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