THE CLASSICAL ERA
(1750 - 1820)
The Gore Family with George, 3rd Earl Cowper (1775) - Johann Zoffanny
Oath of the Horatii (1784) - Jacques-Louis David
Portrait of George Douglas, 16th Earl of Morton (1761) - William Beechey
Mrs Elizabeth Moody with her sons Samuel and Thomas (1780) - Thomas Gainsborough
An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump (1768) - Joseph Wright
ALL CLASSICAL ERA MUSIC IS CLASSICAL MUSIC BUT NOT ALL CLASSICAL MUSIC IS FROM THE CLASSICAL ERA
THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
•Scientific/political/philosophical movement of the 18th century
•By the Classical Era, focus on society, morality, social justice, education
•SALON: gathering half-educational, half-party to discuss new ideas in science and art
•“Pursuit of Happiness”
Seeds planted for late 18th century revolutions
ELEGANCE
•CONCERT HALLS (buildings specifically designed for classical music concerts) and going to concerts became a thing
•Smooth melodic lines were decorated with ORNAMENTATION - musical effects that added emphasis but not melodic or harmonic content to the notes (like painting architectural detail)
•First era in which nobility/rich were expected to have some musical training as part of being “civilized”
SIMPLICITY
•Most classical music HOMOPHONIC (marked by obvious melody and supporting accompaniment lines)
•Mostly DIATONIC (composed in one major or minor key with neat and prepared changes between keys)
•Music meant to be entertaining: very little dissonance, challenge to emotions, intellectuality
•TECHNICAL passages (challenging to play or sing) were still full of pattern and uniformity
•Classical Era first in music history that music got simpler, not more complex
UNIFORMITY
•Classical Era saw increase in education, literacy, published material, and transportation
•Easier than ever to exchange ideas from community to community
•Composers moved from their hometowns/home countries and composed in new places.
•Classical Era music sounded consistent from community to community – no nationalism or patriotism, but rather, all composers writing in a similar style
Notice the similarities between these two symphonies of Boyce (England) and Stamitz (Bohemia/Germany)
Symphony No. 1 B Major Movt. I Allegro (Symphony 1760) - William Boyce
Symphony in E-flat Major Movt. 1 (Symphony 1759) - Joseph Stamitz
FORM & STRUCTURE
•Form very important in Classical Era (less so in all other eras)
•Gave audience an expectation of where the music was going and when something was over
•Lots of repetition with variety
•DEVELOPMENT: taking a theme and breaking it down into little parts to “play” with musically; like tangents in a speech
•New forms: Sonata form, Rondo form, Minuet form, Theme and Variation
SYMPHONY
•Specific SYMPHONY structure took shape:
I. Fast movement (in Sonata-Allegro Form)
II. Slow movement
III. A minuet or scherzo (usually in duple compound meter - 6/8 time)
IV. Finale: fast rondo or sonata
•Symphonies usually 15-25 minutes total
•Orchestras were much smaller than Romantic Era but had stable INSTRUMENTATION (specific types and numbers of instruments) unlike the Baroque Era
SONATA-ALLEGRO FORM
•Large-scale ABA’ form used in Symphony movements and many other works
A – EXPOSITION – statement of “a” and “b” themes
B – DEVELOPMENT – the “a” and “b” themes are broken down, recombined, and added to
A’ – RECAPUTILATION – the music from the Exposition is reintroduced with slight variation
•Popular format in Classical Era because it allowed for both length and simplicity
OPERA
•Classical Era musicians believed the music and plots of Baroque era opera were too complex
•Simplifying opera made it more attractive to everyday people
•Classical opera mostly about real, contemporary people doing real things
•Fantastical operas used simple magic, whimsy, and humor
OPERA BUFFA – comic operas that were light, short, and diverting
OPERA SERIA – serious opera (not as popular)
DYNAMICS
•Dynamics in the Baroque era were simple:
