The Classical Era

The classical era is a time period in the history of western music; it started in 1734 and ended around 1825. 

It is the period between the baroque and the romantic periods.

The most famous composers from this time were:

·      Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1746-1791)

·      Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

These two composers, which names are stated above, had a great influence in terms of composing music, techniques for example, but they also influenced the way now a day’s people think of music.

Apart from these two great composers, there were also more composers that helped making the classical era to be what it was.

Such as:

·      Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

·      Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach (1714-1788)

·      Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741).

·      Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849).

Information about this composers:

Joseph Haydn:

Joseph Haydn, born on the 31 of March of 1732 in Australia and dead on the 31 of May of 1809 in Vienna, Austria, was a composer that as the website Allmusic defines as “the composer who, more than any other, epitomizes the aims and achievements of the Classical era. Perhaps his most important achievement was that he developed and evolved in countless subtle ways the most influential structural principle in the history of music.”

After listening even to just one of his compositions, ( Seasons).

I could’ve realized that his famous sense of humour, his feeling for the unpredictable and his want for a dramatic but elegant twist in the piece of music was the key to influence music’s history and other composers. This can be proven by the fact that Haydn taught Beethoven, who directly benefited from his mater’s imagination to became one of the greatest and famous composers in the history of music.

Here's a link to a part of the so well known composition called Seasons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D030s16hs5w

The music starts every happily and light, however, to my ears, with a feeling of death and at the same time as lot’s of other musical pieces from this time it sounds like it talks about religious.

 Even though I do not underhand the language that the music is sang in, I think this happens because the voices of the lowest male voice is deep and strong.

Even though, this piece that I listened to is not one of the longest pieces in the history of classical music (4:52m), it changes dramatically after 2 minutes of its start. The quire starts to get dramatically involve and also has I could see from the video clip, the speed and the tune changes as the maestro’s faces’ expressions

change to being more serious and he moves his conductor much more quickly, which influences the quire and the all the musicians playing the instruments.

Emmanuel Bach:

Born on the 8^th of March of 1714, and death on the 14^th of December of 1788 in Germany. Emmanuel Bach was the second survived son of the great master J.S. Bach, who influenced Haydn. Bach was the most innovative and idiosyncratic member of his extremely talented musical family. As an example of this I have the fact that Bach by the age of seven could play his father’s technically demanding keyboard pieces, he was also an exceptional student in areas other than music, he enrolled at the University of Leipzig in 1731 to study law, then transferred to the University of Frankfurt and der Oder.

Stylistically distant from his father’s rigorous polyphony, Emmanuel Bach was something of a photo-Romantic; he was the master of “Empfindsamkeit”, or “intimate expressiveness.” The dark, dramatic, improvisation-like passages that appear in some of Mozart’s and Haydn’s works are due in part to his influence; his music in time became known all over Europe. His impulsive works for sole keyboard, which lurch into unexpected keys, change tempo and dynamics abruptly, and fly along with wide-ranging themes, are especially compelling.

Mozard once said “He is the father, we are the children.”

His most famous pieces:

·      Die Israeliten in der Wüste (“The Israelites in the Wilderness”)

·      Harpsichord Concertos in G major and D major

·      Flute Concerto in D Minor

Most famous piece:

·      Solfeggietto in C minor

Here’s the link to a video of the most famous piece of Emmanuel Bach:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjJXesiTo4k

This piece is a short solo keyboard piece written in C minor and composed in 1766. As mention previously this piece is perhaps the most famous piece of Emmanuel Bach. The solo keyboard, monophonic, terrace dynamics ranging from piano to forte. It begins in C minor, and then goes to G minor, then F minor, some tonal ambiguity and then it goes back as it first started with C minor.

In terms of rhythm and melody it has a common time, prestissimo and constantly running through sixteen notes until the pattern suddenly stops. It is difficult to grasp because of the way it is structured on arpeggiated chords and run. 

Antonio Vivaldi:

Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice (Italy) on March 4^th, 1678 and was dead on the 28^th of July of 1741 in Vienna, Austria.

His main teacher was most probably his father, Giovanni Battista, who in 1685 was admitted as a violinist to the orchestra of the San Marco Basilica in Venice. Antonio was the eldest child, so, most probably because of this, his dad though him a lot.

Vivaldi wrote a number of sonatas and trio sonatas, many of them designed for one or two violins and basso continuo. He also wrote a series of chamber concertos, compositions similar in approach to the solo and multiple concertos but scored for smaller groups of instruments.

