Classical Study Guide

Classical Period (1750-1820)

The term Classical was borrowed from art history and it is meant to refer to the time. In art, it is a throw back to ancient Greece and roman culture, but the music is a progression forward. Middle class was struggling for its rights and began to attack and criticize the aristocracy and clergy. These thoughts paved the way for the American and French Revolution.

In Music: Led by Bach’s sons, Carl Phillip Emanuel (C.P.E.) Bach and Johann Christian Bach (J.C.) composers concentrated on simplicity and clarity, which was a departure from the heavy music of the dark late baroque.

Style Galant: Polyphonic texture was neglected in favor of tuneful melody and simple harmony. There were contrasts of mood and theme in the pieces, which was different from the baroque.

The masters in music this period were Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.

Characteristics of the Classical Style Contrast of mood Baroque pieces conveyed a single unified mood. In the classical, dramatic turbulent music might lead into a carefree, dance tune. Mood can change gradually or suddenly expressing conflicting surges of elation, and depression.

Rhythm Flexibilty of rhythm adds variety. Classical music has a wealth of rhythmic patterns. Classical pieces convey a sense of continuity and perpetual motion, so that after hearing a few bars, it is easy to predict the rhythms that will be used in the rest of the piece. Also includes unexpected pauses, syncopations and frequent changes from long notes to short notes.

Texture Classical music, in contrast to baroque was mainly homophonic. However there are frequent shifts as in rhythm. A piece may begin homophonic with a simple melody and accompaniment and then shift to polyphonic.

Melody Classical melodies are simple and easy to sing and remember. Lots of melodies have a folk or popular flavor. Occasionally composers borrowed from pop tunes.

Dynamics and the Piano With the invention of the Piano (1700), we could now do gradual crescendos and diminuendos. The Harpsichord was gradually replaced by the piano by Classical Orchestra In the Classical period, the orchestra was 4 sections: Strings, Woodwinds, Brass and percussion: 2 Violins, 2 Violas, 2 Cellos, Double Bass, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons, 2 French Horns, 2 trumpets, 2 Timpani.

Lots of variety in tone color. Each section had an important role:

1. Strings- most important section. Violins had the melody most of the time. Lower strings provided accompaniment.

2. WW’s added contrasting colors and sometimes took melodic solos.

3. Horns and trumpets brought power and volume and filled out the harmony, but did not usually play the main melody.

4. Timpani were used for rhythmic bite and emphasis.

Classical Forms: Instrumental works usually in 4 contrasting movements:

1. Fast Movement 2. Slow movement 3. Dance Related movement 4. Fast Movement

Symphonies are written for orchestras, String Quartets are written for 2 violins, viola and cello, Sonata is written for 1 or two instruments, Opera, Masses and Oratorios.

Musicians were heavily influenced by the American, French revolution and Napoleonic wars.

Composers took middle class tastes into account and composed music that was able to be played by amateurs. They turned from serious to comic opera, from heroic and mythological plots dear to the nobility to middle class subjects. Some of their comic operas even ridiculed the aristocracy. Their dance movements became less elegant and courtly and more vigorous and rustic.

Serious composition was flavored by folk and popular music. The classical masters used familiar tunes as themes for symphonies and theme and variations. All 3 wrote music for public balls in Vienna.

Vienna Was one of the music centers of Europe during the classical period and all 3 were active there. It was a bustling cultural commercial center with a cosmopolitan character. It was the 4th largest city in Europe. While there, Haydn and Mozart were good friends and would influence each other’s music. At 16, Beethoven traveled to Vienna to play for Mozart. At 22, he returned to study with Haydn.

Sonata Form Refers to the form of a single movement. 3 sections: Exposition where themes are presented. Development where themes are treated in new ways. Recapitulation, where themes return. These three sections are often followed by a “coda” (Italian for tail)

Theme and Variations The theme is introduced and then played over and over and is changed each time. Each variation is generally the same length as the theme. Changes in Melody, Harmony, rhythm, accompaniment, dynamics and tone color may be used to give the variation its own identity.

Minuet and Trio or Minuet Usually used as the third movement of classical symphonies. It originated as a dance. However, in a symphony, it is for listening, not dancing. Triple meter, moderate tempo. A (Minuet) B (Trio) A (minuet) The trio is quieter than the minuet. It got its name because in the early days, it usually used 3 instruments. However the classical composers did not restrict themselves to only 3 instruments.

Rondo Lively main theme that is usually simple pleasing and easy to remember. The listener can easily recognize its return.

ABACABA

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Born in an Austrian Village named Rohrau. His father made wagon wheels.

They sent him to live with a relative when they realized his musical talent. Then at the age of 8 he was sent to Vienna to serve as a Choir Boy in the Cathedral of St. Stephen.

When his voice changed though, they turned him out on the street without a penny. during those years, he taught himself about composition and took odd jobs including playing violin in a Vienesse street band that played In the streets at night.

