Musical Composition

The transformation of the definition of composition can be seen through a study of changes in music over time. Although musical composition was obviously a part of earlier Greek, Egyptian, and Roman society, based on evidence from the visual arts and literature, the lack of musical notation makes it impossible to reconstruct the works, as only texts survive to earlier compositions. The earliest pitch notation in Western compositions is found in the eighth century, in notation for Gregorian chant. Gregorian chant, however, did not have composer attribution; Pope Gregory I (r. 590–604) received it from heaven, according to legend. As the medieval period drew to a close, composer's names became attached to works and compositions became more elaborate, incorporating greater rhythmic complexity (syncopation, hocket, meter changes) and harmonic subtlety (use of modes, polyphony, use of cantus firmus, greater use of triads, thirds, and dissonance).

In late-medieval and Renaissance music (1500–1650) compositional rules and techniques became codified. The enormous outpouring of musical composition based on these rules included lively dance works, simple songs, and complex vocal works organized by strict pitch rules (counterpoint). Renaissance composers such as Josquin des Prez (c. 1440–1521) and Giovanni da Palestrina (c. 1525–1594) were respected members of the art world of the Renaissance just as their counterparts Shakespeare, Rembrandt, and Leonardo da Vinci were. As a reaction to the complexity of music from the high Renaissance, works in the Baroque period (1600–1750), such as Claudio Monteverdi's (1567–1643) Orfeo (1607), focused on the relative simplicity of solo lines accompanied by clearly stated harmonic progressions. These harmonies were delineated by realizations of a "figured bass" by two instruments, one low melodic instrument (cello, trombone, bassoon) playing the bass line, and the other chordal instrument (harpsichord, guitar, lute, harp, organ) presenting harmonic realizations. This method of composition—open for improvisation in the harmony part and closely linked to the emotions of a specific text—was so controversial it became known as the "second practice." Balancing the freedom and textual expression of the early Baroque with tightly structured counterpoint was an achievement of late Baroque (1700–1750) composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) and George Frideric Handel (1685–1759).

In the Classical period (1750–1820), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) and Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) explored abstraction and the expression of Enlightenment ideals in music through a combination of carefully balanced structures with graceful expression. Ludwig van Beethoven's (1770–1827) early works are in the simpler, balanced style of the Classical period, but the power, intensity, emotionalism, and unconstrained attitude toward Classical-era forms place much of his work closer to the Romantic style. Extramusical inspirations from such sources as patriotic fervor, literature, and the visual arts became tools for Romantic period (1820–1900) composers to use in mining emotional depths. They sought extremes in emotions expressed through extended dissonances, and unique structures such as the tone poem.

Tonality was still used in a large part of music in the Modern epoch; as the basis of pop, rock, film, and jazz music as well as many works of Western art music by composers such as Aaron Copland (1900–1990), Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990), Dmitry Shostakovich (1906–1975), Sergey Prokofiev (1891–1953), and Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971). Those composers using tonality in the twentieth century, however, did so with a strong awareness of historical precedent. In the late Romantic–early Modern environment, tonality had become so extended as to seem, to Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) and his students Alban Berg (1885–1935) and Anton Webern (1883–1945), irrelevant as an organizational system, especially in the explorations of atonality. In Schoenberg's alternative to tonality, serialism, each piece begins with a series—a group of equally important tones. This system, dependent on mathematics and democracy instead of tonality's traditions and hierarchy, was a complete break with part pitch organization and musical traditions. Serialism became one of the predominant compositional forces of the twentieth century, expanded after World War II to include the organization of rhythms, dynamics, and note length as well and as reviled by audiences as it was embraced in academic environments. The twentieth century also fostered a strong community of compositional rebels, including Charles Ives (1874–1954) and John Cage (1912–1992), as composers experimented with unusual combinations of sounds, extended silences, and chance procedures as compositional tools.

Throughout the twentieth century and continuing in the twenty-first century, the music world has splintered into factions with contradictory compositional outlooks. Although Western music focuses largely on pitch distinctions, as seen above, distinguishing features of compositions can vary. In other cultures, folk, pop, and jazz, text changes, phrase alterations, or changes in usage also can be seen as defining features for distinguishing individual compositions.