Mozart and The Classical Era (the short story)

Classical Era Overview

      The Classical era began c. 1730 while the Late Baroque era of J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel 
      was at its zenith.  It took until about 1770 to hit its high era, which lasted three decades. 
      Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (b. Jan. 27, 1756) were the 
      two most important composers in this period.  Classicism began declining after 1800 as 
      romanticism grew in popularity.  Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) was the most 
      important composer in leading that transition in music.  By 1830, Romanticism dominated 
      the arts and Classicism was over.  (Classicism will be discussed on the first course day).  


Music of the Late Baroque and Early Classical Eras

      Late Baroque music was characterized by  complex polyphonic counterpoint (multiple, 
      simultaneous melodies that create the music's harmonies), its seriousness, and its grandeur.  
      The first new Classical era music was style galant.  Galant music was homophonic (music 
      with a single melody played or sung over subordinate chordal patterns - e.g. Elton John 
      singing a song's melody while playing supporting chords on the piano).  Style galant's main 
      feature was its simple, light elegance that contrasted with Late Baroque music's heavyness. 
      "Simple, dignified, and elegance" captures the essence of 18th century classicism.

      The original style galant was actually so simple it became boring and is.now rarely performed. 
      But it was galant composers who wrote the first symphonies in the 1740s.  By 1800, the year 
      Beethoven premiered his first symphony, European composers had written over 16,000! 
      symphonies and the symphony had become the most popular genre of instrumental music, 
      and it remains so to this day.


Joseph Haydn

      The person most responsible for saving the Classical era from boredom was Joseph Haydn 
      (1732 - 1809).  Beginning in the 1760s, he greatly improved the symphony.  One of Haydn's 
      improvements was to add some polyphonic counterpoint back into the new style thus making 
      the music more interesting.  Haydn also added variety and contrast to the music that produced 
      emotional changes within movements.  Haydn is widely known as "the father of the symphony."


Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 

      In late 1771, just before his 16th birthday, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (b. Jan. 27, 1756) emerged 
      as a unique composer and the second great composer of the classical era (although Mozart was a 
      child prodigy who began composing at age 6, his first decade of composing produced good works 
      that were derivative of other composers).  Mozart lived the first 25 years of his life in Salzburg, 
      Austria (although he traveled widely in Europe as the most exploited child prodogy in history). 
      Mozart moved to Vienna early in 1781 and lived his final decade there, dying on Dec. 5, 1791, 
      about seven weeks before his 36th birthday.


Mozart and Proto-romanticism

      Although the great majority of Mozart's works were in the "classical style" of emotionally positive 
      elegance, a small portion were "proto-romantic" in that they emoted darker emotions like grief, 
      despair, and tragic drama.  These pieces influenced later romantic composers like Ludwig van 
      Beethoven and Frédéric Chopin.     


The Age of Enlightenment

      The Classical era of music ("Neoclassical" in literature and the visual arts) took place during the 
      Age of Enlightenment, an 18th century flurry of new philosophy that created ideas like freedom 
      of speech and the press, separation of church and state, constitutional government, the abolition 
      of slavery, democracy, and much more.  These Enlightenment ideas and the growing power of 
      a middle economic class were significant factors in starting the French Revolution in 1789  
      (the influence of Enlightenment thinking on Mozart will be discussed later in the course).


The Piano

     Between 1772 and 1800 the piano rose to become the predominant keyboard instrument, replacing 
      the harpsichord, the clavichord, and the organ.  (Although the piano was invented c. 1700, early 
      technical issues made it unsuitable for serious music until the 1770s).  The non-aristocratic upper
      middle class (merchants, bankers), purchased pianos for their homes, the first time the children of 
      both aristocrats and ordinary people were given piano lessons.  

      Mozart can be called the "father of the piano concerto" not because he wrote the first one, but 
      because he raised its level of sophistication, making it a very popular genre.  While his chamber 
      works were perfomed primarily for aristocrats, Mozart's subscription series to his public concerts 
      of his piano concertos brought access to profound instrumental music to the general Viennese 
      public for the first time.  For a while, Mozart was one of the first successful freelance composers 
      of instrumental music in an era when most composers were essentially hired servants of the 
      aristocracy (as Haydn was for three decades).  But economic problems besieged Mozart a few 
      years later and he died in debt. 


The Decline and End of the Classical Era

      Joseph Haydn finished his last major work in 1802, 11 years after Mozart's death.  At that point, 
      Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) became the most important composer as he led the 
      transition of instrumental music from the classical style towards romantic music.

1830  -  Hector Berlioz premiers Symphonie fantastique, the first fully romantic symphony.  

              Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn, and Franz Liszt (all between 
              the ages of 19 and 21) emerge as the great early Romantic era composers.

              The Classical era, which has been waning for three decades, is now over.