At 29, Haydn’s life changed for the better forever. He was hired by the Esterhazy’s, the richest and most powerful of the noble Hungarian families. For the next 30 years, the music he wrote was for performances in the palaces of the royal families

Over a period of 20 years, the word spread of the Esterhazy’s composer and his music became popular all over Europe. After the death of Prince Nicholas Esterhazy in 1790, Haydn was allowed to go to London. Prince Soloman, of England, commissioned works from Haydn. He wrote 6 symphonies in a first visit in 1791/2 and 6 for a second visit in 1794/5. These became known as the “Soloman Symphonies” or the “London Symphonies”.

England was the Richest city in Europe and the concert life was unusually active. Acclaim at Haydn’s concerts was so overwhelming that it was demanded that they be played again. It was written, “There was an electric effect on everyone present. Such a degree of enthusiasm as almost amounted to a frenzy.”

Haydn was a rock star. He was wined and dined by the aristocracy, given an honorary doctrate from Oxford University and received by members of the royal family. And as thought to balance out an earlier un-happy marriage, he had an affair with a rich English Widow.

Rich and honored, Haydn returned to Vienna in 1795 and maintained good relations with the Esterhazys. The new prince Nichols did not share his father’s love for music. He only liked religious music. Haydn’s agreement stated that he would compose a mass a year. There are 6 and they are all great. He also composed some of the greatest Oratorios of all time. The Creation (1798) and the Seasons (1801). They were so popular that choruses and orchestras were formed just to play these works.

Haydn died in 1809 at the age of 77 while Napolean’s army occupied Vienna. At his funeral, joining the Viennese were French Generals and an honor guard of French soldiers.

Haydn’s Music. Joseph Haydn composed over 750 works. 104 Symphonies!!, 13 Operas, 3 Oratorios, over 100 works for piano

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

One of the most amazing child prodigies in history, he was born in Salzburg, Austria. Son of a court musician. By the age of 6, he could play the harpsichord and the violin, improvise fugues, write minuets, and sight read perfectly. At 8, he wrote a Symphony. At 11, an Oratorio. And at 12, an Opera. By the time he was in his early teens he had works that would have brought credit and fame to a composer 3 times his age.

Mozart’s father Leopold, took him all over Europe to show him around (And Make Money)5. Between the ages of 6 and 15, he spent much of his life on tour throughout Europe.

At 15, he went back to Salzburg where he could only get a job as a subordinate seat in the orchestra because of a Tyrant that did not appreciate his music. For the next 10 years, he tried to get a better job, but was unsuccessful. The tragic Irony of his life was that he won more acclaim as a child prodigy than as an adult musician. As a child, his complete dependence on his father caused him to not develop any sort of responsibility and initiative. When he was 22, his mother tagged along when he went to Paris to seek recognition and establish himself. She died there in 1778.

Mozart was irresponsible, recklace, care-free, lazy, and he loved to have fun. At 25, Mozart left Salzburg and went to Vienna, intending to be a free-lance musician.

Mozart went against his fathers wishes and married Costanze Weber, who had no money and was as irresponsible as he was. He became very close friends with Haydn and was very happy during these years in Vienna. He wrote the marriage of Figaro and it was a huge hit in Vienna and Prague. The success of Figaro led to a commission of Don Giovanni by a Prague opera Company.

Don Giovanni was a hit in Prague. The Germans loved it. The Viennese found it vulgar. In fact, Mozart’s popularity in Vienna began to decline. Mozart’s music was considered complicated and hard to follow. (too many notes). It was sprinkled with inappropriate materal and it was said to be “highly spiced with dissonence”. In the end, his pupils dwindled and the elite snubbed his concerts. He was very poor.

In his final year, due to his lifestyle, his health began to fail. In 1791, he received a commission for the Magic Flute. While hard at work, he was visited by a man dressed all in Grey. He asked him for a requiem, or mass for the dead. Unknown to Mozart, the man was hired by a nobleman that planned to pass off Mozart’s work for his own. As his health got worse, he knew the end was near. He began to think the work was for himself and continued composing. He rushed to finish before his death. Two months before his death, the Magic Flute was premiered and was a huge hit. It would have brought him lots of money but he died just before his 36th birthday.

Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827) He was born in 1770 in Bonn, Germany. Like Bach and Mozart, he came from a musical Family.

His grandfather (Ludwig) was the music Director for the Court at Bonn, and his father (Johann) was a low level tenor in the choir there. He saw his young son as a profitable child prodigy like Mozart.

Beethoven’s father was a violent alcoholic. Beethoven was severely beaten when he would play wrong notes, miss phrasing, and for a host of non-musical things as well.

At 11, Beethoven subbed for the organist at the court and at 13, he had several pieces published. He came back to Bonn when his mother became critically ill. She died shortly after. His father was later fired from the court choir for being a belligerent alcoholic.

When Beethoven was 18, he became legal guardian of his two younger brothers. At court, he was organist and violinist, so he was very busy.

