Chapter 20-- Important Composers andEvents of the Classical Era

SOME IMPORTANT EVENTS OF THE CLASSICAL ERA

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Illustration 1: Manuscript of Opening of Mozart's Requiem (courtesy of thePetrucci Music Library)

REPRESENTATIVE COMPOSERS AND MUSIC OFTHE CLASSICAL ERA

FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN (1732 – 1809)

Haydn was born into a musical family in Austria and followed the tradition. If anyone deserves to be called lucky, it would be Haydn. He was blessed with an unusually long life for someone of the era, as well as the good fortune of being employed for nearly thirty some years by the Esterhazy family, one of the richest musical patrons of the era. Haydn was also blessed with a great musical talent.

For musicians and the roles they played in society, it was a time of transition. To make a living in the profession, one couldn't yet rely on royalties from recordings, or even rely on sales of music to publishers. The tradition was that musicians were hired by the very wealthy, often called "patrons". The wealthiest would often keep an entire orchestra in their employ. As mentioned above, Haydn was fortunate to have a very wealthy patron that kept him secure and allowed him to write a lot of music. In Haydn's later life the patronage system was dying out as freelancing became the common way of making a living. Haydn, perhaps the most famous musician of his era, was successful at selling music to publishers, even collaborating on concerts of his music in London where he was paid very well.

Even if his music was not as brash and radical as that of Beethoven (who was his pupil), or as profound and probing as Mozart's (who was a good friend of his), Haydn's music shows a very solid structure that was an important part of the Classical era. It contains a great deal of variety, beauty, and on occasion, a puckish sense of humor. For example, one of his symphonies contains a thunderous burst of volume in the middle of a very quiet passage, meant to wake up anyone in the audience who had fallen asleep. Another has directions for members of the orchestra to get up and leave two by two--he was suggesting to his patron that they all could use a vacation. Another is written from the viewpoint of an absent-minded old man who forgets what he is doing from time to time--including while he is writing the music of the symphony! .

Haydn was an important innovator. History has given him the titles of "father of the symphony", "father of the orchestra", and "father of the string quartet". Over the course of his life he was instrumental in the development of the sonata form, the sonata cycle and helped to begin the tradition of modern orchestral playing.

He made use of a lot of folk music in his compositions, specifically much from Croatia, leading to the modern speculation that his ancestry was not German, but Croatian.Composing over 100 symphonies (Beethoven composed only nine of them), he also composed oratorios (The Creation" is his most famous), over 80 string quartets, operas, masses, and a large body of piano music. At his death, Haydn was mourned as one of thegreat musical superstars of his time.

RECOMMENDED MUSIC: Symphony No. 88; Trumpet Concerto; Symphonies No. 99 -- 104; "Emperor" Quartet; The Creation; Mass in Time of War.

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756 – 1791)

Mozart may be the most outstanding example of an inborn musical gift in recorded human history. He began to play the piano at the age of three and composed a concerto at the age of five. His musical hearing and understanding is such that he remembered and copied an score of another composer (including all parts) after hearing it once. The second time he heard it he made some minor corrections and then took the score to showthe dumbfounded conductor who had been keeping the music secret. (The composition was "Miserere" by Allegri.)

Talent such as this overwhelmed those around him. Even today in the era of psychological research, his genius is one of the mysteries of the human species. For one who cranked out so much music in a very short lifetime, a large portion of his music is still actively performed. He mastered virtually every medium of music of the time, and in addition to over forty symphonies, nearly thirty piano concerti, much chamber music and many solo sonatas, he is known for his operas which include Don Giovanni (a retelling of the story of Don Juan), The Magic Flute, Cosi Fan Tutti, The Marriage of Figaro, etc.

His musical gifts will probably never be comprehended or duplicated. Some musicians go as far as saying that a talent such as Mozart's happens once in the human species. He was able to write out the parts of an orchestral score or even actually compose while he was talking or joking with someone else. With a little bit of poetic license, one might saythat his life was one endless melody, because it's hard to imagine when he had much time to do anything else, let alone write the music that he did. His life was full of extreme hardship and often sadness, but his music almost never betrays this fact. Due to poverty, (a great deal of it his own fault), he was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave. His monument is his music which remains as alive as it ever was and is one of the true treasures of Western civilization.

The recent play (and movie) "Amadeus", written by Peter Shaffer, is a very fictionalized account of Mozart's life and the life of a rival composer, Antonio Salieri. While there aresome historical details presented in wonderful accuracy, the relationship between the two composers and their personalities has little or no basis in actual fact. Mozart was portrayed as an impish foul-mouthed man with a filthy sense of humor. Historic evidence suggests that there is a some truth to this image, but there was certainly much more to the personality of such a genius. Mozart's music often sounds as it had come from an angelic source and common sense tells us that his "frat boy" character in the film is inaccurate.

RECOMMENDED MUSIC: Don Giovanni, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Serenade in Bb, 361; Symphony No. 40; Piano Concerto No. 21; Concerto for Two Pianos; Piano Sonata in A, K. 331; Variations on "Ah, Vous Dirai-Je, Maman?"; Overture to "The Marriage of Figaro"

GIOACCHINO ROSSINI (1792 – 1868)

Rossini lived in France for a few years and studied the French style of composition of opera. During this period he wrote the grand opera "William Tell", which takes about five hours to perform if done without any cuts. Although the opera itself is not performed very often, the overture has become very popular and you will probably recognize most of it.

Rossini was considered one of the best composers of "opera buffa" (comic opera). He developed a new light, melodious, and enchanting opera style. He was also a very prolific composer. Some of his best known compositions are the operas "The Barber of Seville, William Tell, Othello. (based on the play of the same name by Shakespeare). After 1829, because of deteriorating health, he ceased composition except for a few religious works--but regardless of this, his niche in history was complete by that time.

RECOMMENDED COMPOSITIONS: Overtures to William Tell, The Barber of Seville, La Gazza Ladra, and others.

OTHER RECOMMENDED CLASSICAL COMPOSITIONS

Piano Concerto No. 2 -- L. BeethovenSymphony No. 1 -- L. Beethoven

Material copyright 2016 by Gary Daum, all rights reserved. All photos and illustrations by Gary Daum unless otherwisenoted. Unlimited use granted to current members of the Georgetown Prep community.

Illustration 2: Manuscript of "The Creation", an oratorio byFranz Joseph Haydn (courtesy of Petrucci Music Library)