An exploration of classical style through the works of composers from 1770-1800, including the origins of the style, the confluence of stylistic practices and the evolution of classicism into 19th Century romanticism. Emphasis is on the music literature in its historical context. (Coordinated with the course website: http://www.nyu.edu/classes/gilbert/classic/)

Course Objectives

1. Students will be able to recognize, describe, and discuss features of classical style.

2. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the origins of classicism including the differences from Baroque style as manifest in musical practice.

3. Students will be able to recognize, identify, and discuss works typical of the classical period including symphony, concerto, opera, and solo/chamber works including the sonata and string quartet.

4. Students will be able to recognize, identify and discuss works of the major composers of the classical era as well as describe the various streams of musical activity which helped shaped the works of these composers.

5. Students will place the classical era in a context by examining and discussing the gradual emergence of musical practices associated with romanticism which led to the development of what has been described as the Romantic Period beginning ca. 1800 and continuing throughout the 19th Century.

6. Students will select specific sources concerning the Classical Era and will write abstracts summarizing contents of sources.

7. Students will develop a specific thesis or topic involved in the classical era and will articulate the premise with supporting material.

• "Re-Discovering" the Roots of Western Civilization: Greece
• Ideals of Western Art as Manifest in the "New" Classicism of the 18th Century
  • Balance
  • Symmetry
  • Restraint and Moderation
  • Clarity
  • Proportion
  • Form
• A Moment of Confluence: The Brevity of "High Classicism"

• Dissolution of Baroque Artistic Aesthetics: Divergent Forces
• Stürm und Drang
• Empfindsamkeit (Empfindsamer Stil)
• The "Romanticism" of the Baroque Goes "Underground"
• Rococo and Style Galant
• Bel Canto
• New Principles of Unity: The Role of Clarity, Contrast, and Balance
• Aristocracy Replaces the Church as Patron of the Arts
• City States and Public Concerts
• Musician as Entrepreneur

• Music Loses the "Word" and Finds Itself
• Baroque Development of Virtuosi
• Development of Orchestras and Orchestral Idioms
• Multimovement Forms
  • Mass
  • Oratorio
  • Dance Suite
  • Concerto Grosso
  • Early Sonata
  • Overture
• Stabilizing of Orchestra
  • Mannheim
  • Vienna
• The Classical Orchestra
• The Development of the Pianoforte
• Solidification and Expansion of Tonality

• Germany and Northern Europe
  • Carl Philip Emanuel Bach (1714--1788)
  • Johann Gottlieb Graun (1703-1771)
  • Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782)
  • Johann Stamitz (1717-1757)
  • Franz X. Richter (1709-1789)
  • Christian Cannabich (1731-1798)
  • Ignatz Holzbauer (1711-1783)
  • Mathias Monn (1717-1750)
  • Georg Christoph Wagenseil (1715-1777)
• France
  • Francois Couperin (1668-1733)
  • Jean-Philipe Rameau
• Italy
  • Guiseppe Tartini (1692-1770)
  • Giovanni Battista Sammartini (1701-1775)
  • Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1750)
  • Giovanni Platti (1690-1763)
  • Giovanni Rutini (1723-1797)
• England
  • Ballads
  • Music and Musicians as Imports (Handel and "The Beggar's Opera")
  • The London Concert Scene
• Russia
  • Russian Connection to France
• America and The Colonies (Benjamin Franklin as music critic and champion of French Rationalism)
• European "Chauvinism"

• Haydn and Mid-Century Musical Style (Remnants of the Baroque)
• Haydn's Evolution to Classical Style
• Sonata, Quartet, and Symphony: Vehicles for Developing Classical Style

• The Young Genius
• Master and Innovator
• Mozart's Contributions to All Genre

• Techniques for Development
  • importance of melodic and rhythmic motives
  • repetition and sequence
  • fragmentation
  • diminution
  • augmentation
  • retrogression
  • tonality and modulation
  • harmonic variation
  • rhythmic transformation
• Theme and Variation

