Since the beginning of time, humans have been intimately involved in some form of music. The first musical instruments were quite possibly palms of the hands, with which people created rhythmic sounds. The development of music correlates to other human activities, such as poetry, dance, theater, religious ceremonies, and incantations. Though created and developed in parallel forms, these activities were separated into formal branches much later. If we think about it, we realize how the arts continue to be strongly related.

Consider opera, a spectacle that combines music, poetry, and theater. Think about sacred music, such as oratorios, masses, and settings of the “Ave Maria” composed by geniuses such as Franz Schubert and Charles Gounod.

What remains a mystery is if singing preceded the word or if music led and inspired man to sing. Perhaps both word and song arose from the rhythms of the hands. Speech is, after all, a form of chant, and chant is made up of words spoken rhythmically.

All ancient cultures had their own types of music. The Egyptians, for example, developed a whole gamut of instruments, from trumpets, flutes, and harps to organs, bells, and cymbals. The Greeks’ musical culture revolved around one instrument, the lyre. Greek music was generally sung, and every cultured Greek studied music during his formative years. The Greeks created the Pythagorean scale, which first indicated that different consonant sounds correspond to divisions of the tones of a stretched bow or string. The Romans later enriched Greek musical tradition with contributions, especially by naming notes with letters.

In Byzantium, with the arrival of Christianity in the second century, music followed two parallel paths that continue to the present day: secular and religious. The former entertained and moved people and was often associated with dance; the latter accompanied religious cremonies for “the glory of God,” as one principal cultivator, Johann Sebastian Bach, said. The church became the essential source of culture during the Middle Ages, and soon afterward, medieval music revolved around it. At this point, the history of Western classical music -or “cultured” music- really began.

Not much is known about medieval music; its notation system was rudimentary (not like the current musical staff), making it difficult to decipher. The first manifestation of medieval music was plainsong, a monophonic and rhythmically free type of melody. This series of chants accompanied the mass, but its origins stem from Greek songs and Jewish rituals. Plainsongs was passed through generations, each region with its own form. In order to control the overwhelming diversity of chant, the church asked St. Ambrosius (340-397), Bishop of Milan, to codify and normalize it. And that gave rise to Ambrosian chant.

Pope Gregory I (ruled 590 to 604) brought new standazdizations and founded schools of plainsong in different Roman churches, becoming the founder of what is known as Gregorian chant. However, this form of chant, as it is currently known, began in France some centuries later.

In fact, all sacred music from the earliest medieval times has the same characteristics: it is exclusively cappella choral music, sung in unison, one note at a time, without instruments in a loose flexible rhythm. This type of chant prevailed in European monasteries and churches during the Middle Ages.

A fundamental contribution to music in this period was the creation of the musical staff. The Italian monk, Guido d'Arezzo, originally tried notation on a four-and six-line staff, but eventually invented one with five lines, which is still used today. The creation of the musical staff allowed music to be spread more easily and preserved for posterity, and, thanks to the exactness of its notation, gave rise to the notion of a sole musical creator - the composer.

Perhaps the greatest change was the inclusion of a second voice - and later, a third - in sacred chant. This modification marked the beginning of polyphony, one of the most important characteristics of later music. Over the years, new voices and even diverse melodies were included in the same work. One of the first names historically associated with this type of composition is that of a woman, Hildergard von Bingen (1098-1179).

While religious music experienced these changes, secular music also expanded greatly. Minstrels and troubadours (professional musicians and poets who composed love songs and epic poems) entertained the medieval courts. A troubadour could be a virtuous nobleman, a lover of the arts, or a professional artist who wandered through the European courts.

Music continued to evolve until it became what is known today as the Ars Nova style. The Frenchman Guillaume de Machaut (ca. 1300-1377), an outstanding composer of this new type of music, revolutionized it with new rhythms and intricate melodies. His music can be considered the first flowering of polyphony, a style that marked nearly all music in the upcoming Renaissance period.

This period saw a true revolution in all the arts, and naturally, music didn’t remain indifferent to those changes. Polyphony and the Ars Nova, coming from France, spread throughout Europe, from England to Flanders. Instrumental music, which during the Middle Ages was considered sinful, slowly began to be accepted and developed the same importance as vocal music with the passing of time. This type of music allowed amateurs to play easy pieces, while professionals entertained courtiers, who had acquired refinement during the Renaissance.

Italy formed the center of Renaissance. While Michelangelo painted frescos in the Sistine Chapel, Leonardo da Vinci designed his complicated inventions. It was in Venice that Andre Gabrieli (1510-1585) combined the recently accepted instrumental music with voices, resulting in genius. And what place could be better for Gabrieli to test his ideas than the Basilica of St. Mark?

