1. Chapter 12: Classical Style

2. The Classical Era ( )
Proportion, balance, and formal correctness
The Enlightenment
Figures 12.1 and 12.2(top) The second-century Pantheon in Rome. (bottom) The library of the University of Virginia, designed by Thomas Jefferson in the late eighteenth century. Jefferson had visited Italy and studied the ancient ruins while serving as ambassador to France (1784–1789).The portico, with columns and triangular pediment, and the central rotunda are all elements of Classical style in architecture.

3. The Democratization of Classical Music: Public Concerts
Performances gradually moved from the palace to the concert hall
Supported by the middle class

4. The Rise of Popular Opera
Comic Opera: Expressed middle class values; satire of pompous and incompetent aristocrats
Also called Opera buffa
Figure A performance at the Burgtheater in Vienna in the late 1700s. The nobility occupied the frontmost seats on the floor, but the area behind them was open to all. So, too, in the galleries, the aristocracy bought boxes low and close to the stage, while commoners occupied higher rungs, as well as the standing room in the fourth gallery. Ticket prices depended, then as now, on proximity to the performers.

5. The Advent of the Piano Invented in Italy around 1700
Replaced the harpsichord
Could play more than one dynamic level
Originally named the pianoforte
Figure Marie Antoinette, in 1770 at the age of fifteen, seated at an early piano. In 1774, this Austrian princess became queen of France, but in 1793, at the height of the French Revolution, she was beheaded.

6. Elements of Classical Style
Melody: Tuneful, catchy, singable melodies
Simple and short with balanced phrases
Antecedent and Consequent phrases
Example from Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C major (1785)

7. Elements of Classical Style
Harmony: Harmonic rhythm much more fluid and flexible than in the Baroque music
Alberti Bass: Spreads out pitches of a chord to provide a steady steam of sound