#Baroque Bassoon

[brevemusicstudios]

5 Best Free Orchestral VST Plugins You Must Try in 2023

Here are 5 of the best free Orchestral VSTs available on the market.

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[lesser-known-composers]

Antoine Dard (1715-1784) - Sonate No. 5 en Ré Mineur: IV. Allegro ·

Pascal Dubreuil, harpsichord · Ricardo Rapoport, bassoon

[quinncesar69]

A pretty little 8 note bassoon riff, looped to infinity & decorated here & there with spare instrumentation: piano, clarinet & a Roland 303 + a muttered spoken vocal here & there.

[musicollage]

Vivaldi + Thunemann; I Musici —  7 Bassoon Concertos. 1995 : Philips.

[natandacat]

Armand would love a little clarinet

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Classical Music Eras

Classical Music - describes orchestral music, chamber music, choral music, and solo performance pieces, yet within this broad genre, several distinct periods exist. Each classical era has its own characteristics that distinguish it from classical music at large.

Eras of Classical Music

Musicologists divide classical music into historical eras and stylistic subgenres. One way to examine classical music history is to divide it into 7 periods:

Medieval period (1150 to 1400): Music has existed since the dawn of human civilization, but most music historians begin cataloging classical music in the Medieval era. Medieval music is known for monophonic chant—sometimes called Gregorian chant due to its use by Gregorian monks. In addition to singing, Medieval musicians played instrumental music on instruments like the lute, the flute, the recorder, and select string instruments.

Renaissance period (1400 to 1600): Renaissance-era music introduced polyphonic music to wide audiences, particularly via choral music, which was performed in liturgical settings. In addition to the lute, Renaissance musicians played viol, rebec, lyre, and guitar among other string instruments. Brass instruments like the sackbut and cornet also emerged during this era. Perhaps the most notable Renaissance composers were Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, John Dowland, and Thomas Tallis.

Baroque period (1600 to 1750): During the Baroque era, classical music surged forward in its complexity. The Baroque era saw a full embrace of tonal music—music based on major scales and minor scales rather than modes—and it maintained the polyphony of the Renaissance era. Many of the instruments used by today's orchestras were common in Baroque music, including violin, viola, cello, contrabass (double bass), bassoon, and oboe. Harpsichord was the dominant keyboard instrument, although the piano first emerged during this era. The most renowned composers of the early Baroque era include Alessandro Scarlatti and Henry Purcell. By the late Baroque period, composers like Antonio Vivaldi, Dominico Scarlatti, George Frideric Handel, and Georg Philipp Telemann achieved massive popularity. The most influential composer to come from the Baroque era is Johann Sebastian Bach, who composed extensive preludes, fugues, cantatas, and organ music.

Classical period (1750 to 1820): Within the broad genre of classical music exists the Classical period. This era of music marked the first time that the symphony, the instrumental concerto (which highlights virtuoso soloists), and the sonata form were brought to wide audiences. Chamber music for trio and string quartet was also popular during the Classical era. The signature classical composer is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, although he was far from the only star of the classical era. Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, and J.S. Bach's sons J.C. Bach and C.P.E. Bach were also star composers during this period. Opera composers like Mozart and Christoph Willibald Gluck developed the operatic form into a style that remains recognizable today. Ludwig van Beethoven began his career during the Classical era, but his own innovations helped usher in the next musical era.

Romantic period (1820 to 1900): Exemplified by late-period Beethoven, the Romantic era introduced emotion and drama to the platonic beauty of Classical period music. Early Romantic works like Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 set a template for nearly all nineteenth-century music that followed. Many of the composers who dominate today's symphonic repertoires composed during the Romantic era, including Frederic Chopin, Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn, Hector Berlioz, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Anton Bruckner, Gustav Mahler, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss, Jean Sibelius, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Opera composers like Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi, and Giacomo Puccini used Romanticism's emotional power to create beautiful melodic lines sung in Italian and German. The Romantic era also saw the creation of a new instrument in the woodwind family, the saxophone, which would gain special prominence in the century to come.

Modern period (1900 to 1930): The Modern era of art and music came about in the early twentieth century. Classical composers of the early twentieth century reveled in breaking the harmonic and structural rules that had governed previous forms of classical music. Igor Stravinsky defiantly stretched instruments to their natural limits, embraced mixed meter, and challenged traditional notions of tonality in works like The Rite of Spring. French composers like Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel led a subgenre of twentieth-century music called Impressionism. Others like Dimitri Shostakovich, Paul Hindemith, and Béla Bartók stuck with classical forms like the piano concerto and the sonata, but challenged harmonic traditions. Perhaps most radical was the German composer Arnold Schoenberg who, along with disciples like Alban Berg and Anton Webern, disposed of tonality altogether and embraced serial (or 12-tone) music.

