From Bach to Beethoven
By the middle of the 18th century, the Baroque music of composers such as Bach seemed old-fashioned. A new style of music, known as the Classical style, began to develop and become popular. It was this Classical style that Beethoven adopted in his early period.
Features of Classical music:
The texture became more homophonic rather than the contrapuntal textures of the Baroque period.
The music is clearly divided into 4 and 8 bar phrases, nearly always ending with an imperfect or perfect cadence.
The harpsichord was replaced by the piano and the decline in the use of the continuo (remember in the Brandenburg and Music for a While?)
Contrasts of mood within a piece or movement of a piece became more common
Composers began indicating in much more detail how their music should be played with dynamic markings, accents and slurs
New structures became popular, with sonata form being one of the most commonly used in 1st movements of sonatas and symphonies.
Development of the Piano
The piano Beethoven would have composed the Pathetique on was known as a fortepiano, invented around 1700.
It was called this because unlike the harpsichord it could vary the volume of sound depending on how hard the keys were played—forte (loud) piano (soft)
Today we call the instrument the pianoforte or piano for short.
The ability of this new instrument to vary the dynamics is used brilliantly in the Pathetique sonata as are the use of sforzando accents (sf or sfz) which indicate that a particular note should be played much louder than the notes around it.
This early fortepiano was different in a number of ways from todays pianos.
The case of the fortepiano was delicate without the metal frame of the modern piano
The hammers that hit the strings were covered in leather, which produced a more ‘direct’ sound then the softer tone produced by the felt covered hammers on todayspianos.
The strings were thinner, producing a lighter and quieter sound
The early models had no sustaining pedals though we know that Beethoven’s fortepiano did.
The bass notes were not nearly as loud as on a modern piano
There were fewer notes (44 white notes) compared to 58 white notes on todays pianos
Review Questions:
1) What century was Beethoven born in?
2) Beethoven spanned two important musical periods. What were these?
3) How many piano sonatas did Beethoven compose?
4) What number is the Pathtique?
5) What does Pathtique mean?
6) Can you give two musical features of the classical period?