In the English language, the term "classical music" is a homophoric reference to European classical music and its derivative styles, and is rarely used to refer to traditional musical styles of other regions. It can thus carry the meaning of concert music in general of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, and their immediate successors (as distinct from, for example, the music of the preceding baroque and the subsequent romantic eras). It is with respect to this latter canon that the term 'classical music' was first used, in the 1820s and 1830s, denote a body of music that was compared to the classical traditions of art, sculpture and architecture of Ancient Greece and Rome.
The following genres of music may all be referred to as 'classical' in the sense of having a consensus core canon:
- Andalusian classical music
- Arab classical music
- Bengali classical music
- Burmese classical music
- Carnatic music
- Central Asian classical music
- Chinese classical music
- Charya or Nepalese classical music
- Classical Jazz
- Classical music era
- Classical rock
- European classical music, classical music of Western cultures
- Experimental music, a movement within 20th century classical music
- Gagaku or Japanese classical music
- Gamelan or Indonesian classical music
- Greek classical music
- Hindustani classical music
- Indian classical music
- Klasik or Afghan classical music
- Korean court music
- Laotian classical music
- Mugam or Azerbaijani classical music
- Music of Orissa
- musiqi-e assil or Iranian classical music
- Nangma or Tibetan classical music
- Orthodox Byzantine music
- Ottoman classical music
- Philippine classical music
- Pinpeat or Cambodian classical music
- Sufiana Kalam or Kashmiri classical music
- Thai court music
- Vietnamese classical music
Categories: Classical music | Music genres