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The classical age
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The Classical period was a time in which the concept that the universe was rational and explainable became the predominant mode of thinking. Through scientific discovery, people believed that the answers to life’s questions were within reach. The laws of physics were revealing themselves, and concepts such as an elliptical orbit that binds and allows planets to revolve around the sun were formulating and accepted on a large-scale. In the past, people thought Earth was the center of the universe. In the Classical period, these ideas were starting to give way to rationalism. With this new rationalism, the power of God as an idea lost some of its credence among rationalists. Scientists were beginning to explore alternative explanations. Superstition …show more content…
Music that is written today is still referred to as classical music, but not Classical music. Vienna, Austria: City of Music Vienna was the capital of the old Holy Roman Empire. It was the central point for a large portion of Europe, including portions of Germany, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Austria. The city of Vienna was an extremely influential and important place to live to gain worldwide influence. This is why so many of the greatest composers eventually found their way there, it was essential that they make their name in Vienna if the rest of the world was to hear their music. Vienna had a large population of aristocrats near 2,500 with a total population of 215,000. These 2,500 noblemen had over 40,000 footmen, house cleaners, and other servants. The fact that there were so many noblemen may somewhat explain why there was such a high desire to have high music and …show more content…
Buildings in the 18th century also exhibited these same traits. Music, art, and architecture often influence each other. Because the building architecture drew inspiration from many of the classical Rome structures, this type of architecture garnered the title neoclassical architecture. The White House and some other government buildings in the United States are a good example of neoclassical architecture. Form in Classical Music Music in the Classical period built upon particular forms and structure. Forms built upon conventional or pre-existing concepts about music. Some of the forms from the middle ages, such as rondo and theme and variations found their way into the Classical period. Forms that were developed and created in the Baroque period such as ternary and rounded binary forms also had a predominant place. The Sonata form, developed in the Classical period, had its roots in binary and ternary form. The Classical period was a time of great innovation, growth, societal change, and discovery. The most influential composers of the period helped add to this growth through their original music and through the development of the orchestra. Haydn defined the period through his famous string quartets. Mozart served to refine the period through his collection of over 600 works and major Operas. Finally, Beethoven
Classical music was best described by Mr. Dan Romano who clearly states that its art speaking from your heart to the heart of others. Bach’s Baroque time period of western music lead to some of the most known and widely recognized organ music, and it was Beethoven’s deafness that came to symbolize a fundamental change in the way we listen to classical music. Beethoven was the most beloved and influential composers of his time. Their music had flaws and that is what made it breathtaking, comfortable and easy to listen to. It is now known that between the lives of Bach and Beethoven we can understand that though their love for composing and classical music was the same in some aspects they were exact opposites in the end when it came to their genre, musical instruments and recognition.
As the late Baroque period morphed into the new period known as the classical period, technological advances and new compositional techniques and ideas created new opportunities for the musicians of the period. The changes allowed for new performance techniques, forms, performance venues, and newly available compositional orchestrations to be improved and evolved into something new and improved for the new period.
“To say the word romanticism is to say modern art - that is, intimacy, spirituality, color, aspiration towards the infinite, expressed by every means available to the arts.” Charles Baudelaire. The Romantic era in classical music symbolized an epochal time that circumnavigated the whole of Western culture. Feelings of deep emotion were beginning to be expressed in ways that would have seemed once inappropriate. Individualism began to grip you people by its reins and celebrate their unique personalities and minds. Some youth began to wear their hair long, their beards scraggly and unkept, and their clothing was inspired by the outlandish and the flamboyant. Music morphed from a once tangible aural stimulant into music marked by its decent into the depths of human emotions most of which were not rational. Classical music became a stream of consciousness, a vehicle to convey their countless emotions. In the Romantic Period, music now voiced what, for centuries, people had been too afraid to express. The culture, the composers, and the music of the Romantic era changed classical music profoundly. The Romantic era classical music manifested itself as a time of the irrational and peculiar, a time that allowed many people the opportunity to express their inmost convictions through the music.
McGee, Timothy J. Medieval and Renaissance Music: A Performer’s Guide. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985.
The Classical Era lasted from approximately 1775-1825, which is when Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart became famous. The classical era was also known as the Age of Enlightenment. Rousseau, Voltaire, and Montesquieu wrote the value of the common person and the power of human reasoning in overcoming problems. The music of the Classical Era reflects the principles of clarity, proportion, and what critics of the day called “naturalness.” During the Classical Era, performing publically was the new view in the way music should be written for the common person. Church music tended to be more conservative than secular compositions. Three composers kind of dominated the Classical Era which are Franz Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The Baroque era contains three phases: early, middle, and late. During the early phase of Baroque, harmony became the central idea to music. The Florentine Camarata reinvigorated this style and were the ones who opposed their contemporary music. This group started in Italy and influenced composers in France. Baroque music would help create the popular form of music known as opera. Since it focuses on the soloist rather than a group of people singing simultaneously. It also focuses on the harmonic aspect of music (Palisca, 25).
