Classical Period (1750-1820CE)

The years of the Classical Period saw many changes in the world.  The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars changed the face of Europe .  During the Classical period it became more and more possible for the public to enjoy and participate in leisure activities. Thus, in the music world, the patronage system of the Baroque began to die out and was replaced by the first public concerts where people paid to attend.

Instead of the sudden changes in style and trills of Baroque music, the music of the Classical period tended to be simple, balanced, and non-emotional. Music had straightforward titles like "Symphony No. 1" instead of flowery descriptive titles. Known as absolute music, classical works were written for their own sake, not for dancing or any other special occasion. It was performed in the recital or concert hall.

The most important classical composers were Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Joseph Haydn, and Ludwig van Beethoven.  Vienna was the musical center of Europe , and most serious composers spent part of their lives there.

Form

Forms used include the minuet and trio, rondo, sonata-allegro, sonatina and theme and variations. Composers also often wrote concertos and dances.

Harmony

Often there was a single-line melody with accompaniment. Cadences and slower chord changes were frequently used.

Keyboard Instruments

The pianoforte and harpsichord were used.

Rhythm

Rests, 16th notes, and triplets were used frequently. In theme and variations, the same tempo was usually used throughout the variations.

Style

There were varied dynamic contrasts (softs & louds). Two- and three- note slurs, regular phrasing and articulations were used.

nstrumental music was more important than vocal music during the Classical period. More and more instruments were added to the orchestra, including the flute, clarinet, oboe, and bassoon.

Instrumental Music

Three instrumental forms were developed: the concerto, the symphony, and the sonata. The concerto of the Baroque period evolved into the popular Classical concerto. The soloist was featured as the rest of the orchestra provided accompaniment. Concertos were written for all the instruments in the classical orchestra.

An outgrowth of the Baroque concerto grosso was the Classical symphony. The word symphony means "sounding together" and it applies to the full orchestra all playing at the same time. Symphonies had three movements (fast-slow-fast), but some added an extra, dance-like movement before the last movement. Franz Joseph Haydn wrote 104 symphonies during his lifetime!

Sonatas were written for one or two instruments. Most sonatas were written for the favorite instrument of the time, the piano.

Sonata Form

During the Classical period, symphonies, concertos and sonatas were all based on a compositional formula known as sonata form. Composers used sonata form as a means of providing structure to their compositions. It became the most popular compositional form to be used throughout the Classical era.

The word "sonata" was first used as the title of any piece to be "sounded" (played on a musical instrument). A short sonata was called a sonatina. By the late 1700s, the sonata had become a more formal composition, usually containing three or four contrasting movements, of which the form of the first movement was the most strict.

The first movement of a sonata is in strictly "sonata form." This means that it consists of three sections. In the first section, the exposition, the melodies are "exposed" or introduced. Secondary themes are often in a key a fifth higher than the tonic (original key). The second section is called the development and in this section themes are altered and used however the composer wishes. The third section, named therecapitulation, restates all the themes, but this time all are in the tonic key. Sometimes sonata form includes an introduction and a coda.

Piano Sonata No. 21 in C "Waldstein" (Op. 53) by Ludwig van Beethoven

Classical Symphony

For the first time, instrumental music was more important than vocal music. The modern symphony orchestra is born, with fuller sounding strings, plus clarinets, bassoons, oboes, and flutes. Although trumpets and horns were still valveless, they acquired the harmony role which made the harpsichord obsolete in the orchestra. Trombones, tubas, and the extensive percussion we use today were not yet introduced to the orchestra setting.

A symphony is a long composition for orchestra, usually with three to four movements. To achieve a variety of sounds, composers strive to make each movement different by changing the mood, tempo, or style.

Franz Joseph Haydn is considered to be the father of the symphony and he composed 104 symphonies during his life. Beethovencomposed nine symphonies with his fifth and ninth being the most famous.

Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, 1st movement

Mozart, Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K. 385 "Haffner"

Beethoven, Ninth Symphony, 4th movement "Ode to Joy"

Vocal Music

Vocal music in the Classical period was centered in opera. Many operas in the Classical period were written and enjoyed mostly by the wealthier part of society, as they were expensive to produce. Two styles of opera continued to be developed during this period: opera seriaand opera buffa. Opera buffa became much more popular during this period due to Mozart's contribution to this style. Some of Mozart's most popular comic operas include The Marriage of Figaro, and The Magic Flute.

