CLASSICAL 1750-1820

Age of Enlightenment This period was one of the most dynamic in the history of Europe. Led the individual to assume an importance not held before. The era was therefore secular, rational, egalitarian, cosmopolitan, humanitarian, and progressive. Tendencies found reflection in music. European art music became largely secular, it sought for a “natural” order and balance. ****

Rococo & Preclassical Early year of the Classical period present a confusing array of stylistic trends. One finds diverse concepts of musical style, form, and medium at play, often simultaneously. Rococo style was developed in France and ran from about 1720-1775. Light & elaborate, and ornate style specifically opposed to the grandiose Baroque style. Less contrapuntal and relied more on ornamentation. Also called Style Galant.

Style Galant Composers included Francois Couperin. Included other late-Baroque composers Jean- Phillippe Rameau, and Georg Philipp Telemann.

Empfindsamer Stil In Germany after 1750, the style galant came to be known as the Empfindsamer Stil, with an added element of heightened expressiveness. The highly emotional quality of this style reached a peak in the 1760’s & 1770’s. Is sometimes described as “Sturm und Drang” (storm and stress), a term applied to German literature of the period. Mixtures of styles often appeared in the works of the same composers. W.F. Bach & C.P.E. Bach were important composers of this style.

Composers 3 of J. S. Bach’s sons. W.F. Bach, Carl Phillipp Emanuel Bach, & Johann Christian Bach. Giuseppe Tartini was a prolific Preclassical composer of violin concertos and sonatas. Johann Quantz wrote an important treatise on flute playing and flute sonatas and concertos. Domenico Scarlotti wrote 555 highly inventive harpsichord sonatas. Leopold Mozart, the father of Amadeus, wrote string quartets.

Preclassical includes the development of the symphony. 4 centers of orchestral playing very important. Mannheim was highly regarded being the 1st to utilize the musical effects of crescendo and decrescendo. Johann Stamitz was the main composer-conductor of Mannheim. (1717-1757). Milan, Vienna, and Paris are the other cities in development of the symphony.

CLASSICAL PERIOD The adjective “Classical” has several quite different musical connotations: (1) the art and literature of ancient Greece, (2) the antonym of “Romantic”- that is music before the 19th century, (3) the synonym of “art” music, and (4) the time frame from 1750-1820, sometimes referred to as the “Viennese Classical period.” It is in the latter sense that “Classical” is used in music history.

Characteristics of the Classical Style Form-principles of sectional structure, particularly in sonata form, were firmly established in the late 18th century. Texture- Classical textures were typically homophonic, with a single melodic line accompanied by non-melodic or less melodic materials. Accompaniment pattern was the so-called Alberti bass (named for Domenico Alberti) Predominance of thin, light sonorities as opposed to the predominantly massive sonority of Baroque music. Counterpoint, fugues and other contrapuntal forms were occasionally composed.

Melodic Style Replacing the long continuous, autonomous melodic lines of Baroque music, Classical melody was composed of short (usually 4 measures) interlocking phrases, set off by well-prepared cadences. Melodic material was generally thematic-that is, capable of further development. Generally more diatonic than Baroque music.

Harmony Overall, Classical harmony was less complex than that of the Baroque. It made more use of principal triads (I,IV, &V) and diatonic was more typical than chromatic. Chord structure was predominantly triadic. 7th chords were used sparingly, and 9th chords hardly at all.

Instrumentation Piano became the main instrument, It basically replaced the harpsichord. Clarinet was developed during the period and Mozart composed for it some of its best music. Flute and bassoon, along with the clarinet and oboe, came to constitute the woodwind section of the Classical orchestra

Improvisation With the diminished importance of the basso continuo, improvisation became less important. Harmony gradually became written out. Composers more specifically and more consistently indicated ornamentation, phrasing, dynamics, and other details formally left to the discretion of the performer, as in the Baroque period.

4 major composers of Classical Period Christoph Willibald von Gluck, the least versatile of the 4, was a master of opera and opera reform. Franz Joseph Haydn was the most prolific of the major composers. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart surely possessed one of the most fertile musical minds of all times. Ludwig Van Beethoven, his position in music history is especially significant in that he guided the transition from late Classical to a Romantic style, and expressed so fiercely the individual’s right to artistic freedom that aristocratic patronage waned as a means of composers’ livelihoods.

