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Note that human life does not lend itself well to restricted categories
and both the dates and the styles are subject to change and debate among scholars.

Historical Era	Approximate dates	Representative Composers (Small sample)
Medieval	ca. 500-1450	Hildegard von Bingen, Machaut, Landini, Léonin, Pérotin. See: Wikipedia List
Renaissance	1450-1600	Josquin, Dufay, Palestrina. See: Wikipedia List
Baroque Also see: 1725-1770 Roccoco (and/or Galant)	1600-1750	Bach, Vivaldi, Tartini, Geminiani, Handel. See: Wikipedia List
Classical	1750-1820	Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven.** See: Wikipedia List
Romantic Also see: Nationalism - Grieg, Sibelius	1820-1910	Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Paganini, Brahms. See: Wikipedia List
Contemporary, also referred to as 20th Century or Modern. Includes subcategories such as: Impressionism: Debussy, Ravel Expressionism: Schoenberg, Berg, Webern Americana: Copland Neo Classicism: Stravinsky, Copland Neo Romanticism: Piston, Barber, Hanson Experimentalism: Brown, Cage Minimalism: Glass, Reich Also see: Further Discussion: Contemporary Musicology	1910-present	Bartók, Bernstein, Cage, Babbit, Gershwin, Varese, Messiean, Stockhausen, Takemitsu. See: Wikipedia List

** From A History of Western Music: "Through external circumstances and the force of his own genius he transformed this heritage and became the source of much that was characteristic of the Romantic period. But he himself is neither Classic nor Romantic; he is Beethoven, and his figure towers like a colossus astride the two centuries." [Donald Jay Grout. (3rd Edition with Claude V. Palisca.) W. W. Norton & Co., Inc. New York. 1973. p. 521. Newest ed. of the Grout, 9th ed., Burkholder (includes ebook and digital recordings).

Also see: Outlines of Grout History of Western Music, David Papandrew