Classical MusicAlso known as: Formal Music
Classical Music is part of a broad generalization about the structure and function of music throughout history and across the globe, describing traditional genres of music distinct from Traditional Folk Music and Popular Music developed in the 20th century. Genres are typically classified as Classical in recognition of their own culture considering them a form of art separate from and more "sophisticated" than its Traditional Folk. Classical Musics tend to exist in relatively unified form on territories much larger than Traditional Folk genres do, thus overlapping several separate Traditional Folk areas. They usually begin as a "refined" version of Traditional Folk created for ceremonial use and often continue to take inspiration from and have influence on Traditional Folk later in their history.
However, there exists a couple of common features that can be used to indicate how and when a genre ceases to be Traditional Folk and develops as something "Classical". These two seem to be intertwined: It could be said that Classical forms of music are preferred by priests/royalty/scholars due to their perceived higher complexity and refinement. But at the same time it is this preference and patronage that enables the musicians to train full time, giving them opportunities to improve their skills and develop the music. That full-time training sets Classical music apart from Folk in terms of performance - contrary to Folk genres, almost every Classical genre around the world has a rather rigid norm of a "correct" performance and "correct" compositional structure. Although Classical music in its model form originates from professional musicians, its appreciation and amateur performance can be and often is widespread in the society.
Given that the concept of Classical music seems to be absent in non-hierarchical societies, it could be assumed that the support of some kind of an elite (economic, social, scholarly, religious) is necessary for the development of Classical music. Also, the distinction between Classical Music and Folk music can be viewed as reflecting the hierarchy in a society. This kind of music is known under dozens of different names across the globe; they often suggest some kind of superiority (e.g. Polish muzyka poważna = "serious music", Korean 정악 = "proper music", common "art music") reflecting its status privileged by customary cultural biases.
Igor StravinskyLe Sacre du printemps (New York Philharmonic/Leonard Bernstein) (1958)
ThaiProg
