Throughout history all cultures have been influenced by music. Before the Baroque era in music there were many forms of western music. Most of this music was monophonic, sung in chant used mostly for religious purposes. During the previous millennia most music was sung in chant form with very little accompaniment, save a harp or a violin. In these times music was a simple art, sung by the people to praise the Lord. Eventually polyphonic music developed, first starting as monophonic chant sung in thirds and fifths, and later contrapuntal music was created. During this time the music notation system was standardized, originally a modified Greek system; music notation evolved into the notation that is used today. Having the use of music notation set the foundation for Baroque music and for all music after that.
In the late sixteenth century and early seventeenth century the Baroque style of music started in Italy. Italy, where the renaissance started, was able to create a new type of music rich in feeling, but less intricate than much of the previous renaissance music that was centered towards the north (France and the area now occupied by the Netherlands). New ideas, like interplay between the various instruments in an orchestra, becam

During the nineteenth century the symphony form changed a lot, teeter tottering between musical styles. Many people were thinking should music have a theme? This was debated throughout the century. As the century progressed, the symphony became the predominant form of musical expression.

During the Baroque period there were many new influential composers. These composers included the Italian composers Alessandro Scarlatti, Arcangelo Corelli Domenico Scarlatti, and Antonio Vivaldi; the German composers Heinrich Schütz and Dietrich Buxtehude; the Italian-Frenchman Jean Baptiste Lully; the English composers Henry Purcell; and the French composer Jean Philippe Rameau.

During the Baroque period new forms of presenting music were invented. The cantata and oratorio were created as new forms of vocal pieces. Both of these forms had repeating phrases that structured the pieces with minimal orchestral accompaniment. New forms of music were written in continuous contrapuntal form with no distinguishable movements, the most famous of which was the fantasia. Other forms such as the sonata had many homophonic and contrapuntal movements that contrasted with each other. There were many pieces that were a theme and variations called a passacaglia. The concerto was a solo instrument that played against an orchestra that differed on many musical, rhythmical and dynamic levels. The concerto was one of the most important forms of music that came out of the Baroque period.

Smetana in Mein Vaterland expressed the nationalism in Bohemia. He was one of the first great Czeck (Bohemian) composers. In Russia, Moldovski, Rimkey-Korsekov (Arabian Knights) and others made for a great resurgence of nationalistic pride in Mother Russia.

Towards the end of the classical period the focus of new composing centered on the Viennese classical school. Out of this new school of composing came such great composers as Franz Joseph Hayden and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. During this time opera lost a lot of its musical intensity and became a series of arias that showed off the singing talent of individual soloists, as opposed of that of the whole group. This tradition would later change with the advent of the Romantic period.