From Baroque to Classical 

intro

• history of this century is a long, lively, leisurely argument about older and newer styles
• older 18th century - late baroque styles of bach, handel, etc
• newer 18th century - age of reason/enlightenment, classic era
• classical - later 18th century composers such as haydn, mozart, and beethoven
  • classic because it shares many attributes with older art and architecture
  • noble simplicity, balance, perfection of form, diversity within unity, seriousness of purpose, restrained use of ornamentation
  • classic era - 1730-1815
  • galant - elegant and courtly 18th century literature as well as flirtatious paintings; everything modern, smart, chic, smooth, easy, sophisticated; freer, more chordal, more natural musical style
  • empfindsam - quality associated with intimate, sensitive, subjective tendencies of some 18th-century literature and art

europe in the 18th century

political and social:

• moved from continuity with the past to radical change
• balance of power was emerging among several strong, centralized states
  • france had the biggest army but louis xiv was too extra and depleted the treasury
  • england had the most powerful navy and took india, canada, and caribbean islands from france during the seven years’ war
  • austro-hungarian empire saw the emergence of its capital, vienna, as the leading musical city in europe
  • american revolution and french revolution were stirring
• population was rapidly growing
  • new agriculture methods and crops were needed
  • roads improved
  • poor were dislocated from land and overcrowded in cities
  • aristocracy dwindled in favour of middle class growing clout
• education
  • new schools founded for elite and middle class
  • males were becoming literate and females were catching up
  • daily newspapers, books, public coffeehouses - coffeehouses were important
  • thinkers spawned the enlightenment

enlightenment:

• embraced rationalism - reason combined with experience and knowledge could solve problems, including scientific ones
• mind and feeling were not total opposites
• valued individual faith and practical morality over the supernatural and the church
• naturalness was preferred to formality and artificial conventions
• looking within - trying to communicate emotions in a clear and relatable way, more than the baroque (no more rage arias and breakup monologues) - free intellect and introspective sympathy
• philosophes - french leaders of the enlightenment
  • social reformers who developed doctrines about human rights
  • set the stage for the french revolution
  • rousseau made the first encyclopedia - politically inflammatory
  • kant aimed to unite reason with experience rather than relying on reason on its own
• enlightened rulers patronized the arts and promoted social change
• freemasonry - fraternal order of masons, whose tenets were based on humanitarianism and universal brotherhood
  • spread rapidly among statesmen, poets, composers, and kings
• arts
  • novels emerged - celebrated the lives of ordinary people
  • symphony was an expression of communal sentiment and new democratic ideals

sons of bach:

• bach is the father, we are the kids - mozart said this about js bach’s son, ”old sebastian” was kind of this stuffy old guy
• cpe and jc bach were formerly considered the founding fathers of this style of music, js and handel were added to the canon of the tradition much later

french revolution:

• first phase - reformist, uprising forced the king to accept a new constitution and set up elected local governments
• second phase - radical, france declared republic, king and queen executed, government maintained control by executing political opponents (reign of terror)
• third phase - government became more moderate and sought to restore order
• bonaparte consolidated power and crowned himself emperor
  • overran nearby countries to expand french territories
  • ended the holy roman empire
  • created new states
  • introduced reform and a stable government
  • was defeated and exiled in 1815 at waterloo in belgium

from baroque to classic

• aim of classicism was to construct an ideal vision of life and nature in tune with enlightenment goals of realism, restraint, harmony, order
• renewed study of classical past - perceived as a worthy and achievable goal, directed at the moral improvement of the viewer to give art a socially beneficial role
  • we’re imitating greek and roman culture again but this time it has a moral implication
  • major archaeological excavations started happening - pompeii was being discovered for the first time
• history paintings featured morally uplifting themes from antiquity
• rationalism was tempered by sensibility in literature and the arts
  • feeling arose that sentiment/feeling is more important than reason, culture and progress
  • genre painting - concentrated on themes of ordinary family life, equivalent to empfindsam composers and jane austen
• pendulum swing between arts & feelings and stem & reason

the place of music in the classic era

• growing public interest in hearing and making music
  • amateur musicians bought easy music and most published music was designed for beginners for fun
  • encouraged connoisseurs - informed listeners who cultivated a taste for the best in music
• bringing culture within the reach of all
  • comic opera satirized opera seria and set a course for opera reform
  • more people read about and discussed music, giving rise to music reviews, news, and criticism
  • first universal histories of music were published
• many styles coexisted
  • each country had distinctive traditions and a national form of opera
  • audiences and critics preferred music that featured a vocally conceived melody in short phrases over spare accompaniment
  • the language of music should be universal rather than limited by national boundaries and should appeal to all tastes at once
  • the best music was noble, entertaining, expressive within the limits of decorum, and natural

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