{"id":1146,"date":"2017-03-03T23:49:52","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T23:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-music-rford\/?post_type=chapter&p=1146"},"modified":"2020-04-11T21:51:42","modified_gmt":"2020-04-11T21:51:42","slug":"the-classical-era","status":"web-only","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-music-rford\/chapter\/the-classical-era\/","title":{"raw":"The Classical Era","rendered":"The Classical Era"},"content":{"raw":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-mus121-1\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=410&action=edit<\/span>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/music-app-rford\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=1398&action=edit<\/span>\r\n

The Rococo\u00a0 -\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Transition to Classical c. 1730\u20131760 -\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\"]\"Gluck, Gluck, detail of a portrait by Joseph Duplessis, dated 1775 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nSome\u00a0 baroque forms\u00a0 w<\/i>ere \u00a0composed with simpler parts. These were\u00a0 the ternary forms \u00a0 (da capo aria), plus the\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0the sinfonia<\/i> and the\u00a0concerto \u00a0(<\/i>such as the Seasons by Vivaldi). <\/i>They\u00a0 were characterized by\u00a0 clearer\u00a0 separate sections. These trends reflect \u00a0the new aesthetic\u00a0 anticipating the classical period. Composers\u00a0 sought \u00a0simpler shorter melodies, and clearer textures. The Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti was an important figure \u00a0in this transition.\u00a0 Though a baroque composer his composition style is also strongly related to that of the early classical period.\r\n\r\nWhile this transition is marked by the continuance of\u00a0the baroque style with the works of J.S. Bach, Handel, and Telemann, \u00a0the \u00a0public hungered for the new. C. P. E. Bach \u00a0(son of J S Bach) \u00a0knew how to present the older baroque forms \u00a0in new styles\u00a0 with an enhanced variety. \u00a0This characterized the \u00a0rococo. \u00a0<\/strong>Musical tastes were changing \u00a0well before \u00a01750. Two of Bach's sons were successful composers in this newer \u00a0style\u00a0that had taken hold in the final decades of what we still consider the Baroque.<\/span> \u00a0When we think of Baroque music we often focus on the late baroque \u00a0composers. We need to \u00a0also be aware of \u00a0the earlier \u00a0 middle and early Baroque styles.<\/span>\u00a0 As the late Baroque continued, the evolving \u00a0preference for simplicity and homophonic texture replaced \u00a0the complex counterpoint of Bach and Handel. Hence\u00a0a new musical era developed\u00a0 that we label as Classical.\r\n\r\nThe Classical Period\u00a0 - The Orchestral Style\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>By the late 1750s \u00a0Opera 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\u00a0 these symphonies and concertos\u00a0 were presented independently of operas as substantial independent instrumental \u00a0forms. The orchestra,\u00a0 developed by the late 1750s, was a body of strings supplemented by winds.\u00a0 Individual movements still focused on one \"affect\"\u00a0 as in the Baroque\u00a0 or had only one sharply contrasting middle section, and their length was not significantly greater than baroque movements. \u00a0A breakthrough is considered to have been made by C. P. E. Bach, Gluck, and several others - C.P.E. Bach and Gluck \u00a0often considered founders of the classical style.<\/span>\r\n<\/strong>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-mus121-1\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=410&action=edit<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe dates of the Classical period<\/b> in Western music are generally accepted as being between about 1750 and 1820.\r\n

