Neoclassical is a style of music that came into prominence roughly between World War I and World War II as a reaction against both the radical dissonance of musical experimentation from around the beginning of the twentieth century and the emotional excesses of late romanticism, and it was an attempt to restore the link to classical music of the previous century.
The best-known and most significant composer to write in this style was Igor Stravinsky, beginning with his 1919 ballet Pulcinella. Stravinsky took music from relatively obscure eighteenth century sources and greatly modified it to be attractive to contemporary audiences who appreciated nineteenth century classical music.