Classical Music: The Classical Period

Classical Period

Classical music had a less complicated texture than Baroque (more homophonic). It emphasis was on beauty, elegance and balance. It had more variety and contrast within a piece than Baroque (dynamics, instruments, pitch, tempo, key, mood and timbre). A composer for this period is Haydn. Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau, Austria, a village on the border with Hungary. Haydn's parents had noticed that their son was musically gifted. When Haydn turned six, they accepted a proposal from their relative Johann Matthias Frank, a schoolmaster. Haydn was sent off with Frank to Hainburg never again to live with his parents. Life in the Frank household was not easy for Haydn. He began his musical training there, and could soon play

The Romantic period music was more expressive and emotional, expanding to encompass literary, artistic, and philosophical themes. A famous early Romantic composer was Robert Schumann while a late 19th century romantic composer would be Johann Strauss. Robert Schumann was a German composer, born June 8, 1810 and died July 29, 1856. He was acknowledged as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann began studying law but then changed his study, to pursue a career as a pianist. A hand injury ended this dream. He then focused his attention on composing. His published compositions were written exclusively for the piano until 1840; he later composed works for piano, voice and piano and also orchestra. He composed 4 symphonies, an opera and chamber works. Works such as Carnaval, Symphonic Studies, Kinderszenen, Kreisleriana, and the Fantasia in C are among his most famous. He suffered from a mental disorder and died without having recovered from his mental illness. The other romantic composer was Johann Strauss who was an Austrian composer of dance music and operettas. Johann Strauss was born on October 25, 1825 and died on June 3, 1899. He was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. Some of Johann Strauss' most famous works include "The Blue Danube", "Kaiser-Walzer. Strauss Junior studied the violin secretly as a child with the first violinist of his father's orchestra, Franz Amon. When his father discovered his son was secretly practicing on a violin, he gave him a severe whipping, saying that he was going to beat the music out of the boy. It was only when the father abandoned his family for a mistress, which the son was able to concentrate fully on a career as a composer with the support of his mother. Strauss studied counterpoint and harmony with theorist Professor Joachim Hoffmann, who owned a private music school. Composer Joseph