Music In the Classical Era
A Summary of the Term and My Reflections
The Classical Era was a time of great change, not only in music but in society at large. While the trends that gave rise to the Era are typical of societal and cultural change in general, there were also some very unique developments and trends in the Classical Era that make it all the more fascinating.
An Introduction to the Classical Era
The Classical Era is largely noted as beginning in 1750 with the death of J.S. Bach, but historical periods are rarely so clearly demarcated. In fact, there was significant overlap between the earlier Baroque Era into the Classical Era, as well as from the Classical Era into the later Romantic Era. One truism is that the philosophies and aesthetics that dominate the arts run parallel to those of society at large. With the significant role the arts play in society, then, it is sometimes interesting to ponder whether significant political and cultural change have a parallel impact on the arts, or vice versa.
Regardless of the order of cause and effect, the latter half of the eighteenth Century was a time of great political upheaval and social change in Europe. The Enlightenment, a philosophical movement in western Europe, brought about a return to the values of the ancient Greeks and Romans.
The Baroque Era, which lasted from 1600 to 1750, was characterized by music which had an affect on the listener’s emotions. In fact, many Baroque composers were guided by the Doctrine of Affections, a philosophy that certain keys in music elicited a predetermined emotional response in the listener. J.S. Bach is one of the prime examples of this notion. Whether there is truth to it or not, it demonstrates that Baroque composers were guided by the heart. Baroque composers engaged in Fortschpenung, which is a long drawing out of musical ideas characterized by long periods of tension followed by long periods of relaxation, much like an accordion.
Classical composers, however, were guided by the head. In fact, as the philosophical thinking of Europe evolved, it did so almost as a direct response to the Baroque Era. This was so much the case that it became almost taboo to sound too Baroque or to even acknowledge the existence of the Baroque. History tends to be a battle between extremes, where moderation rarely rears its ugly head. Whatever is in vogue tends to be so at the expense of whatever is not, and while individuals may have their personal preferences, the intellectual and artistic elite is validated or spurned based upon how well they conform to the current style. Such was the case in the Classical Era as the artistic world revolted against the Baroque in its return to Greek and Roman ideals.
The philosophical aspiration toward Greek and Roman ideals focused more heavily on intellect than on emotion. The philosophies of the Enlightenment focused on simplicity and order, and the music of the Classical Era was guided by that ideal, and was best characterized by the stye of Haydn. Music took on the characteristics of simple melodies, slower harmonic rhythm, and clear cadences. As the art of Oratory was important to the Greeks, so did that skill translate into Classical music with the music designed to mimic the style of the skilled orator.
As a result of the Enlightenment, European society began to focus its attention on human rights and tensions began to grow as discontent with the aristocracy grew. This boiled over in France in 1789 with the beginning of the French Revolution. As the revolutionary ripples of the French Revolution spread throughout Europe, the steadfast aristocratic landscape began to change. Royal houses began to lose power, influence, and wealth while ordinary people began to enjoy more freedom and opportunity. This brought about great change in the musical world as well.
Where composers were primarily employed by either the Church or in royal houses into the Classical Era, composers began to have opportunities to work as freelancers. This began a shift toward independence from royal influence for musicians, a characteristic that may have contributed to the development of music into future musical periods. After all, as the royal audience shrunk and the proletariat audience grew, composers had to begin writing music that appealed to general audiences. The tastes of the Common Man have always been divergent from those of the wealthy, so it only goes to follow that the music written for the Common Man would differ from that written for royalty.
The Classical Era, though, was a period of transition where the old patronage system was crumbling while the arts became more accessible to the average citizen. During this transitional period, though, the artistic world was largely influenced by those with aspirations to wealth who shared the philosophical ideals of the Enlightenment. Perhaps those who felt the ideas of the Enlightenment sounded good, but who were too comfortable in their large homes and tailored suits to abandon them.
