Classical Period 1750-1825
• 1750-1825 AD
• Classical = imitate the ideals of Classical
Greece
• The music changed from being fast, pulsating,
elaborate, and loud to being cleaner, simpler,
bigger division between parts, softer on the
ear, more sophisticated
• Music changes from layering polyphonic lines
to more homophonic music
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Age of Enlightenment
– The idea that reason, not custom or tradition
should guide human conduct and advance
knowledge through science
• Philosophers
– Voltaire: 1694-1778
– Rousseau: 1712-1778
– Montesquieu: 1689-1755
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Timeline
– American Revolution: 1775-1783
• Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790
• Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826
– French Revolution: 1789-1799
– Napoleonic Wars: 1803-1815
• Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire
– Spanish American Revolutions: 1808-1833
– Industrial Revolution: 1750-1850
Classical Period 1750-1825
Classical Period 1750-1825
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Technologies
– Factories, steel, steam engine, bifocal glasses,
discovery of electricity, idea of refrigeration,
railroads, etc.
• Growth of the middle class
– Merchants and business class expand
– Industrial Revolution shifts population from
agricultural to manufacturing
– Urban cities grow in population, public
transportation expands into suburbs
Classical Period 1750-1825
– People are making money and spending on
essential needs and luxury items as well
• Patrons of Music
– Renaissance: Catholic Church and Royal Courts
– Baroque: Royal Courts, Catholic and Protestant
Churches, Nobility
– Classical: Nobility, Middle Class, Royal Courts,
Churches
– The shift in patronage changes in the Classical
period due to the new demand for music by the
middle class
Classical Period 1750-1825
Classical Period 1750-1825
Classical Period 1750-1825
Classical Period 1750-1825
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Public Concerts
– The term concert was used to define a public
nontheatrical performance of music
– These concerts came about when royal court
activities became nonexistent and the music
patronage was in the hands of nobles and middle
class citizens
– Music was also presented in private homes and
businesses
– Rooms were set aside in wealthy homes for small
private or public concerts
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Public Concerts, cont.
– In North America, concerts were performed by
traveling companies in Boston, Philadelphia, and
New York City
• Opera
– Opera Seria – serious opera, the libretto is purged
of all comic elements. The story is based on heroic
stories from mythology and history of Ancient
Greece and Rome
Classical Period 1750-1825
– Opera Buffa – full length comic opera, uses a
large cast of characters
– Ballad Opera – a play, usually comic, in which
spoken phrases are interspersed with verses set to
traditional tunes or popular melodies
– Opera Comique – the French form of light opera
– Dramma giocoso – a comic opera containing
elements of tragedy while remaining basically
humorous
– Singspiel – the German form of light opera
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Songs
– Romance – a strophic song usually recounting an
ancient love story or an act of gallantry
– Motets – this style of song is discontinued by 1750
– Style Galant – music that is light and graceful,
elegant, sometimes witty, and pleasing to the ear
on the first hearing
– Empfindsamer stil - the sensitive style, a
composition that contains a continuous change in
expression or affection
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Sturm und Drang
– German drama movement with the aim of
frightening, shocking, stunning, or overcoming
with emotion
Classical Period 1750-1825
Classical Period 1750-1825
Classical Period 1750-1825
Classical Period 1750-1825
Classical Period 1750-1825
Classical Period 1750-1825
Classical Period 1750-1825
Classical Period 1750-1825
• The Symphony
– The word “sinfonia” came out of the opera Italian
Overture
– The Italian Overtures were used to let the audience
know that the opera was about to begin, it had no
thematic relationship to the opera
– Many of the opera overtures were published as
independent sinfonie without reference to the
opera that it came from
– Composers began composing concert sinfonie in
three movements, fast-slow-fast
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Sonata Form
– A multi-movement composition of chamber music
that is usually used in symphonic structures
– Early sonatas were written for piano, and then
piano and violin
– Sonata form was used as the first movement in a
multi-movement work, such as the symphony
• Symphonie Concertante
– A three movement composition featuring two or
more instrumental soloists with orchestra
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Divertimento
– A light, entertaining style of music
– The concerto grosso was out of date, and was
replaced
– Music was for special occasions, suitable for
background music at social events
– Music was for small ensembles, one person per
part
Classical Period 1750-1825
• String Quartet
– Form came into existence when the viola was
added to the trio sonata (Violin, keyboard, cello)
– Violin, viola, cello, bass
– Form developed from the divertimento style
• Etude
– A complete musical composition featuring at least
one consistently recurring problem of
physiological, technical, or musical difficulty that
