The Classical Period 1750-1820

Classical Period: World Changes The French Revolution Napoleonic Wars The American Revolution Signing of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of

Rights In Europe it was much more possible to

enjoy and participate in leisure activities In the music world, patronage system

started to die out First public concerts where people paid

admission to attend

Classical Period: Music Instead of ornate music with trills and

sudden changes in style, music was now more simple, balanced, non-emotional

Music is now called “Absolute Music” – music now has straight forward titles such as “Symphony No. 1” – music is not for dancing and special occasions anymore

Music is now performed in recital halls and concert halls

Classical Period: The Symphony Modern symphony was born with full

strings, clarinets, bassoons, oboes and flutes

Harpsichord became obsolete Trumpets and horns were still valveless

so they only played the harmony There were still no tubas, trombones

and extensive percussion – weren’t introduced yet

Vienna was the musical center of Europe

Classical Period: Composers Franz Joseph Haydn Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig

van Beethoven

Classical Period: Opera Opera started to decline compared to

instrumental music Without a wealthy patron, there was not

funding for opera Opera became something only for the

the wealthy to enjoy

Classical Period: Instrumental Music Baroque Concerto evolved into the Classical

Concerto: soloist was featured as the rest of the orchestra provided accompaniment – each instrument of the orchestra had a concerto written for it.

Baroque Concerto grosso grew into the Classical symphony

Symphony means “sounding together” and it implies the full orchestra playing at the same time.

Classical Period: Instrumental Music Classical symphonies had 3 movements

very much like the Baroque concerto grosso – fast-slow-fast

Composers soon started adding a final movement in ¾ time

Hundreds of symphonies were written during this time

Haydn alone wrote 104 symphonies, the Surprise Symphony being his most famous