Classicism

Classicism
INDEX
1. Chronology
2. Historical and Social Characteristics
3. Cultural Characteristics
4. Musical Characteristics
5. Genres
5.1. Religious Music
5.2. Profane Music
5.3. Instrumental Music
6. Composers

1. CHRONOLOGY
Classicism is a period that falls between The Baroque and The Romanticism
eras. Its duration would fall between 1750 (The death of J. S. Bach) and 1827
(The year in which Beethoven dies). It is a short era that marks the transition
from the Modern Age to the Contemporary Age.

2. HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS

The XVIII century marked the beginning of The Industrial
Revolution brought about by the invention of the steam
engine.
It is the era in which the bourgeoisie class rose to broad sectors of political and
economic power, which will prove to have consequences in
the world of culture and music.
In the second half of the XVIII century there will be a series of
important historical events and social reforms that will lead to
violent mass movements, including The Independence of the
United States and The French Revolution of 1789, a fact
that will bring about an end to absolute monarchies. The
revolutionary motto of "Freedom, Equality and Fraternity" will
be brought into all contexts.

3. CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS
Classicism is the era of Enlightenment, an intellectual movement
promoted by the bourgeoisie and the nobility, whose main creation was
the Encyclopedia of Diderot and D'Alembert that will spread culture in
broad layers to the general population.
The musicians will find in the bourgeoisie a new audience that pays to
appreciate their works and that in which they had to please with

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entertaining and natural creations. In this way, they go

about liberating themselves little by little as working
subjects to their patrons taste, obtaining greater creative
independence but also having the challenge of depending
on the public to monetize their income. Music would begin
leaving the church and palace circles to develop in private
homes of the bourgeoisie and in public performances. In
this period, there is a return to the ideals of Greco-
Roman classical culture, based above all on the ideals of
balance, proportions and beauty, leaving behind the overloaded Baroque
style; for that reason, in the rest of the arts this period is known as neoclassicism.
Among the precursors of the music of this period we can name two of the
children of J.S. Bach: C.P.E. Bach, J.C. Bach. But the three composers who will
become the great figures of this period would be Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.

4. MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
The melodies of Classicism adopt regular and ordered structures, following the
principle of balance and proportion, with simple musical phrases that have the
same number of measures. The composers look to concentrate all the interest in
the main melody so that the other voices have an accompanying role, without
already using the continuous bass.

Amadeus-Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ciFTP_KRy4
2nd movement of Haydns Surprise Symphony:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKZL9QRrR4g

5. GENRES
5.1 Religious Music
There will be a decline at this time as both instrumental music and opera will
become genres much more sought after by the general public.
In the field of religious music, it is not possible to indicate great musical changes
with respect to the previous era. The same genres will continue to be created, in
which Mass will be highlighted. A type of special Mass that will acquire great
importance in this period is the Requiem. The Requiem is the music composed
for the Mass of the deceased belonging to the Catholic Church.

Mandatory Listening: Mozarts Requiem Confutatis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjtwyZAhCcs&feature=related
Mandatory Listening: Mozarts Requiem Lacrimosa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym8b3bC_Fq4

Clip of the film "Amadeus" by Milos Forman

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhr6m_confutatis-requiem-en-re-menor_music

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5.2 Profane Music

Classicism was one of the most important historical periods for the operatic
genre. This genre, born in the baroque, within the aristocratic circles, will
experience during the classicism, a change, since baroque excesses will be
eliminated and will tend to the naturalness and approach of the argument to the
public. On the other hand, the theaters multiplied and the public increased,
covering through the purchases of tickets, the work of the composers.

Opera Seria
It emphasizes the figure of composer W. C. Gluck, who initiates a reform of the
opera seria to move closer to what the public asked for. In the preface of one of
his operas he exposes the principles of the reform that Opera Seria had to adopt,
which are summarized in the following points:

1. A search for simpler music, leaving behind the complexity of the one that had
been brought about by the opera seria.
2. Avoid the contrasts between recitative and aria, making arias simpler and
recitative more expressive.
3. The argument had to be simpler and more plausible, discarding the fantastic
and artificial elements of the baroque.
4. The music should always be at the service of the script (text) of the
characters.
It is usually structured in three acts and its theme has a mythological character.

