Religion and Money make great music
Religion was probably the first inspiration for music. Ancient Egyptians made music an important part of their religious ceremonies. The Babylonian services included hymns, Hebrews played music at their religious festivals, and Greeks believed that music came from the god Apollo.
So early music was almost always for sacred reasons to honour whichever deity the society was worshipping. This continued into the medieval period. Changes happened to music when the Christian god replaced the pagan gods as the subject of the sacred music. This era was ruled by the plainchant and Gregorian chant used in the Roman Catholic Mass and other religious ceremonies; while roaming troubadours played some secular music, this was mostly a period for religious music.
Into the Renaissance period sacred music still ruled. Mass was the most important musical form until the later part of the Renaissance when secular music or music for the masses started to be heard in the form of choirs.
But who paid the composers bills?
A composer must eat. Earning a living through composing music was challenging especially if a composer was employed by a local church either as a choirmaster or musical director. If not employed by a church then a patron was needed. Usually a patron could be found from the Royal Court or family to employ a composer. The composer was then expected to provide original works for his employer's various functions.
This patronage system continued through the beginning of the Classical period but stopped at the end of that era. When that occurred composers became self-employed freelancers. This didn't work out well and composers ended up performing others popular works and trying to add their own compositions into the mix to get them heard and make them popular.
Composers like Mozart became popular by being more selective about where and how much he played. While Beethoven made money by arranging concerts. In effect becoming his own concert promoter. He also sold his work to music publishers which created him additional income.
Once free from employers composers were able to create anything they wanted. This freedom allowed composers to stop making arrangements based on traditional and familiar chords and start exploring new ideas.
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