• Sonata Allegro and Sonata

• Sinfonia
• The Three Movement Symphony
• Orchestral Quartets
• The Symphony Comes of Age

• Concerto Grosso
• The Emergence of the Solo Concerto

• Mozart's Operas
• Haydn's Songs
• The Oratorio
• Opera as a Growing Force

• Trio
• Divertimento
• String Quartet

• Elements of Classical Style
• Style and Form

• The emergence of the dramatic in the sonata and symphony
• Discovery of the "real Shakespeare"
• Links to the Baroque and Empfindsamkeit

• The First Symphony as a Point of Departure: "Good-bye to Classicism"
• The Eruption of the Tonal System

• A return to unity of mood
• The Nurturing of Extremes
• The Loss of Restraint
• The Striving for the Grand
• Political Turmoil and the death of Aristocracy
• The American Revolution
• The French Revolution

1. Conduct a performance analysis of a selected work by a composer from the classical period. This might include a presentation in class through a performance and hand-out of materials developed in your research into the music.

EVALUATION

Students will be evaluated on class participation in discussion, presentation, requested written assignments, examinations, and term project.

ASSIGNED READINGS

Select a book or dissertation dealing with a composer, works, or stylistic characteristics of the classical period and present a report with an abstract to the class.

Textbook as assigned.

REFERENCES

Bauer, Ross. "The Structural Role of the Slow Introduction in the Classical Style." Unpublished Dissertation, Brandeis University, 1984.

Cuyler, Louise. The Symphony. Harcourt Brace Janovich, Inc., NY, 1973.

Downs, Philip G. Classical Music : The Era of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. W.W. Norton, New York, 1992.

Cliff Eisen (ed.). Mozart Studies. Oxford University Press, New York, 1991.

Heger, Theodore E. Music of the Classic Period. W.C. Brown, Dubuque, Iowa, 1969.

Kramer, Lawrence. Classical Music and Postmodern Knowledge. University of California Press, Berkeley, c1995.

Larsen, Jens Peter. Handel, Haydn, and the Viennese Classical Style. UMI Research Press, Ann Arbor, Mich., c1988.

Mac Intyre, Bruce Campbell. The Viennese Concerted Mass of the Early Classic Period. UMI Research Press, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1986.

Mellers, Wilfrid. Francois Couperin and the French Classical Tradition (New rev. ed.). Faber, London, 1987.

Newman, William S. The Sonata in The Classic Era. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1963.

Pauly, Reinhard G. Music in the Classic Period. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ., 1973.

Ratner, Leonard G. Classic Music : Expression, Form, and Style. Schirmer Books, New York, c1980.

Rosen, Charles. The Classical Style. (Expanded Edition). W.W. Norton and Company, NY 1997.

Rushton, Julian. Classical Music : A Concise History from Gluck to Beethoven. Thames and Hudson, New York, N.Y., 1986.

Sisman, Elaine Rochelle. Haydn and the Classical Variation. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.,1993.

Swafford, Jan. The Vintage Guide to Classical Music, (1st ed.). Vintage Books, New York, 1992.

Trott, Donald Lee. Patterns of Accentuation in the Classical Style : As Supported by Primary Sources and as Illustrated in the Late Masses of Franz Joseph Haydn. University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, Mich., (1986), c1984.

Webster, James. Haydn's "Farewell" Symphony and the Idea of Classical Style : Through-Composition and Cyclic Integration in his Instrumental Music. Cambridge University Press, New York, 1991.

Weimer, Eric. Opera Seria and the Evolution of Classical Style, 1755-1772. UMI Research Press, Ann Arbor, Mich., c1984.

Whitmore, Philip. Unpremeditated Art : The Cadenza in the Classical Keyboard Concerto. Oxford University Press, New York, 1991.

Neal Zaslaw (ed.). The Classical Era : From the 1740s to the End of the 18th Century. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 1989.