The Enlightenment
(The Classical Period 1730 – 1815)
• The Enlightenment was the most important intellectual movement of the 18 th Century; central themes: reason, nature, & progress
• Economic Change: improvements made in agriculture, large cities develop & expand rapidly, manufacturing & trade stimulate the economy to move into new directions
• A “Cosmopolitan Society” : Embraces multicultural demographics
• International Music Style: music reflects this new international culture by blending the best features of all music from all nations
“There was only one music for all of Europe.”
Role of Musicians in Society
• Courts, city governments, & churches continued to sponsor music-making, but musicians began to depend upon support from the public; public concerts became popular
• Most music was designed for amateurs to perform at home for their own pleasure; women were still excluded from professional roles but they were welcome as amateur performers (i.e. singing & playing the piano)
New Musical Style
• Audiences begin to prefer light, easy, “singable” melodies versus complex contrapuntal melodies
• Composers felt that the language of music should be universal rather than limited by national boundaries; should appeal to all tastes
• The best music should be:
1. Noble as well as entertaining
2. Natural & free of technical complications
3. Capable of immediately pleasing any listener
These are direct influences of the Enlightenment movement
The Classical Style
• The new ideas & Enlightenment movement led to the development of this new style: simplicity, balance, diversity, & freedom from excesses of ornamentation
• Galant: French term that became a catchphrase for describing everything modern, chic, & sophisticated

• Empfindsam: German term meaning “sentimental style;”used to describe surprising turns of harmony, chromaticism, & speech like melodies
Both of these styles originate in Italy
The Classical Period
• “In a nutshell” :
1. Music serves human needs
2. Its primary purpose is pleasure vs. religious or social needs
3. Music is a universal language
4. Able to understand upon first hearing
5. The feelings music suggests may change as quickly as our own emotions
Opera & Vocal Music
in the Early Classical Period
• Traits of classical music originated from the Italian Opera
• Key development: separation of comic opera & serious opera
• National styles of comic opera will emerge from France, England, & German speaking lands
Opera & Vocal Music (continued)
Opera Buffa
• Opera Buffa was comic opera in Italy
• Full length work with 6+ singing characters, sung throughout, entertained but also served a moral purpose
• Other characteristics: tuneful melodies, simple harmonies, light accompaniment, & diversity; all direct influences of the Enlightenment (ex: La Serva Padrona, Pergolesi)
• Aria: a lyrical monologue for a solo singer, the musical interest of an Italian Opera is centered in the aria
• Famous aria: Digli ch’ io son fedele
(Tell him that I am faithful), 1731
– Johann Adolf Hasse

Opera & Vocal Music (continued)
Opera Buffa
• Opera Buffa was comic opera in Italy
• Full length work with 6+ singing characters, sung throughout, entertained but also served a moral purpose
• Other characteristics: tuneful melodies, simple harmonies, light accompaniment, & diversity; all direct influences of the Enlightenment (ex: La Serva Padrona, Pergolesi)
• Aria: a lyrical monologue for a solo singer, the musical interest of an Italian Opera is centered in the aria
• Famous aria: Digli ch’ io son fedele
(Tell him that I am faithful), 1731
– Johann Adolf Hasse
Opera & Vocal Music (continued)
Opera in other Countries
• French Comic Opera: Opéra Comique
• Germany/Austria: Singspiel “Singing Play”
• England: Ballad Opera (Popular tunes with new words, spoken dialogue)
(ex: The Beggar’s Opera)
Opera & Vocal Music (continued)
Opera Seria
• Opera Seria “Serious Opera”
• Portrayed serious subjects without comic scenes or characters; were intended to promote morality through entertainment
• 3 acts with alternation of recitatives & arias
• Recitatives: develop the action through spoken dialogues (not sung throughout)
• An intermezzo was often performed in between the acts of Opera Seria; short 2-3 segments of comic opera
(ex. already given La Serva Padrona)
• Song & Church Music
A growing interest in amateur music promoted the composition & publication of songs for performance at home

• Songs from different countires have different names (i.e. France: Romance, Britain: Ballads,
Germany: Lied)
• Songs that were easy to sing were considered the best
• Most famous lied of the time:
Erlkönig
(The Erl-King), 1794
– Johann Friedrich Reichards
Instrumental Music
• Majority of the harpsichords & clavichords are replaced by the fortepiano
• Development of Alberti bass
• String quartet becomes very popular (2 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello)
• 1710: Clarinet invented & becomes a standard instrument in the woodwind family
• Concert orchestra consists of no more than 25 people
Instrumental Music (cont)
The Sonata
• Major genre of solo instrumental music: the sonata
• Consisted of 3-4 movements containing 5-6 sections: exposition, transition, development, re-transition, recapitulation, & coda (optional)
• Sonatas were considered the most challenging instrumental genre
• Ex. Sonata for Piano No. 5, G Major, I, II, & III
– Mozart
Instrumental Music (cont)
The Symphony & Concerto
• Major orchestral genres
• The Symphony
• Often the 1 st item on a concert & was considered the “summit” of instrumental music
• Directly influenced by the Italian Opera Overture; prominent composer Giovanni
Sammartini, Symphony in F Major, No. 32, (ca.1740)
• The symphony spreads from Italy to all other countries

