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The story of classical music begins in the Renaissance, an era that birthed a vibrant new sound emerging from monasteries, churches, and even taverns. This period marked the discovery of the major key, which changed the landscape of music forever. Individual composers started to emerge from the fog of anonymity, and names such as Palestrina and Monteverdi began to dominate the scene.
Monteverdi played a pivotal role, essentially laying the groundwork for opera. This was a time of harmonic exploration, where the art of crafting musical pieces was akin to the innovative craft of metalwork, leading to the creation of instruments that transformed predominantly vocal music into more complex soundscapes. It was a wild frontier of music, filled with stunning beauty and a lawlessness of harmony.