Classicism and the Classical Era

Roots of Classicism:

• Classicism finds its roots in the order and reason valued by ancient Greeks and Romans.

• These ideals resurface throughout history, coexisting with other stylistic concerns.

Classicism and Enlightenment Culture:

• The late 1700s marked a strong influence of classical ideals in Europe, coinciding with the Enlightenment.

• Enlightenment

  • emphasized reason in human experience

  • leading to works characterized by clarity, regularity, and natural simplicity.

• This era saw the development of an international musical style, enduring as the core of the Western concert tradition

  • was held up by subsequent Generations as Timeless

  • form the core of the western concert tradition in the 21st century

Classical Era in Music:

• Spans approximately 1750 to 1825.

• Strong aristocratic rule continued in Europe, coupled with the Industrial Revolution's economic advancements.

• saw advancements in science as well. 18th century has been called The Age of Reason as The age of the Enlightenment

•  it is partly because of this quasi scientific Clarity within music of the classical era as the most straightforward pathway into understanding the musical logic of the European tradition

• public concerts

• symphony orchestra common here

• large scale compositions developed

Classical Era: Rise in Concerts

• from palaces to concert halls, giving rise to public concerts.

• Haydn and Beethoven conducted their own works, and the public's eagerness for new music stimulated composers' productivity

•  public flocked to hear the latest Works

• Increasing size of middle class 

• Interest in education

  • gives rise to demands for music:

    • Concert series

      • Concert halls

      • Opera popularization

    • Music for amateurs (publishing)

    • Need for instruments

    • Need for teachers (freelance musicians as well as those who worked under patronage circumstances

• Public concerts began to affect cultural life as a whole

  • Practice of middle class to attend more concerts

• Concert Spirituel in Paris

  • First public concert organization that had longevity

• Private Concerts at homes of individuals Paris and other locations

  • Jean de la riche Poupliniere (tax ‘farmer’)

  • Jean-Phillipe Rameau 

  • Stamitz, Gossec

• LONDON private concerts

  • Taverns, small private houses, rooms built for holding dances/balls

  • Commercial concert developed in London earlier than elsewhere

    • Subscription concerts

• Examples of organizations 

  • Academie of Ancient Music (Crown and Anchor tavern)

  • Mr. Hickford’s rooms (Hickford was a dance master and had an instruction hall)  Mozart gave Benefit concert there 1765.

  • Later (post 1765)  JC Bach had succsessful series of concerts 

• German speaking areas

  • Lacked a real center comparable to London and Paris

  • German public concerts origins in Collegium Musicum (music instruction and amateur making)

    • Amateurs and professionals mixed

  • Example in Leipzig 

    • Grosse Concerts 1743

      • 16 instruments

      • Ended in 1756 (beginning of Seven Year War)

Enlightenment Culture and Science:

• Voltaire and Newton

  • Enlightenment thinkers

  • spearheaded intellectual and cultural shifts

• Rousseau

  • composer, contributed to musical terms

  • published a comprehensive dictionary of musical terms

• Rameau and Burney

  • significant contributions to musical theory and history.

• Charles Burney

  • first music history text

  • sought to record all knowledge about musicians and their works

 Rousseau 

• by the 1760s  a romantic point of view was emerging in literature

• sometimes called the father of Romanticism

• produced some of his most significant writings in these years the first manifestation of the Romantic spirit in Germany was a literary movement known as Sturm und Drang ( storm and stress) 

• Critical of social institutions of the day

Many philosophers in this era

• Hobbes — Social contract theory

• Descartes — Epistemology

• Newton — Physics fundamental laws

• Locke — Newtonian model of Mechanics for knowledge

From all this its obvious that the focus was on humanitarian ideals — belief in progress

Enlightenment period values

• Secular movement 

• Faith in reason

• Turning toward science

• Naturalness, and social reforms

• Secular morality replaces church morality

• Beginnings of modern philosophy

• Persuit of happiness

• Age of revolution (french, American, others)

• Art and entertainment was supposed to please. (rather than instruct, as had been the case in the Baroque

Technological Advancements and Musical Machines:

• Musical machines, including music boxes and automata, showcased technological achievements

  • automata were made to resemble humans a life-size human  flute player

• Clockmakers made significant strides in miniaturizing timekeeping devices, creating automata resembling humans.

Benjamin Franklin and Musical Aesthetics

• Franklin, a statesman, scientist, and musician, wrote a treatise on musical aesthetics, emphasizing simplicity in melody and harmony.