Mandatory Listening: Che faro senza Euridice Glucks opera -Orfeo and
Euridice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFS9hnIAkes

Opera Buffa
It will gain importance thanks to the arrival of the bourgeoisie to power and
became the preferred genre of the public. Take Pergolesi's model "La serva
padrona" and reach its maximum splendor in the operas of W. A. Mozart. Opera
buffa had some peculiarities that differ from opera seria:
The arguments reflected issues of daily life, giving a comic and sometimes
sentimental characteristics.
It also uses more humble means, with fewer characters, smaller orchestras
and shorter structures.
Use the language of each country
Sometimes replace recitatives with spoken parts.
Duets and vocal ensembles are becoming more and more common.
At the end of the act, the characters entered gradually, so that the tension
was increasing and was resolved when everyone sang together at the end.
The language they used was accessible, without major grandiloquence.

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Its main mission was to entertain the public, more and more broad and without
musical knowledge. Mozart will be one of the main composers of this genre, he
will write operas buffas "The Marriage of Figaro" or "The Magic Flute".

Mandatory Listening: The Queen of the Night from

the opera The Magic Flute by Mozart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=463jDvbw3LQ

Papageno - Papagena duo from the opera The Magic Flute by Mozart:
https://youtu.be/OL7YF0Djruk

5.3 Instrumental Music

The emancipation of the instrumental music achieved during the Baroque will
encourage the composers of classicism to continue their development.
During the period of classicism, the instruments undergo notable changes.
Some of the instruments of the Baroque period are falling into disuse. For
example, the harpsichord is replaced by the piano, which has better dynamic
possibilities than the first. Others such as the lute, the recorder of the viola da
gamba, tend to disappear, since their timbre characteristics did not adapt to the
new musical style and some of them presented low sound intensity. New
instruments like the clarinet and the piano appear, the latter created in 1709 by
Cristofori and gradually established as the main key instrument.

This development of instrumental music will play a pivotal role in the

sociological change that caused the passage of court music into the public
concert halls. This brought with it the need to amplify both the sonority of the
instruments as the orchestral template, which eliminates the continuous
baroque bass and increases the number of string and wind instruments. The
progressive complexity of orchestral compositions made it necessary at the end
of classicism for the presence of an orchestra conductor exclusively dedicated
to coordinate the ensemble, to mark the pulse, the different inputs of the
instruments, and all the expressive aspects related to the interpretation.

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The main classical instrumental forms are: sonata, symphony, concert, and
quartet.

The Sonata
Musical form for one or two solo instruments.

Sonata Scheme
It takes its name from the sonata form which came from the Baroque, and in its
evolution, a musical structure is established that is used in the first movement of
almost all the instrumental forms.

Parts:
Sonata Scheme

EXPOSITION DEVELOPMENT RECAPITULATION CODA

A B A B
:

1. The exposition presents two musical ideas (themes) linked together by

notes called bridge. That exposure is repeated.
2. In the development, the composer relates the two musical themes, plays
with them and leads to moments of great tension.
3. In the recapitulation, the two themes of the exposition appear again with
minor modifications.
4. In the coda, there is an extended end, where the final cadence sounds.

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This scheme is comparable to the presentation, middle, and outcome in a good

story.

Mandatory Listening: Sonata facile. First movement, Allegro W. A. Mozart

https://youtu.be/DZz0Ow9c0ak

Would you like to play this piece of music with piano? Click the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM0HmdJZ-lE

The rest of instrumental forms from now on, will follow this same script. What will
change is the instrumental template.

1 or 2 2 violins, viola Orchestra Soloist and

Instruments and violoncello orchestra

3 or 4 3 or 4 3 or 4 3 movements
movements movements movements

1st movement 1st movement 1st movement 1st movement

sonata scheme sonata scheme sonata scheme sonata scheme

SONATA QUARTET SYMPHONY CONCERTO

FONA O

Listen to the next audition of Haydn's classicism:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udPddgVKzLg

Who are the interpreters? What do you think is the previous forms? Does
the melody sound to you? Check it at the next clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIseS3rORJY

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The Symphony
A symphony is a work intended to be performed by an orchestra, divided into
several movements (the number of movements has been changing throughout its
history and has evolved), each with a tempo and different structure but the first
one with the sonata scheme.

Symphony orchestras are named as such, because in principle were designed to

interpret symphonies.

