History of Classical Music

by Hugh Binnie

By the mid 18th Century, people were beginning to tire of the flamboyancy and over-zealous nature of baroque. And so began the classical period, with its cleaner style, clearer divisions, brighter contrasts, and – most importantly of all – a simplicity that had been somewhat lost in the later years of baroque. This new fad was to last for around a century and contained one principal style; homophony. Homophony is the combination of a clear melody and a subordinate harmony, and it turned out to be quite popular with composers.

The new musical style reflected also the change in who controlled instrumental music: as the eighteenth Century progressed, the nobility became more and more prominent, taking not so much the leading roles, but all of the roles. And opera too became more popular, particularly comic opera. This led to changes in musical performance; with harmony becoming less and less important as the period progressed. 

The final major cause of change was economics: no longer did composers have entire towns to pluck musicians from. Instead, they relied heavily on a smaller group, and so the chance to write compositions of vastly varying complexity was diminished. Of course if a composer was lucky enough to have a particularly gifted musician in their ranks, they would often exploit this; and so we are left with pieces containing wildly difficult bassoon solos, or intricate flute parts. A notable example of this type of composing is that done for the Mannheim orchestra (of course, its size somewhat ruins the case in point).

Early Classical (1760-1775)

By the late 1750s, there were centres of classical music scattered around Europe; including Vienna, Paris and the aforementioned Mannheim. Dozens of symphonies had already been composed and “bands” were already being associated with these cities. However, it took some time for a breakthrough to be made concerning how exactly one should write a classical piece. Many believe this breakthrough soon came with the help of C.P.E. Bach and Gluck. Some even consider those two to be the founders of the classical style.

However, the first great master of the style was Haydn. He began composing in the late 1750s and by 1761 had composed a musical triptych that was clearly grounded in the classical style. His mastery of the style can hardly be doubted, although many argue that Mozart and Beethoven were greater.

Middle Classical (1775-1790) 

By the late 1750s, there were centres of classical music scattered around Europe; including Vienna, Paris and the aforementioned Mannheim. Dozens of symphonies had already been composed and “bands” were already being associated with these cities. However, it took some time for a breakthrough to be made concerning how exactly one should write a classical piece. Many believe this breakthrough soon came with the help of C.P.E. Bach and Gluck. Some even consider those two to be the founders of the classical style.

By 1781 Haydn was well on his way to establishing the classical style as one of the key musical genres. By then he was competently – as should be expected from a composer of his standing – sending the melodies and harmonies from instrument to instrument, like the flow of a river. 

In 1780 Mozart arrived in Vienna, and this served to speed up the development of the classical style. Throughout the decade, Mozart helped to develop the classical style and took it in new directions; he composed his great symphonies that inspired the next generation of classical composers; and his piano concerti that still stand as a prime example of classical period composing.

Meanwhile, London was also becoming an exciting city for classicists. Including such composers as the acclaimed Muzio Clementi, London’s classical scene was ablaze in the late 18th Century. He and various others urged piano makers to extend the “range and other features” of their instruments, opening up yet more possibilities for the mid classicists. Although London’s role in the classical period is often overlooked, it was crucial as the home to the Broadwood’s piano factory. The Broadwood factory provided pianos for the greatest composers of the period: Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven are just a few who used them. London was also home to a group of composers that were at least in part responsible for the move away from classicism at the beginning of the 19th Century.

Late Classical (1790-1820)

The 1790s saw the arrival of the next generation of classical composers: born around 1770, they “found in… Mozart and Haydn a vehicle for greater expression”. Including distinguished composers such as Méhul and Hummel, they were a force to be reckoned with and the greatest of them – Ludwig van Beethoven – still regarded by some as the greatest composer there has been.

The notable stylistic difference between the works of Beethoven to those of Mozart and Haydn was the “greater pull of minor and modal ambiguity”. Also prominent was the change from “vocal” to “pianistic” writing styles: the increased length of movements and shift in melody are also important. Late classicists were by now straying from the fundamental foundations of the classical period: music was becoming more complex and less clear-cut; less rigid and more emotional.

By the end of the 1830s most signs of classicism had been replaced by a new fashion: romantic music. However there were still classical composers around, going under the term “classical romantics”. These included young Mendelssohn and Schubert, but were for the most part a minority. Beethoven also fits into this group, with the Moonlight Sonata providing a solid grounding for hundreds of pieces that followed. Classical music, however, is not gone: there are still composers providing new movements, concerti and symphonies in accordance with Haydn’s guiding principles.

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