• wrote a treatise on musical AestheticsIn which he espoused a philosophy of Simplicity in Melody and harmony

Instructional Literature

Many instructional treatises

• CPE Bach

• L Mozart

• JJ Quantz

• Mattheson (older style)

• Rameau (traité de la Harmonie…beginnings of modern harmony)

  • Downs text pp29-30

• Goal of Music to Move Listeners (pg 30 Downs)

Aristocratic Elegance and Folk Influences:

• Despite aristocratic elegance, classical music absorbed folk and popular elements.

• This influence is evident in German dances, minuets, waltzes, songs, symphonies, concertos, string quartets, and sonatas.

The Patronage System:

• The 18th-century culture thrived under aristocratic patronage, viewing the arts as an adornment

  • part of the elaborate lifestyle of the nobility and the center of musical life was the palace

  • social events at court created a steady demand for new works from composers who would to supply whatever their patrons wanted

• Musicians found economic security and social frameworks through this system, and it significantly impacted the careers of composers like Joseph Haydn

Consequences of Changes in Patronage system

• Musicians concerned with finding a “position”

• Still true till end of the 18^th century

  • Mozart’s travails

• Nature and size of ensembles change

• Still see Patrons who  kept a “stable” of players

  • Esterhazy…Haydn

  • Mannheim Court

• But even these relationships change over the century

  • Discuss Mannheim and EsterHazy/Haydn relationship

• Musician goes from being a servant in fact to being freelance

• Even those who had a patronage position HAD TO be concerned with other sources of income (teaching/commissions)

How are musicians portrayed

• On his Knees at sight of money

• Don Basilio caricature in Barber of Seville play (Beaumarchais)

• Eking out a living any way could

• performing

• teaching

• benefit concerts (discuss)

• commissions for compositions

• some still attached to a patron

  • by end of 18^th C this rare 

  • Mixed blessing

    • mention Haydn, Mozart Beethoven CPE Bach

Printing and publishing

• Entrepreneurial 

  • Depended on reputation of composer

  • Money to be made but no protection of rights

• Rise of many different publishing houses

  • In early 18^th century many fewer publishers

  • Patrons paid to publish music

  • Poor circulation of music

    • Discuss Corell

Opportunities for Women:

• Middle-class women found opportunities as musicians under patronage, achieving prominence in opera, court ballets, and as court instrumentalists.

• middle class women also found a place as musicians under the patronage system in Italy and France professional female singers achieve prominence in Opera and in court ballots others found a place within aristocratic circles as court instrumentalists and music teachers offering private lessons to members of the nobility

• Mozart's sister, Nannerl, and blind composer Maria Paradis were notable keyboard players of the 18th century

• public prominence achieved by these women was unusual for the era however the many Engravings and paintings of the time illustrating music making scenes make it clear that women participated frankly in performances

  • especially music Printing and Publishing women found more professional opportunities open to them (for both high and middle class)

Communication through Music:

• Clarity and simplicity in the classical style made music accessible to the informed amateur.

• The classical era marked a shift from palace performances to public concerts, fostering a sense of communication between performers, composers, and the audience.

• more and more instrumental music was described in terms of dialogue and communication whether between performers or between the composer and the public

• communication through instrumental storytelling became ingrained

Emerging Romantic Sensibility:

• The classical era set the stage for the emerging romantic sensibility, emphasizing deep connections between the composer and the receptive listener.

• Beethoven and Mozart's late compositions reflect this evolving romantic sensibility.

• an essential element in the emerging romantic sensibility as we will see in the work of Beethoven and in the public response to Mozart's late compositions 

Style Galante

• A new style

• fashionable from the 1720s to the 1770s, was called Galante music. 

• consciously simplified

• homophonic  

  • a clear leading voice

    • transparent accompaniment

    • Easy “tuneful” melodies

    • Symmetrical phrases

      • “question and answer” or “antecedent-consequent” phrase pairs

      • Clear cadences

• The style galante aimed at quality of grace that would complement the mannered world of the 18th century.  

• It remained an art of surface -- of appearance.  

• It could not avoid emotional content, but the range of that content was limited to those emotions which could readily be displayed in public and which were fashionable.  

