The Classical Style 17501820

1
The Classical Style (1750-1820)

• Background
• belief in progress
• reason, not custom or tradition, was the best
  guide for human conduct
• middle-class vs. aristocracy
• American French Revolutions
• changes in visual art
• rococo light colors, curved lines, graceful
  ornaments
• neo-classical firm lines, clear structure,
  moralistic subject matter

2
The Classical Style (1750-1820)

• Changes in music
• Preclassical period (ca.1730-1770) - transitional
• Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)
• Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782)
• style galant concentration on simplicity and
  clarity
• Classical
• term borrowed from visual art
• refers to influence of Greek and Roman models
• no such reference in music

3
Characteristics of Classical Style

• Contrast of mood
• Flexibility of rhythm
• Basically homophonic texture
• Balanced, symmetrical, tuneful melodies
• Dynamics and the Piano
• End of Basso Continuo
• The Classical Orchestra
• Strings - 1st/2nd violin, viola, cello, double
  bass
• Woodwinds - flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon (2
  each)
• Brass - 2 French horns, 2 trumpets
• Percussion - 2 timpani

4
Classical Forms

• Instrumental compositions
• 4 movements that contrast in tempo and character
• 1. Fast
• 2. Slow
• 3. Dance-related
• 4. Fast
• symphony
• string quartet
• sonata
• Contrasting themes in movements
• Balance within larger structure of movement

5
Composer, Patron, and Public in the Classical
Period

• Social Trends and Classical Composition
• Effects on musicians
• More people with more
• Middle Class influence
• public concerts
• pieces for amateur musicians
• comic opera
• familiar tunes in serious music
• Vienna
• seat of Holy Roman Empire
• one of the music centers of Europe
• aristocrat winter quarters
• outdoor music

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Sonata Form

• Exposition (may be preceded by Introduction)
• First theme in tonic key
• Bridge - modulation to new key
• Second (contrasting) theme in new key
• Closing section in key of second theme
• Development
• new treatment of themes modulations to different
  keys / retransition
• Recapitulation
• First theme in tonic key
• Bridge
• Second theme in tonic (or parallel major) key
• Closing section in tonic / (may be followed by a
  coda)

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Classical Forms

• Theme and Variations
• theme repeated over and over with alterations
  melody, rhythm, harmony, accompaniment, dynamics,
  or tone color each time
• A(theme) - A(variation 1) - A (variation2) -
• use of countermelody
• Minuet and Trio
• often used as 3rd movt. / 3/4 usually in
  mod.tempo
• Minuet Trio Minuet
• A B A
• aba cdc aba
• da capo
• scherzo - faster than minuet

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Classical Forms

• Rondo
• as an independent piece or a movement
• often serves as a finale
• A B A C A (B A)
• sonata-rondo
• B A - development - A B A
• Symphony
• 4 movements - FSDF - attributes of each movement
• Concerto
• 3 movements - FSF
• double exposition
• cadenza

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Classical Chamber Music

• Characteristics
• designed for intimate setting of a room (chamber)
• 2-9 musicians, with one player to a part
• lighter sound than orchestral music
• musicians work as a team
• no conductor
• Types
• String Quartet
• 2 violins, viola, cello
• usually 4 mvts. - FSDF or FDSF
• Sonata for Violin and Piano
• Piano Trio (violin, cello, piano)
• String Quintet (2 violins, 2 violas, cello)

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Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

• Background
• Born in Rohrau, Austria
• musical background until age 6 - folk songs and
  peasant dances
• sent to a relative to receive basic music lessons
• age 8 - choirboy at St. Stephens Cathedral in
  Vienna
• had no composition or instrumental lessons
• upon his voice change - dismissed from St.
  Stephens
• barely stays alive by teaching lessons for 8
  years
• also took odd jobs
• Haydns talent gradually noticed by aristocracy
• music director for court of a Bohemian count
• age 29 (1761) - enters service of Esterházy family

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Haydn and the Esterházy Family

• 1761-1790 - most of Haydns music composed for
  the Esterházys, richest and most powerful
  Hungarian noble family
• Eszterháza - familys palace in Hungary
• opera house, theater, 2 concert halls, 126 guest
  rooms
• Haydns responsibilities as musical director
• compose all music requested by patron
• conduct 25-member orchestra
• coach singers
• oversee instrument conditions and music library
• two concerts and two opera performances weekly
• daily chamber music
• 150 pieces with baryton part for Nicholas
  Esterházy

