The Classical Era – 1750-1815 Music was only one facet of the world that was developing during the classical era. These changes in religion, politics and society, and in the scientific and academic ideas of the time period help to set the scene for the great music of the time. During the classical era, there were some major changes in religion. The greatest shift was moving away from the idea that God could do anything. A new form of religion, Deism, was formed at this time. The word deism comes from the Latin word Deus, which means god. Deists believed that the world was formed by God, but that He would not interfere with creation. This is often described as the clockwork model, where God sets up the earth, but then leaves it to run on its …show more content…
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was influenced by the deists and wrote a bible that did not contain any miracles or events that could not be explained. This lack of belief in miracles is consistent with the deist viewpoint. Though deism is very different from atheism, it was the closest to atheism to be found at the time and eventually led to atheism. During the classical era, there were also many developments in politics and in society. In one of the largest changes came with the industrial revolution, which started in 1760 in England. Prior to the industrial revolution, everything was made in small quantities and often made by the same people who would use the product. The industrial revolution centralized productions of good to large factories, and helped to pave the way to democracy. Within a few decades, the industrial revolution had spread from England to much of Europe and to North America. Since all of the work was centralized, many families came to the cities looking for work. Working conditions were appalling in those days as there were no regulations and factory owners took advantage of the desperate working by paying them very low wages. Living conditions for the workers were very cramped. There would be eight to ten people