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43 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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the enlightenment
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1. Challenged established systems of thought and behavior
a) religion - valued individual faith and practical morality more than the church as an institution b) philosophy & science - emphasis on reasoning from experience and careful observation - favored the study of the human mind, emotions, social relations and organizations c) social behavior - naturalness was preferred to artificiality and formality d) belief in individual rights - challenged the authority of the state 2. Stood for the conviction that reason and knowledge could solve social and practical problems a) Religion, philosophical systems, science, the arts, education, the social order were all being judged by how they contributed to the well being of the individual b) Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746) in "Concerning Moral Good and Evil" defined the ethical ideal as - 'the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers' 3. The French 'philosophes' a) Rousseau, Montesquieu, and Voltaire were social reformers b) reacted in response to the terrible inequalities between the conditions of the common people and that of the privileged classes in Europe |
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Background
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1. Science - the advances in the application of scientific discoveries affected not only
industry and commerce, but the arts as well 2. A Cosmopolitan age a) foreign born rulers - German Kings in England, Sweden, & Poland, Spanish King in Naples, French Duke in Tuscany, German Princess (Catherine the Great) in Russia b) intellectuals and artists traveled freely c) the humanity that all people shared mattered more than national and linguistic differences - at least for those able to travel beyond their local regions d) musical life reflected this cosmopolitan culture 1: German Symphonic composers were active in Paris, Italian Opera composers & singers worked in Austria, Germany, Spain, England, Russia, and France 2: Johann Joachim Quantz (1697-1773) - proposed that the ideal musical style was made up of the best features of the music of all nations |
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Vienna as a cultural centre
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1: People
i- from 1745-1765 the emperor was a Frenchman (Francis Stephan of Lorraine) ii- imperial poet was an Italian (Pietro Metastasio) iii- a German (Johann Adolph Hasse 1699-1783) composed operas in the Italian style to Metastasio's librettos iv- manager of the court theaters was an Italian (Count Giacomo Durazzo) v- imported French company mounted a regular season of 'opéra comique' - with French style ballets also popular v- imported French company mounted a regular season of 'opéra comique' - with French style ballets also popular vi- Italian opera was presented under the guise of 'opera buffa' after a failed attempt at Germanization |
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Composers
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i- Johann Adolph Hasse (1699-1783) a German
ii- Christoph Willibald von Gluck (1714-1787) local to Vienna iii- Giuseppe Bonno born in Vienna, trained in Naples iv- Antonio Salieri (1750-1825) born in Italy, brought to Vienna at age 15 v- Florian Gassmann (1729-1774) born in Bohemia |
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Age of Humanitarianism and rise of "general public"
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a) time of enlightened despots - patronized arts & letters and also promoted social
reform b) spread of Freemasonary - built on humanitarian ideals and longing for universal brotherhood 4. Rise of a "General Public" a) pursuit of learning and love of art became widespread particularly among the expanding middle class 1: made new demands on writers and artists that affected both subject matter and manner of presentation 2: a "general public" needed to addressed that went beyond a select group of experts and connoisseurs b) as private patronage declined, a modern audience for music emerged 1: public concerts competed with the older-style private concerts and academies 2: after the middle of the century, magazines devoted to musical news, reviews, and criticism began to appear c) as in the past, music publishers continued to cater mainly to amateurs with much music issued in periodicals |
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18thC Musical Taste
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1. Elements
a) the language of music should be universal - not limited by national boundaries 1: though intellectuals loved to debate the relative merits of various national musical styles 2: though national schools of opera sprouted which would later blossom in the Romantic era b) music should be noble AND entertaining c) music should be expressive within the bounds of decorum d) music should be natural - free of needless technical complications and capable of immediately pleasing any sensitive listener 2. Old styles yielded gradually to the new and both existed side by side a) New - Pergolesi, Sammartini, some sonatas of C.P.E. Bach b) Old - J.S. Bach, Handel c) Baroque - J.S. Bach (1685-1750), Handel (1685-1759) / Forward to the Classical - G. B. Sammartini (1698-1775) / Classical - Pergolesi (1710-1736), C.P.E. Bach (1714-1788) c) Baroque - J.S. Bach (1685-1750), Handel (1685-1759) / Forward to the Classical - G. B. Sammartini (1698-1775) / Classical - Pergolesi (1710-1736), C.P.E. Bach (1714-1788) |
