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Style changes
By the late 1750s there were flourishing centers of the new style in Italy, Vienna, Mannheim, and Paris; dozens of symphonies were composed and there were bands of players associated with musical theatres -
Joseph Hayden’s mastery of opera
The first great master of the style was the composer Joseph Haydn. In the late 1750s he began composing symphonies, and by 1761 he had composed a triptych (Morning, Noon, and Evening) solidly in the contemporary mode -
Shift
In his book The Classical Style, author and pianist Charles Rosen claims that from 1755 to 1775, composers groped for a new style that was more effectively dramatic. In the High Baroque period, dramatic expression was limited to the representation of individual affects (the "doctrine of affections", or what Rosen terms "dramatic sentiment") -
Los of people
The nation's first census shows that the population has climbed to nearly 4 million. -
Ten amendments
First ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, are ratified. -
Court progress
The court, made up of one chief justice and five associate justices, hears its first case in 1792. -
Second inauguration
Washington's second inauguration is held in Philadelphia. -
No more slaves
Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin greatly increases the demand for slave labor. -
Beethoven numbered works
The most fateful of the new generation was Ludwig van Beethoven, who launched his numbered works in 1794 with a set of three piano trios, which remain in the repertoire -
John adams
John Adams is inaugurated as the second president in Philadelphia -
Flatward keys
One crucial change was the shift towards harmonies centering on "flatward" keys: shifts in the subdominant direction -
First Viennese school
The First Viennese School is a name mostly used to refer to three composers of the Classical period in late-18th-century Vienna: Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Franz Schubert is occasionally added to the list.