Classical period

Classical Period

THE CLASSICAL PERIOD (1775-1825)

The Baroque period culminated in the masterpieces of J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel. In the middle of the eighteenth century, contemporaneous with the mature years of Bach and Handel, a new musical style developed that is known as Rococo or preclassical style. This style is most evident in keyboard and orchestral music, but it is mentioned here because it represented a transition from the Baroque to the Classical era, occurring between 1725 and 1770.

In the world of painting, Rococo style is characterized by delicate colors, many decorative details, and a graceful and intimate mood.

Intellectually, this era has also been labeled the Age of Enlightenment. Philosophers such as Rousseau, Voltaire, and Montesquieu wrote of the value of the common person and the power of human reasoning in overcoming the problems of the world. This revolution in thinking inevitably led to conflict between the old order and new ideas. The French and American revolutions in the last quarter of the eighteenth century were stimulated by this new attitude.

famous people of the era

King Louis XIV of France

Napoleon Bonaparte of France

George Washington of America

Famous classical artist

Fransisco de Goya

John Constable

Eugene Delacroix

Jean-Honore Fragonard

lets take a look to the music

The dates of the Classical period in Western music are generally accepted as being between about 1730 and 1820. However, the term classical music is used in a colloquial sense as a synonym for Western art music, which describes a variety of Western musical styles from the ninth century to the present, and especially from the sixteenth or seventeenth to the nineteenth.

Classical music has a lighter, clearer texture than Baroque music and is less complex. It is mainly homophonic—melody above chordal accompaniment (but counterpoint is by no means forgotten, especially later in the period). It also make use of Style gallant in the classical period which was drawn in opposition to the strictures of the Baroque style, emphasizing light elegance in place of the Baroque's dignified seriousness and impressive grandeur.

Musical Innovations

Symphonic form

Sonata form

String Quartets

Huge popularity of the Opera

Invention of the modern Piano, as well as many other instruments

Theme and Variations

The symphonic form

Mastered by Franz Joseph Haydn - he wrote 104 of them.

An extended work for orchestra - usually 20 - 40 minutes in length.

Usually contains three or four movements which contrast each other. In a four movement symphony the order usually is a fanfare type or fast opening movement, followed by a slower movement. The third movement is usually a dance, and the final movement is fast.

The Sonata Form

A one-movement piece for a solo instrument, usually accompanied by a piano - as opposed to a concerto, which is a multi-movement piece accompanied by an orchestra.

There are three sections of a sonata-

Exposition

Development

Recapitulation

Opera

While opera was invented much earlier in musical history, it was during this period and the one that followed that most of the most famous operas were written - including:

The Magic Flute

The Marriage of Figaro

Don Giovanni

All of these operas were written by Mozart. Beethoven, Haydn and Schubert has no success with writing operas.

An opera is basically a musical play with all of the words sung instead of spoken.

Famous Classical Composers

Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787)

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Ludwig Von Beethoven (1770-1827)

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Instruments of the classical period

Modern Flute

Clarinet

French Horn

Valved Trumpet

Trombone

Percussion

Piano