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1. Early Classic Period (beginning around 1730)
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a) has been applied most narrowly to the mature styles of Haydn & Mozart and more
broadly for the period from about 1720's to 1800 b) qualities of noble simplicity, equilibrium, perfection of form, diversity within unity, seriousness, and freedom from excesses of ornamentation and frill c) qualities most evident in music of Gluck (1714-1787), Haydn (1732-1809), and Mozart (1719-1787) d) dates given as 1730-1815 / 1750-1815 / 1750-1830.... for classic period |
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Rococo
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a) used for some music of the early decades of this period
b) again, an architectural term - a softening of the heavier, monumental, and more angular forms of the post-renaissance peiod c) Francois Couperin (1668-1733) - his character pieces are an example |
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Galant
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a) term widely used for the courtly manner in literature or titles suggesting courtly
fashions (opera-ballet L'Europe galante of 1697 by Andre Campra (1660-1744) b) a catch word for everything that was considered modern, smart, chic, smooth, easy, and sophisticated c) a freer and more chordal musical style in comparison to the previous strict contrapuntal style 1: emphasis on melody made up of short often repeated motives 2: organized in 2, 3, or 4 bar phrases 3: phrases combined into larger periods 4: lightly accompanied with simple harmony 5: puctuated by frequent phrases |
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Composers
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1: Leonardo Vinci (1696-1730), Leonardo Leo (1694-1744), Giovanni Battista
Pergolesi (1710-1736), Johann Adolph Hasse (1699-1783) - early operatic arias 2: Baldassare Galuppi (1706-1785) - Keyboard music 3: Giovanni Battista Sammartini (1701-1775) - chamber music |
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Empfindsamkeit
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a) German term in origin and translates as "sentimentality" or "sensibility"
b) quality associated with the refined passion and melancholy that typifies some slow movements and obbligato recitatives 1: surprising turns of harmony 2: chromaticism 3: nervous rhythmic figures 4: rhapsodically free speech like melody c) composers 1: Antonio Vivaldi (1676-1741) - late concertos 1: Antonio Vivaldi (1676-1741) - late concertos 2: Giovanni Battista Pergolese (1710-1736) - "Stabat Mater" 3: Carl Heinrich Graun (1704-1759) - "Der Tod Jesu" 4: C.P.E. Bach (1714-1788) - allied with the galant - keyboard sonatas & fantasies |
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New Concepts of Melody, Harmony and Form
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1. Linear syntax
a) melodic 1: contrast sharply with the motivic variation and through-bass accompaniement of the Baroque i- J.S. Bach would announce the musical idea of a movement at the outset - a melodic-rhythmic subject embodying the basic "affection" ii- subject was then spun out with relatively infrequent and usually inconspicuous cadences - with sequential repetition of phrases as a principal constructive device iii- resulted in either a- a highly integrated movement without sharp contrasts b- or a formal pattern of contrasts between thematic tutti and nonthematic solo sections iv- phrase structure was usually so irregular that there was no pronounced feeling of musical periodicity (organized in discrete phrases and periods) 2: this periodicity characterizes the newer styles i- the melodic flow is broken up by resting points that divide it into antecedent and consequent phrases ii- musical unit made up of shorter phrases was considered a period and a composition was a succession of such periods 3: musical ideas rather than being persistantly spun out were articulated through distinct phrases i- creates a structure marked by frequent full and half cadences ii- integrated through motivic corespondences |
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Harmonic
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1: the continuously driving harmonic motion typical of the older styles is divided
into a series of stable or even static moments i- harmonic motion slows down ii- modulations are less adventuresome 2: but a great deal of bustling activity occurs during these relatively slow -moving and conventional harmonies c) Alberti Bass 1: one of the most widely used devices of mid-18th century keyboard music i- animated the simple harmonies that accompanied the new "galant" style melody ii- named after Domenico Alberti (1710-1740) iii- used well into the 19th century 2: this device broke each of the underlying chords into a simple repeating pattern of short notes - produced a discreet chordal background |
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Musical rhetoric
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a) first decades of the 18th century saw methods that taught melodic invention and
elaboration modeled after verbal rhetoric b) Authors 1: Johann Mattheson (1681-1764) who called music "an oration in tones" 2: Johann David Heinichen (1683-1729) 3: Heinrich Christoph Koch (1749-1816) who likened a musical phrase to subject and predicate |