Mozart, O Isis und Osiris from The Magic Flute

Franz Joseph Haydn

Haydn Quick Facts:

Haydn and Mozart were friends. They respected each other's music and occasionally invited one another to their performances. Haydn composed 104 symphonies! Unlike Wagner, Haydn was warm and heartfelt. He was caring, loving, extremely intelligent, and very well controlled.

Haydn's Family Background:

Haydn was one of three boys born to Mathias Haydn and Anna Maria Koller. His father was a master wheelwright who loved music. He played the harp, while Haydn's mother sang the melodies. Anna Maria was a cook for Count Karl Anton Harrach before she married Mathias. Haydn's brother, Michael, also composed music and became relatively famous. His youngest brother, Johann Evangelist, sang tenor in the church choir of the Esterhazy Court.

Childhood:

Haydn had a spectacular voice and his musicality was precise. Johann Franc, impressed by Haydn's voice, insisted that Haydn's parents allow Haydn to live with him to study music. Franc was a school principal and the choir director of a church in Hainburg. Haydn's parents allowed him to go in hopes that he would amount to something very special. Haydn studied mostly music, but also Latin, writing, arithmetic, and religion. Haydn spent most of his childhood singing in church choirs.

Teenage Years:

Haydn trained his younger brother Michael when he joined the choir school three years later; it was customary for the older choirboys to instruct the younger ones. Although great Haydn's voice was, he lost it when he went through puberty. Michael, who also had a beautiful voice, received the attention Haydn was used to getting. Haydn was dismissed from the school when he was 18.

Early Adult Years:

Haydn earned a living by becoming a freelance musician, teaching music, and composing. His first steady job came in 1757, when he was hired as music director for Count Morzin. His name and compositions steadily became recognizable. During his time with Count Morzin, Haydn wrote 15 symphonies, concertos, piano sonatas, and possibly string quartets op.2, nos. 1-2. He married Maria Anna Keller on November 26, 1760.

Mid Adult Years:

In 1761, Haydn began his lifelong relationship with the wealthiest family among Hungarian nobility, the Esterhazy family. Haydn spent nearly 30 years of his life here. He was hired as vice-Kapellmeister earning 400 gulden a year, and as time went on, his salary increased as well as his ranking within the court. His music became widely popular.

Late Adult Years:

From 1791, Haydn spent four years in London composing music and experiencing life outside the royal court. His time in London was the high point of his career. He earned nearly 24,000 gulden in a single year (the sum of his combined salary of nearly 20 years as Kapellmeister). Haydn spent the last years of his life in Vienna composing only vocal pieces such as masses and oratorios. Haydn passed away in the middle of the night from old age. Mozart's Requiem was performed at his funeral.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Quick Facts:

Of the 41 symphonies that Mozart wrote, only two are in a minor key, both of which are in g minor (Symphony 25 & 40).

Mozart's music was often criticized as being too complex and "having too many notes".

Mozart was known to take familiar musical lines from one piece of music and insert them into another piece of music.

Mozart Family Background:

On November 14, 1719, Mozart's father, Leopold, was born. Leopold attended Salzburg Benedictine University and studied philosophy, but later he was expelled due to poor attendance. Leopold, however, became proficient in violin and organ. He married Anna Maria Pertl on November 21, 1747. Of the seven children they had,only two survived, Maria Anna (1751) and Wolfgang Amadeus (1756).

Mozart's Childhood:

When Wolfgang was four (as noted by his father in his sisters music book), he was playing the same pieces as his sister. At the age of five,he wrote a miniature andante and allegro (K. 1a and 1b). In 1762, Leopold took Wolfgang and Maria Anna on tour throughout Vienna performing for nobles and ambassadors. Later in 1763, Leopold took Wolfgang and Maria Anna on a three-and-a-half year tour throughout Germany, France, England, Switzerland, and other countries.

