered in a previous episode.

A mass is a musical setting of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church, usually for choir, soloists, and orchestra. It has a very strict structure as it has to follow the form of the mass.

A requiem is a mass for the dead, which is performed at a funeral. They are often somber and dramatic. Examples include Mozart’s Requiem and Verdi’s Requiem.

While it could be the subject of its own episode, Opera is also considered a form of classical music. It is very closely related to musicals, which, according to the definition I’ve provided, would also technically fall closer to classical music.

The differences between an opera and a musical are subtle. An opera usually is all music. The orchestra usually never stops playing, with only brief pauses. All dialogue is sung.

In a musical, there is usually spoken dialogue between the musical pieces.

There are other big differences in the training and styles of singing involved. Opera singers train for years in a very particular style of singing. Performers in a musical tend to be good singers, but probably couldn’t cut an opera.

There are some edge cases, such as Porgy and Bess and Les Misérables, which are closer to operas by my definition, but are usually performed as musicals.

If you want to listen to classical music records, there are also other issues that you don’t have to face when listening to popular music. The metadata for popular music is relatively simple. A song is typically associated with an artist (who may be an individual or a band) and is often linked to an album, although it can also be a standalone single.

When you search for the Beatles or Taylor Swift, you are almost always looking for music that they performed and recorded.

Classical music is much more confusing.

Let’s say that Sir Simon Rattle is conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Hillary Hahn as the soloist.

Who is the artist in this scenario? Is it the conductor? Is it the soloist? Is it the orchestra? Or is it Beethoven who has been dead for almost 200 years?

This problem is why Apple Music recently spun off classical music as a separate app. It had nothing to do with the music or the streaming and everything to do with how much more complex the organization of the music was.

That being said, most people will be searching by composer. Here you might run into something else. Many composers have a large number of compositions that they created throughout their careers.

Things like symphonies and concertos are pretty easy to number, but there might be a whole slew of different works that don’t easily fit into such numbering systems.

Some composers have what are known as opus numbers assigned to their works. “Opus” is just the Latin word for work. Under this system, everything they publish is assigned an opus number based on the order in which it was published, not the order in which it was created.

For example, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is also called Opus 67, meaning it was the fifth symphony he created, but the 67th musical work he published.

Some composers have different numbering systems because publication dates aren’t available. Mozart’s works are catalogued under the Köchel Catalogue and are designated by the abbreviation K. So his Symphony No. 40 in G minor is K. 550.

Bach, Schubert, Hyden, and Vivaldi all have unique numbering systems.

So, if you want to actually go and listen to a piece of classical music, where do you start?

The short answer is….anywhere. Find something that you’ve heard before that you like. That’s all there is to it.

Now, you may encounter a confusing complication.

I mentioned before that the concept of a cover doesn’t really exist in classical music. However, there are multiple versions of the piece. In fact, for very popular works, there might be many dozens of versions of the same work.

I searched for “Moonlight Sonata” on Spotify, and although it didn’t provide an exact number of search results, there had to have been over 100. I wouldn’t be shocked if there were several hundred.

So, where do you start? Again, the answer is anywhere. I’d start by selecting any version that lists the soloist or orchestra, as opposed to something generic where you have no clue who performed it.

Again, this is just a starting point, so don’t be too worried.

At first, you may have a difficult time distinguishing between different versions. The differences are much more subtle than when a band covers a song.

I have a playlist on Spotify with every version of Etude No. 2 by Philip Glass that I can find. I currently have 52 different versions of it on my playlist. Some are radically different and utilize entirely different instruments, while others are simply variations of solo piano, which is what it was originally written for.

Once you’ve found a few pieces you enjoy, then you expand by finding works by the same or similar composers, or works from the same period, or recordings by the same conductor, orchestra, or soloist.

You are under no obligation to like everything. Classical music enthusiasts have their own favorites and dislikes. I was recently watching a YouTube video of a guy who is the editor of a very popular classical music website. The entire video was about how he didn’t get Beethoven’s 4th piano concerto for decades until he heard a particular version of it.

One thing that classical music usually requires is more attention. Music is ubiquitous nowadays, as it is available anywhere with a smartphone and a set of earbuds. Most people find that it is best enjoyed when sitting down and devoting their attention to it, rather than just having it play in the background.

That being said, many people, myself included, listen to classical music when working because they find it less distracting.

Classical music doesn’t require anything special to enjoy. You don’t have to be rich, or fancy, or have studied it in school to appreciate it.