It's somewhat "not even wrong." It's true the term classical refers back to the classical period, but it was explicitly adopted following Baroque. The style of

It's somewhat "not even wrong." It's true the term classical refers back to the classical period, but it was explicitly adopted following Baroque. The style of the late 18th, early 19th century was named Classical. The rediscovery of Bach is unrelated. Western music history roughly goes like: early polyphony, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Modern (where e.g. Romantic has subdivisions, and you could argue Modern is over or has many subdivisions, etc.). The current use of the term "classical music" refers to all serious, composed music.