2. Enlightenment’s Impact on Music
Voltaire thought that people of other cultures and
religions should not only be tolerated but
embraced as part of a greater brotherhood of
man
Such ideas were quickly absorbed into the music
of the day
Christoph Willibald Gluck sought to rid musical
expression of “useless, excessive ornamentation”
and draw from the ideals of “simplicity, truth and
naturalness” in his music.
3. Changes in Music
The Enlightenment also saw:
◦ the beginning of public concerts
◦ The middle class sought entertainment which they could
now afford
Music was no longer for the private amusement of
a privileged few
Composers like Haydn invented new ways to
indulge large audiences with music that demanded
greater attention
◦ He often included a narrative theme and effects like
contrast, subtlety, suspense and climax.
4. Musical Periods
Baroque Period
◦ Johann Sebastian Bach
◦ George Frederick Handel
Classical Period
◦ Joseph Hayden
◦ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
◦ Ludwig Von Beethoven
For each composer record their
background, major works and legacy
5. The Baroque Period
Roughly from the 1600's to 1760.
Baroque music shares a heavy use of polyphony
(more than one melody) and counterpoint (two
melodies going back and forth).
It begins to be felt as chords in a hierarchical,
functional tonal scheme.
Baroque music also uses longer lines and stronger
rhythms
◦ the initial line is extended, either alone or
accompanied only by the bass, until the theme
reappears in another voice (fugue).
6. Johann Sebastian Bach
Born into a musically gifted family
Bach picked up the violin and became part of the private
orchestra of the prince at Weimar
Not even a year later, he left to become an organist in
Arnstadt
As an organist, he graced Mühlhausen with his new talents.
In 1708 he was made court organist and chamber musician
at Weimar, and in 1714 he became concert master
In 1723 he took the important post of music director of
the church of St. Thomas, Leipzig, and of its choir school;
he remained in Leipzig until his death.
7. Johann Sebastian Bach
Many of Bach's
works were not
published during his
lifetime
Best Known For:
The Brandenburg
Concertos
Well-Tempered Clavier
Art of the Fugue
8. Johann Sebastian Bach
He composed an astonishing number of
instrumental works, many of them designed for
the instruction of his numerous pupils.
◦ combined inventiveness and control in his great, striding
fugues
During his lifetime, Bach was better known as an
organist than as a composer
◦ For decades after his death, his works were neglected,
but in the 19th century his genius came to be
recognized, particularly by romantic composers such as
Mendelssohn and Schumann
◦ Since that time his reputation has grown steadily.
9. George Frideric Handel
After studying law at the Univ. of Halle (1703), he joined the opera orchestra
at Hamburg. He accomplished his first two operas there, Almira and Nero
Handel's sight became impaired in 1751, and by 1753 he was totally blind
◦ With his determination, he continued to conduct performances of his works
For the next for years he stayed in Italy, where his operas Rodrigo (1707?)
and Agrippina (1709) were staged, the latter very successfully.
In 1710 Handel became musical director to the elector of Hanover but
obtained leave to visit England in 1711, when his Rinaldo was produced in
London
He returned to England in 1712 and took up permanent residence there.
His employer, the elector, became George I of England in 1714.
It was for the king that Handel composed his celebrated orchestral Water
Music (1717).
He is buried in Westminster Abbey
10. George Frideric Handel
Best Known As:
Composer of
Messiah
Water Music
Music for the Royal
Fireworks
Zadok the Priest
11. George Frideric Handel
Handel's musical style exemplifies the vigour and
grandeur of the late German baroque and at the
same time has English and Italian qualities of
directness, clarity, and charm.
He strongly influenced English composers for a
century after his death, and, following a period of
relative neglect, he has again come to be
recognized as one of music's great figures.
12. Classical Period
Spanning from the 1730's to the 1820's
This era brought in some of the most well known and the
supposed best composers ever
Taste for structural clarity worked its way into the world
of music as well
◦ moving away from the layered polyphony of the Baroque period,
and towards a style where a melody over a subordinate harmony,
which is a combination, called homophony, was preferred
◦ This meant that playing of chords, even if they interrupted the
melodic smoothness of a single selection, became a much more
prevalent feature of music, and this in turn made the tonal structure
of works clearer and harmonious
There was a rise in the liking of public opera, leading to the
changes in which the music was performed
13. Joseph Haydn
His parents noticed his musical talents and so they accepted a proposal
from their relative Johann Matthias Franck that Haydn be apprenticed to
Franck in his home to train as a musician
◦ At the time he was not quite six
He soon moved off to Vienna, where he worked for the next nine years as
a chorus member
Haydn was offered a job in 1761 as assistant Kapellmeister to the
Eszterházy family
◦ They were one of the wealthiest and most important families in the Austrian
Empire
Gradually, Haydn came to write as much for publication as for his
employer
Around 1781 Haydn established a close friendship with Mozart, whose
work he had already been influencing by example for many years
The two composers enjoyed playing in string quartets together
Haydn died in 1809, following an attack on Vienna by the French army
under Napoleon.