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Emotional Contrasts
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a) composers writing in the new manner of the 18th century still constructed
movements based on related keys but ABANDONED the baroque idea of expressing one basic affection b) they began to introduce contrasts between the various parts of a movement or even within the themes themselves c) still retained a certain UNITY of mood d) paralleled how philosophers changed their conception of the individual's emotional life 1: no longer believed that a person aroused to a particular emotion stayed within that emotional context until another outside stimulus moved them to a different state 2: they now observed that feeling were in a constant state of flux and might take unpredictable turns e) composers now expected listeners to be active - to follow the musical thought and to understand it as if it were a kind of verbal intercourse - listening to music could thus be a daring exploration of different related or even opposed feelings |
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Opera
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1. Many of the stylistic traits associated with the Classic period had origins in the Italian
musical theater of the first decades of the 18th century because tradition weighed less heavily on comic opera it was more hospitable to change than serious opera |
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Early Italian Comic Opera
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a) Opera buffa
1: also the terms "dramma giocoso", "dramma comico", and "commedia in musica" were used 2: Characteristics i- full length work with 6 or more singing characters ii- sung throughout iii- served a moral purpose by caricaturing the foibles of both aristocrats and commoners, vain ladies, miserly old men, awkward and clever servants, deceitful husbands and wives, pedantic lawyers and notaries, bungling physicians, and pompous military commanders a- resemble the stock characters of the "commedia dell'art" b- this was popular in Italy from the 16th century onward iv- comic characters often spoke or sang in dialect v- comic cast was complemented by a number of serious characters around whom the main plot revolved and interacted with the comic characters vi- dialogue was set in rapidly delivered recitative that was accompanied by the keyboard only vi- dialogue was set in rapidly delivered recitative that was accompanied by the keyboard only 3: Arias in comic opera i- made up of short tuneful phrases often repeated accompanied by simple harmonies and organized into tidy periods ii- Leonardo Vinci (1690-1730) - his "Le zite 'ngalera" (The Spinsters in the Gallery) with libretto in the Neapolitan dialect by Bernardo Saddumene of 1722 is one of the few early comic operas that survive complete |
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Intermezzo
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1: type of comic opera orginated in the custom of presenting short comic musical
interludes between the acts of a serious opera or play i- contrasted sharply with the grand & heroic manners of the principal drama ii- plots were mostly situation comedies involving a few ordinary people who sang recitatives and arias 2: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736) was an early master of the Intermezzo i- one of the most important composers in the early Classic Style and wrote some important "opera seria ii- the performance of his "La serva padrona" in Paris in 1752 set off the "Querelle des bouffons" |
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Mature Comic Opera
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a) While opera seria maintained its character across national boundaries, comic
opera took different forms in different countries 1: represented every day people in familiar situations 2: comic opera librettos were always written in the national tongue 3: the music tended to accentuate the national musical idiom b) Historical significance 1: responded to widespread demand for naturalness in the latter half of the 18th century 2: represented the earliest passage toward musical nationalism which would become prominent in the Romantic period |
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Italy
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1: Italian dramatist Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793) introduced refinements in the
comic opera libretto i- serious, sentimental, or woeful plots began to appear along side the traditional comic ones ii- reflecting this change, the older designation opera buffa was replaced by dramma giocoso 2: Italian comic opera exploited the possibilities of the Bass voice 3: introduced the ensemble finale - unlike anything in opera seria i- all characters were brought on stage while the action continued ii- reaching a climax with all the singers taking part 4: composers i- Nicolò Piccinni (1728-1800) ii- Giovanni Paesiello (Paisiello) (1740-1816) iii- Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801) iii- Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801) iv- Nicola Logroscini (1698?-1765) v- Baldassare Galuppi (1706-1785) |
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France
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1: French version of comic opera called operà comique beginning around 1710