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Joseph Haydn

• Advantages and disadvantages of patronage
• Personal characteristics of Haydn
• good-humored and unselfish
• cared about personal interests of his musicians
• early 1780s - met Mozart, became close friends
• Haydns popularity grows while serving the
  Esterházys
• 1790 - Nicholas dies - Haydn free to go to London
• Salomon / London symphonies
• servant to celebrity

13
Joseph Haydn

• 1795 - returns to Vienna
• new agreement with Nicholas Esterházy II
• one mass composed each year (6 written)
• wrote two oratorios
• The Creation
• The Seasons
• 1809 - dies at age 77
• during time of Napoleons occupation of Vienna
• memorial service of Viennese with French generals
  and an honor guard of French soldiers

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Haydns Music

• pioneer in development of symphony and string
  quartet
• use of folk tunes / original folk-like melodies
• master of theme development
• musical jokes
• 104 symphonies
• many known by nicknames
• 68 string quartets
• may have invented the string quartet
• Other works - piano sonatas, piano trios,
  divertimentos, concertos, operas, masses.

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Haydns Music

• Symphony No. 94 (Surprise)
• key, form, tempo, notable features of each
  movement
• Trumpet Concerto in E-flat Major

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

• born in Salzburg, Austria
• age 6 - playing the harpsichord and violin,
  improvising fugues, writing minuets,
  sight-reading perfectly
• compositions as a child
• age 8 - 1st symphony
• age 11 - 1st oratorio
• age 12 - 1st opera
• Leopold Mozart (father) shows off his son
• age 6-15 - Mozart tours Europe almost half the
  time
• Empress Maria Theresa of Austria
• Louis XV of France
• George III of England

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Mozart

• Visit to Sistine Chapel
• age 15 - return to Salzburg - under patronage of
  Prince-Archbishop Colloredo
• only given subordinate seat in orchestra
• lack of initiative
• insubordinate / requests for dismissal
• 1781 (age 25) - goes to Vienna to be free-lance
  musician
• concerts attended by the emperor and nobility
• married Constanze Weber
• friendship with Haydn

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Mozart

• 1786 - Vienna loves The Marriage of Figaro
• 1787 - Vienna dislikes Don Giovanni
• Leopold dies during the composition of D.G.
• Mozarts popularity deteriorates
• 1791 -
• The Magic Flute
• Requiem
• commissioned by Count Walsegg
• strange messenger
• thought he was writing his own Requiem
• dies of rheumatic fever - December 5, 1791

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Mozarts Music

• More than 600 compositions
• K. Köchel number
• Mozarts output catalogued by Ludwig von Köchel
• Most notable
• concertos
• operas (mostly comic)
• piano sonatas
• Requiem

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Mozarts Music

• Don Giovanni
• unique blend of comic and serious opera
• characters / plot
• Act I Introduction
• Act I Leporellos catalogue aria
• Act I Duet (Don and Zerlina)
• Symphony No. 40, K.550
• key, form, tempo, notable features of each
  movement
• Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major 1st mvt
• Requiem Dies irae

21
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

• Background
• born in Bonn, Germany into a family of musicians
• Johann (father) comes home from tavern late and
  makes Ludwig practice at the keyboard until
  morning
• age 16 improvises for Mozart in Vienna
• mother dies, father becomes an alcoholic
• age 18 becomes legal guardian of two younger
  brothers

22
Beethoven

• 1792 (almost age 22) studies with Haydn in
  Vienna
• Haydn neglects Beethoven / secretly goes to
  another teacher
• 1st 7 years in Vienna very productive
• rebels against social convention
• age 29 1st signs of deafness appear
• 1803-04 3rd Symphony dedication
• Bonaparte ---- becomes ---- Eroica

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Beethoven

• self-educated
• drifter in romantic relations
• earns money through publishing
• never in the service of aristocracy
• 1809 paid by three Austrian nobles to stay in
  Vienna
• age 44 stops playing piano in public, but
  continues to conduct
• 1815 Casper dies
• becomes coguardian of nephew, Karl
• 5-year custody battle
• Karl attempts suicide / Beethoven shattered

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Beethovens Music

• expands range of pitch and dynamics
• works and reworks music during composition
• expands forms (i.e. 50-minute 3rd Symphony)
• continuity between contrasting movements
• resemblance of themes in separate movements
• movements linked w/o pause
• expands sonata form
• development section
• develops themes in coda
• scherzo preferred over minuet
• larger instrumentation for orchestra
• uses choir in 9th Symphony

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Beethovens Music

• Piano Sonata in C minor, Op. 13 (Pathétique)
• key, form, tempo, notable features of each
  movement
• Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
• key, form, tempo, notable features of each
  movement