Renaissance music soon came to an end and made room for one of the greatest musical periods of all - Baroque. This music embraced a new spirit and emphasized contrast and harmony, especially when used to express the meaning of a text. Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) bridged the two periods by helping to create a genre that became one of the public's favorites - opera.

Opera evolved through the combination of instrumental and choral music that Gabrieli had introduced, as well as through the additions of Monteverdi, who composed and produced some of the first operas in history (many of them based on Greco-Latin themes, which showed clear Renaissance influence). For years, the operatic center was Venice, but opera eventually spread to all of Italy. This didn’t mean that composers had forgotten instrumental music, which continued to be composed and performed. The renowned Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) demonstrated this with the close to 500 concertos he composed for instrumental soloists with orchestra. Vivaldi also helped establish the definitive groundwork for two musical forms that have thrived ever since - the concerto and the sonata.

Although Europe's artistic center revolved around Italy, and it is possible where Baroque music began, the rest of the continent should not be forgotten. In France, for example, music that accompanied theater, as well as instrumental music, had become popular. In Germany, composers resisted the new musical wave, but could not avoid Italian influence. They eventually combined the Lutheran chorale (or hymn) with the Italian style and created the typical sound of the German Baroque. During the Reformation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Germany kept sacred music in its exalted position. The organ became one of the preferred instruments of German musicians, since it was in high demand in the Lutheran churches.

The final phase of the German Baroque illuminated two musical geniuses. The first of these, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), composed magnificent works, both choral and instrumental, and is considered one of the greatest composers and organists in history. Some historians even feel that Baroque music ended the year Bach died. The second, George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), was considered the best composer of his time (next to Bach) thanks to his instrumental music, oratorios, and operas. Handel abandoned his German homeland for England, where he saw many of his major triumphs.

England has a strong musical tradition prior to Handel’\'s arrival. This country was the most resistant to the Baroque reforms, among other things, because the Renaissance had arrived much later and was still in its splendor. The English were content with their madrigals and did not accept Baroque music until Henry Purcell (1659-1695) was able to mix Baroque contrasts with English tradition. Purcell opened English eyes to Baroque music and prepared them for Handel's music by introducing Italian opera.

The next generation of composers considered the affected and ornamental style of Baroque too exaggerated. They preferred uncomplicated and clearer music. Therefore, harmonies were simplified and notes homogenized to create a new style, the Classical (or Classicism). The search no longer centered on virtuosity or exaggeration, but on simplicity and elegance. The idiosyncratic Germans agreed with this tendency more than the Italians, so the musical capital eventually moved from Venice to Vienna. This Austrian city had everything needed to be the musical center of Europe. It could rely on its affluent middle class to satisfy its cultural whims, mostly music-oriented, and its central geographical location allowed it to gather influence from other regions.

The simplification of music did not happen in a vacuum. In the eighteenth century, cultural and the arts rediscovered the ancient world of Greece and Rome and wanted to imitate its equilibrium and harmony at all costs. In the same way that the ornamental Baroque churches were replaced by modest and elegant buildings in the Greek style, music abandoned strong contrasts and expressions in order to focus on formal elements. One of the first Classical composers to gain fame was Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), who prepared the way for two huge names in music - the Austrian Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and the German Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). The former, a precocious composer and performer at the young age of five, had a tragically short life, but still wrote a monumental collection of works that included symphonies, serenades, masses, operas, concertos, and many other genres. The second musical genius, Beethoven, was chased by three ghosts that never left him in peace -poverty, solitude, and gradual hearing loss. Thanks to his strong temperament and unbreakable character, Beethoven composed masterpieces that bridled the Romantic period that followed. As a postscript to these two masters, another worthy contribution to Classicism was the Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828), who died when he was barely 32 years old, and whose music likewise looked ahead to the Romantic period. Classical music achieved such refinement and popularity that the term "classical" was used for any "cultured" music. For a long time, the repertories of many public concerts were dominated by composers of this period, whom many considered the apex of Western music. Even though music of other periods is still appreciated today, the term classical is used to designate “cultured” music.

Romanticism, arriving at the beginning of the nineteenth century reverberated in all of Europe with its intensity and subjectivity. Composers, searching for new modes of expression, forgot about equilibrium and harmony achieved in the Classicism and strongly expressed their feelings in often reckless form. Even the appearance of musicians changed: They left behind their wigs and makeup, and adopted a more disheveled style.

Romanticism rebelled against the enlightened ideals and balance of Classicism. Literature was the first of the arts to undergo this Romanticism innovation. The artist himself became a priority above every other element; emotional extremes were encouraged as well as interest in nature, darkness, insanity, and the occult. These qualities eventually entered into music. The rhythmic language of music expanded, while powerful contrasts (or "dualism") and new instruments were added to the composers "palette." A clear example of this is the piano, which quickly became a preferred instrument of many of the Romantics. Composers also tried to endow their music with a narrative structure, foreshadowing such genres as musical play. There are many names associated with the music of early Romanticism, like Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), AND Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), to name a few. But Romanticism still had a long way to go.