as a lowly form of popular entertainment put on at parish fairs i- until middle of the century the music consisted almost entirely of popular tunes (vaudevilles) or simple melodies imitating such material ii- visit of an Italian comic opera troupe to Paris in 1752 stimulated the production of operà comique which introduced mixed Italian-French style original airs (called "ariettes") along with the old vaudevilles iii- by the end of the 1760's all the music was freshly composed 2: with its alteration of spoken dialogue and musical numbers it flourished throughout the Revolution and the Napoleonic era 3: Querelle des bouffons (1752-1752) i- sparked an opera performance of Omphale by Destouches which led to an invitation to Italian troupe who performed Pergolesi's intermezzo La serva padrona ii- a pamphlet war between partisans of Italian Opera and French Opera - with Jean-Jacques Rooussiau (1712-1778) as one of the Italian Faction leaders iii- basically over the suitability of the French language for song 4: Opèra Comique i- used spoken language instead of recitative ii- following the European trend in the second half of the century, it dealt boldly with the social issues that were agitating France during the pre-revolution years 5: Composers i- Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1783) ii- Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) iii- François André Danican Philidor (1726-1795) iv- Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny (1729-1817) v- André Ernest Modeste Grètry (1741-1813) |
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England
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1: Ballad Opera
i- popular after the extraordinary success of the Beggar's Opera in London in 1728 ii- consists of popular tunes - usually ballads - with a few numbers which parody familiar operatic airs 2: immense popularity of ballad operas in the 1730's in England signaled a general reaction in England against foreign opera 3: Composers - only notable composer of English opera in the 18th century was Thomas Augustine Arne (1710-1778) |
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Germany
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1: The success of the Ballad opera inspired a revival of Singspiel (popular since
the 16th century) i- Librettists adapted English ballad operas at first but soon turned to translating or arranging French comic operas - with German composers new music in a familiar vein ii- many compositions found their way into German song collections and have virtually become Folk songs over time 2: Was an important precursor of the German-language musical theater from Mozart to Weber 3: Composers i- Johann Adam Hiller (1728-1804) - principal composer of singspiel during this period ii- Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739-1799) |
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Opera Seria
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a) treated serious subjects, purged of comic scenes and characters
b) received its standard form from the Italian poet Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782) whose dramas were set to music hundreds of times by many 18th century composers 1: appointed in 1729 as court poet in Vienna 2: operas were intended to promote morality through entertainment and to present models of merciful and enlightened rulers c) structure 1: 3 acts which consist almost unvaryingly of alternating recitatives and arias with occasional duets, larger ensembles, a rare choruses 2: the orchestra serves mainly to accompany singers i- "recitativo simplice" - recitative accompanied only by the harpsichord and usually a sustaining bass instrument ii- "Obbligato" - orchestrally accompanied recitatives in which the voice and orchestra alternate freely are reserved for the most important dramatic situations 3: the musical interest of the Italian opera is centered in the arias |
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The Aria
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1: "da capo aria"
i- a basic scheme which permitted enormous variation in detail - Metastasio's two stanza aria texts set the standard for the full blown da capo aria from the 1720's through the 1740's ii- form a- Opening Ritornello / A1 / Ritornello / A2 / Ritornello [Fine] / B / Da capo al Fine b- Opening Ritornello generally announces the melodic material of the A section with A1 presenting the main melodic material in the Tonic and modulates to the dominant or related key - the following ritornello is usually short, transposing (to the dominant) and contracting a passage from the Opening c- A2 begins by restating the melody of the A1 section in the dominant or related key and sometimes resets the text with a variation on the original melody c- A2 begins by restating the melody of the A1 section in the dominant or related key and sometimes resets the text with a variation on the original melody d- B section which is heard only once is typically set quite syllabically with different tempo and meter stating the text a single time or with repetition of the last two lines e- usually a fermata just before the end of both A and B sections inviting the singer to execute a cadenza f- the da capo al Fine then repeats "from the beginning to the Fine - the ritornello after A2 iii- around the middle of the century composers explored ways to shorten the repetitious A sections with their full capo reiteration - with various schemes that abbreviated the return of the ritornello and primary section a- by altering the da capo to a dal segno of only a portion of the A section b- writing out an abridged return c- single movement arias - usually an expanded version of the da capo aria's A section iv- the scheme of regularly