It was during this time in France that the Rococo and Galant movements came into vogue. The Rococo period in arts, architecture, and fashion was a time of flash and useless frivolity. The fashion of the say was referred to as Galant and was characterized by useless ornamentations which existed purely for the sake of decoration and appearance. The best word to describe the ideal of the Rococo is “elegant.” Everything was done in the name of elegance.
There were three main cultural centers and source of influence during the Classical Era. Italy was of significant importance, as it had been for some time. It became the main center of opera during the Classical Era. France was the second major source of influence of the era, and was largely responsible for the Rococo period and Galant style. The final region of significant influence during the Classical Era was Germany. Some of the most interesting and dynamic changes were occurring in Germany, and the ripples of the waves Germany would make were felt deep into the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.
Two contrasting schools of musical thought developed during the Classical Era, Empfindsamer stil and Sturm und Drang. Empfindsamer stil was a style of sensitivity and emotionalism. The Empfindsamer school saw the first uses of dynamic contrast within musical ideas, with the first crescendos and decrescendos used in music. While the style was serene and calm, it did make use of calculated surprises, such as in the Haydn’s Surprise Symphony. Another development of the Empfindsamer stil was to include contrast within movements, as opposed to the Baroque period where contrast was only seen between movements.
Sturm und Drang was a direct outgrowth of the Mannheim School, which was named for the musicians employed by the Court of Mannheim. The palace at Mannheim was built by Carl Theodor, the Elector of the Palatinate, as an imitation of Versailles and he endeavored to collect the greatest musicians of the time as his employees. Described by some as an “Army of Generals,” the orchestra at Mannheim was comprised of a group of the finest musicians, each of whom had ample talent to be the leader of the group. They were something of a collective of musical genius, and they were led by Johann Stamitz.
Stamitz was one of the most influential composers of the time, although he seems to have been forgotten by time. He wrote approximately 74 symphonies and encouraged the unique style of the Mannheim School. Sturm und Drung, which was the musical style of the Mannheim School and translates to “storm and stress,” was quite the contrast to the Classical ideal. Where Empfindsamer and the rest of the Classical world were concerned with refinement, simplicity, elegance, and intellect, Sturm und Drang was focused on less reservation and more emotional turmoil. To the twenty-first Century listener, Stamitz’s music sounds more like Beethoven than it does like his contemporaries. While the current of the musical world seemed to be flowing in the direction of the reserved character of the rest of Classical music, Sturm und Drang can be seen to have sewn the seeds for the music which would later evolve into the Romantic Era.
The Big Three - Plus One
The Classical Era saw the dominance of three figures, and the influence of a fourth. The most significant musical influences of the time, as history would suggest, were Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig von Beethoven. There is a fourth, however, who mainstream music lovers would not typically recognize, but played a significant role in the development of Classical music, as well as influencing all the other Big Three. That fourth was Carl Philip Emanuel Bach.
Carl Philip Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)
CPE Bach was the main representative of the Empfindsamer stil. He was also one of the prime influences in the attitude of scorn toward the Baroque Era. Perhaps it was an act of defiance against his father, the most influential of the Baroque composers, or perhaps it was simply a shift in aesthetic, but CPE Bach felt that there was no value in Baroque music, which was one of the prime reasons his father’s music fell out of favor and was ultimately forgotten for decades. It is, therefore, karmically ironic that, as his father’s music was rediscovered and appreciation and reverence for it grew, CPE Bach’s music fell by the wayside and was largely forgotten.
While CPE Bach’s music has not survived in the same way as Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven’s, it was nonetheless of supreme significance and incredibly influential during the time. Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven cited CPE Bach as major influences on them and their music, each having either studied with him or studied him extensively. As such, while his music does not have the same long-term sustainability as that of his successors, he deserves to be mentioned as one of the significant influences of the Classical Era, if not one of its founding fathers.
