Classical Music Era: Symphony, Sonata, Opera & Composers
The Symphony Orchestra
The symphony orchestra is a group comprised of about a hundred instruments, mostly string, but also including sections of brass, woodwind, and percussion. Other types of orchestras include the chamber orchestra, string quartet, wind quintet, band, jazz band, and rock and pop groups.
Neoclassical Art and the Enlightenment
The new philosophy of the Enlightenment and archaeological discoveries about classical antiquity promoted the establishment of neoclassical art. Architectural buildings imitated classical styles.
Classicism in Music (1750-1810)
Classicism developed during a brief period (1750-1810). In this era, composers reached the public with pleasant, elegant music based on regular rhythms and melodies with clear phrases. The cultural center was Vienna, where the three geniuses of this period worked: Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.
Key Characteristics of Classical Music
- Basso continuo harmony was replaced by a vertical, clear, and balanced harmony.
- The texture featured a melody with accompaniment.
- New wind instruments emerged, such as the clarinet. The harpsichord gave way to the pianoforte.
- Short, high-quality paired musical phrases were used (8-bar melodies: 4+4).
- Melodies were simple and cheerful, with regular rhythms.
Musical Forms
- Instrumental forms: Sonata, symphony, and concerto for instrument and orchestra.
- Vocal forms: Opera seria and opera buffa.
The Sonata
The sonata was a significant discovery of the Classical period. It is an instrumental composition with a maximum of four movements (fast, slow, semi-fast, and fast). Sonata form was applied to compositions for a single instrument, for orchestra (symphony), for chamber ensembles (duos, quartets), and for solo instrument with orchestra (concerto).
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Austrian composer Joseph Haydn composed symphonic and chamber music, as well as operas (both serious and comic) and religious music. Among his works is a mass called The Seven Last Words of Christ. He composed 104 symphonies.
Opera Buffa and Singspiel
During Classicism, another kind of opera emerged, called opera buffa, or comic opera. In Germany, it was called Singspiel. Gluck and Mozart were the main representatives. Beethoven wrote one opera, Fidelio.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Mozart composed music for all genres, and his work is extensive. He wrote music for several operas, including The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, and The Abduction from the Seraglio. The Magic Flute premiered in Vienna in 1791, a few days before Mozart died. It is a lively and entertaining work with a storyline that hides the composer’s liberal political ideas.
Mozart’s Independence
Mozart was the first to rebel against the condition of servitude of musicians, abandoning his work at the archbishopric to compose freely.
The Classical Concerto
The classical concerto applied sonata form to a solo instrument with orchestral accompaniment. It replaced the concerto grosso. The most common solo instruments in concertos were the violin and piano, although concertos were also composed for other instruments.
The Symphony
For the Greeks, “symphony” meant “instruments that sound together.” Later, it became synonymous with consonance.
Ludwig van Beethoven
The unique style that characterizes Beethoven was a consequence of the political events he lived through, his personal life, his character, and his hearing problems, which became apparent around 1798. In his last symphony, he departed from classical formal patterns in expression, instrumentation, and the dimensions of the work. All of Beethoven’s symphonies, unlike those of Mozart and Haydn, have great expressive force.