alternating recitatives and arias came to be too rigid and opened a path to abuse a- singers began to make arbitrary demands on composers and poets compelling them to alter, add, and substitute arias without regard for dramatic or musical appropriateness to highlight the singers virtuosity b- the cadenzas added by singers became nothing more than a display of virtuosity by the singers - again without regard for appropriateness v- the da capo aria continued to evolve a- while arias written in the first decades usually projected a single affection through the development of a single motive b- composers now started to express a succession of moods c- in this way vocal music began incorporating structural methods of instrumental music - the sonata & concerto throughout the 18th century i) vocal melody still dominated the music ii) the orchestra still provided harmonic support to the singer rather than adding an independent contrapuntal line iii) melodies usually made up 4 measure units - 2 measure antecedent and consequent phrases |
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Composers in New Style
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1: Handel (1685-1759) - employed this new idiom in his late operas
2: Pergolesi (1710-1736), Giovanni Bononcini (1670-1747), Carl Heinrich Graun (1704-1759), Domingo Terradellas (1713-1751), Nicola Porpora (1686-1768 3: Johann Adolf Hasse (1699-1783) i- acknowledged by his contemporaries as the great master of opera seria a- most successful opera composer in Europe around the middle of the century b- Married Faustina Bordoni (1700-1781) - the celebrated Italian soprano ii- great majority of his 80 operas use Metastasio librettos |
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Beginning of Opera Reform
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a) Some Italian composers wanted to bring Opera into harmony with changing ideals
of music and drama b) Sought to make the entire design more "natural" - more flexible in structure, more expressive, less laden with coloratura, and more varied in musical resources 1: modified the da capo aria and introduced other forms 2: alternated arias and recitatives more flexibly to move the dramatic action forward more rapidly and realistically 3: made greater use of obbligato recitative and ensembles 4: made the orchestra more important both for its own sake and to add depth to the harmonic accompaniment 5: reinstated choruses - long absent in Italian opera 6: stiffened their resistance to the arbitrary demands of the solo singers c) Important figures in the reform 1: Nicolò Jommelli (1714-1774) 2: Tommaso Traetta (1727-1779) i- aimed to combine the best of French tragédie lyrique and opera seria ii- in his own way he reconciled the two types of music drama years before Gluck set out to do so |
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Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787)
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1: achieved a synthesis of French and Italian opera
2: he set out to remove the abuses that had deformed Italian opera and to confine music to its proper function - to serve the poetry and advance the plot i- deal with the outworn conventions of the da capo aria ii- liberties taken by singers to show off their skill in ornamental varitation iii- make the overture an integral part of the opera iv- adapt the orchestra to the dramatic requirements v- lessen the contrast between aria & recitative 3: his operas became models for the works of his immediate followers in Paris i- his influence extended into the 19th century ii- influence extended by Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842), Gasparo Spontini (1774-1851), and Hector Berlioz (1803-1869 |
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The Lied
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1. the German Lied achieved a special importance with the first significant collection
published in Leipzig in 1736 - Die singende Muse an der Pleisse 2. Berlin a) song compostion in the middle of he century centered in Berlin favored lieder in 1: strophic form 2: melodies in natural, expressive folk song style 3: one note to a syllable 4: simplest possible accompaniments completely subordinate to the vocal line b) composers gradually transcended these artificial restrictions primarily by making the structure more flexible and giving the accompaniment more independence c) composers c) composers 1: early: J.J. Quantz (1697-1773), C.H. Graun (1704-1759), C.P.E. Bach (1710 -1784) 2: later: Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752-1814), and his daughter Louise Reichardt (1779-1826), Johann Abraham Peter Schulz (1747-1800) |
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Church Music
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1. conformed to the prevailing secular adopting the musical idioms and genres of opera
2. a few composers (Francisco Valls (1665-1747) & Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni (1657 -1743) among others) carried on the stile antico tradition of Palestrina or grand polychoral style of Benevoli a) some - particularly in northern Italy, southern Germany, and Austria effected a compromise between conservative and modern elements 1: influenced by the instrumental symphonic forms of the classic era 2: set stage for the sacred composition of Haydn & Mozart |
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Germany
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a) Lutheran Church music rapidly declined in imporatance after the death of J.S.
