Classical Period
1750-1820
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Signs of the times
• Middle class was
learning to fight for
their rights
• This was the time of
the American and
French revolutions
Print by famed French "Art Deco" artist Louis Icart 2
Signs of the Times
• Around the middle of the 18th century composers
concentrated on simplicity and clarity, discarding
much that had enriched late baroque music
• Polyphonic texture was neglected in favor of
tuneful melody and simple harmony
• These composers entertained their listeners with
music offering contrasts in mood and theme.
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Characteristics of Classical Music
• Contrast of Mood
• Great variety and contrast of mood received
new emphasis in classical music
• Not only are there contrasting themes within
a movement, but there also may be striking
contrasts within a single theme
• Mood may change gradually or suddenly,
expressing surges of elation and depression
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Characteristics of Classical Music
• Rhythm
• Flexibility of rhythm adds variety to classical music
• A classical composition has many rhythmic patterns, where
a baroque has relatively few
• The classical style includes unexpected pauses, syncopation,
and frequent changes from long notes to short ones
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Characteristics of Classical Music
• Texture
• Pieces shift smoothly or suddenly from one
texture to another
• A work may begin homophonically with a
melody and simple accompaniment but then
change to a more complex polyphonic texture
that features two simultaneous melodies imitated
among the various instruments.
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Characteristics of Classical Music
• Melody
• Classical melodies are the most tuneful and
easy to remember
• The tunes of even the most highly
sophisticated compositions may have a folk
or popular flavor
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Characteristics of Classical Music
• Classical melodies sound balanced because
they are usually made up of two phrases of
the same length
• The second phrase may begin like the first
but end more decisively. Such a melodic
type which can be diagramed as a a`, is easy
to sing
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Characteristics of Classical Music
• Dynamics and the Piano
• Classical composers’ interest in
expressing shades of emotion
led to the widespread use of
gradual dynamic change-
crescendo and decrescendo
• Crescendos and decrescendos were an electrifying
novelty often bringing audiences spontaneously to their
feet
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Characteristics of Classical Music
• End of the Basso Continuo
• One reason the basso continuo became obsolete was that
more and more music was written for amateurs who
could not master the difficult art of improvising from a
figured bass
• Also, classical composers wanted more control; they
preferred to specify an accompaniment rather than trust
the judgement of improvisers
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Characteristics of Classical Music
• The Classical Orchestra
• Unlike the baroque orchestra, which could vary
from piece to piece, it was a standard group of
four sections:
– strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion.
• Classical composers exploited the tone colors
(timbres) of orchestral instruments
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Characteristics of Classical Music
• The Classical Orchestra
• A classical piece has greater variety-and
more rapid changes of tone color
• A theme might begin with the full
orchestra, shift to the strings, and then
continue with the woodwinds.
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Characteristics of Classical Music
• The Classical Orchestra
• As a whole the classical orchestra had
developed into a flexible and colorful
instrument that a composer could use for
their most powerful and dramatic musical
compositions
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Characteristics of Classical Music
• Classical Forms (symphony)
• Usually consist of several movements that contrast
in tempo and character
• Often there are four movements, arranged as
follows:
– Fast Movement
– Slow Movement
– Dance-related Movement
– Fast Movement
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More Classical Forms
• Classical movements often contrast themes
vividly
• A movement may contain two, three, or
four themes of different
• A classical composer will sometimes use a
brief pause to signal the arrival of the new
theme.
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Social Trends Affect Music
• The middle class was not content to hear music only at
concerts; they wanted to be surrounded by it
• They educated their children in music and hoped that
one day they would be good enough to be invited to the
palace to perform
• This increased the demand for printed music, music
lessons, and instruments
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The Center of the Music World
• Vienna
• Was one of the centers of music in Europe during the
classical period and Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven all
worked there
• Aristocrats from all over the world spent the winter in
Vienna and they often brought their musicians to
entertain them
• Music was an important part of life in the court and
having a good orchestra was a sign of prestige
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Sonata Form
• Exposition
• Development
• Recapitulation
• Coda
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Sonata Form
What’s an Exposition?
• It sets up a strong conflict between the tonic
key and the new key and also between the
first theme and the second theme
• The first theme is heard in the tonic or
home key. Next comes the bridge, or
transition, leading to the second theme
which is in a new key
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Sonata Form
What’s an Exposition?
• The modulation to the new key creates a
feeling of tension and forward motion
• The second theme often has a different feel
than the main theme
– Sometimes they are called masculine and
feminine.
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Sonata Form
What’s a Development?
• It’s the most dramatic section of the
movement
• It will sometimes move restlessly through
several different keys
• As the music transitions through these
different keys, the music gains tension
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Sonata Form
What’s a Development?
• In this section, themes are treated in different
ways:
– They are broken into fragments or motives
– Motives are short musical ideas which are developed
within the composition
• A theme that sounds comical can be made to
sound menacing, or the texture can be changed
by adding or taking away combinations of
instruments
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Sonata Form
What’s a Recapitulation?
• The beginning of it brings resolution, as we
again hear the main theme in the home key
• We hear all the same melodies and bridge
that we heard in the development, but now
they are in the home key
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Sonata Form
What’s a Coda?
• The coda rounds off the movement by
repeating themes or developing them
further
• It resolves the conflict by playing the
themes in the home key
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Sonata Form
Sonata Form
• Sonata Form is very flexible
• It can be any length and varies by the style
of the composer
• It is so versatile that it is still in use by
composers today
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More Classical Forms
• Theme and Variations
• In theme and variations, the idea is presented over
and over and is changed each time. It can be
written like this:
• Theme (A)
• variation 1 (A´)
• variation 2 (A´´)
• variation 3 (A´´´)
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