Part 4 - Project 1: The Classical Style

Research Point: The Classical Period

Inspired largely by the Classicism movement, which possessed qualities of Roman and Greek art and architecture’s perfect, clean form, the Classical period gave a home to famous composers such as Haydn and Mozart during the 18^th century.  Thinkquest (n.d.) describes how the music during this period had evolved from the Baroque style and includes contrast of moods, flexibility of rhythmic patterns, a wide use of dynamics and the demise of the ‘basso continuo’ or finger bass, popular during the previous century. 

However, Naxos (n.d.) writes that the most important changes that occurred during the Classical period was the sonata form, which brought:

“…the development of the modern concerto, symphony, sonata, trio and quartet to a new peak of structural and expressive refinement. If Baroque music is notable for its textural intricacy, then the Classical period is characterised by a near-obsession with structural clarity.”

In a step away from the contrapuntal nature of Baroque music (voices moving against each other), music of the classical era reflects a more homophonic character.  Sisman (n.d.) describes ‘homophony’ as one dominant instrumental melody, with the other instruments providing either chord-based or elaborated tonal patterns (e.g. Alberti Bass).  Sisman continues to describe how music in the later Classical era, such as Mozart’s Symphony no. 40 in G minor (1788), contains an ‘enriched’ sense of homophony, adding important rhythmic ideas to these ‘accompaniment’ parts.   It could be said that today’s pop music also seems to rely heavily on similar rhythmic ideas, but with the singer’s vocals providing the dominant melody and the band’s instruments providing a simpler chord back-up.

The ‘Age of Enlightenment’, an intellectual movement during the late 17^th and 18^th century, greatly influenced the musical ‘simplicity’ described above.  SmartHistory (n.d.), writes that, due to scientific revolutions, societal thinking was changing, leading people away from the mystery of religion and into the world of science and rational logic.  Science, reason and mathematics started to be applied to music, thus creating musicals forms such as the Sonata:

“The eighteenth century was a major turning point in the relationship of music to medicine because physicians for the first time began to rely heavily upon experimentation and observation in their diagnosis”.    

                                                                                                            (Rorke, 2001)

A good example of this changing style can be seen within the Bach family.  In the 17^th Century, the father, Johann Sebastian, was an extremely popular baroque composer famous for using his intricate skills of counterpoint.  For example Johann Sebastian’s Well-Tempered Clavier (1722) demonstrates the movement of several melodies against each other to create a rich textural effect.  However, his son, Johann Christian, opted to use much more modern and homophonic techniques throughout his composition.  His Keyboard Sonata’s Op.17 provide a much simpler melodic motion, dominated by the piano’s treble clef and accompanied by its bass.   

In addition to the changing musical forms of the 18^th century, the OCA course material describes how the music of this time also relied heavily on a solid tonal base.  During this time great importance was placed on the harmonic nature of the pieces, focusing on the relationship between the tonic and the dominant, keeping closely to modulations to tonally related key signatures.  It seems that this fashion for Classicism had perhaps also spread to creating tonal ‘perfection’ as well as perfection of form.