classical period part 3

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Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

• As a highly skilled servant, Haydn was to compose all the music requested by his patron

He was also required to “appear daily in the antechamber before and after

midday and inquire whether His Highness was pleased to order a

performance of the orchestra.”

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Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

• Once when the Prince stayed at the palace longer than usual, the orchestra members came to Haydn and asked to go back to Vienna

• They missed their wives and children• Haydn obliged them by composing his Symphony

in F Sharp Minor, now known as the farewell symphony

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Where Haydn Worked

The Esterhazy castle (Eisenstadt Austria)

The Concert Hall of the Esterhazy Castle

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Haydn’s Music

• He was a pioneer in both the development of the symphony and the string quartet

• Both Mozart and Beethoven were affected by his style

• He never forgot the peasant dances and songs of his childhood and many of his works have a folk flavor

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Haydn’s Music

• He was a master at developing themes• He would split them into small fragments to be

repeated quickly by different instruments• In these movements contrast of mood comes from

changes in texture, key, rhythm, dynamics and orchestration

• The contagious joy that comes from his lively rhythms and vivid contrasts makes it clear why London went wild

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Haydn’s Music

• Most of his writing revolves around his 104 symphonies that were written over a 45 year span from 1758-1795

• Many of his most popular symphonies have nicknames such as; Surprise (No. 94), Military (No. 100), Clock (No. 101), and Drum Roll (No. 103)

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• Listen to:

• Symphony No. 94 in G Major Mvt. 1 (Surprise)

Don Giovanni "Introduction"

Haydn’s Music

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Listen to:

Trumpet Concerto in E flat Major Mvt. III

Haydn’s Music

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

• One of the most amazing child prodigies in history

– He was born in Salzburg, Austria– By the time he was six he could play the harpsichord and

violin, improvise fugues, write minuets, and read music perfectly at sight

– At age eight he wrote his first symphony; at eleven, an oratorio; at twelve, an opera

– By his early teens he had enough works to his credit for a composer 3 times his age

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• At 16 he was in Rome and was able to hear the Sistine chapel choir performing a work that was treasured property

• He went home and wrote the whole thing out by memory • To copy this music was a crime; for anyone to hear it

and remember it so accurately was incredible• Mozart was not punished, he was knighted by the Pope

for his musical accomplishments

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• At age 25 he finally broke free of his place in Vienna and traveled to Venice to try to make it as a freelance musician

• For a few years he was successful– His operas: The Abduction from the Seraglio, 1782,

and The Marriage of Figaro, 1786, were huge successes• He followed up with Don Giovanni the following

year, but it pushed the Viennese too far– Dark subjects and dissonance did not appeal to them

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• He died of unknown circumstances on December 5, 1791 a few weeks short of his 36th birthday

• He was buried in an unmarked mass grave near the chapel

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Mozart’s Music

• He was one of the most versatile composers• He wrote masterpieces in all the forms of the time• His symphonies are as profound as his string

quartets, his piano concertos as dramatic and lyrical as his operas

• His works convey a feeling of grace, ease, and spontaneity, as well as balance, restraint, and perfect proportion

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Mozart’s Music

• Not only do Mozart’s compositions sound effortless; they were created with miraculous ease and rapidity

• He completed his last 3 symphonies in only 6 weeks

• He composed extended works in his mind before ever writing them down

• He could even carry on a conversation while notating a score

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Mozart’s Music

• Don Giovanni (1787)– A unique blend of comic and serious opera– It combines seduction and slapstick with violence

and the supernatural– It is the old tale of Don Juan, the legendary

Spanish lover – Mozart’s Don Giovanni is an extremely charming

but ruthless nobleman who will stop at nothing to satisfy his sexual appetite

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Mozart’s Music

Listen to:

Act I Leporello’s catalog aria (Madamina)

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Mozart’s Music

• Listen to:• Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K. 550

(1788) • Is the most passionate and dramatic of his

symphonies• Although the work is classical in form and

technique, it is almost romantic in emotional intensity

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Mozart’s Music

• Listen to:• Second Movement: Andante• The mood of the andante hovers between gentleness

and longing• The andante is written in sonata form and is the only

movement in major• This movement develops from a series of gently

pulsing notes in the opening theme

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Mozart’s Music

• Listen to:• Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488 (1786)