Bach b) the half sacred half secular Oratorio became the principal medium of the north German composers |
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England
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a) influence of Handel and innate conservatism of the English kept the Baroque
styles of church music alive for a time 1: most gifted composers of church music were a generation older than Haydn and more at home in the older style 2: since the Anglican service did not require long musical settings composers confined thier writing to anthems and hymns b) Composers 1: William Boyce (1710-1779) - official composer for the chapel royal 2: Maurice Green (1696-1755), John Stanley (1713-1786), Charles Avison (1709 -1770) 3: later composers: Samuel Wesley (1766-1837), William Crotch (1775-1847) |
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Instrumental Music - Early Sonata
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1: Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) organized his sonata into the standard late
Baroque/early Classical binary pattern for dance pieces i- The Scarlatti sonata Form - are organized by means of tonal relationships into the standard late Baroque and early Classic binary pattern used for dance pieces and other types of compostion a- have two sections b- each repeated - the first closing in the dominant or relative major (rarely another key) the second modulating further afield and then returning to the tonic ii- This basic scheme underlies much instrumental and solo vocal music in the 18th century |
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Sonata Form
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1: Most instrumental music of Haydn, Mozart, Beethovan, and their
contemporaries whether called sonata, trio, string quartet, or sympony is written in 3 or 4 movements of contrasting mood & tempo 2: Early Organization i- Treatise of 1793 by Heinrich Christoph Koch (1749-1816) - also wrote Essay on Composition 1787 - on the sonata form when form was not settled a- the form of the first movement (now know as sonata form or first movement form) consists of two large divisions - each of which may be repeated b- the first has one main period, the second two resulting in three periods within a binary form i) the first period the principal ideas are presented in the key of the movement (1) prevails until a modulation to the dominant (or relative major in a minor key) leads to a resting point on the tonic of the new key (2) the remainder of the 1st period is in the new key ii) the second period often begins with the main theme on the dominant (occasionally with another idea or in another key) and modulates back to the tonic by means of still another melodic idea iii) the third period most frequently begins with the main theme in the key of the movement (1) melodic ideas from the first period are reviewed often shifting to the key of the subdominant without ever making a cadence (2) finally the closing section of the first period (presented in the dominant or relative key is not repeated in the tonic |
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Modern View (1830-present)
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i- divided the movement into three sections
a- an Exposition i) an introduction often precedes the exposition ii) usually repeated iii) incorporating a first theme or group of themes in the tonic iv) a bridge passage leading to a second more lyrical theme or group v) this lyrical theme or group presented in the dominant or the relative major if a minor key vi) a closing - frequently cadential theme also in the dominant or relative major vii) the different themes being connected by appropriate transitions b- a development section i) modulates to new keys - possibly remote ii) motives or themes from the expostion are presented in new aspects or combinations c- recapitualation i) material of the exposition is restated in the original order but with all the themes in the tonic ii) there may be a coda ii) there may be a coda ii- this is an abstraction but fits a good many sonata movements of the late classic period and 19th century - but many depart from it in creative ways |
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Concerto
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a) Form
1: principal themes are introduced in an orchestral exposition entirely in the tonic 2: then elaborated, expanded, and added to in a solo section 3: the secondary and closing themes appear in the dominant 4: a modulatory or developmental section leads to a recapitulation in the tonic 5: Orchestral tutti after the opening one function either as transitions or to reinforce the conclusive effect of a passage toward a principal cadence b) the solo concerto of this period retains the elements of the ritornello structure of the Baroque period but is imbued with the contrasts of key and thematic material characteristic of the sonata c) symphonie concertante - a concerto like work employing two or more solo instruments in addition to the regular orchestra |