Postmodern period (1930 to today): The art music of the twentieth century shifted starting in the 1930s and continuing into the post-World War II era, ushering in a style of music that is sometimes called postmodern or contemporary. Early purveyors of postmodern music include Olivier Messiaen, who combined classical forms with new instruments like the ondes martenot. Postmodern and contemporary composers like Pierre Boulez, Witold Lutoslawski, Krzysztof Penderecki, Henryk Górecki, György Ligeti, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, John Adams, and Christopher Rouse have blended the lines between tonal and atonal music, and they’ve blurred the lines between classical music and other forms like rock and jazz.

Source ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[supercantaloupe]

a peek into my reed case for @nablah. i would rather die than tie with solid color thread lol

i'm in sitz again til 10pm keep me company ask me stuff tell me abt ur day or smth. let's chat

[thalialunacy]

[a wee character sketch interlude for the @calaisreno May Prompt Party]

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) 26: manipulate (27) (28) (29) (30) (31)

-440-

Orchestras always tune to ‘A’ on the oboe, because every string instrument has an ‘A’ string. Oboes can play sharp or flat, just like any other instrument, but modernly every oboist uses a little electronic meter to ensure that their ‘A’ is exactly right.

As a child, his violin instructor had made him start every lesson by vocalising A4 out of thin air. Or, at least, attempting to do so; Sherlock has always had excellent intonation, but perfect pitch -- the ability to name the frequency of sounds one hears and vice versa -- is not on his resume.

So the exercise always felt fruitless, and aggravatingly so, because of course he never actually got the correct pitch. Close, and closer with time, but never close enough.

Years later, watching a tiny human named Rosamund drag herself to her feet just to fall back down time and time again, it finally occurs to him: That was the point.

-415-

Baroque: relating to or denoting a style of European architecture, music, and art of the 17th and 18th centuries that is characterised by ornate detail.

He finds himself in a tiny overcrowded music hall watching a small early music ensemble (3 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello, 1 contrabass, 1 recorder, 2 bassoons, 1 trumpet, 1 harpsichord, and 1 very murderous theorbo player) and it takes him far too long to realise why he's uncomfortable. Why there is a little twitch below his left eye.

They are actually using a historically accurate tuning.

Sherlock blinks, feeling around his jaw to see if it could be something else, but no, a part of his overly-trained brain rebels against all the sounds being pitched slightly lower than modern sensibilities. It's like a phantom toothache.

It's like before, when Sherlock would glance up from his microscope and observe John feeling poorly. In those days, Sherlock had nothing to offer, really, so he'd just had to let John's unhappiness bury itself under his skin as something else to ignore.

Now, though. Now he can do something about it.

-432-

Some theorists and musicians claim that the 432 Hz tuning has better effects on the human body, but there are no scientific studies that support the hypothesis.

He brings an exhausted John a late night (and therefor unattractively decaf) cup of tea. 'What happened?' he asks quietly, settling in across from him.

John shakes his head vaguely. 'I couldn't… I couldn't convince a mother to respect her child's pronouns.' He coughs. 'I am an old man who is shit at not stumbling over such things, but… She wouldn't even try.'

He meets Sherlock's eyes over the rim of his mug. 'Please remind me of this when Rosie is a teenager and I want to throttle her for reinventing herself every two days.'

Sherlock pauses, then sets his tea down and leans in until he can palm the soft pyjama fabric covering John's knee. It's a small gesture, but it works-- the creases in John's brow lose a little of their severity. 'I have no doubt she'll try our patience and sanity severely. But, John… You are already a far better parent than yours were.'

John stares at him and breathes out heavily. 'Fuck.' His free hand comes down on top of Sherlock's, absently palpating his knuckles one by one. 'But you can't-- There's not exactly scientific evidence, is there, to support that.' 

Sherlock clears his throat. 'Yes, well. I'm confident there will be.' 

John's lips twitch. 'Sherlock Holmes, are you saying you have faith in something?' 

Sherlock tuts, then decides he doesn't care about propriety in this moment. He moves until he's kneeling before John, holding his face in his hands and focusing on the tiny freckle under John's left eyebrow, knowing John will understand.

'Yes,' he says simply. 'Just one thing.' And then he leans in. 

