Module 7 Flashcards
Johann Sebastian Bach
- One of the greatest composers from the early stages of the era
- His work helped to bridge the gap between the Baroque period and the Classical period, and as such, many music historians end the Baroque period with his death
Richard Wagner
- One of the greatest from the end of the era
- Whose operas drip with glorification of the German past
When most people think of classical music is actually from three different periods
- Baroque (1600-1750)
- Classical (1750-1820)
- Romantic (1820-1910)
Classical period
1750-1820
Classical Era
-1600-1910
The Renaissance
-Saw the birth of more complicated ways of creating music
Harpsicord
-Which greatly expanded the number of notes that could be played
Stradivari
-Were also during the Renaissance era
Monteverdi
-Who helped transition into the Baroque period for the Renaissance
Handel
-Who wrote his piece Messiah during the Baroque period
The great masters of the Classical period are known even to those who don’t follow music
- Mozart
- Haydn
- Beethoven
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
-One of the first composers to really show a sense of humor in music
-Symphony Number 94
~ A loud cord grabs a listener from a lull
-Was the oldest of the three and a friend and mentor of Mozart and Beethoven
-Grew up near Vienna in the Austrian countryside
-At the age of seven, he embarked on a musical education, working as a choir boy at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna
-Vienna was a musical epicenter during the classical period
-Going to Vienna to learn music was sort of like going to Hollywood to get into the movies
-Haydn started a job as a music director at the court of a Hungarian aristocrat, Prince Paul Esterhazy (was one of the highest profile jobs a musician could do during that time)
-He wrote music and organized concerts for the family as a leader of staff musicians, he was known as a warm, kind director
-His orchestra loved him and nicknamed him Papa Haydn
-He spent 30 years working of the Esterhazy family, and the music he wrote for them gained him international fame
-His works included instrumental music like symphonies and string quartets, as well as vocal music like operas and sacred pieces
-Haydn is also remarkable for being one of the funniest composers in music history
-He loved to write gag pieces like the surprise symphony a work that lulls its audience with gentle music only to freak them out with a sudden blast of sound
-Haydn contemporaries considered him the greatest composer of his time, Haydn assigned that top slot to his younger friend Mozart
Ludwig von Beethoven (1770-1827)
-Grew up in Bonn, Germany
-His short-short-short-long initial in Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony remains one of the most easily recognized pieces of music in history
-Mastered the elegant classical style then pushed it to it’s limits
-Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792, where he studied compositions with Haydn and began working as a pianist and teacher for aristocratic patrons
-He gained reputation around Vienna for powerful moving piano playing and for an incredibly nasty temper
-The temper had to do with the gradual hearing loss that began in his twenties
-Beethoven’s deafness ended his career as a pianist, but made him determined to express himself to the world through composition
-His fifth symphony portrays a dynamic musical journey from the dark key of C minor to the triumphing key of C major
~Many believe that is expresses Beethoven’s own determination to overcome his adverse fate
-Through his symphonies, piano sonatas, and other works. Beethoven injected classical style with a new level of dramatic intensity
-Later composers looked to him as a model of a brand new concept; that the idea that music can express a composers own personal story
-Beethoven’s life and music helped inspire musical romanticism, a style which dominated in the mid to late 19th century
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-17910
-Was born in Salzburg, Austria
-Known for his genius (he composed his first piece at age 5)
-He could play the harpsicord and compose by the age of six
-Before he was 20, he was already working as a court musician for a powerful archbishop in Salzburg
-In 1781 he quite his job to be a freelance musician in Vienna
-In Vienna, Mozart published compositions, concert ties as a pianist, and had his opera produced
-He had a happy marriage with the singer Constanza Weber
-Mozart and Haydn played in a string quartet on Haydn’s days off.
-Mozart died of a sudden fever right when he was writing operas and symphonies of unprecedented emotional power
-Operas (mainly The Marriage of Figaro)
-One of the top composers of the Classical Era
-Wrote music of all types
~Song
~String quartets
~Church music
~Outdoor Saron aids
-Created more than 40 symphonies in his lifetime
-Wrote 27 pianoconcerti
Romantic Period
- New instruments became availed
- Especially brass instruments
- Music became much more secular
- Composers use music to tell stories and communicate passionate emotion
Dvorak
-Bohemia
