-
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
A French composer and theorist responsible for the beginning of ideas of modern music theory. He tried to create a rational foundation for harmonic practice. -
Pietro Metastasio (1689-1782)
A court poet in Vienna and the primary librettist for opera seria during the late Baroque and Classic periods. He also set the standard for opera style around 1750. -
Giovanni Battista Sammartini (1700-1775)
An Italian composer and the inventor of the symphony in Milan, Italy in the 1740s. -
Frederick the Great (1712-1786)
The King of Prussia from 1740 to 1786. He was a gifted musician who played the flute and was a big supporter of music and the arts. King Frederick has composed at least 100 sonatas and 4 symphonies. -
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)
The eldest son of J.S. Bach who composed in both baroque and classical styles. He mainly composed in the style of Empfindsamkeit which means "sensitive style" or "sentimental style." C.P.E Bach also worked for Frederick the Great in Berlin for 30 years. -
Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787)
A German composer who reformed opera and created a balance between music and drama. -
Charles Burney (1726-1814)
A music historian, organist, composer, and scholar who wrote down his observations of different composers. -
Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816)
An Italian composer and teacher who was one of the most successful and prolific opera composers of the late 18th century. -
Period: to
The Rococo Style (1730s-60s)
The term "rococo" comes from the French word, "rocaille" which means "scroll." This kind of style was very ornamented and "over-the-top" in decoration. -
Period: to
Classical Style Musical Traits
Going into the Classical era, music had singable melodies with symmetrical phrasing, easier harmonies, slower harmonic rhythms, as well as easy accompanimental figures. -
Period: to
Classical Era Form
In the Classical music, melodic ideas were used as building blocks in composition. Typically, melodies consisted of rhythmic fragments known as motifs. These motifs were used as the basis of a piece. Themes were also expanded by changing the melody, rhythm, or harmony through thematic development. Overall, form is the most important element in absolute music. Multi-movement pieces were most popular during Enlightenment and could be found in symphonies, string quartets, concertos, and sonatas. -
Period: to
Forms of the Classical Era
Common forms include sonata, rondo, minuet and trio, rounded binary form, scherzo, and cyclical structure. Sonata form has an exposition, development, and recapitulation. Rondo form can be ABACA or ABACABA. Minuet and trio has an ABA structure. Rounded binary form has two sections (A BA') where the second section ended on a partial return of the first section. Scherzo is like a minuet but faster. A work is cyclical when a theme from a movement reappears in later movements. -
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
An Austrian composer credited for the transition into the classical style of music. For much of his musical career, Haydn worked as a composer under the Esterhazy princes. His compositions include symphonies, operas, string quartets, chamber music, choral music, and piano works. -
William Billings (1746-1800)
An American composer who taught himself to compose music but was not that good of a composer. -
Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801)
An Italian composer and central figure in opera in the late 18th century. -
Antonio Salieri (1750-1825)
A court composer and teacher in Vienna who was very talented and popular. He composed operas in Italian, German, and French and wrote in other musical genres as well. -
String Quartet (1750s)
The string quartet was invented by Franz Xaver Richter and was a genre of chamber music that appealed to aristocratic social life. The string quartet consists of two violins, a viola, and a cello and all voices are considered equal. -
Maria Anna Mozart [Nannerl] (1751-1829)
![Maria Anna Mozart [Nannerl] (1751-1829)](https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.timetoast.com/public/uploads/photo/19688037/image/medium-db2aef035ca441b3815cecee854fafaf.jpeg?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAJB6ZCNNAN7BE7WDQ%2F20240515%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240515T182308Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=8d14f59eeb597424b706fc46753ab5f7687c3a1c174e8ef235f58e2a0878b7dc)
Mozart's older sister who was described to have the same skills and talent as Mozart. According to her father Leopold, she played difficult pieces with precision and so beautifully. Instead of making a career in music, she decided to retire to raise a family. However, Mozart would send several of his works for her to play and critique. -
Vicente Martin y Soler (1754-1806)
A Spanish composer whose Italian opera, L'arbore di Diana ("Diana's Tree") that was frequently performed in Vienna. -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
An Austrian composer and child prodigy known to represent the classical era and style. He's considered to be the best of musicians and composers of all time. Mozart composed in all genres, but especially loved opera. As for his instruments, he was a keyboard virtuoso and violinist. -
Maria Theresa von Paradis (1759-1824)
An excellent pianist and organist who was blind and known for her incredible musical memory. She's composed concertos, a piano trio, songs, cantatas, operas, and chamber music, but most of her music is lost. -
Opera Buffa (1760)
Comic operas that used realistic characters and serious topics that developed from comic operas in the 1700s. -
Period: to
The Industrial Revolution (1760s-1840s)
The Industrial Revolution was a period in history that marked the change from an agrarian economy to one that was dominated by industry and machine manufacturing. It transformed society with its technological changes that benefitted the ways people worked and lived. -
Period: to
The American Revolution (1775-1783)
A war that was fought between the 13 colonies of North America and Great Britain so that colonists could achieve independence from British rule. -
The First Patented Version of the Piano (1777)
The first patented version of the piano was invented in London in 1777 and what made it difficult was creating a hammer return that allows rapid repetition of notes. -
Le nozze di Figaro (1786)
Mozart's first mature opera buffa that translates to "The Marriage of Figaro" and is a dramma giocoso in four acts. The opera is based on a play that was banned in France. -
Don Giovanni (1787)
One of Mozart's operas that he worked on with Lorenzo da Ponte who wrote the libretti for Don Giovanni. This opera tells the tale of Don Giovanni, a playboy, and his path to his own destruction. -
The Guillotine (1789)
The guillotine was first invented around 1789 to use as punishment (decapitation) in France. -
Period: to
The French Revolution (1789-1799)
The French Revolution was a period of political and societal change with the uprising of France against the monarchy. -
The First Vaccination (1796)
The first ever vaccination happened in 1796 when Edward Jenner inoculated a young boy using the pus from a cowpox lesion from a milkmaid's hand. -
Haydn: Trumpet Concerto in E-Flat Major (1796)
A trumpet concerto composed by Haydn and at the time, trumpets didn't have valves, so Anton Weidinger developed a trumpet with keys to experiment with and performed in Haydn's concerto. This concerto had 3 movements and followed sonata rondo form.