[❤️]

[music to which this was written: Britten's Violin Concerto, Op 15, which I'm certain Sherlock would hate, but he's wrong]

[posttexasstressdisorder]

'Evenin', everyone...Mr. Baggins back with you, with a set to soothe your achin' nerves and help ease us all into a good night. We start this evening off with Lenny and the NY in their classic 1967 complete recording of Borodin's "Polovstian Dances" from Prince Igor, the ballet music from Gounod's "Faust", Dance of the Hours from Ponchieli's "La Giocanda", the Dance of the Tumblers (!) from Rimsky Korsakov's "The Snow Maiden", the Bachanalle from Saint-Saens' "Samson et Dalila", the dances from Verdi's "Aida", and finallyj, the waltz from Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin".

I thought it might be interesting to hear the VERY FIRST recording of Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue", with Gershwin at the piano, recorded in Aeolian Hall, June 10, 2024: This is a 100-year-old recording! You will notice right off that the delivery is MUCH DIFFERENT, much much JAZZIER than the way it is played today! There was much more of a yawning/laughing/growling "HOT JAZZ" kind of phrasing to the horn lines and to everything else that is just not there in modern performances, which attempt a very "European Classical" feel...it's really quite eye-opening!

Since we're back here in the 1920s, let's take in Sir Edward Elgar's first recording of his "Enigma Variations", recorded in Royal Albert Hall, with Elgar himself conducting, in April and August 1926.

Next we turn to the music of a teen-aged Chopin, his Variations in B-flat on "Là ci darem la mano" from Mozart's "Don Giovanni" for piano and orchestra, Op. 2. The London Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Eliahu Inbal, and our pianist is the great Claudio Arrau.

Here's another little treat from the world of opera, we hear Bruno Walter conducting The Columbia Symphony Orchestra in a studio recording made in Hollywood in 1961, in several Mozart opera overtures. We hear the overtures to Der Schauspieldirektor K.486, Così fan tutte K.588, Le nozze di Figaro K.492, and Die Zauberflöte K.620. Sit back and listen to A Master conduct Mozart!

Next we hear the Paris Wind Ensemble in music of Haydn, his Divertimento in B-flat for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn and Bassoon. Taken from a rare 1958 recording released on Epic, which we know as more of a pop/rock/soul label.

Staying with Haydn for moment, we hear another historic recording, this one by The London Baroque Ensemble, directed by conductor Karl Haas, in this 1954 recording of Haydn's Scherzando in F major. This is another "classical" recording made on a mostly pop label, this time Westminster.

We're going back to 1926-38 for this next little while, as we hear legendary violinist Fritz Kreisler playing his favorite encore pieces, with pianists Carl Lamson and Franz Rupp. Fritz Kreisler is another performer whose style of playing is no longer considered "fashionable" or "correct". I love his tone, myself...it's like honey!

And we wind up this evening's program with the delightful Wind Sextet, Op. 201 of Carl Reinecke, written in 1904. It is performed for us here by Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet, recorded live, 16 February 1980, Meany Theatre.

And that's all the time we have for this evening's program, I do hope you've enjoyed the selections and possibly heard something new to your ear. This is Mr. Baggins signing off for tonight, I'll return at 8am Pacific with our Morning Coffee Music.

Until then, dream sweet dreams, babies, dream sweet dreams.

Baggins out.

[burlveneer-music]

Devonanon - Richard & John - one for the Ghost Box/Clay Pipe aficionados, though this gets more experimental. Vinyl edition comes in a lovely folding cover with art by David Huang (see below)

Eight years after their debut, 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, audio-visual enquirers John B McKenna and Richard Greenan re-appear as Devonanon, to share the findings of a decade-long sonic experiment. Like its predecessor, 𝑹𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 & 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏 is a living, breathing collection of field recordings and compositions, gathered gradually from remote corners of the pair's lives. Familiar waypoints - interwoven microtonal synths, regurgitated live performances, polite whispering, and the gurgling hum of vehicles (land and sea) - all fold into the perpetual stew. Where 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘺 read like a crumpled postcard account of fraternal reportage, 𝑹𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 & 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏 is a tone poem on something more amorphous, and out of time - a garbled history of human closeness, upheaval and mark-making, that seems to buckle and creak like a tapestry with no beginning or end. No two spoonfuls are the same, as our story reels through kosmische library stylings ('Wilderness Engine'), to cortex-quieting free association ('Generate Countryside'), and baroque instrumentation ('Blood Laughing'). Recommended if you like CS + Kreme, Pierre Mariétan, Kirk Barley. 𝑹𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 & 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏 was created in conversation with the visual artist David Huang. 'Blood Laughing' features Masayoshi Fujita on marimba and vibraphone, and Rosa Juritz on bassoon.

