What is classical music?

I guess we should attempt to answer this; although I suspect there is no one good definition. Does classical refer to only the music composed 1760-1825 or does it include other periods such as the Baroque, Renaissance, and Romantic periods?

I've often toyed with the idea that music in the Classical Tradition could be characterised by certain objective features which set it apart from other musical traditions, even those sharing instruments. Along the lines of: average length of a melody (not duration in time so much as number of notes); presence of harmony and polyphony; thematic development & variation; use of ensemble to create a sound unachievable by a single instrument.

That said, my thinking arises from orchestral music, admittedly narrow. I've wondered but never researched whether attempts have been made along these lines, and am curious if other LTers know of any.

No matter the approach taken, I assume overlap with other musical traditions would be inevitable and it would often be difficult if not impossible to apply any single definition and get a satisfactory answer with respect to every single piece or performance of music that I considered "Classical".

There's a distinction between the Classical period and classical music. The latter is so vague as to be almost without meaning, and instead my teachers tend to refer to 'the common-practice period'. The problem there is that the term cuts off most of the 20th century, which largely abandoned the common practice of Western harmony and form.

I'm not aware of any term that adequately includes 'formal' music spanning, say, the past 450 years and yet distinguishes it in a defensible and technical way from folk music, jazz, various popular styles and gospel. How can we say that William Byrd and Arvo Pärt belong in one category while Keith Jarrett and Santana do not?

>3 librorumamans:

Those are great examples. My ears tell me that at least one of Jarrett's pieces / performances is classical (I'm a fan of The Köln Concert), while concurring that all the Santana I've heard, is not. But individuals will always disagree on particulars, so that doesn't bother me too much.

I'm unfamiliar with the term "common-practice period", thanks for mentioning that.

>4 elenchus: Especially since Jarrett has recorded much of Bach's keyboard music, Handel's keyboard suites, and Shostakovich's 24 preludes and fugues, among much else.

Classical music is like any other form of music. It’s also very popular and certainly more varied than rock music. It includes everything from Bach to Stockhausen and beyond.

From the Oxford dictionary:
clas·si·cal mu·sic
/ˈklasəkəl ˈmyo͞ozik/
noun
serious or conventional music following long-established principles rather than a folk, jazz, or popular tradition.

(more specifically) music written in the European tradition during a period lasting approximately from 1750 to 1830, when forms such as the symphony, concerto, and sonata were standardized.

Not the definitive definition, but perhaps a starting place!

How do you define ‘serious music’? Long-established principles? Folk, jazz and other forms of popular music all have long established traditions of musical practice and composition. Compositional techniques found in ‘classical’ music are also to be found in these other traditions. There are also, of course, classical music traditions in non-Western cultures. No credible argument can be made, it seems to me, that Western classical music is somehow separate to other musical traditions.