This period nurtured numerous musical styles. Berlioz's symphonies, Chopin's nocturnes, and Brahms's variations offer proof. Naturally, opera also found its niche in Romanticism music, thanks to the German composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883). His operas are veritable plays in which the singers become actors and the instruments help to develop the action. Although he mainly composed opera, his influence was felt throughout the entire musical world, especially by the composers Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) and Richard Strauss (1864-1949).

Since Italy had traditionally been the land of opera, its musicians did not want to be left behind during the nineteenth century. Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) and Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) composed dozens of operas, which the Italian public welcomed; many of them are still frequently seen around the world.

Due to the mood swings of many composers and the tragic quality of Wagner's music, Romanticism is often considered a sad and melancholy period. It's important to remember, however, that the waltz came into being. The waltz, a special type of dance music, took a long time to be accepted, and was being accused of being immoral, since couples danced so closely together and the steps were so daring. The waltz quickly won over the drawing rooms and beer gardens of Vienna, as the bourgeoisie did not tire of it during the long social evenings along the Danube River.

Romanticism exhausted itself after producing so many first-class works, and musicians searched for new alternatives. This quest coincide with a nationalistic awakening in many European countries like Russia. Enthusiastic young Russians, such as Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) and Pete Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), wished to blend traditional Russian music with European tendencies. Various European countries embraced nationalism, turning our great composers such as Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) in Finland, Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) in Norway, Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) in England, and Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909) in Spain.

The French did not feel they needed to create a national music since their tradition went back several centuries, and Romantic composers such as Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921) always knew how to understate the regional influence. But since they felt it necessary to find new musical forms, they created musical Impressionism, a movement strongly influenced by other typically French currents: Impressionism in painting and literary symbolism. Its principal promoters were Claude Debussy (1862-1918) and Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), who broke from Romanticism, definitively marking the beginning of modern music. The modern era saw diverse tendencies and styles - the time of having only one style of musical composition was gone.

Modern music broke all molds and opened itself to all influences, such as the Expressionism of the Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951). This composer took full advantage of this freedom and composed "atonally," creating strange pieces that were difficult to follow for audiences of the time. Schoenberg himself was conscious of this and abandoned this style, creating Serialism, a method of composing that gave the same importance to each note. This meant that instead of using one type of musical scale or mode, which up to this time had made certain notes more important than others, all twelve different notes sounded equally in relationship to one another. Unfortunately, this method further confused audiences and fellow musicians, though it has gained acceptance today.

Perhaps the most influential work of the twentieth century was The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), the premiere of which caused a near riot. This was not unusual since the Russian composer introduced so many innovations in this piece that neither the critics nor much of the public wished to listen to its irregular rhythms and wild harmonies.

Not all music of the twentieth century chose such radical paths. Some modern composers turned to more popular music for inspiration. For example, French musicians like Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), who was lured by the experiments of Stravinsky, were influenced by Paris café music of that time. American George Gershwin (1898-1937), aside from composing numerous popular songs, took it upon himself to combine classical music with jazz rhythms. Through Gershwin's influence, many American composers combined European tradition with typically American songs and characteristically African-American rhythms, as found in jazz.

A large amount of music from the twentieth century was heavily influenced by politics. Soviet composers were forced to apply their talents to composing music that exalted Socialism. Some of them composed music that was branded as formalistic and bourgeois by authorities, as in the case of Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) and Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975). German composer Kurt Weill (1900-1950) attacked the capitalist system and made fun of Nazism through his operettas and cabaret music. Not surprisingly, he fled his homeland, for in addition to writing subversive music, he was Jewish.

Rapid technological changes also influenced classical or "serious" music in the mid-twentieth century. Karlheinz Stockhausen (born in 1928) was one of the pioneers of electronic music. Others, such as American John Cage (1912-1992), decided to forgo technology and dedicate themselves to studying such things as Oriental philosophy. This resulted in a highly innovative style called aleatory, which left a significant part the compositional process to chance and the interpretation of performers.

Many other tendencies in the twentieth century existed, such as textural music or Minimalism. It is interesting to observe how many of these composers knew how to write music of the avant garde but also music for the general public. Many have successfully composed scores for popular films.

It is difficult to describe the situation in which classical music finds itself today, and even more difficult to predict what the future will bring. Music is becoming increasingly sophisticated due to new styles that have appeared, to the incorporation of all types of influences from "world music" (basically, non-Western music), and to the use of computer technology for composing and performance. We must not forget that the boundaries between classical and popular styles, such as rock music, are constantly blurring. It is important to stay in touch with what is being created, and above all, to keep listening.