Getting it's name from art history, the classic period in music extends from 1740 to 1810 and includes the music of Haydn, Mozart, the first period of Beethoven, and Bach's sons. The classical period of music coordinated harmony, melody, rhythm, and orchestration more effectively then earlier periods of music.
When you ask a group of people on the street to name a music composer, a large percentage would name Mozart. This should come as no surprise. The music of Wolfgang Mozart has become internationally known as some of the most famous and recognizable classical music. Not only that, but his music has been incorporated into famous films, television, and even a brain development program for infants! But who was Mozart, and why has his acclaim and compositions lasted the test of time?
Classical music is known as light and smooth, also it is heavily emphasized on homophonic melodies, meaning that there is a single melody that every instrument plays. Thus, the significant turning point of classical music in humanity’s social and cultural development is that this type of music first heard became very popular in the 18th century. Classical music created energy, rhythm, and harmonic symphony and from these people advanced more and more and made these elements much better. This turning point not just improved classical music, but other music that evolved from classical music. Also, Classical music is known as one of the first music ever in the nation. When people listen to classical music they can identify the soft rhythm and how peaceful it sounds. According to the article Music Genres as Historical Artifacts, “Classical music in general is an important part of the cultural capital that gains access to scarce economic, educational and occupational resources” (Vlegels). It can be shown that just a certain type of music can give so many elements defining music and educational resources as well; which make it a significant turning point in the cultural or social development. People love music that soothes their heart and mind, and that could get their mind off of all the negativity around
At the time the Austrian capital of Vienna was the musical center for composers, which soon became reason for many of the changes that were made to musical style. Composers came from all over Europe to train in Vienna in the classical time period. One of the great composer that came to Vienna is Franz Schubert he soon started a style of music called Viennese School that made many changes to the style of music as well as changes to instrumentation. The arrangements became one form to another while keeping certain similar characteristics, music became lighter and more complex, and melodies and harmonies became more complicated with more separate parts happening all at once. The instrumentation that was popular also changed. Solos, trios, quartets, and quintets became popular, beside large orchestras.
The Baroque period of music lasted from approximately 1600 – 1750 AD. It falls into the Common Practice period and was the most predominant style of writing after the Renaissance period and before the Classical period (the Classical period uses many elements from the Baroque period). The word Baroque means highly decorated and essentially gives us an insight into what the music of the time was like. Many pieces in the Baroque style have three or four different parts which work together to produce a melodic melody which modulates to relative keys. The Baroque period developed from the Renaissance period. These two periods shared the same idea of counterpoint, yet Baroque music differed from that of the Renaissance period by having stronger rhythms and longer melodies. The era was the beginning of a number of dance suites which all have different characteristics. For example the Minuet in simple triple time does not have an anacrusis and is graceful whilst the gigue is in compound duple time, has a short anacrusis and is often very contrapuntal (where the melody is shared between two o...
In the mid-1763, Mozart’s father, Leopold, decided to leave his position as deputy Kapellmeister (which was quite well paying) , so he and his family could set out on a prolonged tour across Europe. Not surprisingly, soon the Mozarts’ set out on the tour, where Amadeus and his sister played at almost all the main musical centers of Western Europe: Munich, Stuttgart, Augsburg, Mannheim, Brussels, Frankfurt, Mainz, Paris, and London (where the Mozart’s spent 15 months). They returned to Salzburg only in November 1766, being ...
Great classical composers like Franz Joseph Haydn was an epitome to the classical era. The “Father of Symphony” began building his legacy from early endeavors to working for a wealthy family who later sets out on his own continuing to strive.
There are quite a few differences between Classical and Romantic music; these two types of music are from two different time periods (and that is probably the most obvious reason why they are different from each other). The Classical period in music lasted from about 1730 until 1815. This was the time of composers such as: Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Domenico Scarlatti, and “Papa” Joseph Haydn, among others.
At the movies, in stores, on the radio, many of the places you go to that have music playing have music that was written from the Classical Period. The Classical Period harbored famous and renowned composers and performers. Two composers who stand out are Mozart himself who composed many pieces including the famous piece Piano Concerto No. 22 and Ludwig van Beethoven who composed his astounding 5th Symphony. Through the centuries the Classical Period has still been honored and commemorated for its style beauty.