\r\n<\/strong>\"Figure\u00a0Classicist door in Olomouc, The Czech Republic. An example of Classicist architecture.<\/a>\r\n<\/strong><\/h4>\r\n
<\/div>\r\nClassicism in other arts -\u00a0<\/strong>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.\u00a0While still tightly linked to Court\u00a0culture and absolutism, with its formality and emphasis on order and hierarchy, the new style was\u00a0 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.\r\n\r\nThe Age of Enlightenment<\/span><\/strong> identified itself with a vision\u00a0 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\".\r\n\r\nThis 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 \u00a0well-articulated and orderly<\/span>. This taste for structural clarity began in other disciplines \u00a0affected \u00a0music, which moved \u00a0toward simpler more tuneful \u00a0melodies\u00a0 played over a subordinate harmony - in other words homophonic\u00a0 texture. Chords became a much more prevalent. The tonal structure of a piece of music becoming more prominent.\r\n\r\nThe new style was also accompanied and \u00a0encouraged \u00a0by changes in the economic order and social and \u00a0political \u00a0structure. The nobility became the primary patrons of instrumental music. The \u00a0public enjoyed comic opera. Ensembles such as the \u00a0orchestra had \u00a0a standard \u00a0size with a string section and woodwinds of oboes bassoons flutes and later - clarinets. \u00a0The string quartet became \u00a0an established chamber music \u00a0ensemble of two violins, \u00a0viola and cello. \u00a0Thus we see the decline of the continuo and its figured chords and also the disappearance improvising with \u00a0the figured \u00a0bass. By 1800 the continuo was practically extinct.\u00a0The continuo of the baroque \u00a0was replaced by a \u00a0balanced homophonic texture \u00a0where all parts were specifically noted.<\/span>\r\n\r\nEconomic changes:\u00a0<\/strong> 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 \u00a0entrepreneurs where \u00a0the common people were a larger part of the \u00a0listening public<\/span>. The musicians were also \u00a0a part of this society. \u00a0This 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.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mannheim_school<\/span>\r\nThe Mannheim orchestra<\/strong> from the\u00a0\u00a0court 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 \u00a0Johann Stamitz \u00a0in 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<\/i>.<\/span>\r\n\r\nMusical traits<\/strong>\r\n\r\nForms such as the concerto and sonata developed more specific rules. \u00a0The \u00a0symphony was created in this period. It's \u00a0popularly was attributed to Joseph Haydn. the solo concerto<\/i> (featuring only one soloist) replaced the\u00a0concerto grosso\u00a0 o<\/i>f the Baroque period, \u00a0placing \u00a0 more importance on the soloist's virtuosity. Some concerti grossi<\/i>\u00a0 remained, the most famous of which being Mozart's\u00a0Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola in E flat Major.\r\n\r\nTo summarize, \u00a0classical music has a lighter, clearer texture than Baroque music and is less complex. It is mainly homophonic\u2014melody above chordal accompaniment. Counterpoint by no means is forgotten, especially later in the period \u00a0but it was not the main or primary texture of Classical \u00a0works. The\u00a0style galant \u00a0(emphasizing light elegance <\/i>\u00a0in the classical period contrasts to \u00a0the Baroque's dignified seriousness and impressive grandeur.\r\n\r\nVariety and contrast within a piece became more pronounced. More frequent uses of keys,varied tuneful \u00a0melodies, \u00a0changes in rhythms and \u00a0dynamics (using crescendo, diminuendo<\/i> and sforzando<\/i>), accompany frequent changes of mood and timbre in the Classical period in contrast to \u00a0the 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 \u00a0became a self-contained section. The harpsichord continuo fell out of use\u00a0 with\u00a0 the harpsichord replaced by the piano\u00a0(or fortepiano) as a solo instrument. Early piano music was light \u00a0and homophonic in texture, often with Alberti bass accompaniment (arpegiated chords), but it later \u00a0became fuller, richer, more sonorous and more powerful.\r\n\r\nNew Instrumental forms \u00a0developed \u00a0\u2014 the main kinds being \u00a0the \u00a0sonata, trio, string quartet, symphony, concerto, serenade and divertimento. \u00a0Sonata form became\u00a0 most important -\u00a0 employed in most first movements of \u00a0larger-scale works, but also used in but also other movements and single pieces such as overtures.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-mus121-1\/chapter\/introduction-to-classical-forms\/<\/span>\r\n\r\nElegance and symmetry of form<\/strong>\r\nElegance and symmetry of form\u00a0 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\u00a0 of \u00a0the form in movements of larger works characterized beauty in music.\u00a0 This slide show will serve as a study guide to your readings on form in the Classical era.\r\n\r\n ","rendered":"

https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-mus121-1\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=410&action=edit<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/music-app-rford\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=1398&action=edit<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rococo\u00a0 –\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Transition to Classical c. 1730\u20131760 –\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n
\"Gluck,<\/p>\n

Gluck, detail of a portrait by Joseph Duplessis, dated 1775 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Some\u00a0 baroque forms\u00a0 w<\/i>ere \u00a0composed with simpler parts. These were\u00a0 the ternary forms \u00a0 (da capo aria), plus the\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0the sinfonia<\/i> and the\u00a0concerto \u00a0(<\/i>such as the Seasons by Vivaldi). <\/i>They\u00a0 were characterized by\u00a0 clearer\u00a0 separate sections. These trends reflect \u00a0the new aesthetic\u00a0 anticipating the classical period. Composers\u00a0 sought \u00a0simpler shorter melodies, and clearer textures. The Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti was an important figure \u00a0in this transition.\u00a0 Though a baroque composer his composition style is also strongly related to that of the early classical period.<\/p>\n

While this transition is marked by the continuance of\u00a0the baroque style with the works of J.S. Bach, Handel, and Telemann, \u00a0the \u00a0public hungered for the new. C. P. E. Bach \u00a0(son of J S Bach) \u00a0knew how to present the older baroque forms \u00a0in new styles\u00a0 with an enhanced variety. \u00a0This characterized the \u00a0rococo. \u00a0<\/strong>Musical tastes were changing \u00a0well before \u00a01750. Two of Bach’s sons were successful composers in this newer \u00a0style\u00a0that had taken hold in the final decades of what we still consider the Baroque.<\/span> \u00a0When we think of Baroque music we often focus on the late baroque \u00a0composers. We need to \u00a0also be aware of \u00a0the earlier \u00a0 middle and early Baroque styles.<\/span>\u00a0 As the late Baroque continued, the evolving \u00a0preference for simplicity and homophonic texture replaced \u00a0the complex counterpoint of Bach and Handel. Hence\u00a0a new musical era developed\u00a0 that we label as Classical.<\/p>\n

