Classical Period, 1750-1820

What was music like in the classical period?

Classical music has a lighter, clearer texture than Baroque music and is less complex. It is mainly homophonic, using a clear melody line over a subordinate chordal accompaniment, but counterpoint was by no means forgotten, especially later in the period.

What influenced classical music?

Famous composers of the Classical era include Joseph Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert. The Classical, Romantic and Baroque eras all influenced modern genres today. They were the foundation of modern music.

What does the term Classical mean? 

From 1750 on artists, musicians, and architects wanted to get away from the spectacular and sometimes overdone ornamentation of the Baroque period and move to emulate the clean, uncluttered style of Classical Greece. This period is called Classical because of that desire to emulate the works of the ancient Greeks.

Why did the classical period end?

It is important to note that the classical period ended before Beethoven died. This is because Beethoven was the one who tied the bridge into the Romantic Era in music. At the end of his life, Beethoven's music was so new that it had to be called something completely different.

Classical Works

Composers became increasingly preoccupied with the potential of instrumental and symphonic music during the Classical period, but choral works were never far from the surface. Haydn, impressed by the Handel oratorios he had heard during his time in England, composed two major works in that form of his own: The Seasons and The Creation. 

 Mozart also composed a number of fine sacred choral works, especially masses, his patron being an archbishop. The Coronation Mass in C major and Great Mass in C minor are widely thought to be among the highlights of his oeuvre, yet the most highly-regarded arguably his Requiem Mass. Unfinished at the time of the composer’s death, it was commissioned by Count Franz von Walsegg to honor his late wife. 

CLASSICAL CHORAL EXAMPLES

W.A. Mozart, Ave verum corpus:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsUWFVKJwBM&list=PLaQfI1tU_lSyksHP70_xUvM9Vjs1DEnUs 

Haydn, Rolling in foaming billows from Creation:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFN24VzZmqo&list=PLRb9WetLXOGLWhnsrY4b8EwRTQRQwzSI6&index=5&t=0s 

W.A. Mozart, Dies irae from Requiem Mass:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKJur8wpfYM 

Haydn, Paukenmesse, Gloria:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeoB-A0b9C8