Mozart's Teenage Years:

Amid the many tours, Mozart wrote music for a number of occasions. In 1770, Mozart (only 14) was commissioned to write an opera (Mitridate, re di Ponto)by that December. He began work on the opera in October and by December 26, after eight rehearsals, the show was performed. The show, which included several ballets from other composers, lasted six hours. To much of Leopold's surprise, the opera was a huge success and went on to perform 22 more times.

Mozart's Early Adult Years:

In 1777, Mozart left Salzburg with his mother to search for a higher paying job. His travels lead him to Paris, where unfortunately, his mother became deathly ill. Mozart's efforts to find a better job were unfruitful. He returned home two years later and continued working in the court as an organist with accompanying duties rather than a violinist. Mozart was offered an increase in salary and generous leave.

Mozart's Mid Adult Years:

After the successful premier of the opera Idomenée in 1881 in Munich,Mozart returned to Salzburg. Wanting to be released from his job as court organist, Mozart met with the archbishop. In March of 1781, Mozart was finally released from his duties and began working freelance. A year later, Mozart gave his first public concert consisting entirely of his own compositions.

Mozart's Late Adult Years :

Mozart married Constanze Weber in July of 1782, despite his father's constant disapprovals. As Mozart's compositions flourished, his debts did too; money always seemed a bit tight. In 1787,Leopold died. The effects his fathers death had on him can be seen in a lul in new compositions.

Mozart fell ill while in Prague , for the 6 September premiere of his opera La clemenza di Tito, written in 1791 on commission for the coronation festivities of the Emperor He was able to continue his professional functions for some time, for instance conducting the premiere of The Magic Flute on 30 September. The illness intensified on 20 November, at which point Mozart became bedridden, suffering from swelling, pain, and vomiting.

Mozart was tended in his final illness by Constanze, her youngest sister Sophie, and the family doctor, Thomas Franz Closset. There is evidence that he was mentally occupied with the task of finishing his Requiem. However, the evidence that he actually dictated passages to Süssmayr is very slim.

Mozart died at 1 in the morning on 5 December. The New Grove describes his funeral thus: "Mozart was buried in a common grave, in accordance with contemporary Viennese custom, at the St Marx cemetery outside the city on 7 December. If, as later reports say, no mourners attended, that too is consistent with Viennese burial customs at the time; later Jahn (1856) wrote that Salieri, Süssmayr, van Swieten and two other musicians were present. The tale of a storm and snow is false; the day was calm and mild."

The cause of Mozart's death cannot be determined with certainty. His death record listed "hitziges Frieselfieber" ("severe miliary fever", referring to a rash that looks like millet seeds), a description that does not suffice to identify the cause as it would be diagnosed in modern medicine. Dozens of theories have been proposed, including trichinosis, influenza, mercury poisoning, and a rare kidney ailment. The practice of bleeding medical patients, common at that time, is also cited as a contributing cause. However, the most widely accepted version is that he died of acute rheumatic fever; he had had three or even four known attacks of it since his childhood, and this particular disease has a tendency to recur, leaving increasingly serious consequences each time, such as rampant infection and heart valve damage/=,

Mozart's sparse funeral did not reflect his standing with the public as a composer: memorial services and concerts in Vienna and Prague were well attended. Indeed, during the period following his death, Mozart's musical reputation rose substantially; Solomon describes an "unprecedented wave of enthusiasm" for his work. Biographies were written (initially by Schlichtegroll, Niemetschek, and Nissen), and publishers vied to produce complete editions of his works.

Ludwig van Beethoven

Who is Beethoven? Beethoven, perhaps the most influential and famous composer of all time. Apart from his other works, Beethoven only wrote nine symphonies. His music has been played all over the world for over 180 years.! What made Beethoven special was his successful attempt to break the mold of the highly structured and refined rules of classical period composition. Many view Beethoven as the bridge connecting the classical period to the romantic period.

Beethoven Quick Facts:

Beethoven composed all 9 symphonies between 1799 and 1824.

He studied under Haydn for less than a year in 1793.

In 1801, he wrote a letter to his friend about his loss of hearing.