The Classical Period\u00a0 – The Orchestral Style\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>By the late 1750s \u00a0Opera 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\u00a0 these symphonies and concertos\u00a0 were presented independently of operas as substantial independent instrumental \u00a0forms. The orchestra,\u00a0 developed by the late 1750s, was a body of strings supplemented by winds.\u00a0 Individual movements still focused on one “affect”\u00a0 as in the Baroque\u00a0 or had only one sharply contrasting middle section, and their length was not significantly greater than baroque movements. \u00a0A breakthrough is considered to have been made by C. P. E. Bach, Gluck, and several others – C.P.E. Bach and Gluck \u00a0often considered founders of the classical style.<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-mus121-1\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=410&action=edit<\/span><\/p>\n

The dates of the Classical period<\/b> in Western music are generally accepted as being between about 1750 and 1820.<\/p>\n


\n<\/strong>\"Figure\u00a0Classicist door in Olomouc, The Czech Republic. An example of Classicist architecture.<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/h4>\n
<\/div>\n

Classicism in other arts –\u00a0<\/strong>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.\u00a0While still tightly linked to Court\u00a0culture and absolutism, with its formality and emphasis on order and hierarchy, the new style was\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

The Age of Enlightenment<\/span><\/strong> identified itself with a vision\u00a0 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”.<\/p>\n

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 \u00a0well-articulated and orderly<\/span>. This taste for structural clarity began in other disciplines \u00a0affected \u00a0music, which moved \u00a0toward simpler more tuneful \u00a0melodies\u00a0 played over a subordinate harmony – in other words homophonic\u00a0 texture. Chords became a much more prevalent. The tonal structure of a piece of music becoming more prominent.<\/p>\n

The new style was also accompanied and \u00a0encouraged \u00a0by changes in the economic order and social and \u00a0political \u00a0structure. The nobility became the primary patrons of instrumental music. The \u00a0public enjoyed comic opera. Ensembles such as the \u00a0orchestra had \u00a0a standard \u00a0size with a string section and woodwinds of oboes bassoons flutes and later – clarinets. \u00a0The string quartet became \u00a0an established chamber music \u00a0ensemble of two violins, \u00a0viola and cello. \u00a0Thus we see the decline of the continuo and its figured chords and also the disappearance improvising with \u00a0the figured \u00a0bass. By 1800 the continuo was practically extinct.\u00a0The continuo of the baroque \u00a0was replaced by a \u00a0balanced homophonic texture \u00a0where all parts were specifically noted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Economic changes:\u00a0<\/strong> 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 \u00a0entrepreneurs where \u00a0the common people were a larger part of the \u00a0listening public<\/span>. The musicians were also \u00a0a part of this society. \u00a0This 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.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mannheim_school<\/span>
\nThe Mannheim orchestra<\/strong> from the\u00a0\u00a0court 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 \u00a0Johann Stamitz \u00a0in 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<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Musical traits<\/strong><\/p>\n

Forms such as the concerto and sonata developed more specific rules. \u00a0The \u00a0symphony was created in this period. It’s \u00a0popularly was attributed to Joseph Haydn. the solo concerto<\/i> (featuring only one soloist) replaced the\u00a0concerto grosso\u00a0 o<\/i>f the Baroque period, \u00a0placing \u00a0 more importance on the soloist’s virtuosity. Some concerti grossi<\/i>\u00a0 remained, the most famous of which being Mozart’s\u00a0Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola in E flat Major.<\/p>\n

To summarize, \u00a0classical music has a lighter, clearer texture than Baroque music and is less complex. It is mainly homophonic\u2014melody above chordal accompaniment. Counterpoint by no means is forgotten, especially later in the period \u00a0but it was not the main or primary texture of Classical \u00a0works. The\u00a0style galant \u00a0(emphasizing light elegance <\/i>\u00a0in the classical period contrasts to \u00a0the Baroque’s dignified seriousness and impressive grandeur.<\/p>\n

Variety and contrast within a piece became more pronounced. More frequent uses of keys,varied tuneful \u00a0melodies, \u00a0changes in rhythms and \u00a0dynamics (using crescendo, diminuendo<\/i> and sforzando<\/i>), accompany frequent changes of mood and timbre in the Classical period in contrast to \u00a0the 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 \u00a0became a self-contained section. The harpsichord continuo fell out of use\u00a0 with\u00a0 the harpsichord replaced by the piano\u00a0(or fortepiano) as a solo instrument. Early piano music was light \u00a0and homophonic in texture, often with Alberti bass accompaniment (arpegiated chords), but it later \u00a0became fuller, richer, more sonorous and more powerful.<\/p>\n

New Instrumental forms \u00a0developed \u00a0\u2014 the main kinds being \u00a0the \u00a0sonata, trio, string quartet, symphony, concerto, serenade and divertimento. \u00a0Sonata form became\u00a0 most important –\u00a0 employed in most first movements of \u00a0larger-scale works, but also used in but also other movements and single pieces such as overtures.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-mus121-1\/chapter\/introduction-to-classical-forms\/<\/span><\/p>\n

Elegance and symmetry of form<\/strong>
\nElegance and symmetry of form\u00a0 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\u00a0 of \u00a0the form in movements of larger works characterized beauty in music.\u00a0 This slide show will serve as a study guide to your readings on form in the Classical era.<\/p>\n

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