Shortly before his 22nd Birthday, he went to Vienna to Study with Haydn and never returned to Bonn. Haydn was very busy and not able to devote the kind of time he needed to Beethoven. He would overlook mistakes in Beethoven’s counterpoint exercises. Beethoven knew this and went behind his back to another teacher. (Haydn never found out)

He made money as a teacher, a performer and publishers were eager to publish his works, even though they were said to be Bizarre and VERY difficult.

At the age of 29 (1799), Beethoven felt his first symptoms of deafness. The doctors could do nothing for him

10/6/1802 Beethoven wrote a long letter to his brothers known as the Heiligenstadt Testament. In it, he said, “I would have ended my life. It is only my art that held me back. It seemed impossible for me to leave this life until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me.”

Beethoven was self-educated. He read lots of Shakespeare and the classic literary works, but struggled with elementary arithmetic. He claimed the highest moral principals but was rude and obnoxious. He was orderly and methodical in his musical composition, but sloppily dressed and lived in very messy apartments. During his 35 years in Vienna, he moved 40 times.

As Beethoven’s hearing weakened, so did his conducting and piano playing. By the age of 44, he stopped playing in public. But insisted on conducting long after he was able to do it well. His sense of isolation grew with his deafness. People used to communicate with him by way of an ear horn, and later, he carried a notebook so people could write down what they wanted to communicate with him.

In 1815, his brother Casper died and he and the widow were named co-guardians of the boy, Karl. A bitter tug of war developed and for the next 5 years, Beethoven fought for custody of the boy. He won and Karl was forced to live with a deaf angry uncle who craved love and compassion. It drove Karl to attempt Suicide, which crushed Beethoven, whose health was already bad.

Beethoven suffered from cirrhosis of the liver as well as edemas of the abdomen. Reiter says that in attempts to ease the composer’s suffering, his doctor repeatedly punctured the abdominal cavity — and then sealed the wound with a lead-laced poultice. High lead concentrations in Beethoven's hair were found in an autopsy shortly after his death. Piano Sonatas Beethoven fell in and out of love with several women, most of noble birth. He was never able to form a lasting relationship. He used his piano sonatas to express the love he felt with music.

"Für Elise" (1810) (German for "For Elise").

Beethoven originally titled his work "Für Therese", Therese being Therese Malfatti, whom Beethoven intended to marry in 1810. She declined Beethoven's proposal. In 1816 Therese Malfatti, who was the daughter of a Viennese Merchant, married an Austrian nobleman and state official. Beethoven tossed the piece aside and never played it again. Never had it published! In 1865, the piece was discovered and the person who did so, Ludwig Nohl mistranscribed the title as "Für Elise".

The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor (1801) "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2 is popularly known as the "Moonlight" Sonata”. The work was completed in 1801 and dedicated to his pupil, 17-year-old Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, with whom Beethoven was in love.

Beethoven included the phrase "Quasi una fantasia" (Italian: Like a fantasy) in the title partly because the sonata does not follow the traditional sonata pattern where the first movement is in regular sonata form, and where the three or four movements are arranged in a fast-slow-[fast]-fast sequence. Beethoven was in Love and he put the beautiful Addagio 1st!

Piano Sonata No. 8 “The Grande Sonate Pathétique” (1799) was composed in the closing years of the eighteenth century. It was published in Vienna in 1799 and is dedicated to Prince Carl von Lichnowsky, Beethoven's landlord, friend and patron. The piece was written after experiencing his first signs of deafness. He felt that a musician who is deaf was bound to a “pathetic” existence.

His greatest works were his 9 symphonies. He expanded the orchestra. For greater power and a different timbre, he added trombones, oboe and the contrabassoon.

His works are divided up in to 3 periods. Early (up to 1802) Haydn and Mozart influence these works. Middle (1803-1814) Works are much longer and heroic in tone. Late (1815-1827) Written by a man that was totally deaf.

Early: Began noticing signs of losing his hearing Sym 1 1799-1800 Sym 2 1802 Heliginstdt Testament

Middle: Most of his hearing is gone Sym 3 Eroica 1803-1804 Sym 4 1806 Sym 5 1804-1807 Sym 6 pastoral 1808

Late: Completely Deaf Sym 7 (1812) Sym 8 The little Symphony (1812) Sym 9 (1817-1825) 14 years!

Sym. 9: After a life of tragedy including: being beaten as a child, gong deaf, not receiving the affection of a woman that he continuously craved, he wrote his last symphony. Symphony no 9. was inspired by the joy of life and based on the folk song, “Ode to Joy”.

Haydn (1732-1809) was content serving a wealthy aristocratic family. His contract reveals that he was considered a skilled servant, like a gardener. He wore a uniform and composed music “…Such that his highness shall order”. He was warned to refrain in vulgarity in eating, drinking and conversation.

Mozart, born 24 years later could not bear being treated as a servant. He broke from his position and moved to Vienna to try his luck as a freelance musician. But his personality was unsuited to the struggles of such a career. He died tragically in poverty.

Beethoven succeeded where Mozart failed. Only a few years after Mozart’s death, Beethoven was able to work as a freelance musician in Vienna. His success was gained from a wider middle-class market and a commanding personality that prompted the nobility to give him gifts and treat him as an equal.