CSU-Hayward, Music 6125, Music of the Classical Period
Midterm Review Page

Outline for Weeks 2-5 of Music of the Classic Period

Development of the Tonal System

1722 Jean-Philippe Rameau Traité de l'harmonie

1722 Johann Sebastian Bach Well-Tempered Clavier

1725 Johann Joseph Fux Gradus ad Parnassum

1748 Denis Diderot General Principles of the Science of Sound

1754 JP Rameau Observations on Our Musical Instinct and on Its Principle

1767 Giuseppe Tartini

On the Principles of Musical Harmony Contained in the Diatonic Genus

1788 Johann Nikolaus Forkel General History of Music

Galant Style

French music during Louis XIV: Couperin, Rameau

lightness of texture, melodically dominated, little counterpoint

influenced by decorative and rococo architecture

1752 Johann Joachim Quantz Essay on the method of playing the transverse flute

describes Domenico Scarlatti's keyboard works as "galant"

essercizi (known as sonatas today) in binary dance forms

a new contrasting key is established in the middle of each part by a full or half cadence

discusses differences between French and Italian music

1739-40 Charles de Brosses Letter to M. de Maleteste

1767 Samuel Sharp Letters from Italy

1768 Giuseppe Baretti An Account of the Manners and Customs of Italy

Operatic Comedy

Germany - Singspiel and Italian opera

England - ballad opera displaces Italian opera

Italy - opera seria incorporates intermezzo, development of opera buffa

France - opéra ballet and tragédie lyrique give way to opéra comique (with some speech)

1752 La Guerre des Bouffons

pro-French (Rameau, syllabic settings, frilly/fussy agréments) vs.

pro-Italian (Rousseau, more natural cantabile writing, more florid virtuosity)

1702 François Raguenet A Comparison between the French and Italian Music and Operas

1704 Jean-Laurent LeCerf de la Viéville Comparison of French and Italian Music

1706 Ludovico A. Muratori On Perfect Italian Poetry Italian polemic

1714 Pier Jacopo Martello On Ancient and Modern Tragedy Italian polemic

1715 Gian Vicenzo Gravina On Tragedy Italian polemic

1720 Benedetto Marcello Theater à la Mode Italian polemic

1733 Voltaire The Temple of Taste

1746 Noël-Antoine Pluche The Spectacle of Nature

1751 Denis Diderot Additions to the Letter on the Deaf and Dumb

1753 Friedrich Melchoir Grimm The Little Prophet of Boehmischbroda

1759 Jean Le Rond d'Alembert On the Freedom of Music

1760 Denis Diderot Rameau's Nephew

1765 Friedrich Melchoir Grimm "Poème lyrique" in the Encyclopédie

1781 Jean-Jacques Rousseau Essay on the Origins of Language

Historiography

1715 Jacques Bonnet History of Music and Its Effects

1757 (Padre) Giovanni Battista Martini History of Music

1763 John Brown A Dissertation on the Rise, Union, and Power, the Progression, Separations, and Corruptions, of Poetry and Music

1776 Charles Burney A General History of Music

1776 John Hawkins A General History of the Science and Practice of Music

Empfindsamer Stil

Frederick the Great, King of Prussia makes Berlin a cultural center

Empfindsamkeit - sensibility, sentimentality

Achieved by exaggerating some of the more obvious affective Baroque gestures

NEW IDEA: Emotional experience is not made up of static passions but of constantly fluctuating feelings. By extension, a musical work might combine very

different styles in free juxtaposition.

1737 Johann Scheibe "Passage on J. S. Bach" from a personal letter

1738 Johann A. Birnbaum Impartial Remaks on a Dubious Passge in the Sixth Issue of

Der critische Musikus

1739 Johann Mattheson The Complete Music Director

1744 Johann Mattheson The Latest Study of the Opera

1752 Johann Joachim Quantz Essay on the Method of Playing the Transverse Flute

1753-62 Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach Essay on the True Manner of Playing the Keyboard

1755-61 Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg Guide to Playing Keyboard Instruments

1756 Leopold Mozart Treatise on the Fundamentals of the Violin

1776 Charles Burney's observations on national musical character and the Mannheim School

Enlightenment

1747-65 Denis Diderot and friends compiled the Encyclopédie

1762 Jean-Jacques Rousseau's The Social Contract argued that government should arise from consent of all classes of people; this revolutionary idea influences the 1770s and 1780s

1781 Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason examined the possibilities and limits of rational thought

Rationalism in the sciences

Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) - biological classification system for organic life

Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794) - founded quantitative chemistry

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) - explored the field of electricity

James Watt (1736-1819) - invented the first efficient steam engine

The Situation of the Musician

Patronage from kingly courts:

-1797 Prussia under Frederick II and Frederick William

-1790 Austria (Vienna) under Maria Theresa and Joseph II

-1793 Paris under Louis XV and Louis XVI

-1796 Russia under Peter the Great and Catherine the Great

Patronage from princely courts and churches:

Salzburg under the Prince-Archbishop, most notably Count Hieronymus Colloredo

Mannheim's Electoral Court Orchestra

Munich under the Elector of Bavaria

Various small courts in Italy (largely controlled by Spain and Austria)

Public patronage:

London's merchant and commercial groups

Rise of the public opera house (Vienna, Hamburg)

Rise of the public concert with advance subscribers - academies

London - J. C. Bach, Karl F. Abel

Paris - François-Joseph Gossec and the Concerts spirituels 1725-Rev.

Concerts des amateurs 1769-

Leipzig - Gewandhaus concerts 1781-present

Music publishing houses - especially encouraged development of the Lied

Kenner - connoisseurs (noble class)

Liebhaber - amateurs (middle class)

Questions you should be able to answer:

1. In what ways do the galant style and empfindsamer Stil differ, and what aspects of musical thinking do they share?

2. In what way did tonality's function in the developing binary form in the early eighteenth century lead to an emphasis on two contrasting themes (eg. sonata form)? What Baroque court dance acted as a bridge between the early and late eighteenth century in instrumental music? Give examples.

3. How are the ideals of the Enlightenment and of neoclassicism in artistic thought reflected in the musical style of the 1750s-1770s?

4. Some music historians have argued for consideration of the eighteenth century as a musical unit. What are the pros and cons of such a view?