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Music (Western/Classical): Classical Period

About

Although the word “classical” is used widely to cover the whole canon of largely western music from the post-Roman era through to the modern age, it has a much more specific use to describe the music of the period from the mid-18th century through to the early years of the 19th. Although a relatively short time in chronological terms, the period – which extended from the end of the Baroque period to the start of the Romantic – was to see the emergence of some of the most important composers in history, including Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert.

Classical music was a reaction against the increasing complexity of Baroque music. It was a simpler style that reflected the burgeoning intellectualism of the 18th century – the Age of Enlightenment – rejecting the polyphony, counterpoint and ornamented melodies of the earlier age in favor of simple melodies with harmonic progressions. This meant that the playing of chords became much more prevalent, resulting in the tonal structure of the works becoming more audible.

The classical period. (2017). In M. Swift (Ed.), Latin American History and Culture: Classical music: an introduction. Greene Media. Credo Reference: https://ezproxy.southern.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/gmclassical/the_classical_period/0?institutionId=2258

Books

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart

Described in Germany as the 'most thought-provoking' book of the bicentennial year, Georg Knepler's acclaimed study of Mozart is now available in paperback. The book explores Mozart's life and works from many new perspectives, providing fresh insights into his music and the tempestuous times through which he lived. Based on a close reading of the family correspondence and a careful consideration of Mozart's entire musical output, the book sheds new light on the composer's creative psyche, his political leanings, his relation to the thoughts and currents of the Enlightenment, and the underlying basis of his musical expression.

Oxford Composer Companions: Haydn

In his lifetime Joseph Haydn enjoyed huge popularity throughout Europe. As a composer of symphonies, quartets, masses, and oratorios he was readily acknowledged by Mozart, Beethoven, and others as a commanding figure. He is one of the founding fathers of classical music, yet only in the last50 years have his works become available in reliable editions, and much biographical detail has come to light at the same time. Meanwhile, his music is more popular today than it has been at any time since his death.Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Haydn's death, this detailed, scholarly, and lively Companion draws together a wealth of biographical detail and expert analysis for the the first time in an accessible, engaging format. It covers Haydn's life and times, and his music, includingits performance and reception.The Companion focuses on the period of Haydn's life (1732-1809), but extends forward to the end of the 20th century, to cover Haydn's reputation in the 19th century, attempts at complete editions, and modern scholarship. 

Rossini

Gioachino Rossini was one of the most influential, as well as one of the most industrious and emotionally complex of the great nineteenth-century composers. Between 1810 and 1829, he wrote 39 operas, a body of work, comic and serious, which transformed Italian opera and radically altered the course of opera in France. His retirement from operatic composition in 1829, at the age of 37, was widely assumed to be the act of a talented but lazy man. In reality, political events and a series of debilitating illnesses were the determining factors. After drafting the Stabat Mater in 1832, Rossini wrote no music of consequence for the best part of twenty-five years, before the clouds lifted and he began composing again in Paris in the late 1850s. During this glorious Indian summer of his career, he wrote 150 songs and solo piano pieces his 'Sins of Old Age' and his final masterpiece, the Petite Messe solennelle. The image of Rossini as a gifted but feckless amateur-the witty, high-spirited bon vivant who dashed off The Barber of Seville in a mere thirteen days-persisted down the years, until the centenary of his death in 1968 inaugurated a process of re-evaluation by scholars, performers, and writers. 

Listen to Luigi Boccherini Concertos

Videos-The Classical Heritage

Listen to an Anna Amalia von Sachsen Weimar Divertimento