Each piece one volume or blocks of volume (piano or forte) and not marked in music
•Classical Era stretched into louder and softer volumes (pp p mp mf f ff )
•Dynamics indicated in music
•Appearance of gradual volume changes:
CRESCENDO – growing louder
DIMINUENDO – growing softer
THE FORTEPIANO
•Invented in Italy around 1700
Early ancestor to the modern piano
•Made its way across Europe in the mid-18th century
•Piano keys activate hammers that strike strings (member of string family or percussion family)
•Preferred over harpsichord because can play with dynamics and control sustain (via sustain pedal)
•CLAVIER music could be played on piano, harpsichord, clavichord, spinet (keyboard instruments)
VIENNA
•Capital of Hapsburg Empire
•Center of Enlightenment, education, politics, art, music, and science
•Joseph II reigned from 1780-90; patronized many musicians and composers
•Home of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (first era in which composers emigrated to a particular city for its musical resources)
CLASSICAL COMPOSERS
CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH
•German composer and musician
•Son of composer Johann Sebastian Bach (several of Johann Sebastian Bach’s children became musicians/composers)
•“Berlin Bach” because he worked in Berlin; composed in conservative German style
•Bridge between Baroque Era and Classical Era
•Composed keyboard works, symphonies, concerti, chamber music
Solfeggietto (Keyboard Piece 1766) - CPE Bach
JOHANN CHRISTIAN BACH
•“European”/cosmopolitan composer of opera, keyboard and instrumental music
•“London Bach” (youngest of J.S. Bach’s sons and lived with brother C.P.E. Bach after father’s death)
•Taught Mozart when he was a young music student
Symphony in G Minor (Symphony 1768) - J.C. Bach
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
•German pianist and composer of symphonies, keyboard music, chamber works, choral works, concerti
•Many say “greatest composer to have ever lived”
•Pushed Classical Era into Romantic Era with very expressive music and rule-breaking
•Mostly deaf by the age of 30 (poor health in general) but still composed even after losing hearing
•Slow to write, threw out many first drafts
Piano Sonata No. 14 in C# Minor “Moonlight Sonata” (Sonata 1801) - Ludwig Van Beethoven
JOSEPH HAYDN
•Austrian composer, music teacher and mentor to Mozart and Beethoven
•“Papa Haydn,” “Father of the Symphony” (wrote 104), “Father of the String Quartet” (wrote 68)
•Very “Classical” composer – always witty, elegant, often humorous, pleasant, and straight-forward
Symphony No. 104 “London Symphony” (Symphony 1795) - Joseph Haydn
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
•Austrian composer, keyboardist, violinist, teacher, musical prodigy; compositions not very popular while alive
•Many believe the most brilliant composer to have ever lived (would hear whole compositions in his head and write them down by ear)
•Composed symphonies, keyboard music, opera, chamber works
•Died at 35 while composing a Requiem Mass for a mysterious patron (completed by student)
“Dies Irae” from Requiem Mass (Mass 1791) - W.A. Mozart
SCENES FROM AMADEUS (1984)
Mozart’s Genius
Compositional Dictation
Party Scene “God Was Laughing At Me”
Queen of the Night
Requiem
NICCOLÓ PAGANINI
•Italian violinist and composer
•Most skilled violinist of the Classical Era, traveling virtuoso
•Invented new TECHNIQUE (way of playing an instrument) for violin that allowed violinists to play faster and more expressively
Caprice No. 5 (Violin Solo 1802) - Niccoló Paganini
GIAOCHINO ROSSINI
•Italian opera composer
•Wrote 39 operas, popular in his time, retired in his 30’s
•“Rossini Code” – plot and music structure formula to his operas (inspired later operas)
•Catchy melodies lead to piano and voice TRANSCRIPTIONS (works rearranged for new combinations of instruments rather than the originals)
“Largo al Factorum” from Barber of Seville (Opera 1813) - Giaochino Rossini