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Unlike many of his well-known contemporaries, Haydn was not born into a musical family. He was born on the Austrian-Croatian border to a wheelwright, however he was a wheelwright who recognized his son’s talent at a young age and endeavored to foster it. This underscores one of the significant differences between eighteenth Century European society and twenty-first Century American society. While it cannot be said that every eighteenth Century European family was as sensitive to artistic potential, nor as supportive in nurturing it (Bedrich Smetana being a fine example of that idea in the nineteenth Century), music was generally thought of differently in those times, and children who showed talent often found their ways into the tutelage of fine instructors who would then help provide a living for that child through music. Haydn was an example of this phenomenon.
He was sent to study with his cousin, who was a choirmaster, at the age of six. He stayed there learning to sing for three years before moving to St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. Haydn flourished at St. Stephen’s and was coveted as a soloist. Coveted, that is, until he reached puberty and his voice changed. Despite being a troublemaker Haydn was still musically gifted, so he continued studying and eventually began composing. His first compositions, which could best be described as string quartets, were composed at age 18. After that, he enjoyed a long life with great financial success, in part because of that long life and in part because of his employment with the House of Esterhazy.
Prince Paul Esterhazy heard one of his early symphonies and was so impressed that he offered Haydn a job with his court. While the Enlightenment brought about the decline and eventual fall of the royal patronage system, Haydn was an exception to that trend, working for House Esterhazy for the better part of his life. He served as Kapelmeister for the Esterhazy, which afforded him the opportunity to live somewhat in seclusion from the rest of the musical world until his retirement. This enabled him to develop his own unique style which did not necessarily track with what the rest of the musical world was doing at the time.
Haydn’s body of work was rather impressive. He was considered the “Father of the Symphony” because he composed 106 of the works. His symphonies, as well as his music in general, typified the Classical Era and the ideals of the Enlightenment. It is not surprising, though, that his music remained simple and decidedly Classical in nature because he composed exclusively for the Esterhazy, so he would naturally compose music which appealed to the Prince and his court. Along with being considered the “Father of the Symphony,” Haydn was also considered the “Father of the string quartet” because of both the body of work he composed for the ensemble as well as the developments he made in the form. As the “father” of two such significant musical forms, it is no wonder Mozart referred to him as Papa Haydn.
In addition to being a fine composer, Haydn was also something of a practical joker. This trait manifested itself in his compositions in the form of certain “calculated surprises.” One example would be his “Farewell” Symphony, which he composed as something of a joke to send a message to the Prince. The Prince had spent the summer at his gorgeous new palace, but was late returning to Vienna. The court musicians, who were largely separated from their families while in the relative seclusion of the Esterhazy palace, were getting restless and wanted to return home. As a not-so-subtle reminder to the Prince that it was time to leave, Haydn composed a symphony where each individual musician would blow out the candle on his stand and walk off stage during the fourth movement until only the concertmaster remained.
The court returned to Vienna the following day.
Haydn’s contributions to Classical music were profound. Even though, he lived in relative seclusion with the Esterhazy, he had a major impact on the other two giants of the Era. He was a friend, according to some accounts a close friend, of Mozart’s and Beethoven was a student of his. He was also profoundly influential because of the way his music changed as he neared the end of his life. After “retiring” from the service of the Esterhazy, he traveled around Europe. During his travels, he visited London and was deeply affected by the trip. His first trip to London was in 1790 and he later returned in 1794. During and after that first visit, Haydn wrote several symphonies which came to be known as his “London” symphonies (numbers 93-104).
These symphonies contained a richer, more emotional character and were very well-received by the public. It is arguable that his commercial success during these trips paved the way for the continued decline of the royal patronage system, but it also stands as another example of Haydn’s success. In general, though, Haydn’s music, like his life, was relatively simple and chaste, epitomizing the Classical ideal. The same cannot be said of his young friend, Mozart.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born the son of Leopold Mozart, the preeminent violin teacher of the time. It is no wonder, then, that he was musically gifted and encouraged in those gifts by his father, some might even say driven. Mozart, though, is considered by many to be one of the greatest musical minds in the history of Western art music. He was a child prodigy who traveled throughout Europe with his father, playing for royalty and establishing quite a name for himself at a young age. That name was everything from “genius” by his admirers, to “trained monkey” by his detractors.
