intro

• history of this century is a long, lively, leisurely argument about older and newer styles

• older 18th century - late baroque styles of bach, handel, etc

• newer 18th century - age of reason/enlightenment, classic era

• classical - later 18th century composers such as haydn, mozart, and beethoven

  • classic because it shares many attributes with older art and architecture

  • noble simplicity, balance, perfection of form, diversity within unity, seriousness of purpose, restrained use of ornamentation

  • classic era - 1730-1815

  • galant - elegant and courtly 18th century literature as well as flirtatious paintings; everything modern, smart, chic, smooth, easy, sophisticated; freer, more chordal, more natural musical style

  • empfindsam - quality associated with intimate, sensitive, subjective tendencies of some 18th-century literature and art

europe in the 18th century

political and social:

• moved from continuity with the past to radical change

• balance of power was emerging among several strong, centralized states

  • france had the biggest army but louis xiv was too extra and depleted the treasury

  • england had the most powerful navy and took india, canada, and caribbean islands from france during the seven years’ war

  • austro-hungarian empire saw the emergence of its capital, vienna, as the leading musical city in europe

  • american revolution and french revolution were stirring

• population was rapidly growing

  • new agriculture methods and crops were needed

  • roads improved

  • poor were dislocated from land and overcrowded in cities

  • aristocracy dwindled in favour of middle class growing clout

• education

  • new schools founded for elite and middle class

  • males were becoming literate and females were catching up

  • daily newspapers, books, public coffeehouses - coffeehouses were important

  • thinkers spawned the enlightenment

enlightenment:

• embraced rationalism - reason combined with experience and knowledge could solve problems, including scientific ones

• mind and feeling were not total opposites

• valued individual faith and practical morality over the supernatural and the church

• naturalness was preferred to formality and artificial conventions

• looking within - trying to communicate emotions in a clear and relatable way, more than the baroque (no more rage arias and breakup monologues) - free intellect and introspective sympathy

• philosophes - french leaders of the enlightenment

  • social reformers who developed doctrines about human rights

  • set the stage for the french revolution

  • rousseau made the first encyclopedia - politically inflammatory

  • kant aimed to unite reason with experience rather than relying on reason on its own

• enlightened rulers patronized the arts and promoted social change

• freemasonry - fraternal order of masons, whose tenets were based on humanitarianism and universal brotherhood

  • spread rapidly among statesmen, poets, composers, and kings

• arts

  • novels emerged - celebrated the lives of ordinary people

  • symphony was an expression of communal sentiment and new democratic ideals

sons of bach:

• bach is the father, we are the kids - mozart said this about js bach’s son, ”old sebastian” was kind of this stuffy old guy

• cpe and jc bach were formerly considered the founding fathers of this style of music, js and handel were added to the canon of the tradition much later

french revolution:

• first phase - reformist, uprising forced the king to accept a new constitution and set up elected local governments

• second phase - radical, france declared republic, king and queen executed, government maintained control by executing political opponents (reign of terror)

• third phase - government became more moderate and sought to restore order

• bonaparte consolidated power and crowned himself emperor

  • overran nearby countries to expand french territories

  • ended the holy roman empire

  • created new states

  • introduced reform and a stable government

  • was defeated and exiled in 1815 at waterloo in belgium

from baroque to classic

• aim of classicism was to construct an ideal vision of life and nature in tune with enlightenment goals of realism, restraint, harmony, order

• renewed study of classical past - perceived as a worthy and achievable goal, directed at the moral improvement of the viewer to give art a socially beneficial role

  • we’re imitating greek and roman culture again but this time it has a moral implication

  • major archaeological excavations started happening - pompeii was being discovered for the first time

• history paintings featured morally uplifting themes from antiquity

• rationalism was tempered by sensibility in literature and the arts

  • feeling arose that sentiment/feeling is more important than reason, culture and progress

  • genre painting - concentrated on themes of ordinary family life, equivalent to empfindsam composers and jane austen

• pendulum swing between arts & feelings and stem & reason

the place of music in the classic era

• growing public interest in hearing and making music

  • amateur musicians bought easy music and most published music was designed for beginners for fun

  • encouraged connoisseurs - informed listeners who cultivated a taste for the best in music

• bringing culture within the reach of all

  • comic opera satirized opera seria and set a course for opera reform

  • more people read about and discussed music, giving rise to music reviews, news, and criticism

  • first universal histories of music were published

• many styles coexisted

  • each country had distinctive traditions and a national form of opera

  • audiences and critics preferred music that featured a vocally conceived melody in short phrases over spare accompaniment

  • the language of music should be universal rather than limited by national boundaries and should appeal to all tastes at once

  • the best music was noble, entertaining, expressive within the limits of decorum, and natural