CLASSICAL MUSIC

 

A lot of people tend to think that any music involving more than three violins, or any music that is more than, say, 70 year old, is classical music. But what is called classical music is really music belonging to the classical style and era, roughly from 1775 to 1800. It followed baroque music, and was followed by romantic music - after a brief "rococo" period. "Rococo" style is mainly defined by its manierism. The two main classical composers are Haydn and Mozart.

 

F.J. Haydn   Classical style is often described as the result of a phenomenon called la résolution des tensions in french - easily understandable. It is necessarily a post baroque phenomenon. Baroque eras are typical of a profusion of styles - everyone makes and plays music, and there is an incredible variety of style. It's very difficult to tell what music is supposed to be, and in what direction music is heading. It creates tensions : too many opposite tendancies and points of view. During the classical era, those tensions end, are resolved into certain figures, certain ways of writing, which are considered more balanced, more elegant, than all the other figures and tendancies.   Back to main index