He was one of the more prolific writers of any era with an uncanny ability to write epic pieces in a rather short period of time. There is a story of Wolfgang and Leopold visiting St. Peter’s Basilica, where they heard the revered Misere by Gregorio Allegre. The piece was something of a guarded secret by the Vatican, so nobody outside of the Vatican was permitted to see the score. After Mozart’s father expressed regret at being unable to study the score, Mozart stayed up all night and transcribed the entire score for his father. He was 14 years-old at the time.
Mozart composed a prodigious amount of work during his short lifetime, with significant works in the symphonic repertoire, chamber music with his divertimenti, serenades, and quartets, and solo instrumental music, largely on piano. He was also one of the most significant figures in the world of Classical opera, bringing new concepts of style, flare, and drama to the operatic world. Mozart often included hidden thematic material in his operas, such as his references to the freemasons, of which he was a member. He did not enjoy consistent financial security during his lifetime, probably due largely to his frivolous nature and poor business sense, but his estate enjoyed enormous financial success shortly after his death under the direction of Constanze, his shrewd widow.
The two most interesting philosophical considerations with respect to Mozart were his final year and his incomparable genius. His final year was one of a significant amount of music. Arguably his best operatic work, Die Zauberflöte, was composed in that year, as well as his unfinished Requiem. The music of his later years carries with it a greater sense of seriousness, intensity, and complexity, where some of his earlier music seems somewhat formulaic. It is interesting to consider because the same trend can be seen in the music of many great composers, Haydn and Beethoven being two examples. The great philosophical question in that regard is whether that is the case because of a natural evolution and growth which comes from more experience, or from some profound understanding derived from the composer’s conscious or subconscious knowledge of his mortality.
The second fascinating study with respect to Mozart is his uncanny ability to compose music so quickly and completely by ear. This is likely due to a tremendous mathematical genius, though, and not a musical one. One of the vogue philosophies of the time was ars combinatoria, which was the idea that everything in the world could be broken down into smaller and smaller parts until they were more easily understandable, thereby providing and more meaningful understanding of the world at large.
This philosophy extended to music with the notion that music could be broken down into smaller parts in order to understand the whole. A piece could be broken down into sections, those sections could be broken down into phrases, those phrases could be broken down into periods, and those periods into measures. Mozart supposedly implemented this philosophy in a dice game at some point during his life. The dice game included hundreds of pre-composed individual measures and a graph correlating rolls of the dice with particular measures. While this may seem like a fascinating and foreign idea at first, further reflection shows that it is not so remarkable, as was the whole idea of ars combinatoria.
Many theorists analyze a piece as a dynamic flow from tonic to dominant and back to tonic again. This suggests that there is a certain flow throughout a piece. An eight measure phrase can be thought of as the same way. Studying the pre-composed measures in the dice game shows that there are certain characteristics representative of the first, fourth, fifth, and final measures of the phrases because these are the tonic-dominant-tonic points in the phrase, as well as the cadential point of the phrase. It is apparent, then, that all the first measures in the game are fairly similar and comprise mere variations of each other. This is necessary so that they can flow seamlessly into the next measure, each of those being mere variations of each and so on. This makes a relatively random “game” seem more complicated than it is.
The same might be said of Mozart’s music in general. If he were able to see the simple math of the music and viewed it in this micromanaged manner, it explains not only why much of his music sounds so similar, but also suggests that it was a conscious decision and Mozart knew his music was rather formulaic. So what does this say about Mozart’s personality? It suggests that he was a man who understand the mechanics of how music worked better than his peers, knew how unique that gift was, enjoyed the acclaim it brought him, and was insecure about himself and bored because he knew how simple his music really was. This further suggests that the maturing Mozart, in his final year, began to grow and evolve as a composer in ways that hinted at a greater musical voice and sensitivity, thereby explaining the emotional nature of his final pieces. It also might explain why this prolific writer was unable to complete his Requiem. He was no longer going off the script, so he was not able to compose as quickly as usual.