15. Joseph Haydn
He was the first to employ attention-grabbing special
effects.
Haydn would also evoke democracy with another musical
invention: the string quartet
Author Nicholas Till explains the “democratic principles”
of the string quartet, which he says is a form of open
dialogue among equal participants: two violinists, a violist
and a cellist
The German philosopher Goethe said Haydn’s string
quartets resembled “four civilized persons holding a
conversation.”
One instrument did not dominate
Each instrument in the string quartet carried an equal
share, taking turns in expressing a musical argument from
different vantage points
16. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart was a remarkable prodigy
He was taught how to play the harpsichord, violin, and organ by his father,
Leopold, and began composing before he was five
When Mozart was six, he and his older sister, Marianne, were presented by
their father in concerts at the court of the Empress Maria Theresa in Vienna
and also in the principal aristocratic households of central Europe, Paris, and
London
By the age of 13 he had written concertos, sonatas, symphonies, a German
operetta, Bastien und Bastienne (1768), and an Italian opera buffa, La finta
semplice (1769).
Mozart was appointed concertmaster to the archbishop of Salzburg in 1771
He was dissatisfied with his position and the restrictions placed on his work
After six years he went on tour in search of a better post.
Despite the successful performance in Paris of his Symphony in D (1778),
known as the Paris Symphony, Mozart did not receive much attention there.
In Vienna, Mozart met Haydn, and the two developed a long and warm
friendship that benefited the work of each.
17. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Up until this period, composers were often just highly-
skilled servants to the church or royal courts
Mozart’s sought to sever his obligation to the hierarchy that
employed his services so rigidly
Eventually, Mozart found greater freedom in Vienna, where
he supported himself with public concerts and commissions,
and through teaching engagements
Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro” epitomized the
new ways of thinking by giving servants a central role
Previously, servants were comic figures to be laughed at;
but, building on ideas in the play by Beaumarchais, Mozart
presented them as equally worthy of serious attention as
any noble aristocrat
18. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Best Known For:
Eine kleine
Nachtmusik (A Little
Night Music, 1787)
Don Giovanni
Die Zauberflote (The
Magic Flute, 1791)
19. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Became one of the world’s first freelance
musicians
He reflected social upheaval in his music
Created a new classical style that
emphasized balance, symmetry, and
emotional expression
Created 626 total pieces
20. Ludwig van Beethoven
He was noticed for his talent at a very young age
His father, who was a court musician, subjected him to a
cruel schedule, hoping to exploit him as a child prodigy.
In 1787 Beethoven first visited Vienna, at that time the
center of the music world. There he performed for
Mozart, whom he greatly impressed.
In 1792 Haydn invited him to become his student. This
made Beethoven return to Vienna, where he was to
remain permanently.
However, Beethoven's unorthodox musical ideas insulted
the old master, and the lessons were ended.
Beethoven studied with several other eminent teachers,
including Antonio Salieri, but was developing according to
his own singular brilliance and could no longer profit
greatly from instruction.
21. Ludwig van Beethoven
Both his breathtaking piano ability and his notable compositions won
Beethoven favour among the enlightened aristocracy congregated at
Vienna, and he enjoyed their charitable support throughout his life
They were tolerant, too, of his notoriously crude manners, careless
appearance, and towering rages.
His work itself was widely accepted, if controversial, and from the end
of the 1790s Beethoven was not dependent on patronage for his
income.
1801 marked the commencement of Beethoven's tragic suffering, his
deafness, which became progressively worse and, by 1817, total.
Public performance eventually became impossible; but his creative
works were not restricted.
Beethoven died, after a long illness, in the midst of a fierce
thunderstorm, and legend has it that the dying man shook his fist in
defiance of the heavens.
23. Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven produced sonatas for violin and piano and for
cello and piano; string and piano trios; music for wind
instruments; miscellaneous piano works
◦ Produced over 200 songs; a number of shorter orchestral works;
and several choral pieces.
Beethoven's influence on following composers has been
immeasurable
Aside from his architectonic innovations and expansion of
the classical sonata and symphony, he brought to music a
new depth and intensity of emotion that was emulated by
later romantic composers but never surpassed