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Early Symphonies
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a) Keyboard sonatas & orchestral compostions of similar form in the early part of the
18th century were influenced by the Italian opera overture - sinfonia 1: about 1700 the overture assumed a three movement structure in the order fastslow- fast (allegro, a lyrical andante, dance rhythm piece i.e. minuet or gigue 2: as a rule these overtures have no musical connection with the opera they introduce and could be played a autonomous pieces in concert 3: a natural step for Italian composers to begin writing concert symphonies using the general plan of the opera overtures 4: earliest of these were also indebted to the tradition of the late Baroque concerto and trio sonata in details of structure, texture, and thematic style i.e Sammartini's Symphony in F major (ca. 1744) |
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Germany
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1: Empfindsamkeit
i- began introducing it into instrumental music towards the middle of the century ii- two of J.S. Bach's sons made important contributions a- Wilhelm Friedman Bach (1710-1784) b- Carl Philip Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) - one of the most influential composers of his generations iii- the subjective, emotional qualities of the style reached a climax during the 1760's and 1770's - sometimes described by the expression "sturm und drang" |
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Symphonic Composers
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i- Mannheim, Vienna, & Berlin were the principal German centers of
symphonic composition after 1740 ii- under Johann Stamitz (1717-1757) the Mannheim Orchestra became renowned all over Europe iii- in Vienna - Georg Matthias Monn (1717-1750), Georg Christoph Wagenseil (1715-1777), Florian Leopold Gassmann (1729-1774), Michael Haydn (1737-1806) iii- in Vienna - Georg Matthias Monn (1717-1750), Georg Christoph Wagenseil (1715-1777), Florian Leopold Gassmann (1729-1774), Michael Haydn (1737-1806) iv- in Berlin - or North German School - clustered around Fredrick the Great (who was a composer himself) - Johann Gottlieb Graun (1702/03-1771) & C.P.E. Bach (1735-1782) |
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France
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1: Paris became an important center of composition and publication toward the
middle of the 18th century 2: Composers i- Gerog Christoph Wagenseil (1715-1777), Ignaz Holzbauer (1711-1783) both Austrian ii- Anton Fils (1733-1760) a Bavarian iii- Sammartini (1698-1775), Karl Stamitz (1745-1801) iv- Francois-Joseph Gossec (1734-1829) - one of the most popular composers during the revolutionary period v- Joseph Boulogne Saint-Georges (ca. 1739-1799), Giovanni Giuseppe Cambini (1746-1825) |
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Symphony Orchestra
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1: much smaller than today's
2: basso continuo was gradually abandoned in both the symphony and other forms of ensemble music (last quarter of the century) 3: all the essential voices were taken over by the melody instrumentes 4: responsibility of conducting the group fell to the leader of the violins 5: by mid century, all the essential musical material to the strings 6: used the winds only for doubling, reinforcing, and filling in the harmonies - later in the century the wind instruments were entrusted with more important and more independent material |
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Chamber Music
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a) the keyboard with fully written out part tended to dominate its 1,2, or 3 instrumental
partners b) the piano began to replace the harpsichord and clavinet c) Mannheimer Franz Xaver Richter (1709-1789) |
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Summary
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1. early Classic period explored a wealth of new genres, forms, and expressive means
2. much of the innovation originated in opera - particularly comic opera 3. need to reach a diverse audience led to a simplification of means and a striving for naturalness of expression 4. new styles spread through the cosmopolitan network of musicians, composers, and directors to centers such as Paris, Mannheim, and Vienna 5. many practices broke out of the theaters into the concert hall and private chambers 6. the excesses of Italian opera were purged culminating in the spare, transparent, and logical flow of musical ideas - to be grasped at first listen 7. instrumental music no longer needed a text or a title to render it intelligible 8. paved the way for the mature classic period of Haydn & Mozart 8. paved the way for the mature classic period of Haydn & Mozart |