Regardless of the result of these musings, Mozart was a remarkable figure whose genius and personality have captivated the world constantly since his emergence on the musical scene. Perhaps Mozart’s later growth as a musician provided some of the inspiration for subsequent composers to explore the emotional nature of music, musicians such as Beethoven.
Ludwig von Beethoven (1770-1827)
Beethoven is a remarkable musical figure because he is considered both a Classical composer and a Romantic composer. He, in fact, is largely credited for creating the Romantic Era, although hints of the Romantic style can be found as early as Johann Stamitz. He began his compositional career as a decidedly Classical composer, although his early compositions still hint at the Beethoven that was to come, and he became a purely Romantic composer by the end of his life.
Beethoven’s most important contributions to the world of music came through the symphony and his piano music. His mastery of the symphonic form was so complete, in fact, that he became the standard by which future symphonic composers were held to. A student of Haydn’s, Beethoven’s early work somewhat reflect his influence and the influence of the Classical ideal. Beethoven was born around the time of the French Revolution, though, and the winds of change were sweeping through Europe through is youth.
Beethoven was a powerfully emotional person and he seemed to gravitate toward the idea of departing from the restraint of the Classical Era. Even during his first period, which was decidedly Classical in nature, he was developing a style and sowing the seeds which would later blossom into a new movement in music. While reliant upon the Classical form, the music from his first phase contained significant Expansion, a musical idea of stretching out musical ideas, as he began stretching out those ideas to previously unheard-of lengths. Beethoven also developed a feeling for long-range movement, which gave his music the feeling of striving toward something without ever arriving. He also continued the trend of slowing down the harmonic rhythm of music, which was a trend from the Baroque to the Classical Eras.
Beethoven’s second period, though, displayed some remarkable changes in terms of his harmonic “vocabulary.” He began to employ many different theme groups and focus on variation of specific motives, all while moving away from the traditional tonic-dominant relationship. This led into his third period where he employed the concept of Expansion to an even greater extreme. His compositions became so long that many audiences of his age became confused and disinterested by them, characterized by long and complex Development sections which spun out motives to the extreme.
His music, however, had a powerful impact on other composers of his age. It is as if he had given the rest of the world permission to pour their true selves onto the paper and write from the heart. He was, for the example, a profound inspiration for a young Richard Wagner, who was completely inspired by a hearing of Fidelio, and Wagner’s music reflects not only Beethoven’s sense of experimentation but also of passion and intensity.
Outside of the symphonic world, one of Beethoven’s most important contributions was to the development of the piano. The piano of Beethoven’s time, the pianoforte, was a much different instrument from the concert Steinways of today. Aside from being a lighter-weight instrument, the sound was also different. The Classical pianoforte did not have the same resonance and swell of sound that today’s piano has. As a result, it is interesting to consider how a Beethoven piano sonata would have sounded on a pianoforte in comparison to how it sounds today. This demonstrates why performance practice is such an important subject.
Beethoven’s music is known for its extreme and sudden changes of dynamic, both in ensemble works and solo instrumental works. Wind and strong instruments are unique from the piano in that each sound, in addition to each note, is completely independent. This means that when a trumpet player stops blowing into his instrument, the sound emanating from the instrument stops immediately and almost completely. The piano is unique in this regard because the structure of the piano and the ringing of the strings creates resonance and residual sound much in the way a note on a guitar rings after the string is plucked.
This means that in order to effectuate a change in dynamic from fortissimo to piano, the artist must stop the vibration of the strings in order to make the difference in dynamic appreciable. This was not so much a problem on the pianoforte because it had a swift decay enabling a smoother transition from one dynamic level to the next. On the modern piano, though, it takes some finesse and manipulation. It also takes a consciousness of the difference so that a performer might begin to understand what Beethoven wanted in particular passages. What, then, does this say about performance practice in general?
