The Classical Era

The Classical Era of Classical Music

POSTED MAY 3, 2022

During the Classical Era, the 70 or so years following the death of Johann Sebastian Bach, many of the musical genres that we still have today emerged or took on their current form.  Informed by the Age of Enlightenment, new forms and styles emerged giving us some of the greatest music ever composed...Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony, Boccherini's String Quartet in D Major, Mozart's Piano Sonata No.11

Although we often refer to the entire canon of serious Western music as classical music, musicologists  apply this label specifically to musical compositions created in the 70 or so years after the death of Johann Sebastian Bach in 1750.   During this period, many of the musical genres that we still have today emerged or took on their current form.

The 18th century was the Age of Enlightenment.  Its roots are usually traced to 1680s England, where in the span of three years Isaac Newton published his “Principia Mathematica” (1686) and John Locke his “Essay Concerning Human Understanding” (1689)—two works that provided the scientific, mathematical and philosophical toolkit for the Enlightenment’s major advances.  Reason, science and progress were the great ideals. The burgeoning middle class was eager for education and the arts, and there was a growing market for music that amateurs could perform at home. 

As the Enlightenment peaked in the mid-18th century, Western music began to change, and the Classical Era was ushered in.  The Classical Era was a time when composers began pulling in the reins of the many baroque period musical styles by creating strict compositional rules and emphasizing clarity, elegance, balance and simplicity. 

Where Baroque music was textually complex and polyphonic, music of the Classical Era emphasized simplicity and homophonic melodies (typically played by a single instrument without accompanying harmony or chords).  

Melodies in the Baroque tended to be highly ornamented. Performers of the time were expected to be good at improvising and familiar with the conventions that surrounded the elaboration of a melody they may be playing.  Classical Era compositions were much less ornamental as composers strove for the purity of melodic line with balance and poise.  Classical composers left far less to the imagination of the performer.  

Within the Classical Era and within its constraints, composers such as Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Luigi Boccherini, and others were able to create some of the greatest classical music the world has ever known.  Beethoven created masterful compositions in the Classical style prior to his Symphony No.3, the opening volley of the classical music's Romantic Era.

Three innovations helped inform the music of the Classical Era:  the symphony, the string quartet and the piano.  Here are samples of each from the Classical Era innovators.

Haydn's Symphony No. 94 in G Major ("Surprise")

Joseph Haydn is called the father of the symphony.  In his 108 symphonies, Haydn fully developed and mastered the classical symphony form. The first movement - allegro - was fast and lively, followed by a slow andante. The third movement - a minuet and trio of dance suites - led to the lively finale.  With his works, Joseph Haydn propelled the symphonic form to the forefront of musical creation.  Here is one of his famous "London Symphonies" - No. 94 in G Major, nicknamed "The Surprise".

Boccherini's String Quartet in D Major

In Lombardy in 1765, Luigi Boccherini put together the first public string quartet performance, with an extraordinary string quartet made up of outstanding Tuscan virtuosos.  String quartet music emphasized individual expression and communication among players, as opposed to rigid orchestral conducting and playing.   Ever since its arrival on the classical music scene, the string quartet has been considered a prestigious form and represents one of the true tests of the composer’s art. Many consider the string quartet to be the purest form of instrumental music.