Beethoven's Family Background:

In 1740, Beethoven's father, Johann was born. Johann sang soprano in the electoral chapel where his father was Kapellmeister (chapel master). Johann grew up proficient enough to teach violin, piano, and voice to earn a living. Johann married Maria Magdalena in 1767 and gave birth to Ludwig Maria in 1769, who died 6 days later. On December 17, 1770, Ludwig van Beethoven was born. Maria later gave birth to five other children, but only two survived, Caspar Anton Carl and Nikolaus Johann.

Beethoven's Childhood:

At a very early age, Beethoven received violin and piano lessons from his father. At the age of 8, he studied theory and keyboard with van den Eeden (former chapel organist). He also studied with several local organists, received piano lessons from Tobias Friedrich Pfeiffer, and Franz Rovantini gave him violin and viola lessons. Although Beethoven's musical genius was compared to that of mozart's, his education never exceeded elementary level.

Beethoven's Teenage Years:

Beethoven was the assistant (and formal student) of Christian Gottlob Neefe. As a teen, he performed more than he composed. In 1787, Neefe sent him to Vienna for reasons unknown, but many agree that he met and briefly studied with Mozart. Two weeks later, he returned home because his mother had tuberculosis. She died in July. His father took to drink, and Beethoven, only 19, petitioned to be recognized as the head of the house; he received half of his father's salary to support his family.

Beethoven's Early Adult Years:

In 1792, Beethoven moved to Vienna . His father died in December that same year. He studied with Haydn for less than a year; their personalities did not mix well. Beethoven then studied with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, the best known teacher of counterpoint in Vienna . He studied counterpoint and contrapuntal exercises in free writing, in imitation, in two to four-part fugues, choral fugues, double counterpoint at the different intervals, double fugue, triple counterpoint and canon.

Beethoven's Mid Adult Years:

Once establishing himself, he began composing more. In 1800, he performed his first symphony and a septet (op. 20). Publishers soon began to compete for his newest works.

Around 1796, Beethoven began to lose his hearing. He suffered a severe form of tinnitus, a "ringing" in his ears that made it hard for him to perceive and appreciate music; he also avoided conversation. He lived for a time in the small Austrian town of Heiligenstadt, just outside Vienna. Here he wrote his Heiligenstadt Testament, which records his resolution to continue living for and through his art. Over time, his hearing loss became profound: there is a well-attested story that, at the end of the premiere of his Ninth Symphony, he had to be turned around to see the tumultuous applause of the audience; hearing nothing, he began to weep. Beethoven's hearing loss did not prevent his composing music, but it made concerts-lucrative sources of income-increasingly hard.

Beethoven used a special rod attached to the soundboard on a piano that he could bite-the vibrations would then transfer from the piano to his jaw to increase his perception of the sound. A large collection of his hearing aids such as special ear horns can be viewed at the Beethoven House Museum in Bonn. Despite his obvious distress, however, Czerny remarked that Beethoven could still hear speech and music normally until 1812.By 1814 however, Beethoven was almost totally deaf, and when a group of visitors saw him play a loud arpeggio or thundering bass notes at his piano remarking, "Ist es nicht schön?" (Isn't that beautiful?), they felt deep sympathy considering his courage and sense of humor

As a result of Beethoven's hearing loss, a unique historical record has been preserved: his conversation books. His friends wrote in the book so that he could know what they were saying, and he then responded either orally or in the book. The books contain discussions about music and other issues, and give insights into his thinking; they are a source for investigation into how he felt his music should be performed, and also his perception of his relationship to art. Unfortunately, 264 out of a total of 400 conversation books were destroyed (and others were altered) after Beethoven's death by Anton Schindler, in his attempt to paint an idealized picture of the composer.

Determined to overcome his disability, he wrote symphonies 2, 3, and 4 before 1806. Symphony 3, Eroica, was originally titled Bonaparte as a tribute to Napoleon.

Beethoven's Late Adult Years:

Beethoven's fame began to pay off; he soon found himself prosperous. His symphonic works proved to be master pieces (evident in the test of time) along with his other works. Beethoven loved a woman named Fanny, but never married. He spoke of her in a letter saying, "I found only one whom I shall doubtless never possess." In 1827, he died of dropsy. In a will wrote several days before his death, he left his estate to his nephew Karl, of whom he was legal guardian after Caspar Carl's death.