Major Themes In The Enlightenment

The period from the middle of the 18th century to the early 19th century was the time that contained great historical changes over the world. In the 18th century, a new idea of the economic system was claimed by Adam Smith and people started to be concerned about broader educations. Because of this reason, a humanitarian movement was led by French philosophers, such as Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau, which is known as the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment aimed that individuals had rights, so tried to improve the human condition. The central themes in the Enlightenment, such as reason, nature, progress, promoted universal education also. Through the Enlightenment, music also takes a different place compared with the past. The idea of a …show more content…
Although music still tends to be considered as an icon of aristocratic cultures in Haydn’s period (middle 18th century), the changing of economic system allowed music became cheaper and easier to experience. He spent most of his career at the Esterhazy palace as a composer and music director but also he wrote several pieces for sale in the market to the public. Haydn’s string quartet in E-flat major, op. 33 is one of the pieces that he composed for sale in the market. This piece was premiered on December 25, 1781 in Vienna which is an interesting point that shows Haydn’s work could be performed in other places not only Esterhazy although it appear to have been played in an aristocratic home. This shows that he wrote some pieces for out of the Esterhazy palace. However, this also shows that professional musician’s employment tended to rely on aristocrats more than the demand of market system in his period. This piece sets many interesting settings using unusual, unexpected progress and the finale of this piece great example that Haydn tried to play with both players’ and listeners’ expectations in purpose. Gretchen A. Wheelock says that “the finale of the E-flat Major Quartet (familiar to many as the “Joke”), provides a leading case in illustrating gestures that exceed the exclusivity of private exchange among players.” Wheelock also suggests that “[Haydn tricks] the listener to offer progressively less stable conclusions—and in the end no conclusion at all”. His musical gestures and languages were well presented his idea of the chamber music in this piece and we can get the idea of employment situation for professional composer in middle of the 18th