• "galanterie" avoided the tragic, the uncouth, the shocking, and the humorous

• Derived from French Baroque Music traditions

  • Elegant

  • Pleasing

  • Witty

  • Never shocking

  • Symmetrical phrases

Empfindsammer Stil

• The term can be translated as the "Sensitive Style“

• It was centered around the court of Frederick the Great at Potsdam (Berlin) 

• chief practitioner CPE Bach

• The sensitive style never aimed at the fashionable, broad audience of the Style galante

• It was 

  • personal, subjective, eccentric style 

  • angular melodies in which appoggiaturas stuck out

  • rhythmic hiatuses catch the breath, in which metrical oddities subject similar phrases to different emphases 

  • only expectation is the unexpected. 

• Literally “expressive style”

  • Highly emotional

    • Unpredictable changes in melody, harmonies, articulations, etc

    • More overt emotionally than Galante style

    • Seems eclectic to us now

  • Chief Proponent was CPE Bach

    • Play example of CPE

    • Mozart and Beethoven and Haydn all admired CPE.

    • “Bach is the father of us all”

Sturm und Drang

• Translates as Storm and Stress

  • Darker emotions

  • Associated with violence, the underworld, horror, etc

  • Term associated with German Literary movement 

    • Maximillian Klinger coined the phrase in a novel about the drama of the (1776) American Revolution

Why discuss form in music?

• To understand and appreciate classical music, it is important to understand musical form.

• Form is a term that is used to describe the musical structure of a single movement of a composition

• Sometimes multi-movement compositions can have overarching forms as well as forms for each movement

• (e.g. symphony in late 1700 is most ofthen a four movement format: 1) a fast movement, 2) a slow movement, 3) a menuet and trio, and 4) a final fast movement…such symphonies area four movement FORMAT)

• A small number of forms seem to cover the majority of the music in what is referred to as the Common Practice Period (refers to the music spanning from about 1700 to the end of the 19th century though they are not unique to this time period.

• Form affects the imaginal level of listening Form makes instrumental music intelligible to a listener Form is a cultural value in art and music

Classical Music and Characteristics of the Classical Period

I. Introduction to Classical Music A. Classical period composers aimed for music to resemble elegant written language. B. Use of writing terms to describe musical structures (phrases, cadences, sentences). C. Influence of rhetoric, the art of convincing argumentation, on musical composition. D. Classical music appeals to the imaginal level of listening.

II. Compositional Values of the Classic Period (ca.1735-ca.1810) A. Melody 1. Short, balanced phrases (antecedent-consequent structure). 2. Tuneful, pleasing, and memorable melodies, influenced by vocals. 3. Frequent use of cadences, often incomplete for a sense of anticipation.

B. Harmony 1. Simple chordal harmonies. 2. Bass part often features chords in an accompanying pattern. 3. "Well-mannered" use of dissonance resolving to consonance. 4. Predominance of Major keys.

C. Rhythm 1. Greater rhythmic variety than Baroque. 2. Regular melodic phrases highlight rhythmic patterns.

D. Color 1. Orchestration grows with added winds and brass. 2. Piano replaces harpsichord as the primary keyboard instrument.

E. Texture 1. Homophony predominates. 2. Described as "Light and airy" or "transparent."

III. Forms and Structures in Classical Music A. Form in Music 1. Understanding classical music involves grasping musical form. 2. Forms may apply to single movements or overarching structures in multi-movement compositions. 3. Format refers to the structure across all movements (e.g., symphony with four movements).

B. Importance of Form 1. Form affects the imaginal level of listening. 2. Makes instrumental music intelligible to listeners. 3. Reflects cultural values in art and music.

IV. Classic Style and Features A. Characteristics of Classical Style 1. Pleasing melodies with clear structures. 2. Move toward simplicity and comprehensibility. 3. Constant meter and straightforward rhythms. 4. Antecedent-consequent phrases and clear cadences. 5. Greater dynamic variety than Baroque. 6. Addition of winds becomes standard in the late Classical period. 7. Predominantly homophonic texture.

B. Viennese School 1. Composers: Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven. 2. Experimentation with traditional forms. 3. Incorporation of romantic elements in late works.

C. Musical Experimentation 1. Focus on major-minor systems. 2. Perfecting large-scale forms: sonata form, trio, quartet, concerto, and symphony.

D. Bach's Influence 1. Bach as the father of subsequent composers (e.g., Beethoven). 2. Bach's proficiency in Galant style and expressive style. 3. Early Classic Era influenced by Bach and his sons.

E. Elements of Classical Style 1. Elegant, lyrical, and singable melodies. 2. Clear-cut cadences in four-part phrases. 3. Homophonic texture with clear harmony supporting the melody. 4. Rhythmic patterns in basic meters for clarity and logic.