The most famous of all Vivaldi’s concertos are those of Le quattro stagioni (‘The Four Seasons’), characteristic compositions to which the composer attached explanatory programmatic sonnets. These four concertos, for solo violin, string orchestra and harpsichord, form part of the collection Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’invenzione (‘The Contest of Harmony and Invention’), one of seven collections of such compositions published in the composer’s lifetime. In addition to concertos for solo violin, Vivaldi also wrote concertos for many other solo instruments, including the flute, oboe, bassoon, cello and viola d’amore, and for groups of solo instruments. The surviving church music of Vivaldi includes the well-known Gloria, in addition to a number of settings of psalms and motets. However, none of the fifty or so operas of Vivaldi remain in standard repertoire, although some are now once again making their appearance.

Here’s the link to a part of a piece of one of his famous concerts, (‘The Four seasons – winter):

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

The first movement begins with the orchestra playing a somewhat dissonant chord to each beat of the music which builds up to a crescendo. The violin solo begins, and the orchestra is heard intermittently throughout this solo. The orchestra plays eight beats and subsides for four beats while the soloist interjects, and resumes playing again building off of the soloist passage. Each orchestral interjection is forte. Also, the presence of a ground bass not only sustains the harmony and texture of the orchestra, but it also helps keep the beat. The fact that the cello plays the same note on every beat, corresponding to the ground bass, gives this movement a pointed rhythm and a solid foundation for the solo passages. A sequence played by the soloist goes higher and higher, and the first movement ends with the original theme played by the entire orchestra. After a long minor chord, a cadence ends the first movement.

The second movement is a bit slower, or, allegro, as the solo violinist plays a legato melody, accompanied by other stringed instruments being played pizzicato in high arpeggio chords. It seems that this movement may be in theme-variation form, as the soloist carries the melody throughout the entire movement. This second movement ends with one major chord, exhibiting the difference between the previous and latter movements which are in minor modes and are more serious and fast paced, compared to this movement which is melodic and gentle sounding.

The final movement begins, again with the soloist and a sustained ground bass accompanying him. This movement is much faster in tempo (vivace) than the second, and even slightly faster than the first. The theme returns and there are many sections of fortissimo passages of the soloist and orchestra building off of each other’s sequences. This movement ends with the soloist playing a sequence higher and higher, as the orchestra joins in every other measure playing a downward sequence. Finally, the downward sequence that the orchestra has been playing brings the soloist down into their low register, and the concerto ends on a low and forte minor chord.

Antonio Vivaldi captured the beauty of the winter, spring, summer, and fall through his musical creativity. It is very interesting to see how each of the concertos corresponds to the season that it seeks to portray.

Beethoven:

The events of Beethoven's life are the stuff of Romantic legend, evoking images of the solitary creator shaking his fist at Fate and finally overcoming it through a supreme effort of creative will. Born in the small German city of Bonn on or around December 16, 1770, he received his early training from his father and other local musicians. As a teenager, he earned some money as an assistant to his teacher, Christian Gottlob Neefe, then was granted half of his father's salary as court musician from the Electorate of Cologne in order to care for his two younger brothers as his father gave in to alcoholism. Beethoven played viola in various orchestras, becoming friends with other players such as Antoine Reicha, Nikolaus Simrock, and Franz Ries, and began taking on composition commissions. As a member of the court chapel orchestra, he was able to travel some and meet members of the nobility, one of whom, Count Ferdinand Waldstein, would become a great friend and patron to him. Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792 to study with Haydn; despite the prickliness of their relationship, Haydn's concise humor helped form Beethoven's style. His subsequent teachers in composition were Johann Georg Albrechtsberger and Antonio Salieri. In 1794, he began his career in earnest as a pianist and composer, taking advantage whenever he could of the patronage of others. Around 1800, Beethoven began to notice his gradually encroaching deafness. His growing despondency only intensified his antisocial tendencies. However, the Symphony No. 3, "Eroica," of 1803 began a sustained period of groundbreaking creative triumph. In later years, Beethoven was plagued by personal difficulties, including a series of failed romances and a nasty custody battle over a nephew, Karl. Yet after a long period of comparative compositional inactivity lasting from about 1811 to 1817, his creative imagination triumphed once again over his troubles. Beethoven's late works, especially the last five of his 16 string quartets and the last four of his 32 piano sonatas, have an ecstatic quality in which many have found a mystical significance. Beethoven died in Vienna on March 26, 1827.

