The Classical Period
 1750-1820
Classical Period: World
Changes
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The French Revolution
Napoleonic Wars
The American Revolution
Signing of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of
Rights
In Europe it was much more possible to enjoy
and participate in leisure activities
In the music world, patronage system started
to die out
First public concerts where people paid
admission to attend
Classical Period: Music
 Instead
of ornate music with trills and
sudden changes in style, music was now
more simple, balanced, non-emotional
 Music is now called “Absolute Music” –
music now has straight forward titles such
as “Symphony No. 1” – music is not for
dancing and special occasions anymore
 Music is now performed in recital halls and
concert halls
Classical Period: The Symphony
 Modern
symphony was born with full
strings, clarinets, bassoons, oboes and
flutes
 Harpsichord became obsolete
 Trumpets and horns were still valveless so
they only played the harmony
 There were still no tubas, trombones and
extensive percussion – weren’t introduced
yet
 Vienna was the musical center of Europe
Classical Period: Composers
 Franz
Joseph Haydn
 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig
van Beethoven
Classical Period: Opera
 Opera
started to decline compared to
instrumental music
 Without a wealthy patron, there was not
funding for opera
 Opera became something only for the
the wealthy to enjoy
Classical Period: Instrumental
Music
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Baroque Concerto evolved into the Classical
Concerto: soloist was featured as the rest of
the orchestra provided accompaniment –
each instrument of the orchestra had a
concerto written for it.
Baroque Concerto grosso grew into the
Classical symphony
Symphony means “sounding together” and it
implies the full orchestra playing at the same
time.
Classical Period: Instrumental
Music
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Classical symphonies had 3 movements very
much like the Baroque concerto grosso – fastslow-fast
Composers soon started adding a final
movement in ¾ time
Hundreds of symphonies were written during
this time
Haydn alone wrote 104 symphonies, the
Surprise Symphony being his most famous