[autistic-autumn]

I know there's more instruments than this but I'm not adding them. French horn is here as honorary wind instrument given it functions as that half the time. I'm sure at least one of you out there is picky about your baroque hautboy or how much better the E♭ clarinet is over both B♭ and A. You all get to be bald.

[lesser-known-composers]

Antoine Dard (1715–1784) - Sonate No. 1 en Do Majeur: I. Adagio ·

Pascal Dubreuil · Ricardo Rapoport

[quinncesar69]

Moon.... Bassoon on the moon....

Hard to describe this tune really....it's fairly minimal: just a bassoon, piano, clarinet & a Roland 303 synth (with the occasional vocal here & there).

Baroque electro anybody?

[kdo-three]

Sonny & Cher - I Got You Babe

Sonny & Cher - I Got You Babe (1965) Sonny Bono from: "I've Got You Babe" / "It's Gonna Rain" (Single) "Look at Us" (LP)

Pop | Baroque Pop

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪

Stereo: JukeHostUK (left click = play) (320kbps)

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪

Mono: JukeHostUK (left click = play) (320kbps)

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪

Personnel: Sonny and Cher: Vocals Studio Musicians: The Wrecking Crew Steve Mann: Guitar Don Peake: Guitar Barney Kessel: Guitar Irv Coleman: Guitar Warren Webb: Oboe Morris Crawford: Bassoon Don Randi: Keyboards Michel Rubini: Harpsichord Julius Wechter: Bells Lyle Ritz: Bass Frank Capp: Drums Hal Blaine: Drums (Overdubs)

Arrangement by Harold Battiste Produced by Sonny Bono

Recorded: @ The Gold Star Studios in Hollywood, California USA on June 7, 1965

Single Released: on June 26, 1965

Album Released: August 2, 1965

ATCO Records

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪

Happy Groundhog Day 2024

[tfblovesmusic]

How the 24 Italian Songs and Arias and the Suzuki Violin School are Similar, Pt. 5

Now that we ironed out the inherent problems with the 24 Italian Songs and Arias and the Suzuki Violin School regarding historical practices, let's hear it from respectively vocal and violin pedagogy experts (as well as Poe).

"(Those chordal edits of late Renaissance and Baroque music) was common in 19th century editions because (Alessandro Parisotti and G. Schirmer's editors) had very little exposure to and experience with Renaissance and Baroque music, since only then-recently-composed music was in fashion," harpsichordist and musicologist Alice M. Chuaqui Baldwin explained.

"The editors were just making guesses about what the music was supposed to sound like, and those guesses were based on Romantic music."

Plus, one of the pieces in the 24 Italian Songs and Arias was composed by Parisotti. He ascribed his aria, "Se tu m'ami," to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. A good comparison is the Henry Lane Wilson English-language air, "Shepherd! Thy demeanour vary." He ascribed it to Early Classical composer, Thomas Brown Jr. He included it in his publication, Old English Melodies, in 1899.

Will Crutchfield of opera organization Teatro Nuvo, described the practice of not only editing Baroque and classical music pieces to suit Romantic Era mores, but also compose in the style of them, as Pseudo-Baroque for School and Parlor.

"It flourished in the later 19th century, when quite a few composers felt the urge to write gavottes, minuets, and little da capo arias - more or less in 18th-century styles, but always with telltale traces of the present day intermixed," he explained, "This went hand-in-hand with adaptations of actual Baroque music."

It's any wonder why Shinichi Suzuki based the edits and piano-violin arrangements of Baroque pieces off those published in the 19th century and the turn of the 20th century when developing the Suzuki Method.

"The question of authenticity in a composition is a valid question," A. Brown remarked on MaestroNet. "The words 'edited by' indicate that you are seeing a version and not necessarily an original. Depending on the editor, many versions can be totally unfaithful to the original. Some can be very useful and good."

"For the music of many composers, there are urtext publications that profess to present a printed text of the composer's intention. This could be taken from the earliest example or a manuscript in the composer's hand. Often there may be several versions, maybe all in the composer's handwriting."

