Classicism &
Classical Music
Chapter 15
Cultural Setting
1750 - 1820
Vienna, capital of the Austrian Empire
center of musical activity
Renewed interest in Greek & Roman
history, philosophy, architecture, etc.
Descartes
“I doubt,
therefore I think,
therefore I am.”
Age of Reason/Enlightenment
“Some years ago I was struck by the large
number of falsehoods that I had accepted as true
in my childhood, and by the highly doubtful
nature of the whole edifice that I had
subsequently based on them. I realized that it
was necessary, once in the course of my life, to
demolish everything completely and start again
right from the foundations if I wanted to establish
anything at all in the sciences that was stable and
likely to last.”
This movement provided the framework for the American
and the French revolutions.
Versailles
French Revolution
Sans-coulottes
Tri-color
Rejection of titles
Citizen - Citizeness
Napoleon
1769-1821
Authors
Thomas Paine, new America
Goethe, German
Robert Burns, Scottish
Wordsworth, British
Sir Walter Scott, Scottish, “Ivanhoe”
Jane Austen, British
Poets
At the end of the era - 1820 - some of the
greatest, most sensitive poets were writing.
Lord Byron
Percy Bysshe Shelley
John Keats
Preparing the way for Romanticism
Etc.
Cassanova
“Amazing Grace” by John Newton
Marquis de Sade
Features to listen for in Classical Music
Melody: pleasant & tuneful
Harmony: backdrop for the melody
Rhythm: Regular patterns, steady beat
Dynamics: Crescendo & decrescendo
Performance: Orchestra larger than
Baroque & musicians were part-time
Forms: Absolute music, longer works
Composers
Mozart
Haydn
Boccherini
Mozart
Haydn
Boccherini