Classical Music

Clear phrasing, sonata form and public concerts turned music into an art for the concert-going public.

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BaroqueRomanticSonata FormClarinet

Classical music is not a synonym for elegance. It reorganised music on clarity, proportion and public life: the court salon gave way to the ticket-selling hall, and composers wrote for listeners they would never meet.

The world behind the music

The mid-eighteenth-century Enlightenment put reason, nature and common humanity first. Enlightened rulers, the middle class and concert agents widened the market; London, Vienna and Paris gained subscription concerts and publishing. The American and French Revolutions changed patronage; musicians slowly became freelancers. Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven stand on that line.

What the music does

The Classical style wants clear syntax: four- and eight-bar phrases answer one another, and themes are memorable. Homophony leads, though counterpoint returns in development and codas. Sonata form turns contrast, development and return into architecture: the exposition presents two themes of different character, the development takes them apart, and the recapitulation brings them home to the tonic. Dynamics shift from terrace dynamics to crescendo, and orchestral colour becomes finer.

Genres and forms

Symphony grows independent of the opera overture and court entertainment, with four movements the norm: fast, slow, minuet or scherzo, finale. The string quartet puts four equal voices in chamber music, the sonata is written for keyboard or a solo instrument with piano, and the concerto highlights the soloist's technique. Opera divides into seria and buffa, the latter winning the public with everyday characters and tunes.

Instruments and forces

The piano gradually replaces the harpsichord in the late eighteenth century and becomes the instrument of home and concert hall; its dynamic range makes crescendo and diminuendo real. The clarinet enters the orchestra, the woodwind group settles, natural horn and trumpet remain tied to the harmonic series, and timpani supply rhythm and weight. Strings, woodwind, brass and timpani form the basic Classical orchestra.

Composers

• Gluck (1714–1787): opera reformer who sought dramatic truth and reduced empty display.
• Haydn (1732–1809): a founder of the symphony and string quartet, clear in structure and full of humour.
• Mozart (1756–1791): brought opera, concerto and chamber music into balance, with melody and harmony equally considered.
• Beethoven (1770–1827): began from Classical syntax and pushed motivic development, dynamics and scale toward Romanticism.

What to listen for

In a symphony's first movement, remember the two themes of the exposition, then hear the development break them into motives. In a concerto, the orchestra gives way when the soloist enters, and the soloist rebuilds order with new material. In a string quartet there is no accompaniment: if one voice stops listening, the whole texture shows it.

China, at the same time

Under the Qianlong emperor, Chinese opera and court music both flourished. In 1790 four Anhui troupes came to Beijing, where Hui and Han styles merged into what became Peking opera; kunqu remained fashionable among the elite, while pipa, qin and Jiangnan sizhu passed through local hands. Europe was making the symphony a public genre, China was bringing operatic vocal style and metre to maturity.

Sources

• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry "Classical" — dates and repertory checked, not quoted
• Philip G. Downs, Classical Music — The Era of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (Norton, 1992) — general narrative checked, not quoted
• Richard Taruskin, The Oxford History of Western Music, vol. 2 — historical context checked, not quoted

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.