Download Chapter 20-- Important Composers and Events of the Classical Era

Chapter 20-- Important Composers and
Events of the Classical Era
Illustration 1: Manuscript of Opening of Mozart's Requiem (courtesy of the
Petrucci Music Library)
SOME IMPORTANT EVENTS OF THE CLASSICAL ERA
Franklin's discoveries of electricity
Rousseau's Social Contract
American Revolution
Industrial Revolution
Kant - Critique of Pure Reason
French Revolution
Napoleon and Waterloo
First steamship crosses Atlantic
Monroe Doctrine
Vaccination
Cotton gin
REPRESENTATIVE COMPOSERS AND MUSIC OF
THE CLASSICAL ERA
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN (1732 – 1809)
Haydn was born into a musical family in Austria and followed the tradition. If anyone
deserves to be called lucky, it would be Haydn. He was blessed with an unusually long
life for someone of the era, as well as the good fortune of being employed for nearly
thirty some years by the Esterhazy family, one of the richest musical patrons of the era.
Haydn was also blessed with a great musical talent.
For musicians and the roles they played in society, it was a time of transition. To make a
living in the profession, one couldn't yet rely on royalties from recordings, or even rely
on sales of music to publishers. The tradition was that musicians were hired by the very
wealthy, often called "patrons". The wealthiest would often keep an entire orchestra in
their employ. As mentioned above, Haydn was fortunate to have a very wealthy patron
that kept him secure and allowed him to write a lot of music. In Haydn's later life the
patronage system was dying out as freelancing became the common way of making a
living. Haydn, perhaps the most famous musician of his era, was successful at selling
music to publishers, even collaborating on concerts of his music in London where he
was paid very well.
Even if his music was not as brash and radical as that of Beethoven (who was his pupil),
or as profound and probing as Mozart's (who was a good friend of his), Haydn's music
shows a very solid structure that was an important part of the Classical era. It contains a
great deal of variety, beauty, and on occasion, a puckish sense of humor. For example,
one of his symphonies contains a thunderous burst of volume in the middle of a very
quiet passage, meant to wake up anyone in the audience who had fallen asleep. Another
has directions for members of the orchestra to get up and leave two by two--he was
suggesting to his patron that they all could use a vacation. Another is written from the
viewpoint of an absent-minded old man who forgets what he is doing from time to
time--including while he is writing the music of the symphony! .
Haydn was an important innovator. History has given him the titles of "father of the
symphony", "father of the orchestra", and "father of the string quartet". Over the course
of his life he was instrumental in the development of the sonata form, the sonata cycle
and helped to begin the tradition of modern orchestral playing.
He made use of a lot of folk music in his compositions, specifically much from Croatia,
leading to the modern speculation that his ancestry was not German, but Croatian.
Composing over 100 symphonies (Beethoven composed only nine of them), he also
composed oratorios (The Creation" is his most famous), over 80 string quartets, operas,
masses, and a large body of piano music. At his death, Haydn was mourned as one of the
great musical superstars of his time.
RECOMMENDED MUSIC: Symphony No. 88; Trumpet Concerto; Symphonies No. 99 -- 104;
"Emperor" Quartet; The Creation; Mass in Time of War.
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756 – 1791)
Mozart may be the most outstanding example of an inborn musical gift in recorded
human history. He began to play the piano at the age of three and composed a concerto
at the age of five. His musical hearing and understanding is such that he remembered
and copied an score of another composer (including all parts) after hearing it once. The
second time he heard it he made some minor corrections and then took the score to show
the dumbfounded conductor who had been keeping the music secret. (The composition
was "Miserere" by Allegri.)
Talent such as this overwhelmed those around him. Even today in the era of
psychological research, his genius is one of the mysteries of the human species. For one
who cranked out so much music in a very short lifetime, a large portion of his music is
still actively performed. He mastered virtually every medium of music of the time, and
in addition to over forty symphonies, nearly thirty piano concerti, much chamber music
and many solo sonatas, he is known for his operas which include Don Giovanni (a
retelling of the story of Don Juan), The Magic Flute, Cosi Fan Tutti, The Marriage of
Figaro, etc.
His musical gifts will probably never be comprehended or duplicated. Some musicians
go as far as saying that a talent such as Mozart's happens once in the human species. He
was able to write out the parts of an orchestral score or even actually compose while he
was talking or joking with someone else. With a little bit of poetic license, one might say
that his life was one endless melody, because it's hard to imagine when he had much
time to do anything else, let alone write the music that he did. His life was full of
extreme hardship and often sadness, but his music almost never betrays this fact. Due to
poverty, (a great deal of it his own fault), he was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave.
His monument is his music which remains as alive as it ever was and is one of the true
treasures of Western civilization.
The recent play (and movie) "Amadeus", written by Peter Shaffer, is a very fictionalized
account of Mozart's life and the life of a rival composer, Antonio Salieri. While there are
some historical details presented in wonderful accuracy, the relationship between the
two composers and their personalities has little or no basis in actual fact. Mozart was
portrayed as an impish foul-mouthed man with a filthy sense of humor. Historic
evidence suggests that there is a some truth to this image, but there was certainly much
more to the personality of such a genius. Mozart's music often sounds as it had come
from an angelic source and common sense tells us that his "frat boy" character in the
film is inaccurate.
RECOMMENDED MUSIC: Don Giovanni, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Serenade in Bb, 361; Symphony
No. 40; Piano Concerto No. 21; Concerto for Two Pianos; Piano Sonata in A, K. 331; Variations on
"Ah, Vous Dirai-Je, Maman?"; Overture to "The Marriage of Figaro"
GIOACCHINO ROSSINI (1792 – 1868)
Rossini lived in France for a few years and studied the French style of composition of
opera. During this period he wrote the grand opera "William Tell", which takes about
five hours to perform if done without any cuts. Although the opera itself is not
performed very often, the overture has become very popular and you will probably
recognize most of it.
Rossini was considered one of the best composers of "opera buffa" (comic opera). He
developed a new light, melodious, and enchanting opera style. He was also a very
prolific composer. Some of his best known compositions are the operas "The Barber of
Seville, William Tell, Othello. (based on the play of the same name by Shakespeare).
After 1829, because of deteriorating health, he ceased composition except for a few
religious works--but regardless of this, his niche in history was complete by that time.
RECOMMENDED COMPOSITIONS: Overtures to William Tell, The Barber of Seville, La Gazza
Ladra, and others.
OTHER RECOMMENDED CLASSICAL COMPOSITIONS
Piano Concerto No. 2 -- L. Beethoven
Symphony No. 1 -- L. Beethoven
Illustration 2: Manuscript of "The Creation", an oratorio by
Franz Joseph Haydn (courtesy of Petrucci Music Library)
Material copyright 2016 by Gary Daum, all rights reserved. All photos and illustrations by Gary Daum unless otherwise
noted. Unlimited use granted to current members of the Georgetown Prep community.