Music in the Age of Enlightenment

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Music in the Age of Enlightenment
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MU111 Unnerving Exam Question

• Name the
• composer
• genre (type of composition), and
• briefly explain your reaction to hearing works in
  this genre.

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J. S. Bach Fugue from The Art of the Fugue
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• Dates/Basics
• A. Classical Period Conventionally 1750-c.
  1820

Wrights end of classical Pd.
First works by Haydn Mozart in mature
classical style
Death of J. S. Bach End of Baroque
Early Classical Styles Evident

• 1750 1770 1820

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B. Period of transition btw. Baroque Clasical
(1730-1770)
1. Pre-Classical Period
2. Early Classical Period
3. Galant Period
C. High Classical Era Big 3Haydn, Mozart,
Beethoven
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• Dates/Basics (cont.)

D. Classical Era in Music Age of
Enlightenment/Reason
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II. Social and Cultural Background to
the Classical Era
A. Enlightenment Ideals Reason Equality
1. Equality of Access to Ideas
2. Political Equality
3. Social Equality
4. Equality of Taste
B. Musical Consequences of Equality New
Audience
1. Rise of Public Concerts
Increased
Importance for Instrumental music
2. Comic opera (opera buffa)
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II. Social and Cultural Background to
the Classical Era
A. Enlightenment Ideals Reason Equality
1. Equality of Access to Ideas
2. Political Equality
3. Social Equality
4. Equality of Taste
B. Musical Consequences of Equality New
Audience
1. Rise of Public Concerts
Increased
Importance for Instrumental music
2. Comic opera (opera buffa)
3. 18th-cent. as the Age of the Dilettante
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(No Transcript)
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II. Social and Cultural Background to
the Classical Era
A. Enlightenment Ideals 1. Equality
1. Equality of Access to Ideas
2. Political Equality
3. Social Equality
4. Equality of Taste
B. Musical Consequences of Equality New
Audience
1. Rise of Public Concerts
Increased
Importance for Instrumental music
2. Comic opera (opera buffa)
3. 18th-cent. as the Age of the Dilettante
4. Simplification short phrases
symmetrical phrases melody
accompaniment texture (not complex counterpoint)
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II. Social and Cultural Background to
the Classical Era (cont.)
C. Enlightenment Ideals 2. Reason/Rational
Thought
(Esp. logic, unity, order, proportion)
D. Musical Analog Symmetry, Repetition,
Antecedant- Consequent Phrases
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C. Enlightenment Ideals 2. Reason/Rational
Thought
D. Musical Consequences
Symmetry, Repetition, Antecedant-Consequent
Phrases
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II. Social and Cultural Background to
the Classical Era (cont.)
E. Enlightenment Ideals 3. Fascination with
Nature and The
Natural
F. Musical Consequences
1. Rejection of the artificial
2. Emphasis on the facile, comprehensible
(rejection of complexity, esp. counterpoint)
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III. Musical Style in the Classical Era
A. Melody
1. Phrases often stated, then repeated (w or w/o
variation)
2. Sections connected by transition (theme vs.
filler)
3. Phrases marked off by clear cadences
4. Antecedent/Conseqent pairs common
5. Classical Melodies shorter, simpler, discrete
sub-phrases
B. Rhythm
1. Baroque driving, uniform rhythms rejected
instead changes/contrasts in surface rhythm
2. Changes/contrasts can be abrupt or gradual
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III. Musical Style in the Classical Era (cont.)
C. Dynamics
1. Specified more by composers
2. Gradual changes (crescendo/diminuendo) more
important
3. Volume not an ornament but structurally
important
D. Harmony
1. Similar to Baroque (mainly diatonic)
2. Harmony frequently changes more slowly
(harmonic rhythm)
E .Texture
1. Homophonic/Melody Accompaniment
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IV. Vienna and the Mature Classical Style
(after 1770)
A. Haydn, Mozart (1770s), later Beethoven (from
1790s)
B. Vienna as Cultural Crossroads
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Classical Period Conventionally 1750-1820
Death of J. S. Bach End of Baroque
Wrights End of Classical Pd.
First Works Of Haydn Mozart in Mature
Classical Style
Early Classical Styles Evident

• 1750 1770 1820

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IV. Vienna and the Mature Classical Style
(after 1770)
A. Haydn, Mozart (1770s), later Beethoven (from
1790s)
B. Vienna as Cultural Crossroads
C. Retain Virtues of Enlightenment
values (lucid, widely intelligible)
But re-introduce complexity for expressive effect

• Irregularity/disruption gains expressive effect

• Reintegration of imitation/polyphony

• Gradual changes project changing emotions

• Reintroduce chromaticism

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• D. Bottom Line on High Classical Style
• Retain clarity, lucidity, wide appeal of early
  classical style
• Reintroduce Complexity.
• (And against background of simple, complex
  moments gain in expressive power!)

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Small hint of whats in store Mozart Symphony
No. 39 in E-flat Major (finale)
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(No Transcript)