Taken to extremes, a dedicated musician should then ask what the conventions of the time were with respect to every instrument. Orchestra seating was different in that day, so how would that affect a modern performance of a piece? Articulation was treated differently at that time, so should a performer endeavor to learn all he can about that aspect of performance practice or should he adopt a more modern approach? There are few composers who present such interesting puzzles for the musical academic as Beethoven.
Beethoven was also largely responsible for the growth of musical form analysis, a fact which music theory students around the world are grateful for. His music was so complex, his harmonic vocabulary so extensive and innovative, and his ideas so revolutionary that nobody understood them. It required formal analysis to begin to comprehend their complexity.
This raises another interesting question. Beethoven was not as prolific a composer as Mozart, but his music demonstrates greater thought and care than does Mozart’s. Where Beethoven’s early music follows the forms of the Classical Era, it is really more a function of form where Mozart’s is more of formula. Who, then, is the greater genius? Beethoven chose a different musical path from Mozart, but perhaps he would have been every bit as prolific as Mozart if he had chosen a similar path. Either that, or he likely would have been lost to time as one of the countless composers who emulated Mozart’s style and the landscape of music would not be what it is today.
Beethoven was a complete master of the symphonic form, and it is interesting to consider what he might have accomplished had he lived longer. What music might have come from his mind if he had completed a Tenth Symphony? Beethoven was a man who believed himself to be unique and truly epitomized the spirit of the French Revolution. He truly conceived of all people as being equal and refused to believe himself any less worthy a person than the nobility. This earned him a measure of respect during his lifetime, but also ensured him a lasting place in the history of music.
Important Musical Forms of the Classical Era
There were three significant types of music during the Classical Era; opera, the symphony, and chamber music. These forms were largely a byproduct of the culture of the day and the ways in which audiences listened to music.
Classical Opera
It became very much in vogue for the aristocratic audiences of the Classical Era to make appearances at the opera. This was a unique dynamic, though, because where audiences of other forms would typically treat concerts as social events, opera audiences were very attentive. Part of this may have been the venue and the fact that operas were presented at theaters, but another part of it is likely that operas were more accessible to audiences than purely instrumental music because they included dialogue, dancing, and drama.
Italian opera developed from the Baroque form thanks to La serva padrona, an opera thought to bridge the gap between the Baroque and Classical periods. Originally an intermezzo for a larger work, it eventually came to be performed as a standalone piece. There were only two characters in the opera with speaking roles, which was and still is unique. La serva padrona took a lighter approach to opera and served as a precursor to the Opera Buffa, or Italian comic opera. While comic in nature, Italian opera was very serious in its dramatic treatment and pundits of the Italian school maintain that school to be representative of the height of operatic achievement.
Proponents of French opera might have something to say about that notion. French opera in the Classical Era was largely influenced by the Rococo and Galant styles. It was characterized by useless frivolities in costume and set design, it focused more on fantasy and elegance, and the music emphasized simplicity, an overarching ideal of the Enlightenment. As the great French writer and philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau once remarked, “Hearing more than one melody at once is like hearing more than one conversation at once.” Therefore, French opera mimicked that simplistic sensibility.
Classical Symphonic Music
The symphony was the quintessential musical form of the Classical Era, much as the piano was the quintessential instrument of the Romantic Era. Over 12,000 symphonies were written between 1720 and 1810. This is an incredible volume of symphonic music, most of which has been all but forgotten by the modern Classical music devotee. The predecessor to the symphony was the Italian Overture, which was comprised of three contrasting movements - a fast movement, followed by a slow movement, then concluded with a fast movement.
While Haydn was considered the Father of the Symphony, Mozart was a prolific symphonic writer in his own right, and Beethoven is considered by most to be the master of the symphonic form, there were nonetheless several other important symphonic composers of the Classical Era. While his name has not enjoyed the staying power of the Big Three, Giovanni Battista Sammartini was one of the most important Italian symphonic composers of the time and was responsible for much of the development of the Classical sonata. No discussion of the symphonic form would be complete, though, without mention of Johann Stamitz. Composer of 74 symphonies and the founder of the Mannheim School, his music exerted a powerful influence over the development of music and the symphonic form throughout the Classical Era and into the Romantic.