• The Concerto
• Virtuoso soloist accompanied by orchestra (made famous by JS Bach)
Instrumental Music (cont)
Other Genres
• Variations Form
• Minuet & Trio
• Rondo
• (just to name a few)
• Composers of the Classical Period
Joseph Haydn
Austria
(1732 – 1809)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Austria
(1756 – 1791)
Ludwig van Beethoven
Germany
(1770 – 1827)
Joseph Haydn
Early Life
• Haydn was born into a poor family. His father was a wheelwright & mother was a cook for nobility before getting married
• He has 2 younger brothers, one of which, Michael, is a singer & composer who also becomes relatively famous
• He is discovered by Johann Franc who insists on training him musically along with his other studies (leaves home at 6 years old)
• Haydn trains his brother who joins the choir 3 years later; Michael gains a lot of attention & because Joseph Haydn loses his singing voice during puberty he is dismissed from the school
(between 16 & 18 years old)
Mid Life
• After leaving the school he became a freelance musician, or street musician

• 1757: Discovered & hired by music director of Count Morzin where he writes several symphonies, concertos, sonatas, & string quartets
• 1760: Marries Maria Anna Keller
• 1761: Discovered by the Esterhazy family where he is hired & spends the next 30 years of his life
• Composes whatever the prince demanded
• Developed a 25 piece orchestra
Late Adult Life
• The count who hired him passed away & he was relieved of his duties at the court
• 1791: Spends four years in London where he is treated as an aristocrat
• Returns to Vienna where he re-started his music program
• Died in his sleep at age 77
• Fairly wealthy, well-loved, & greatly respected
Joseph Haydn
Works & Accomplishments
• Named “The Father of the String Quartet” because he was a master of this genre
• Also named “The Father of the Symphony”
• Haydn’s last 12 symphonies, The London Symphonies
• Taught Beethoven
• Haydn believed that vocal music was more important than instrumental music
• Wrote operas, masses, & oratorios
• Haydn & Mozart were close friends. They “quoted” each other in their string quartets. Mozart’s requiem “Mass for the Dead” was played at Haydn’s funeral & Mozart dedicated his last string quartets to Haydn.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart vs. Haydn
• Mozart considered Haydn a friend; they admired each other & were influenced by each other

• Although Mozart was 24 years younger than Haydn, he achieved famed much earlier (toured as a child prodigy)
• While Haydn spent the majority of his life working for the Esterhazy family, Mozart on the other hand worked as a freelance musician in Vienna
• Mozart was exposed to many different styles at a very young age & his compositions reflect this
Early Life
• Mozart’s father, Leopold Mozart, was a violinist & a well-regarded composer
• His father sacrificed his own musical career & instead devoted himself to educating
Wolfgang & his sister, Maria Anna (known as “Nannerl”)
• Wolfgang & Nannerl were both keyboard virtuosos
• Wolfgang was also an accomplished violinists
• Wolfgang composed his 1 st minuet at age 5, 1 st symphony at age 8, 1 st oratorio at age 11 & 1 st opera at age 12
Mid Life
• 1762 – 1773: they toured through Austria-Hungary, Germany, France, England, Holland, & Italy
• 1769: Nannerl came of the “marriageable age” (no longer allowed to tour)
• Wolfgang & his father continued touring
• At age 16, Mozart was given the title as “Third Concertmaster” at Archbishop Colloredo’s Court in Salzburg
• Mozart was more interested in opera & instrumental music vs. church music but he continues to work there for 10 years
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• 1780: commissioned to write Opera Seria for Munich
• He travels there, gets a “taste of freedom” & no longer desires to be a “servant”
• Upon returning to Salzburg he leaves & becomes a freelance musician for the next 10 years
• He suffered enormously as he died at the early age of 35 of rheumatic fever
• Inflammatory disease that usually develops after an infection; affects the heart, joints, skin, & brain

Works & Accomplishments
• Composed over 600 works total
• 3 large-scale operas (Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro)
• 21 total
• 15 masses
• 27 piano concertos
• 35 sonatas for violin & piano
• 41 symphonies (Jupiter)
• 26 + Chamber works (quartets, etc.) & serenades (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik “A Little Night
Music”)
Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770 – 1827) Early Life
• Beethoven was the oldest surviving child of Johann & Maria Magdalena van Beethoven
• Both his father & grandfather were singers
• The Beethoven family was quite prosperous at one time, but they steadily became poorer with the death of his grandfather & the decline of his father into alcoholism
• Beethoven had to leave school at age 11 & was the “breadwinner” of the family by age 18
His father noticed Beethoven’s talents on the piano & tried to make him a child prodigy like Mozart, but it wasn’t until adolescence that
Beethoven began attracting
attention
Early – Mid Life
• 1780: Beethoven is taught by Christian Gottlob; 2 years later becomes his assistant as court organist
• 1783: Appointed continuo player to the Bonn Opera
• 1787: Travels to Vienna to study with Mozart but his trip is cut short because of his mother’s death
• Mozart says, “This young man will make a great name for himself in the world.”

