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The Rococo – Transition to Classical c. 1730–1760 –
Gluck, detail of a portrait by Joseph Duplessis, dated 1775 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)
Some baroque forms were composed with simpler parts. These were the ternary forms (da capo aria), plus the the sinfonia and the concerto (such as the Seasons by Vivaldi). They were characterized by clearer separate sections. These trends reflect the new aesthetic anticipating the classical period. Composers sought simpler shorter melodies, and clearer textures. The Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti was an important figure in this transition. Though a baroque composer his composition style is also strongly related to that of the early classical period.
While this transition is marked by the continuance of the baroque style with the works of J.S. Bach, Handel, and Telemann, the public hungered for the new. C. P. E. Bach (son of J S Bach) knew how to present the older baroque forms in new styles with an enhanced variety. This characterized the rococo. Musical tastes were changing well before 1750. Two of Bach’s sons were successful composers in this newer style that had taken hold in the final decades of what we still consider the Baroque. When we think of Baroque music we often focus on the late baroque composers. We need to also be aware of the earlier middle and early Baroque styles. As the late Baroque continued, the evolving preference for simplicity and homophonic texture replaced the complex counterpoint of Bach and Handel. Hence a new musical era developed that we label as Classical.
The Classical Period – The Orchestral Style By the late 1750s Opera houses in Italy, Vienna, Mannheim, and Paris were flourishing with the new style. Concertos and symphonies (arising from the overture) served as instrumental interludes and introductions for operas and church services. As the classical period progressed these symphonies and concertos were presented independently of operas as substantial independent instrumental forms. The orchestra, developed by the late 1750s, was a body of strings supplemented by winds. Individual movements still focused on one “affect” as in the Baroque or had only one sharply contrasting middle section, and their length was not significantly greater than baroque movements. A breakthrough is considered to have been made by C. P. E. Bach, Gluck, and several others – C.P.E. Bach and Gluck often considered founders of the classical style.
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The dates of the Classical period in Western music are generally accepted as being between about 1750 and 1820.
Classicist door in Olomouc, The Czech Republic. An example of Classicist architecture.
Classicism in other arts – In the middle of the 18th century, Europe began to move toward a new style in architecture, literature, and the arts, generally known as Classicism. This style sought to emulate the ideals of Classical antiquity, especially those of Classical Greece. While still tightly linked to Court culture and absolutism, with its formality and emphasis on order and hierarchy, the new style was cleaner, and more orderly. It favored clearer divisions between parts, brighter contrasts and colors, and simplicity rather than complexity. In addition, the typical size of orchestras began to increase.
The Age of Enlightenment identified itself with a vision which was influenced by the physics of Sir Isaac Newton, the improvements in machinery and measurement, and a sense of liberation which they saw as being present in the Greek civilization. The ornate, organic, and complexly integrated forms of the baroque gave way to a series of movements that regarded themselves expressly as “classical” or “neo-classical”.
This remarkable development of ideas in “natural philosophy” had already established itself in the public consciousness. In particular, Newton’s physics was taken as a paradigm: structures should be well-founded in axioms and be well-articulated and orderly. This taste for structural clarity began in other disciplines affected music, which moved toward simpler more tuneful melodies played over a subordinate harmony – in other words homophonic texture. Chords became a much more prevalent. The tonal structure of a piece of music becoming more prominent.
The new style was also accompanied and encouraged by changes in the economic order and social and political structure. The nobility became the primary patrons of instrumental music. The public enjoyed comic opera. Ensembles such as the orchestra had a standard size with a string section and woodwinds of oboes bassoons flutes and later – clarinets. The string quartet became an established chamber music ensemble of two violins, viola and cello. Thus we see the decline of the continuo and its figured chords and also the disappearance improvising with the figured bass. By 1800 the continuo was practically extinct. The continuo of the baroque was replaced by a balanced homophonic texture where all parts were specifically noted.
Economic changes: Economic changes also had the effect of altering the availability and quality of musicians. In the late Baroque a major composer would have the entire musical resources of a town to draw on supplied by the Court ruler. The resources available during the Classical period came from a society of entrepreneurs where the common people were a larger part of the listening public. The musicians were also a part of this society. This was also a trend to produce simple parts to play as well as more idiomatic parts for certain instruments, as in the case of the Mannheim orchestra.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannheim_school
The Mannheim orchestra from the court of the Elector Charles III Philip in 1720 employed a large orchestra in comparison to the surrounding states. It grew even further in the following decades and came to include some of the best virtuosi of the time. One musician the court hired was Johann Stamitz in 1741/42, who is generally considered to be the founder of the Mannheim school. He became its director in 1750. The most notable of the revolutionary techniques of the Mannheim orchestra were its more independent treatment of the wind instruments, and its famous whole-orchestra crescendo.
Musical traits
Forms such as the concerto and sonata developed more specific rules. The symphony was created in this period. It’s popularly was attributed to Joseph Haydn. the solo concerto (featuring only one soloist) replaced the concerto grosso of the Baroque period, placing more importance on the soloist’s virtuosity. Some concerti grossi remained, the most famous of which being Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola in E flat Major.
To summarize, classical music has a lighter, clearer texture than Baroque music and is less complex. It is mainly homophonic—melody above chordal accompaniment. Counterpoint by no means is forgotten, especially later in the period but it was not the main or primary texture of Classical works. The style galant (emphasizing light elegance in the classical period contrasts to the Baroque’s dignified seriousness and impressive grandeur.
Variety and contrast within a piece became more pronounced. More frequent uses of keys,varied tuneful melodies, changes in rhythms and dynamics (using crescendo, diminuendo and sforzando), accompany frequent changes of mood and timbre in the Classical period in contrast to the Baroque. Melodies tended to be shorter. Phrases are clear cut and clearly marked outlined with clear cadences. The orchestra increased in size and range. The woodwinds became a self-contained section. The harpsichord continuo fell out of use with the harpsichord replaced by the piano (or fortepiano) as a solo instrument. Early piano music was light and homophonic in texture, often with Alberti bass accompaniment (arpegiated chords), but it later became fuller, richer, more sonorous and more powerful.
New Instrumental forms developed — the main kinds being the sonata, trio, string quartet, symphony, concerto, serenade and divertimento. Sonata form became most important – employed in most first movements of larger-scale works, but also used in but also other movements and single pieces such as overtures.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/vccs-tcc-mus121-1/chapter/introduction-to-classical-forms/
Elegance and symmetry of form
Elegance and symmetry of form was an integral part of beauty in music to a composer in the Classical era. During the early part of this period, very clear structures of the form in movements of larger works characterized beauty in music. This slide show will serve as a study guide to your readings on form in the Classical era.