Prog and classical, baroque, and romantic music

Lately I've been listening to actual "classical" music more, and it got me thinking about how it influences prog. Specifically, I am curious on which era lended the most influence to prog- romantic, baroque, or classical?

From just listening I feel like romantic is probably the correct answer because of the often emotive sound in prog as well as the very dramatic stylings and drastic tempo shifts and colorful palette; all characteristics of the romantic era.

But then, when thinking about the baroque era's characteristics such as ornamentation, continuo, counterpoint, and steadier but faster tempo I can certainly hear some of that in songs like The Musical Box, or in Keith Emerson's very ornamented improvisations... or the blatant counterpoint in "Fugue" on Trilogy by ELP. I think at the very least JS Bach's handprints are all over symphonic prog.

Last off is classical which seems to be more about clear and simple textures and perfect "rational" form. To me, I hear less of this in prog than the other 2 eras. I'm sure the influence is there but I don't hear that as much.

And of course, I know that the modernist and minimalist composers had a very direct influence on prog, especially krautrock bands like Can and Neu which have members associated with major composers from the 20th century.

What do you think, which era lended the most influence and how?

I tend to see it a bit differently and have always felt that classical music has more of an influence in prog music, especially if you listen to the 20th century and newer composers.  But it also makes a difference what area of progressive music you are looking at.  Of course, fusion has more of a jazz/blues influence, but avant prog is more influenced by modern composers such as Debussy, Shostakovitch, Bartok, Varese, while symphonic prog is influenced more by classical composers like Beethoven, Mozart and also Romantic composers such as Chopin, Grieg and Rachmaninoff.  Then you get Progressive Folk and Canterbury influenced more by Baroque composers like Bach, Haydn and Handel.  This of course is in typical cases and can easily vary among styles, sub-genres and bands.

Edited by TCat - August 22 2021 at 13:47

Depends on the era and the band, the influences vary, but overall, I think the romantic era had more influence on the earlier prog bands. I don't hear much clasical, baroque or romantic on modern day prog, but I could be wrong.

Rock is Bach! Seriously, though, there seems to be multiple levels of influence. It all depends on the artist.  Most rock music, including Prog, is quite Baroque in structure. The original word means, 'broken," which indicates that there are multiple qualities that make up the music, not the least of which are a variety of unrelated instruments. Breaking up a piece into different sections is also a big part of the style, and this is where we see the influence on Prog.  Jethro Tull and Richie Blackmore have expressly cited Bach as an influence. Other artists are clearly influenced by modern composers such as Stravinsky. Many artists have used classical melodies as inspirations - sometimes this is obvious, but other times it is something quickly thrown into an instrumental section. The upshot is that, yes, there is clearly classical influences on progressive rock; which composer/era is entirely a matter of the individual artist as well as the individual song. 

I feel bands like Gentle Giant took everything about everything and smashed it in to a traditional rock band setting, and made it work.

Frenetic Zetetic wrote: I feel bands like Gentle Giant took everything about everything and smashed it in to a traditional rock band setting, and made it work.

Tethro Juul wrote: I think Bach is one of those composers that almost transcended his era. Not even other baroque music sounds like Bach. I think most classical influenced prog has at least some of Bach in it because most people who are classically trained played him so much and probably carried at least some of the tools his music gave them to their own work.

I quite like Russian ballets, they are packed with high drama and great emotion!  

I like a bit of baroque & roll. I guess you could call it art rock, although Mozart rock I've heard is more pop than classical, if you can Handel that. If I'm not too Bizet tomorrow, I may hop on Debussy into town with a Chopin Liszt of CD's to buy, unless my carefully laid plans un-Ravel. I'll be Bach later, although I'm Offenbach sooner. In the meantime, I'm Orff to bed now.