Beethoven's epochal career is often divided into early, middle, and late periods, represented, respectively, by works based on Classic-period models, by revolutionary pieces that expanded the vocabulary of music, and by compositions written in a unique, highly personal musical language incorporating elements of contrapuntal and variation writing while approaching large-scale forms with complete freedom. Though certainly subject to debate, these divisions point to the immense depth and multifariousness of Beethoven's creative personality. Beethoven profoundly transformed every genre he touched, and the music of the nineteenth century seems to grow from his compositions as if from a chrysalis. A formidable pianist, he moved the piano sonata from the drawing room to the concert hall with such ambitious and virtuosic middle-period works as the "Waldstein" (No. 21) and "Appassionata" (No. 23) sonatas. His song cycle An die ferne Geliebte of 1816 set the pattern for similar cycles by all the Romantic song composers, from Schubert to Wolf. The Romantic tradition of descriptive or "program" music began with Beethoven's "Pastoral" Symphony No. 6. Even in the second half of the nineteenth century, Beethoven still directly inspired both conservatives (such as Brahms, who, like Beethoven, fundamentally stayed within the confines of Classical form) and radicals (such as Wagner, who viewed the Ninth Symphony as a harbinger of his own vision of a total art work, integrating vocal and instrumental music with the other arts). In many ways revolutionary, Beethoven's music remains universally appealing because of its characteristic humanism and dramatic power.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:

Mozart, a prolific artist, Austrian composer that created a string of operas, concertos, symphonies and sonatas that profoundly shaped classical music.

Born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria, he started his piano carrer by playing multiple instruments in public at the age of six. He learnt the piano only by watching his dad teaching is older sister, when he was only three years old. This made him soon develop his skills in all musical forms.

Starting from the age of six until he was seventeen, Mozart travelled around Europe to perform with his sister.

Mozart was widely recognized as one of the greatest composers of all time, he produced over 600 works.

Fréderic Chopin:

Frederic Chopin was a pianist born in Poland and composer of matchless genius in the realm of keyboard music. As a pianist, his talents were beyond emulation and had an impact on other musicians entirely out of proportion to the number of concerts he gave. No one before or since has contributed as many significant works to the piano’s repertoire, or come closer to capturing its soul.

The composer born on the 1^st of March of 1810, Poland, and dead on the 17^th of October of 1849, was as a kid an outstanding music learner, with only eight years he completely surprised his teacher when he first gave his concert. His popularity started growing and quickly everyone knew his name outside Poland. By when he was 17, his Variations for piano and orchestra on Mozart’s “La ci darem la mano” made a great success.

After the spring and autumn of 1830 and after his compositions of magnificent poetic concertos for the Warsaw audience, he decided to leave Poland and have a new life in Paris.

About Chopin and his musical talent, he was the first composer of genius to devote himself uniquely to the piano – every one of his works was written for it either as solo instruments or in combination with other instruments. The majority of his solo pieces are in short forms, and improvisatory by nature. These include 20 nocturnes, 25 preludes, 17 waltzes, 15 polonaises, 58 mazurkas and 27 etudes. In these works, especially the nocturnes, preludes and mazurkas, the  emotions are fleeting, and precious because of that. Chopin also achieved success in larger forms, including the scherzo, a form he reinvented; the ballade, a genre he invented; and the sonata. The four Ballades and the Sonatas in B-flat minor and B minor are among his greatest creations, combining passionate drama and lyrical tenderness in a memorable way.

In his remarkably advanced treatment of harmony and rhythm, Chopin banished the ordinary from his music and opened the door to an emotional ambiguity that continues to intrigue listeners – one whose communication requires subtleties of execution that generation of pianists have labored devotedly to achieve. The luminous textures and haunting melodies he used to express his thoughts added to the piano’s sound and range of color shadings that no one before him had imagined were there, but that all who have followed recognize as his. The sane is true of the harmonic question marks one finds throughout his music – the equivalent of a look of gentle longing. He created a slimmer oeuvre than his important contemporaries, but every piece he produced was pearl.

References:

 "The Classical Era." AllMusic. N.p., 14 Oct. 2011. Web. 10 Mar. 2016. 

"The Great Composers." Kids Music Corner. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.

"The Classical Period." N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.

Staff, Rovi. "Franz Joseph Haydn Biography." AllMusic. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.

Ramsaur, Melissa. "Solfeggietto by C.P.E. Bach." Prezi. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2016. 

"Antonio Vivaldi's "Four Seasons :Winter"" A Study of Western Music. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.