Many of the important developments in symphonic literature came from Austria and Germany, which became the centers of symphonic music during the Classical Era. The Mannheim School was responsible for enlarging the symphonic orchestra, a trend which Gustav Mahler would take to extremes in his symphonic works, and adding a fourth movement to the Italian Overture to comprise the modern symphonic form. The enlarging of the orchestra became possible mainly because palaces were being built with larger rooms which could facilitate larger ensembles. In contrast, the First Viennese School was more focused on the simple ideals of the Enlightenment and the traditional classical form. While the Mannheim School’s contributions to symphonic literature should not be discounted, the First Viennese School of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven proved to be the more lasting one.
Chamber Music of the Classical Era
Under the influence of Haydn, the string quartet became one of the more popular chamber ensembles of the Classical Era. Chamber ensembles were important because they provided ambient music for the fetes of the aristocracy of the era. The strong quartet was a popular chamber form because performances were often given outdoors, so it was important for the ensembles to be comprised of portable instruments. Chamber music would come under the heading of “functional music.” In addition to providing musical ambience for aristocrats, chamber ensembles often served as music for hire to be played at birthdays, weddings, and other special events. Chamber ensemble would sometimes go from balcony to balcony in order to get tips, or lovers would bring a quartet to serenade a lover, another reason for the ensemble to be comprised of portable instruments.
The Serenade, which was a musical potpourri of contrasting movements and is also known as the Divertimento, became an important form of chamber music during the time. They were rarely written for a specific instrumentation, so they could be played by virtually any ensemble. This provided great flexibility for the musicians and ample opportunity for employment regardless of which instrument a musician played.
One of the most famous Serenades of the Classical Era is Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. It is a Serenade composed for a double string quartet and acts as something of a small symphony. Another of Mozart’s tremendous contributions to the chamber music literature of the Classical Era was his Grand Partita. The overarching characteristic of this music, though, is its light and fanciful nature. Its focus on simplicity and beauty, rather than on seriousness.
A contrast to this light, fanciful style of chamber music came about by Franz Xavier Richter. A member of the Mannheim orchestra, he was responsible for composing one of the earliest examples of a “serious” string quartet. This then translated into Haydn’s important developments in the form. Haydn’s Opus 33 quartets are thought to have cultivated the mature Classical style through his use of motivic development and incorporation of Haydn’s unique sense of humor. Haydn’s contributions to the serious string quartet earned him the monicker of Father of the String Quartet.
Chamber music provided light fare for the aristocracy of the Classical Era, but also began to grow into its own serious form of music. Where the symphony became the focal point of musical development in the Classical Era, the era’s chamber music is no less significant. Much great music can be found in the chamber music of Haydn and Mozart, but also in that of countless other composers of the time.
A Fond Farewell to the Classical Era
The music of the Classical Era laid the groundwork for much of the music that was to come later. As a reflection of society, or as an influencer of society, it is a fascinating scholarly endeavor to consider the parallel tracks which society and the arts have taken, especially during this period. While the Classical Era brought us many of the forms which would endure even into the twenty-first Century, its influence had a finite lifespan. All things must eventually come to an end, as is their nature, and the Classical Era eventually gave way to further musical development.
Perhaps Classical music had said all it had to say, or perhaps it was just time for something new. Either way, the cyclical nature of life brought an end to the emotionally detached and simple world of the Classical Era and ushered in a return to the human soul and greater emotional freedom and expression. It is interesting, then, that this transition was largely facilitated by Beethoven, a composer who owed his roots to very hard-line Classical thinking. Where most people lack the flexibility and talent to become experts in multiple arenas, Beethoven was one of the rare people who did.
The music of the Classical Era, though, still holds a place of great value for today’s musician and music appreciator. The era saw many great talents, the likes of which have not been seen since, and the development of many styles and forms of music that would go on to inspire composers for centuries, as well as providing us with some valuable insight into the human spirit itself, a true Enlightenment.
