39 Composers.
Three Centuries of the Canon.
Music history is not a list of dates — it's a conversation across centuries. Each composer profile in Gradus shows you what the composer was solving, what they inherited, and what they left for the next generation to react to.
Music History — composer profile view
Bach synthesized every technique of his era into a single, unified compositional language. His counterpoint is not an academic exercise — it is expressive architecture. The Mass in B Minor, the Well-Tempered Clavier, and the Art of Fugue together constitute the most complete demonstration of tonal counterpoint ever written.
39 Composers, Three Eras
Style Analysis
Each profile analyzes the composer's characteristic techniques — what they were solving, what they borrowed, and what they invented.
Curriculum Integration
History is not separate from technique. Each profile links to the lessons and score studies where you'll encounter that composer's methods.
Score Study Links
Every profile connects directly to the annotated scores in the Score Study library. Hear what you're reading about.
Era Comparisons
See how each composer responded to the generation before them — and how they set the problems the next generation had to solve.
Maestro Integration
Ask Maestro about any composer. It knows the profiles and can go deeper, quiz you, or connect the historical to the technical.
Three Centuries
Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionist, and Modern — from Monteverdi to John Williams, the full arc of the Western tradition.
39 composers. The full arc from Baroque to contemporary.
Music history is integrated throughout the curriculum — never a separate subject.