CHAPTER 44
Classical Music in Vienna
• Vienna was the capital of the Holy Roman Empire
and a melting pot of cultures. There the greatest
musicians of the time found generous patrons
among the many Viennese aristocratic families.
• Viennese school: a group of composers that
includes Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert,
all of whom worked in Vienna at the height of their
careers.
Neoclassical architecture: an eighteenth-century style of
architectural design that revived classical (especially Roman)
architecture. Symmetrical units, long lines, and restrained
ornamentation characterize this style.
The Classical style derives many of its characteristics from the
galant style: clarity, simplicity, formal balance, and naturalness.
Between 1770 and 1820 the Classical style dominated Western art
music, which for this reason has come to be known as "Classical"
music.
Classical forms
• Rounded binary: ABA', where A ends in a new key (usually
the dominant or relative major), B begins in the new key and
gradually gives way to an altered reprise, A'. In the Classical
period scherzos and minuets are almost always in this form.
• Ternary: ABA, where A begins and ends in the tonic and is
repeated note for note after B, which modulates to
complementary keys. Classical composers often used strict
ternary form in the third movements of symphonies and string
quartets.
• Theme-and-Variations: a theme that is subsequently varied
melodically, harmonically, rhythmically, and/or by
ornamentation.
• Rondo: a refrain (A) is set against contrasting material (B, C,
or D), thus creating the pattern ABACA, ABACABA, or even
ABACADA. It was usually employed in the last movements of
sonatas and symphonies.
Sonata form
Sonata form is the most important formal innovation of the Classical
period. Composers usually employed sonata form in fast (allegro) first
movements of a sonata, quartet, or symphony.
Sonata form (cont.)
• Exposition: the first section of a movement in sonata form
in which the primary thematic material is presented. It
usually consists of a first theme in the tonic, a second
theme in the dominant or relative major, and sometimes a
closing theme.
• Transition or bridge: the passage that modulates between
the tonic and the new key in the exposition.
• Development: the second section in which the themes of
the exposition are varied and developed.
• Retransition: the end of the development which brings
back harmonic stability (often in the form of a dominant
pedal point).
• Recapitulation: the return to the thematic material of the
exposition, varied to ensure that the second theme remain
in the tonic key.
• Coda: Italian for "tail," an additional closing section
sometimes appended to the recapitulation.
Classical genres
• Symphony: during the eighteenth century it
replaced the solo concerto and concerto grosso as
the leading genre of large-scale instrumental
music. From the Classical period onward, the
symphony formed the heart and soul of almost all
orchestral concerts.
• Concerto: while the concerto grosso mostly
disappeared, composers wrote solo concertos
mostly for violin and piano.
• Divertimento and serenade: a musical diversion
for various types of chamber ensembles
characterized by a lighter style and a fivemovement format: fast/minuet and
trio/slow/minuet and trio/fast. Both terms are used
interchangeably.
Classical genres (cont.)
• String quartet: conceived by Haydn in the 1750s
by adding a viola to the old Baroque trio texture,
the string quartet featured four more-or-less evenly
matched instrumental parts. Unlike the symphony
and the concerto, it was designed for private
("chamber") performances.
• Sonata: a type of domestic instrumental chamber
music in two, three, or, more rarely, four
movements for soloist or small ensemble.
• Sonatina: Italian for "small sonata," it denotes a
short and easy sonata, mostly intended for amateur
aristocratic musicians.
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Harmonie: in late eighteenth-century Vienna, an independent wind band
playing mostly harmony and not melody. It usually included pairs of oboes,
French horns, bassoons, and clarinets.
Harmoniemusik: music for a Harmonie.
The Classical orchestra
The orchestra between 1750 and 1820 experienced a
significant growth as the performance of the
symphony moved from the private salon to the public
auditorium. Most of this increase occurred in the
string section. The standard woodwind section now
included pairs of oboes, clarinets, flutes, and
bassoons, while trumpets and drums might be
occasionally added in festive occasions. The typical
"mid-size" orchestra counted between thirty-five and
forty players.
Crook: a small piece of pipe that altered the length of tubing, and
consequently the pitch, of the natural horn and natural trumpet.