requires the player to study the problem and
correct the interpretation as well
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Exercise
– A note pattern drill on a specific technical aspect
on the player’s instrument
• Domenico Scarlatti
– 1685-1757
– Composer, teacher, performer, son of Alessandro
Scarlatti
– Wrote over 555 keyboard sonatas for Maria
Barbara to learn and perform, who was King John
V’s daughter
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
– 1714-1788
– Son of J.S. Bach
– C.P.E. Bach mostly wrote for keyboard music at the
time, keyboard sonatas
– Preferred to write for the harpsichord, composed over
300 pieces – also wrote symphonies, operas, oratorios
– Elevates the keyboard from its accompaniment status
to an equal in chamber music, and also gave it a
leading role in the ensemble
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Franz Joseph Haydn
– 1732-1809
– Composer, singer, keyboard player, string player
– Composed vocal music, keyboard music, chamber
music (concert music in court chambers),
symphonies, and concerti for violin
– Credited for composing music that clearly
exemplified the perfected Classical style
– Considered the “Father of the Symphony” due to
his major contributions to composing symphonies
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Haydn’s Symphonies
– Composed 104 symphonies
– Composed for a patron, had to write according to the
orchestra that was available at the time
– Early symphonies contained three movements, fastslow-fast
– Middle symphonies contained four movements, slowfast-slow-fast. This became the standard of the
classical symphonic style
– Late symphonies became larger and more complex
with more dynamics, greater expressions, and
harmonic richness
– Symphonies were nicknamed for the distinctive
features that were written in the music
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Haydn
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (W.A. Mozart)
– Full Name: Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus
Theophilus Mozart
– 1756-1791
– Born in Salzburg, Austria
– Considered one of the most gifted and talented
musicians of our time
– Had the natural ability to learn and repeat a song
after just listening to it just once
– Had the natural ability to compose a piece without
making a mistake
Classical Period 1750-1825
– Composed Masses, motets, operas, symphonies,
keyboard music, string quartet music, chamber
music, concerti,
– Famous operas include The Marrage of Figaro and
Don Giovanni
– Composed many of the famous tunes and melodies
that are still used today in commercials, television
shows, and movies
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Mozart
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Ludwig Van Beethoven
– 1770-1827
– Bonn, Germany
– Composer, piano player, violin player, organist
– No formal education beyond elementary school
– Musically trained by father until age 9 when he
began formal lessons on the organ and in
composition
– Beethoven traveled across Germany performing
and composing music to make a living until his
mother passed away in 1787
Classical Period 1750-1825
– After his mother’s death, Beethoven’s father
became a heavy drinker and Beethoven has to
assume the responsibility as head of the family at
the age of 18
– Beethoven traveled to Vienna where he found it
difficult to find work at first – he would take jobs
as a piano player at private social gatherings, he
would publish compositions and sell them, and
begin to hold small concerts to establish a
reputation
– Around age 30, Beethoven began to experience
some hearing loss, this was a huge blow to
Beethoven that sent him into a tailspin to the point
where he considered suicide
Classical Period 1750-1825
– In 1802, Beethoven came to grips with his
deafness and with a renewed sense energy he was
determined to become a great composer
– In 1815, his brother Kaspar died, leaving
Beethoven to take care of Kaspar’s son, Karl, after
a long legal battle with Kaspar’s mother
– In 1826, Karl attempted suicide which was a huge
blow to Beethoven who decided to enroll Karl in
the army
– Beethoven continued to compose music as his
hearing continued to decline
Classical Period 1750-1825
• After complication with pneumonia,
Beethoven died in 1827, leaving his entire
estate to Karl
• Beethoven composed symphonies, overtures,
ballets, operas, Masses, oratorios, violin
concertos, piano concertos, piano sonatas,
string quartets, and over 200 folk songs
• Beethoven’s most famous pieces are the
“Moonlight Sonata”, “Fur Elise”, “Symphony
No.5”, and “Symphony No. 9”
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Beethoven
Classical Period 1750-1825
• First North American Composers
– Francis Hopkinson
• 1737-1791
– James Lyon
• 1735-1794
– William Billings
• 1746-1800
– John Ates
• 1740-1811
• North American composers wrote music for
singing schools which were geared towards
making people better singers in their churches
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Benjamin Franklin
– 1706-1790
– Played guitar and sticcado-pastorale (a mixture of
xylophone with glass bars)
– Invented the glass harmonica
Classical Period 1750-1825
• Thomas Jefferson
– 1743-1826
– Violinist
– Enjoyed invited people to house to make music
due to his abundant supply of sheet music
– After the Federal Library was burned down in the
War of 1812, Jefferson sold his music books to the
government which became the starting point for
the Music Division of the Library of Congress