First Movement: Allegro– The gentle opening movement blends lyricism with a touch of sadness owing

many shifts between major and minor– Two main lyrical themes introduced by the orchestra in the first exposition

are restated by the piano and orchestra in the second exposition– The development section is based on a new legato theme that is unexpectedly

introduced by the orchestra after a dramatic pausE– Mozart creates a dramatic confrontation by juxtaposing fragments of this new

theme, played by the woodwinds, and the restless ideas in the piano and orchestra

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Mozart’s Music

• Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 (1791)• Although he did not live to complete this mass for the dead, it remains

still one of the finest choral works of the classical period• It was commissioned anonymously by an unscrupulous nobleman

who was going to claim the work as his own• Mozart composed 9 movements and part of a 10th before his death

– His friend Franz Xaver Sussmayr filled out the often sketchy orchestration of the 10th movement and added 4 others

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Mozart’s Music

• Listen to:• Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) • Is based on a 13th century text which vividly describes the

last judgement• Enormous tension is created by the key of D minor, the

stormy rushing violin notes and the distinctive rhythmic patterns of the opening phrase, which intensifies the word irae (wrath)

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Ludwig van Beethoven(1770-1827)

• He has been compared in genius to and stature to William Shakespeare and Michelangelo

• He opened new realms of musical expression and profoundly influenced composers throughout the 19th century

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• During his 29th year, he began to feel the first symptoms of deafness

• His doctors could do nothing to halt the progress of the disease nor the torment it was causing him

• He could not go out in public because of his shame at becoming deaf

• He even thought about ending his life, but he felt he could not until he had “brought forth all that I felt was within me”

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• Beethoven could not write 3 symphonies in 6 weeks like Mozart

• He would painstakingly work on every detail until it was just right

• Sometimes it would take years to complete a symphony

• He would carry around note books and constantly make refinements to his work. He usually worked on several pieces at once

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Piano Sonata in C Minor, Op. 13 (Pathetique; 1798)

• This term, coined by Beethoven suggests the tragically passionate character of this piano sonata

• His impetuous playing and masterful improvisational powers are mirrored in the sonata’s dynamic contrasts, explosive accents, and crashing chords

• At the age of 27 Beethoven had already created a style of playing that foreshadowed 19th century romanticism

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• Listen to:• Second Movement: Adagio cantable

(lyrical adagio)• In A flat major, is slow and intimate• It is in rondo form and can be outlined A B

A C A---Coda

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• Listen to:• Third Movement: Rondo (Allegro)• The last movement in C minor is a rapid and

energetic rondo• It is outlined A B A C A B A—Coda• The lively main them in minor contrasts with the

other sections, which are in major

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Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 (1808)• This symphony opens with one of the most

famous rhythmic ideas in all music, a short-short-long motive

• Beethoven reportedly explained this four-note motive as “fate knocking at the door”

• It dominates the first movement and also plays an important role later in the symphony

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• Listen to:• First Movement: Allegro con brio (allegro with

vigor)• Listening guide pg. 261• This allegro con brio is an enormously powerful

and concentrated movement in sonata form• It’s character is determined by a single rhythmic

motive, short-short-long, from which Beethoven creates an astonishingly variety of musical ideas

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• Listen to:• Second Movement: Andante con moto (moderately

slow, with movement)• This movement, mostly in A flat major is mostly relaxed

and lyrical but also contains moments of tension and heroism

• It is an extended set of variations based on two themes

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• Listen to:• Third Movement: Allegro (scherzo)• This movement is a rapid scherzo in C

minor, with 3 sections – A (scherzo), B (trio), A` (scherzo)

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Listen to:• Fourth Movement: Allegro

– This movement is in sonata form and is the climax of the symphony

– It brings the victory C major over C minor, of optimism and exultation over struggle and uncertainty

classical period part 3

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