4 Masters of Classical 1. Gluck was the master of opera and opera reform 2. Haydn was most prolific. He established the form and instrumentation of the Classical symphony and developed the string quartet. His fields included symphony, chamber music, concerto, piano sonata, oratorio, church music and opera. 3.Mozart fashioned a European style out of national and regional styles. Unlike Haydn, Mozart rebelled against the system of patronage and attempted, with only fair success, to fashion a living from commissions for an royalties from his music.

Beethoven Is one of the most important composers of Western art music. He guided the transition from late Classical to a Romantic style, and expressed so fiercely the individual’s right to artistic freedom that aristocratic patronage waned as a means of composers’ livelihoods. He expanded the concept of sonata form and made it a vehicle of powerful expression. He was unsurpassed in the techniques of thematic development and variation. His main areas were symphony, concerto, string quartet, and piano sonata.

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC The most significant changes in form and genre during the Classical era took place in instrumental music. The tem sonata cycle here means the basic plan of instrumental compositions in 3 or 4 movements. Sonata cycle is a concept that, with certain modifications, applies to virtually all instrumental genres of the Classical period: solo sonatas, symphonies, concertos, string quartets.

Sonata Cycle The Classical 1st movement is in a fast tempo, usually marked “allegro.” In reality, composers only occasionally follow exactly the formal conventions defined here below. The process that led to this balanced form was so important to the musical thinking in the period that it is sometimes referred to as the “sonata principle”. It may be found in rondos, in theme and variations, even in operas.

Sonata form Almost always found in the 1st movement of Classical period instrumental pieces. It may also exist in other movements and in other tempos. Sonata form is a dramatic play between “theme” and “key”. This is worked out in a general 3-part structure that consists of (1) the exposition, (2) the development, and the (3) the recapitulation.

EXPOSITION This presents the basic thematic and tonal materials of the movement. The main theme is presented in the key of the movement, or tonic key. This material is followed by a transition called the bridge that modulates to the dominant key or relative key if the movement is in a minor key. The 2nd theme is then presented in the contrasting dominant key. The exposition may conclude with still another theme, called the closing theme, or codetta.

DEVELOPMENT There is no standard practice regarding procedures followed in the development section. It utilizes and or all of the material from the exposition, which is developed in various ways. Theme or motives are treated in different keys, registers, textures, and timbres. The development section may also contain any number of non-thematic episodes. It concludes in the tonic key and moves without pause into the recapitulation.

RECAPITUALTION Is a general (not exact) restatement of the exposition, but with all subsections remaining in the tonic key.

SECOND MOVEMENT The Classical 2nd movement has 3 characteristics: 1. It is in slow tempo, usually adagio, lento. 2. It is in a closely related key, usually the subdominant or dominant key in relation to the key of the work as a whole: and 3. it has a more melodic quality than the other movements. Forms commonly used in 2nd movements are ternary (ABA), rounded binary (AABA) theme and variations, sonatina (sonata form without a development section) and sonata form.

THIRD MOVEMENT Most common 3rd movement form in a classical 4-movement work is a menuetto (or minuet). It is in the tonic key, 3/4 meter, and played in a moderately fast tempo. It is a ternary form, called minuet and trio(or song form and trio) in 3 main sections; minuet, trio, and minuet repeated. Ina a few Haydn works and in most Beethoven compositions in the sonata cycle, the 3rd movement is called scherzo.

FOURTH MOVEMENT The last movement, the finale, is in the tonic key, with a lively tempo, and usually in sonata form, rondo structure (ABACA) or a combination (ABACABA). It was typically less intensive than the first movement, although Beethoven gradually came to assign it weight equal to or greater than the 1st movement.

THE SYMPHONY The development of the Classical symphony was one of the major musical achievements of the 18th century. The prototype of the classical symphony was the Italian overture form called sinfonia. In the early 18th century the sinfonia was a3 section, fast-slow-fast structure. As an orchestral composition independent of operas it emerged as 3 separate movements in the same order of tempos.

ORCHESTRA 2 aspects of orchestral media are 1.Instrumentation (the instruments specified in an orchestral score) and 2. Orchestration (the manner in which those instruments are employed).