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General Info
Musical Traits:
Singable Melodies
Symmetrical Phrasing
Easier Harmonies, Mostly V to I
Slower Harmonic Rhythms
Easy Accompaniment in opposite to Figured Bass From baroque -
Key Points and Changes
Musical Changes:
Classical style liked expression through order, reason, symmetry and serenity. While the romantic style liked expression through personal feelings. Instruction manuals and treatises meant that more amateurs could do musics. Taste in opera changed during the mid 1700s.
Form: Classical style used melodic ideas or themes that are used as the building blocks. Melodies are short fragments (motifs). Themes expanded by varying one of the above. -
Thematic Development
Composer and works judged on by how themes are developed. Lots of Absolute Music. Music for Music's sake.
Theme and variations introduced in this period -
Period: to
Francois Couperin
Also composed Baroque stuff but he is also known in French Rococo style. -
Period: to
Jean Philippe Rameau
French composer and theorist, who tried to make a rational foundation for harmonic practice. Wrote "Treatise on Harmony." -
Invention of Pianoforte
The "first" one was created by Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1732) in Florence. -
Period: to
GIovanni Sammartini
Invented symphony genre in Milan. Originally contained three movements but a fourth was tacked on by the Germans in the 1740s. -
Period: to
Frederick the Great
Gifted musician, we stan a flute player. Composed at least 100 sonatas and 4 symphonies. Spoke a multitude of languages. Terrible childhood which made him appreciate the arts even more, when his father executed his friend. -
Period: to
CPE Bach
Worked in Berlin for Frederick the Great (II) who reigned over Prussia from 1740 to 1786. Chamber harpsichordist. -
Period: to
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Lyric dramatic opera, brought about reform in Italian opera seria. -
"Treatise on Harmony"
The beginning of the ideas of modern music theory. -
Period: to
Rococo Style
Derived from French "rocaille" meaning scroll. Very ornate, many ornaments like trills, turns, grace notes. A turning point from the Classical period and became more "natural:" less ornamented and decorated. -
Period: to
Franz Joseph Haydn
Credited as the primary mover of the new classical style as far as instrumental music is concerned, but cannot take credit for its creation. String quartets. Got kicked out the choir at 16 and suffered for a hot minute, but got picked up by the Esterhazys in 1761. Was very popular in London when he started writing for the public. Over 750 works known. Retied to Vienna in 1795. -
Period: to
Johann Schobert
Schobert simulated orchestras in his harpsichord. -
Period: to
J.C. Bach
Bach’s style used flowing melodies and bits of chromaticism. He wrote Italian operas, church music, and orchestral works.
Bach used contrasting themes in concertos and sonata-form movement. -
Empfindsamkeit>
Style that desired to be natural above all. Simple and expressive of this need for a natural feeling. Primary composer was Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. A keyboard treatise exemplifies this feeling by stating that "music's main aims were to touch the heart and move the [emotions]." Reaction against counterpoint. Style moved German speaking areas closer to the classical style. -
Period: to
Antonio Salieri
Court composer in Vienna, popular and talented. Outcompeted Mozart because his music was far too complex for the Viennese style of light dance music. -
Period: to
Maria Anna Mozart
Considered to be of equal skill and talent to her younger brother. When she was twelve her father said that she was one of the most skillful players in Europe. Mozart sent several works to her to review and critique once she had retired. -
Period: to
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
A child prodigy, taken on tours of Europe from their very musical father Leopold Mozart (1719-87). Keyboard virtuoso, and good violinist and dancer. Performed in aristocratic homes courts and in public. Always tested by older musicians. Nick Amade^'. Musical influence from Johann Schobert, and J.C. Bach. Learned Italian style during his trips to Italy between 1769 and 1773. Learned current styles in Vienna in 1773. Only lived to 35. God's hand was the source of his brilliance. -
Period: to
Maria Theresa von Paradis
Excellent pianist and organist. Could remember up to 60 concertos at a time (!). Blind. Most of her own music is lost but pieces that Mozart and Salieri made for her are extant. -
American Revolution
you know -
Patented Version of Piano
First patented in London. -
French Revolution
you know -
String Quartet in C Major, Opus 76, No. 3
The second movement specifically was theme and variations.