Download Classical Period

Music, Art, and Architecture
1750-1830
1750-1830
 Music
 Light, clean texture, less complex than Baroque
 Contrasts are more pronounced
 Mainly homophonic (melody above harmonies)
 Art
 Soft and gentle
 Elegant and orderly
 Architecture
 The Baroque era continues in architecture
 European settlers are building America (1776!)
 Similar to art in the Baroque era
 Restrained emotion
 Eugene Delacroix (d. 1863)
 Influential in the development of the Impressionist
painters
 Often classified in the “Romantic” school of painters
(not to be confused with the Romantic era in music)
 Baroque style continued but subdued
 Architecture moves to America as the New World is
built
 Paris saw a great deal of growth during this period
 Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven
 Orchestral music is more popular than opera or sacred
 Wind instruments become more permanent members
of the orchestra
 Shorter phrases and defined cadences
 Harmony is less structured, using the tonic, dominant,
and subdominant chords
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
1756-1791
• Born in Salzburg, Austria
• Composed over 600 works
• Began composing at the age of five
• Prodigy on the violin and keyboard (clavier)
• Died young at the age of 35 after dictating
his final Requiem to a student
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1770-1827
Born in Germany but moved to Vienna to study
music
Virtuoso pianist
His hearing deteriorated in his late 20s but he
continued to compose even after he became
completely deaf
Composed during the transition from Classical to
the Romantic period in music
How is music from the Classical period different
than music written today?
2. Are any of the pieces we have played in class from the
Classical period?
3. Are there any buildings in your area that may be
from the Classical period?
1.