Niveau 2 · Cours 23

Composing in the style of the masters

Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Debussy, Jazz, Rock — learn to identify and reproduce the harmonic signatures that define each great style.

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Pause Culture · Style and Mastery

Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)

Brahms spent years studying Bach and Beethoven before publishing his first symphony at age 43. He said he could hear the footsteps of giants behind him. Yet his style is immediatel…

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À retenir : Knowing the styles of others is the shortest path to finding your own.

7 Harmonic Signatures

Every composer or movement has a harmonic signature — a set of techniques, progressions and colors that make it immediately recognizable. Click on a style to hear its typical progression.

How to recognize a style? Look for these 3 clues: (1) which chords are used (diatonic? borrowed? extensions?); (2) how the chords follow each other (by fifths? by thirds? in parallel?); (3) is there a V7→I resolution or not?

Click on a style to see its characteristics and hear its typical progression.

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Style BachBaroque (1600–1750)

I – VIm – IIm7 – V7 – I (C majeur)

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Style MozartClassique (1750–1820)

I – IV – V7 – I (C majeur, cadence parfaite)

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Style ChopinRomantique (1810–1850)

I – IVm – ♭VI – V7 – I (C majeur + emprunts mineurs)

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Style DebussyImpressionnisme (1890–1920)

CMaj7 – B♭Maj7 – A♭Maj7 – G♭Maj7 (parallélisme descendant par tons)

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Style Jazz (Evans / post-bop)Jazz modal (1955–aujourd'hui)

IIm9 – V13 – IMaj9 (II–V–I jazz avec extensions)

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Style Rock modal (Beatles / Radiohead)Rock modal (1965–aujourd'hui)

I – ♭VII – IV – I (G mixolydien — Norwegian Wood, Creep...)

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Style Romantique (Rachmaninov / Tchaïkovski)Romantisme tardif (1850–1910)

I – ♭VI – IV – V7 (relations de tierces, C majeur)

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Styles are not rigid boxes: a composer can blend several styles in a single piece. Chopin borrows from Bach (counterpoint) and anticipates Debussy (modal borrowings). Recognizing a style means identifying the dominant language, not making an absolute classification.