Music #340 - CLASSICAL PERIOD

A great book on ...

THE GREAT COMPOSERS

written by Wendy Thompson

published by Hermes House

The Classical Period (c.1750-1820)

Music Sets #341 - 349

This period corresponded to a period of classicism in art and architecture
* The flamboyant, heavily ornate Baroque style of architecture gave way to a cooler, more restrained style. So were furniture and paintings.
* It was the age of the Grand Tour, when upper-class young men were dispatched to Italy to study Greek and Roman architecture. 
* In France, there was a Rococo period of transition from the Baroque to Classical styles.

Classical style in music
* The late Baroque composers: the florid, ornamental, technically intricate styles
* Classical music: clarity, restraint, and balance - in symphony, string quartet, solo sonata; instrumental music became more popular than vocal music for the first time
* Four giants in Classical music: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert  - all associated with Vienna

Opera

Notably in the works of Gluck and Mozart, plots were chosen for greater dramatic realism, and music was written to serve the drama.

Music's place in society
* The breakdown of the old social order (due to the Napoleonic Wars); the aristocrats were less able to support musicians, who were numbered among the servants.
* Music ceased to be the exclusive preserve of pampered aristocrats or prelates; the Industrial Revolution and colonization creating a large middle class to consume arts and music; musicians were able to earn money from their performances and from publishing their compositions.
* Less musicians were servants of aristocratic/royal families or the church; more as self-employed.

Source: The Great Composers