Classical Music 101

Classical music can feel daunting to dig into if you haven't had a lot of exposure to the genre or didn’t grow up playing an instrument. With so many terms, styles, composers and performers, it can be tough to understand it all.

This guide introduces you to the basics of classical music. Whether you're new to the music or need a refresh on the key elements, everyone can learn something new about classical.

Classical Music Formats

There are many different types, eras, genres and subgenres of classical music. Here are 10 common formats of classical works — plus well-known examples of each.

Ballet

Ballets are large-scale performances with instrumental accompaniment. They are focused on precisely choreographed dancing that portrays anything from a story or a specific emotion without the use of voices or libretto (lyrical text). Ballets are seen in all kinds of sizes, ranging from a single dancer accompanied by a single instrument to big opera-like productions with costumes and staging like The Nutcracker.

Cantata

Cantata is an Italian word that translates to “sung” or, in this case, “a piece that is sung.” Cantatas are very similar to oratorios, but they more loosely defined and don’t have to be religious in nature. They are typically performed on a much smaller scale by a small ensemble in a church setting or something similar.

Carmina Burana is a larger scale, secular piece that has shown up in many instances of popular culture and is most recognized by its opening movement “O Fortuna.”

Chamber Music 

Chamber pieces are usually performed by small ensembles such as duos, trios, quartets, quintets and so on. They only have one instrument to a part. These small groups are usually not heard in a concert hall, but rather at an event like a house concert or a lobby performance.

One of the more common ensembles is the string quartet, which is made up of violin I, violin II, viola and cello. String Quartet No. 12 from Antonin Dvorak is a wonderful example that the Czech composer wrote on a vacation in Spillville, Iowa.

Concerto

A concerto is an ensemble piece that features a single soloist throughout. It typically has a large scale accompaniment like an orchestra, but many have been written or rearranged to feature just piano or something of a smaller scale. Though not strictly a concerto feature, concertos often have longer solo sections known as cadenzas. Cadenzas are typically written by the composer, but they are very fluid and can be improvised or even replaced by a different composer’s cadenza.

Rachmoninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor is a great example. This piece has a cadenza in its beautiful second movement.

Mass

A Mass is a format of music originally sung at church services. It contains five parts: "Kyrie," "Gloria," "Credo," "Sanctus," and "Agnus Dei." A Mass is usually quite long. But it isn’t uncommon to hear one of these parts in church today.

In the last two centuries, many composers wrote Masses as long-form concert pieces instead of writing them for church services. Requiem in D Minor is a funeral Mass and the last piece Mozart composed. While writing it, he began to believe it was for himself and passed away leaving it unfinished.

Opera

Operas are large-scale performances made up of two to five acts. They feature an orchestra, a large group of singers that perform in lyrical solos (known as an Aria) and vocal ensembles. Operas are character-focused stories with full staging and costumes, which can be very expensive to produce.

The Barber of Seville by Rossini is one of the most popular, and its overture has been featured in many pop culture instances, including a famous Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd short.

Oratorio 

Oratorios sit somewhere between an opera and a cantata. They are larger than cantatas and closer to an opera in style, but they focus on religious stories. Handel’s Messiah is probably the best-known oratorio, particularly the piece towards the end, “Hallelujah Chorus.”

Sonata

If a Cantata is “a piece that is sung” the opposite would be a Sonata, or “a piece that is played.” Sonatas are small-scale works that typically have a soloist, and sometimes a piano accompaniment. They have several movements, but at least one of those movements (typically the first, last, or both) has to be in sonata form.

Sonata form has three parts to establish key relationships: exposition, development and recapitulation. Symphonies and concertos typically also have movements in sonata form. Chopin wrote a lot of piano sonatas, and the second movement of his Sonata No. 2 in B Flat Minor is an extremely well-known funeral march.

Suite

A suite is a set of connecting pieces — typically dances — that are occasionally preceded by a prelude. Unlike ballet, these dances are not choreographed but instead set a beat for people to dance to in a party setting. Bach wrote a large number of these including Cello Suite No. 1 In G, whose prelude is heard all over modern pop culture.

Symphonies 

Symphonies are large-scale classical works featuring a full symphony orchestra. They typically have four movements, one of which is in sonata form. Symphonies make up some of the most famous classical pieces. One of the best-known is Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. It opens with one of the most well-known themes in music history and has been featured in pop culture countless times.

Classical Composers to Know

Many composers have written amazing music. But if you’re wondering where to start, these incredible composers serve as a great jumping-off point. Each one has famous music you're sure to have heard before and enough repertoire for you to discover more.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach is an 18th-century German composer who started out playing and composing for organ and eventually expanded into orchestral and vocal works. He was a deeply religious man. And many of his most famous pieces were written to be played during church. He still wrote a lot of great secular pieces; his cello suites being a prime example.

Sadly, Bach was not very well known during his lifetime and never left Germany. It wasn’t until the Bach Revival in the 19th century that his music was rediscovered, and he became one of the most well-known composers.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mozart was a child prodigy who started traveling and performing with his sister for the kings and queens of Europe at a very young age. He became close with the father of the symphony, Joseph Haydn. Mozart was one of the most prolific composers, writing over six hundred pieces. He died at the young age of 36 while writing the “Requiem in D Minor.”

Ludwig van Beethoven

A student of Haydn, Beethoven took his foundations in symphonic form and expanded upon them until they became the large-scale symphonies we know today. He was a great admirer of Mozart, but the two never actually met.

Beethoven was deaf in the later portion of his career. So much so that when he conducted his "Ninth Symphony," he didn’t know it ended until one of the soloists pointed it out.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky was the first Russian composer to gain international fame. His most famous piece is the “The Nutcracker,” a ballet he wrote for his children but didn’t particularly enjoy. Tchaikovsky is well known for the amount of sheer emotion in his pieces, possibly stemming from his life dealing with depression and phobias. For example, he would sometimes hold onto his beard with one hand while conducting because he was worried his head would fall off.

Antonin Dvorak

Dvorak is a Czech composer who eventually made his way to the United States, becoming the director of the National Conservatory of Music. He even moved to Spillville, Iowa, for a time where he composed some of his most famous works. While in the United States, he often worked Native American songs, African American hymns and folk songs into his music.