The Mozart Experience, Vol. 4: Serenades, Divertimentos, Dances

Classical guitar music is the notated, concert tradition for the six‑string, nylon‑strung (formerly gut‑strung) guitar, performed with the fingers rather than a plectrum. It emphasizes polyphony and idiomatic resonance: independent voices, arpeggiated textures, campanella (bell‑like) fingerings, and coloristic right‑hand placement (tasto/ponticello). Repertoire spans transcriptions of Renaissance and Baroque lute/vihuela works, original pieces from the Classical and Romantic eras, and a rich 20th‑ and 21st‑century corpus shaped by Iberian and Latin American composers. While primarily a solo art, it also includes chamber music and concerti, and has deeply informed modern acoustic technique well beyond the concert hall.

Baroque is a period and style of Western art music spanning roughly 1600–1750. It is characterized by the birth of functional tonality, the widespread use of basso continuo (figured bass), and a love of contrast—between soloist and ensemble, loud and soft, and different timbres. Hallmark genres and forms of the era include opera, cantata, oratorio, concerto (especially the concerto grosso), dance suite, sonata, and fugue. Textures range from expressive monody to intricate counterpoint, and melodies are richly ornamented with trills, mordents, and appoggiaturas. Baroque music flourished in churches, courts, and theaters across Europe, with regional styles (Italian, French, German, English) shaping distinctive approaches to rhythm, dance, harmony, and ornamentation.

Classical music is the notated art-music tradition of Europe and its global descendants, characterized by durable forms, carefully codified harmony and counterpoint, and a literate score-based practice. The term “classical” can refer broadly to the entire Western art-music lineage from the Medieval era to today, not just the Classical period (c. 1750s–1820s). It privileges long-form structures (such as symphonies, sonatas, concertos, masses, and operas), functional or modal harmony, thematic development, and timbral nuance across ensembles ranging from solo instruments to full orchestras and choirs. Across centuries, the style evolved from chant and modal polyphony to tonal harmony, and later to post-tonal idioms, while maintaining a shared emphasis on written notation, performance practice, and craft.