Mandatory Listening: Mozarts Symphony No. 40

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzBwa2jI1Oc
Haydns Farewell symphony: https://youtu.be/HoGDtJd-GhY

The classical concerto

The Grosso Baroque concerto is replaced by concertos for soloists and from
classicism when the term concerto is employed to refer to a written work for a
soloist and an orchestra, but unlike the baroque concerto, has only three
movements of different character, the first of which follows the same sonata
scheme of the other forms (with exposition, development and recapitulation),
which ends with a cadenza or virtuous cadenza in which the soloist improvises
exposing his technique, on the material interpreted with little accompaniment.

Beethoven Piano Concerto #2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Prhpw9C08y8

Mandatory Listening: Mozart Clarinet Concerto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QAAZ29cvfU

Listen to a cadenza in this clip starting at the 8th minute:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zPkWVqdJXI

The most important composers of instrumental music were Haydn; considered

the father of the symphony, Mozart, and Beethoven which will deepen in the
works of Haydn and Mozart. Amplifying the developments to compose works of
an unprecedented scale. It will also establish a bridge to the following artistic
period, The Romanticism.

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Haydn Mozart Beethoven

TEXTS

1. Mozart's Requiem
Masterpiece of classical music. In June of 1791, Mozart played in one of
his last public concerts in Vienna. A few days earlier, a stranger came to his
house, dressed in grey, refused to identify himself and ordered the composition
of a requiem. He gave him an advance and came to agreement that he was
going to come back in a month, but the composer was called from Prague to
write the opera La clemencia de Tito. When he and his wife went up to the
carriage that would take them to that city, the stranger appeared again, asking for
his order. This overwhelmed the composer. It was later revealed that the somber
character (apparently named Franz Anton Leitgeb) was a messenger sent on
behalf of Count Franz von Walsegg, an amateur musician whose wife had died.
The widower wanted Mozart to compose the requiem mass for his wife's funeral,
but he wanted others to believe that the work was his and that was why he
remained anonymous.
Mozart, obsessed with the idea of death, from his father, weakened by
fatigue and illness, and very sensitive to the supernatural and impressed by the
appearance of the messenger, ended up believing that he was a messenger of
Destiny and the Requiem he was to compose would be for his own funeral. At
the time of Mozarts death, he managed to finish only three sections with the
choir and complete organ: Introitus, Kyrie and Dies Irae, the last part in
composing was called Lacrimosa. This part ends with the word amen, a word
used at the end of Mass, something strange considering that Mozart still had half
of the Requiem to compose. The work would be completed, following the
instructions that the composer left written by his pupil Sssmayr.

2. The Querelle des Bouffons

In the middle of the XVIII century, especially in France, opera seria had
reached a great complexity and artifice: the arguments on mythological subjects
were too sophisticated and difficult to understand. This made the public
increasingly dissatisfied with this type of opera.

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In 1752 there was a change, as a traveling opera company settled in Paris

and introduced the famous opera buffa of Pergolesi "La serva padrona". His
success was great, so much in fact that two companies were created, one that
will defend this type of opera and another that will be against. This confrontation
is known as The Querelle des Bouffons. On one hand, there will be those who
defended the tradition of the French operation, much more elaborate than the
Italian opera buffa, which they accused of frivolous and superficial. The leader of
this group was Rameau. On the other hand, there were those who defended the
opera buffa that came out of Italy, which they considered fit to improve the ideals
of classicism of simplicity and clarity. It was much easier to understand for all
types of audiences, as their arguments were much closer to the people and
highlighted by the beauty of their melodies. The leader of this group was and
some encyclopedists.

3. The School of Mannheim

The orchestras gradually became uniformed, so that by the end of the
XVIII century, we can already speak of a classical orchestra model with a section
of string violins, violas, cellos and double basses, a wind flutes, oboe, clarinet,
bassoon, horns and a percussion drum, cymbals. In this concretion of the
orchestra there was a person that greatly influences Johann Stamitz. This man
was the promoter and director of the school of Mannheim, a School of Music
located in this German locality that at that time was considered one of the best
orchestra of the world. Among the innovations that Stamitz introduces to the
orchestral world we can highlight the following:

Discipline in the study because it was known as the army of generals.

Work by instrumental sections before beginning the general trials.
Search and development of orchestral color.
The orchestra should behave as a single instrument not as a set of
instruments.
Incorporation of new resources that increase the timbre possibilities of
the orchestra like crescendo and diminuendo.
Many of these and other innovations that Stamitz introduces to the orchestral
world continue in use today.