Section A (copy)

Esterházy

A wealthy Hungarian noble family that employed Joseph Haydn for about 30 years, providing him financial security in exchange for his music compositions.

Sonata Form

A musical structure consisting of exposition, development, and recapitulation that introduces themes, develops them through different keys, and brings them back to the home key.

Empfindsamer Style

An expressive musical style associated with C. P. E. Bach that emphasizes strong emotions through unexpected harmonies and rhythmic changes.

Enlightenment

An 18th-century intellectual movement emphasizing reason, science, education, and progress, influencing society, politics, and Classical music.

Mannheim Orchestra

One of the most influential orchestras of the early Classical period, known for synchronized bowing, precise performances, and dramatic crescendos.

Opera Buffa

A form of Italian comic opera focusing on everyday characters and humorous situations, often exploring social class differences.

Vaudeville

A form of theatrical entertainment featuring popular songs and loosely connected stories, akin to early jukebox musicals.

Gluck

A composer known for reforming opera by prioritizing storytelling over elaborate vocal displays and integrating music with plot.

Baryton

A bowed string instrument with additional sympathetic strings, popular in the 18th century, for which Haydn wrote numerous trios.

Haydn

An important Classical composer known for symphonies and string quartets, he composed 104 symphonies and worked for the Esterházy family.

Piano Concerto

A musical composition for solo piano and orchestra, featuring contrasting themes and showcasing the pianist's abilities.

Da Capo Aria

A Baroque vocal composition following an A–B–A structure, returning to the opening section with added vocal ornamentation.

Metastasio

An influential Italian librettist whose texts were widely reused in operas during the late Baroque and early Classical periods.

Symphony

A large-scale orchestral composition typically in multiple movements, often following sonata form for its first movement.

Rondo

A musical form with a recurring main theme alternating with contrasting sections, commonly structured as A–B–A–C–A.

The Beggar's Opera

A ballad opera written in 1728 by John Gay, featuring ordinary London characters and satirizing society.

Farinelli

One of the most celebrated castrato singers of the Baroque period, known for his extraordinary vocal range.

W. A. Mozart

A Classical composer and child prodigy, known for his symphonies, piano concertos, and operas, who died at age 35.

The Well-Tempered Clavier

A collection of preludes and fugues by J. S. Bach demonstrating well-tempered tuning across all 24 major and minor keys.

Vivaldi

An Italian Baroque composer known for instrumental concertos, particularly The Four Seasons, and for teaching at the Ospedale della Pietà.

Barytone

A string instrument similar to a viola da gamba, popular in the 18th century, with both bowed and plucked strings.

Antonio Vivaldi

A Baroque composer active in the first half of the 18th century known for his fast violin passages and ritornello form.

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

An 18th-century composer noted for creating humorous melodies in the opera buffa style.

Christoph Willibald Gluck

A composer associated with opera reform in the second half of the 18th century, emphasizing simplicity and emotional expression.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

A composer of the Empfindsamer Stil known for his expressive and emotionally charged keyboard music.

Johann Stamitz

An influential composer of the Mannheim School recognized for his use of crescendos and dynamic contrasts in the second half of the 18th century.

William Billings

An American composer known for his sacred music and four-part harmony written for church singing during the 18th century.

Joseph Haydn

A Classical composer who contributed significantly to string quartets and symphonies in the second half of the 18th century.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — Symphony No. 41

A symphony performed during the second half of the 18th century, characterized by a sonata-rondo form and complex counterpoint.

Domenico Scarlatti

A Baroque composer known for his keyboard virtuosity and binary form works written for royal court entertainment.