"Editions of some of the more standard repertoires such as (the JS Bach concertos and GF Handel sonatas) are very old-fashioned, likely to be old German editions from the turn of the 20th century," Toscha added, "Suzuki allegedly studied with Karl Klingler (a student of Joachim) of Berlin during the 1930s, and seems to have had an almost blind faith in old German editions."

"But the fact was, (the Romantic-era German school of violin playing) was already out-of-date in the 1930s (Russian and Franco-Belgian school were very much in vogue already). And today, I don't think any serious professional violinists will likely to use those fingerings and bowings found in the Suzuki books."

Neither would pianists very likely play the figured basses of, say, Solfege No. 128 composed by Francesco Durante fresh off the 1772 transcript of Solfèges d'Italie as opposed to from the piano part written on 24 Italian Songs and Arias whenever a vocal student would perform "Vergin, tutt'amor" at a college vocal recital or state solo and ensemble MPA any time soon. The former keyboard part would work historically best on an organ alongside a monophonic bass instrument like a cello or bassoon.

Poe explained why:

Infusion of Romantic stylistic elements might overshadow Baroque and Classical sensibilities, leading to interpretations that felt more modern and less true to the original contexts. The aggressive use of dynamic contrasts in the piano scored could overshadow subtle nuances, potentially masking the delicate interplay that defined the original works. Excessive variations in dynamics might lead to a lack of clarity in conveying the specific moods (aka "affects") the composers aimed for, disrupting the emotional flow of the pieces. Allowing for significant rubato and personal expression might result in performances that diverged too far from the composers’ original pacing, creating interpretations that felt disjointed or overly interpretative. Performers might prioritize individual expression over fostering the intended narrative of the song, leading to varied interpretations that could confuse the piece’s emotional essence. In some arrangements, the dense piano textures could obscure the vocal line, making the lyrics less discernible and diluting their emotional significance. Alterations in accompaniment could lead to mismatches between musical phrasing and lyrical content, disrupting the emotional connection between text and music. By reinterpreting pieces for contemporary performance contexts, the historical and cultural significance of the original works may be diminished, leading to a detachment from the composers’ intents.

As Howard Goodall explained in the documentary Big Bangs, this was all because by the time Parisotti published Arie Antiche in 1885 - the piano already bore 88 notes. "It gained an iron frame, tougher wire strings, and a bigger range to fill big concert halls with sound, like an orchestra of one," he remarked.

"So, whenever a student of mine reaches around Book 4," Toscha recommended, "I'd start encouraging them to get more modern or urtext editions. For the pieces that don't have alternative modern editions, I'd try to 'update' fingerings and bowings for my students."

For those who already accomplished all airs of the 24 Italian Songs and Arias and are aspiring to be classical vocalists (with more and more of them collaborating with period instrumentalists), Poe suggests:

Performers should study the historical and cultural context of the pieces, including the composer’s life, style, and the music's original performance practices. This knowledge will inform their interpretations and help maintain authenticity. Working directly from original manuscripts or historically informed editions can help performers understand the nuances intended by the composer. While honoring traditional practices, performers can incorporate subtle contemporary elements—such as slight dynamic adjustments or varied tempos—that enhance emotional expression without straying too far from the original intent. Exploring new interpretation styles can engage audiences. However, these should be rooted in a clear understanding of the piece's essence to avoid diluting its authenticity. Whenever possible, use period instruments or replicas to achieve a more authentic sound. For example, using a fortepiano (or at least a digital piano hooked up to a PC with the fortepiano patch from a VST like Pianoteq) instead of a modern piano can enhance the period feel of Classical music (e. g. "O del mio dolce ardor" from Christoph Willibald Gluck's 1770 opera Paride ed Elena). Incorporating historical performance techniques, such as ornamentation specific to the era or appropriate articulation styles, can bring a fresh yet authentic character to the music. Providing audience members with insights into the piece’s background, including its emotional and historical significance, can enhance their appreciation and connection to the music. Collaborating with musicians who specialize in historically informed performance can enrich interpretations and ensure that the performance remains authentic while exploring new expressive possibilities. Seeking input from musicologists, educators, and other performers can provide valuable perspectives and help refine interpretations.

And vocalists shouldn't forget to listen to period instrument versions of the works represented in the 24 Italian Songs and Arias (and subsequent versions) wherever and whenever possible.

The same questions that pianist and composer Mark Polesky imagined arising whenever Suzuki Method students would listen to the pieces they are working in their original forms (especially those involving historically-informed performance, or HIP, ensembles) would apply similarly to vocal students.

