1) 2) 3) THEME-BUILDING BLOCK THEMATIC DEVELOPMENT-EXPANDING THE THEME MOTIVE-SMALLEST MELODIC UNIT OF A THEME THE CLASSICAL ORCHESTRA 1) ESTABLISHED IT AS WE KNOW IT TODAY 2) BLENDED THE FOUR INSTRUMENTAL FAMILIES A) THE HEART WAS THE STRING CHOIR B) WOODWINDS ASSISTED THE STRINGS C) BRASS SUSTAINED HARMONIES AND ADDED BODY D) PERCUSSION (TIMPANI) SUPPLIED RHYTHMIC LIFE 3) 30-40 PLAYERS 4) VOLUME OF SOUND WAS NOT STRONG 5) LIFE BEGAN TO MOVE TOWARD THE CONCERT HALL (NEAR THE END OF THE PERIOD) with Beethoven 6) GRADUAL CRESCENDOS AND DECRESCENDOS 7) THE PIANO WAS INVENTED DURING THIS
Outline the major musical development of the classical period and the main characteristics of the classical style. Main characteristics of the classical style: Contrast of mood - Mood in classical music may change gradually or suddenly. Masters like Haydn and Beethoven were able to impart unity and logic to music of wide emotional range. Rhythm - In Classical music, there is a flexibility of rhythm. A classical composition has a range of rhythmic patterns.
Form is one of the most important variables that distinguish the Classical era in music to others such as the Baroque, where form was used still but not as distinguished, and the Romantic where composers began to slowly step away from the concrete structured systems. Sonata form can be discussed on many different aspects but most importantly it is better to look at how a piece written in Sonata form is composed in terms of structure. Also it is important to look at how composers in time in Music history have taken this flexible structure and create their own master pieces using the basic structure as guidelines. The Origins of the Sonata form comes from generally the Baroque period. Primarily the Sonata from can be looked as a innovation, or an advancement of binary form (A-B-A) which was common in French dance movements.
- Baroque had a negative connotation: It signified distortion, excess, and extravagance... except when we get to Vivaldi and Bach. -The Doctrine of Affections held that different musical moods could and should be used to influence the emotions, or affections of the listener. -Musicians spoke of the need to dramatize the text yet maintain a single effection--be it rage, revenge, sorrow, joy, or love--from beginning to end of a piace. - The single most important new genre to emerge in the Baroque period was opera. - The Baroque gave rise to a remarkable variety of musical style, ranging from the expressive monody of Claudio monteverdi (1567-1643) to the complex polyphony of J.S.
The harpsichord was phased out and replaced with the invention of the piano during the Classical period. During the Baroque period, two bass instruments would read off the same line of music with numbers written above notes for the third bass to play. Music from the Baroque period seems very one dimensional and intended to be played to a smaller audience. The text described it best (Sporre, 2013), “Classical in contrast to Baroque style, which typically dealt with a single emotion, Classical pieces typically explore contrasts between moods. They may contrast moods within movements and also within themes (Pg.
The piano underwent many changes in the nineteenth century starting from the fortepiano to the modern pianoforte that we know now. At the beginning of the 18th century, the clavichord and the harpsichord were the domestic instruments. Most of the keyboard instruments of this time could not produce the same varieties of expression needed to substitute for the orchestra in the works of Handel, Bach, Beethoven, Haydn, and Mozart. Therefore, there was an urge to develop a keyboard instrument that combines the powers of nuance of the clavichord with the size and strength of the harpsichord. An Italian harpsichord maker, Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731), invented the fortepiano and continued to develop this instrument until the 1720s.
Sonata Form There is no perfect definition of sonata form. Sonata form came about to represent a piece of music that has no words to go with it. Also, the popular form of choosing two themes, repeating them, developing from them, and recapitulating those themes is whats given sonata form its name. Over the past 200+ years, sonata form has grown into this commonly used structure of music. Sonata form mainly focuses on the harmonic and thematic expression of music that sets the mood in the exposition.
Each movement within a piece has its own structure, but each one typically elaborates on the same theme. 4. Consider which instruments are used at what point in the piece. Try to determine why the composer might have chosen those instruments. This form of active listening would employ the lens of New Criticism and for me takes away the simple enjoyment that I get by “reading” it with a Reader-Response lens which is how I approach 90% of the classical music I listen to.
Heavyweights in classical music such as Edgard Varèse, Iannis Xenakis and Karlheinz Stockhausen have put out compositions and works using non-Western microtonal systems. Moreover, to label classical music as ethnocentric is equivalent to partiality. After all, those who play Debussy on the pianoforte will notice his hypnotic, gamelan-inspired textures. Furthermore, sitar maestro Ravi Shankar collaborated and performed with many big names in classical and contemporary music. To travel back further in time, how about the Cuban-esque habanera L'amour est un Oiseau Rebelle by Georges Bizet or the alla Turca (translation: in Turkish style) third movement of Sonata in A major, K. 331 by Mozart?
I will be drawing from historical facts and also my own conclusions in this essay. The first thing I shall consider is composers- the twentieth century gave birth to many new ideas and so composers of that era also utilized new techniques and styles. Composers of the past, such as baroque composers (like Bach and Handel) would have been commissioned by nobles to compose music for a certain occasion, all the while keeping within the style of the time and what the client wanted. These restrictive attitudes were continued throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, making the musical periods of these times very easy to generalise. Music did evolve and change, but boundaries were never pushed to the point of where it invoked powerful emotions in the audiences it was played to.