• Stays in Bonn for 5 years: plays viola in the theatre orchestra & began acquiring wealthy students
• 1792: Travels to London to study with Haydn, never to return to Bonn
Mannheim Style
“Mannerism”
• The Mannheim School was in decline & the orchestra was dissolved after the war of 1778
• Mannheim Style, aka Mannerism, is characterized by 1) extremes between piano (soft) & forte
(loud), 2) sudden pianos (quietness) 3) unexpected outbursts, 4) wide leaps, & 5) explosive effetcs
• This style became a fundamental element for Beethoven & he is often referred to as “the last & finest flower on the Mannheim Tree”
• Another style that Beethoven is particularly known for is “Sturm und Drang” (Storm & Stress)
Characteristics: extremes use of emotions (in reaction to the constraints of the
Enlightenment Era)
Mid Life
• Before leaving Germany he had acquired the title as a piano virtuoso
• Invention of the German Piano aka the Beethoven Piano
• He moved to Vienna where he was accepted by the aristocracy & they claimed he would be the successor to Mozart
• Music was now the favorite pastime for the cultured aristocracy
• While taking lessons from Haydn, he also began taking lessons in secret from Johann Georg
Albrechtsberger & Antonio Salieri
• 1795: He makes his 1 st public appearance as a pianist in Vienna & begins to tour
Approaching Deafness
• 1796 (age 26): Begins to lose his hearing
• 1802 (age 32): His deafness was discovered to be both permanent and progressive
• He wrote the “Heilgenstadt Testament” intended for his two brothers:

• “I have been in a hopeless case, made worse by ignorant doctors, yearly betrayed in the hope of getting better, finally forced to face the prospect of a permanent malady whose
curse will take years or even prove impossible.”
• “But only Art held back; for, ah, it seemed unthinkable for me to leave the world forever before I had produced all
that I felt called upon to produce.”
Beethoven & Women
• 1801: Letters were found addressed to a dear sweet girl who loves me & whom I love
• Thought to be countess Giulietta Guicciardi (piano student)
• Dedicated to her his Piano Sonata in C-sharp Minor (Moonlight Sonata)
• But she marries Graf von Gallenburg (1803)
• Proposed marriage to her cousin, Josephine
• Relationship continued for 3 years; ended by him & her family
• 1810: Proposed marriage to Malfatti, daughter of one of his doctors, but this too
ended & Beethoven remains a
bachelor
Total Deafness
• His days as a virtuoso pianist were numbered
• 1819 (age 49): He is totally deaf
• People used conversation books in order to talk to him
• Friends wrote down their questions while he replied orally
• His playing degenerated as he became able to hear less & less
• At times he would still appear in public to perform, but most of his time was spent composing
• He kept a sketchbook: write down ideas, melodies & bass lines
Last Years
• Because of his deafness, Beethoven became more recluse than ever
• He was still commissioned to write various pieces

• His Ninth Symphony was dedicated to Frederick William III, king of Prussia
• His brother, Caspar Anton Carl, died leaving a will which made Beethoven and his wife (now widowed) as joint guardians
• Beethoven argued that she was immoral & won the case giving him all custody
• Beethoven was far from being an ideal guardian; quarrels between him & nephew were frequent & very bitter
• 1826: Karl attempted suicide
• After recovering in the hospital
Beethoven sent him into the Army
• The events of 1826 upset Beethoven profoundly & probably hastened his death
• During his last years he wrote his final three piano sonatas, An die ferne Geliebte “To the Distant
Beloved,” Ninth Symphony, Missa Soemnis (mass), String Quartets
• He spent his last summer at his surviving brothers estate then traveled back to Vienna
• In doing so, he caught pneumonia from which he never fully recovered
• He remained bedridden & died from cirrhosis of the liver (scar tissue from a long-term disease replaces healthy liver tissue blocking the normal flow of blood through the liver) on March 26, 1827
• His funeral was attended by 20,000 people
Works & Accomplishments
• His works are divided into three periods: Early, Middle, & Late
• 1 st period: 1794 – 1800
• Consisted mainly of chamber music, most for the piano
• Similar to works by Haydn & Mozart but with contemporary style
• 2 nd period: 1801 – 1814
• Use of improvisatory is used frequently
• The majority of his repertoire is composed during this period
• 3 rd period: 1814 – 1827

• Growing concentration of musical thought combined with an increasingly wider range of harmony & texture
• Wagner hailed Beethoven as the discoverer of instrumental melody
• Beethoven holds a very important place in the history of piano
• All later composers of concerti (plural form of concerto) have studied his innovations especially those found in his Fourth & Fifth Piano Concerti
• His compositions influenced composers, in particular, such as Berlioz, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, &
Mahler
• “Few will grant that they are equal, let alone surpass, their model.”