Similarly, they'll likely ask, "Why is the soloist singing something different from what’s in the score? Can I add embellishments too? When and how? Why is everything tuned flat? Where is the harpsichordist getting all those notes from? Why are there so few dynamics, articulations, etc. in the original score? Do I have to play it the way it’s written in my score?"

And here's another thoughtful question they are likely going to ask: "Why is the male soloist singing in an alto (read: countertenor) or soprano (read: sopranist) voice in the recording?"

*I insert rightly a TW for countertenor haters, as this is the rendition of "Delizie, contenti," an aria from the 1649 opera Giasone featured in Parisotti's Arie Antiche, as Francesco Cavalli intended. Accompaniment by Rene Jacobs's Concerto Vocale Gent? You bet. The delightful alto voice of Michael Chance making it authentic? Check and double-check.*

"(An advantage) of listening to the (original versions of pieces in the 24 Italian Songs and Arias and the Suzuki Violin School) is the exposure to baroque performance practice," Polesky remarked, "And students who see the original manuscripts and early editions can learn to read the modern interpretive editions with a more critical eye (and to listen to the originals with a more critical ear)."

With the early music realm ever-expanding, maybe someday an HIP performance involving said countertenors of the megillah of the entirety of Antonio Caldara's 1710 opera La costanza in amor vince l'inganno would someday come to fruition. Audiences will soon enough be treated to hear a rendition of "Sebben, crudele" - either sung by a female soprano or sopranist - that is true to his intent.

Some early music lovers and historically-minded musicians only can dream...

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: The Classical Period

The Classical Period of music - an era that lasted from approximately 1730 to 1820, although variations on it extended well into the middle of the 19th century.

Classical period composers and performers came from Europe, but it did not take long for the music to find its way to European colonies around the globe.

Many composers and musicians were based in the Austrian capital of Vienna, which was the musical center of Europe during the time period.

Musicologists and casual music fans use the general term "classical music" to describe the work of composers ranging from J.S. Bach to Igor Stravinsky to Philip Glass. The Classical period, though, is a specific era in music history that spanned much of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Characteristics of Classical Period Music

Important forms of the Classical period include the string quartet, opera (including opera buffa and opera seria), trio sonata, symphony (traditionally written in sonata form), string quartet, and solo concertos for a variety of instruments. These musical forms have several elements in common.

Simplicity: Compared to the Baroque period music that preceded it, Classical period music places greater emphasis on simplicity, tonal harmony, single-line melodies, and enlarged ensembles. Unlike the extravagant melodies and ornamentations of high Baroque music, the new style of music framed somewhat simple melodies and buttressed them with large ensembles. Melodies could be appropriated from folk music and arranged to produce musical development with various modulations in tonality, tempo, and dynamics. This trend would only expand during the Romantic period, which followed the Classical era.

Classicism: The beginning and middle of the eighteenth century showed a surge in a stylistic movement known as Classicism, whose adherents revered Classical antiquity, including the works of early fifth-century Greek artists and the architecture of Classical Greece. Admiration for the art of Classical antiquity manifested in the musical taste of the eighteenth-century Classical era. The standard musical forms that dominated the musical compositions of the Classical period aimed to embrace order, simplicity, strength, and a celebration of humanity—all of which aligned with a reverence for Classical Greece.

Increased accessibility: During the Classical period, many composers still worked in the courts of aristocrats, but public concerts were commonplace throughout Europe, which allowed members of the middle classes to partake in the musical forms. This made Classical era music somewhat more egalitarian than much of Baroque music, which was often presented as chamber music exclusively for upper-class audiences.

Instruments of the Classical Period

During the Classical period in music history, the piano overtook the harpsichord and organ as the primary keyboard instrument. Other musical instruments prominently featured in the new musical style included:

violin

viola

cello

double bass

flute

clarinet

oboe

bassoon

French horn

trumpet

trombone

timpani

Composers of the Classical Period

Vienna was the epicenter of European Classical music, and the composers who worked out of Vienna were sometimes referred to as members of the Viennese school.

Great composers of the Viennese school included Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, and Ludwig van Beethoven, all of whom are foundational to the Classical period of music (although Beethoven's later works are commonly linked to the Romantic era).

Other famous composers of the period included Johann Christian Bach, Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Antonio Salieri, and Muzio Clementi.

Classical era music followed the late Baroque period of music.

It maintained many styles of the Baroque tradition but placed new emphasis on elegance and simplicity (as opposed to Baroque music’s grandiosity and complexity) in both choral music and instrumental music.

It was followed by the Romantic period.

Source ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs