Classicism

🕐 10 min - The three Viennese classics

• The classical period started after 1750 and continued until the beginning of the 19th century.
• The music of the classical period is mostly identified with the three composers of the Viennese school: Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
• Choose facts to tell your class about each of these composers.

• Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
  • An Austrian composer.
  • By the 1780s he was the most celebrated composer of his time, and from the 1790s until his death was famous throughout Europe.
  • He's regarded as the first of the three ‘Viennese Classics’ (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven).
  • He excelled in every musical genre, both vocal and instrumental.
  • He is known as the 'father of the symphony' and could be regarded one for the string quartet too.
  • Haydn worked in Vienna and London and spent three decades serving as a court musician, a Kapellmeister at Esterházy court in the Austrian city of Eisenstadt.
  • One half of Haydn's output is vocal music - he wrote sacred music, such as masses, and secular music, including 13 operas.
  • Haydn wrote 106 symphonies. There is no other genre in Western music for which the output of a single composer is so vast.
  • In chamber music, the most important genre Haydn composed was string quartet - he wrote 68 of them.
  • Haydn wrote more than 125 works for keyboard - mostly for harpsichord, later also for fortepiano.
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
  • An Austrian composer, born in Salzburg.
  • Seventh and the last child of Leopold Mozart and his wife Maria Anna - only he and the fourth child Maria Anna ('Nannerl') survived.
  • Wolfgang's first educator was his father, who also noticed his musical gifts at an early age. His earliest known compositions, a miniature Andante and Allegro, were written in 1761, when he was five.
  • In 1762, when Mozart was 6, he and his sister toured playing harpsichord and violin at the homes of various ambassadors and nobles in Munich, Vienna and Versailles.
  • From the age of 8, Mozart and his family went on long tours through Europe playing concerts in Germany, France, the Low Countries, England, Switzerland and Italy.
  • The first published pieces by Mozart were two pairs of sonatas for keyboard and violin (Paris, 1764). He was only 8 years old then!
  • He worked as Konzertmeister at the court in Salzburg and wrote church music there, later moved to Vienna where he taught, performed and his compositions were published.
  • He composed in every major genre and wrote more than 600 works altogether, including:
    • Around 50 symphonies (the number isn't clear because some of them are lost and the authorship of some - doubtful);
    • Concertos: he was the most prolific in piano concerto (27), has written concertos also for solo violin, horn, bassoon, oboe and flute;
    • More than 20 string quartets;
    • Operas: 22 musical dramas in various genres;
    • 18 masses, including the famous Requiem, also separate mass movements and other liturgical works.
• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
  • A German composer who continued the Viennese Classical tradition, started by Haydn and Mozart.
  • Born in Bonn, worked there and in his early twenties moved to Vienna and spent most of his active years there.
  • Beethoven was the third generation of musicians, employed at the court of the Electorate of Cologne, which had its seat in Bonn.
  • At a very young age, he received instruction from his father on the piano and the violin, later studied music theory, keyboard and viola but didn't continue his general education beyond elementary school.
  • Started giving concerts at a young age, was compared to Mozart as another child prodigy.
  • In his early teenage years, Beethoven started working as an orchestra musician at the court.
  • He studied composition with Haydn for about a year in Vienna.
  • Beethoven became known as a piano virtuoso. He gave performances in private houses, as well as public concerts.
  • Around the age of thirty, Beethoven started noticing first symptoms of deafness. It was progressive and incurable, and in less than 20 years he became completely deaf which increased his emotional turmoil and the feeling of isolation.
  • Beethoven wrote more than 700 works in all the main genres of classical music, including:
    • 9 symphonies, the last one is famous for its Finale (last movement) 'Ode to Joy';
    • 5 piano concertos (he also wrote concertos for violin and oboe);
    • 17 string quartets;
    • 32 piano sonatas (also sonatas for violin, cello and horn);
    • Only one opera: 'Fidelio';
    • More than 80 songs, as well as more than 160 folk song arrangements of Irish, Welsh, Scottish and other nationalities.

🕐 5 min - Exercise 1 - Which one of the three…?

• Do a short quiz about the three composers. All the questions can be seen in slides.
• Which one of the three…?
  • ...wrote more than 100 symphonies, some of which are known by their titles, such as 'The Bear', 'The Hen', 'Mercury', 'Farewell' and 'Surprise'. The title of the 'Surprise' Symphony comes from the surprisingly loud chord, that follows a soft and quiet theme, played by the strings. (Haydn)
  • ...has written a piece which is now used as the official anthem of the European Union. More precisely - it's the last movement of his last symphony. (Beethoven)
  • ...as a kid, toured through Europe, giving concerts with his sister and father. (Mozart)
  • ...communicated with his friends and visitors, using 'conversation books' where they wrote down what they wanted to say to him, while the composer answered aloud. (Beethoven)
  • ...spent most of his career working as a musician at the Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt, Austria. (Haydn)
  • ...has a candy called in his name: a ball of green pistachio marzipan covered in nougat and chocolate. It's produced by several confectioners in Austria. (Mozart)

🕐 15 min - Exercise 2 - Symphony No. 40

• Choose the 'Symphony No. 40 in G minor' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from the Song Library.
• Shortly explain the piece! For example, you could mention these facts:
  • It's actually an excerpt from the 1st movement of the symphony.
  • The movement is originally marked as 'Molto allegro' ('very quick/cheerful' in Italian).
  • The symphony consists of four movements in total. The other movements are called 'Andante', 'Menuetto' and 'Finale'.
  • Originally, it's played only by strings and winds - no percussion instruments are featured.
  • There are two different main melodies (two contrasting themes): the first in G minor, the second in B flat major. The first is introduced right in the beginning and the second starts in bar 23.
  • The movement is written in sonata form - explain it further, if necessary.
• Mute the synth track and the three rhythm lines - you can do it under the menu 'Controls' - 'Volume'.
• Play the piece and ask students to follow the notation of the 1st violin line and learn its rhythm on simple percussion instruments or body percussion.
  • Notice the 'question' - 'answer' structure of the melody.
  • Notice the melodic motives starting with an upbeat.
• Unmute the synth and the rhythm tracks. Listen to this arrangement of the piece.
  • Remind the students that the original symphony doesn't feature percussion instruments.
• Shortly discuss:
  • Which version (with or without percussion) do you prefer? Why?
  • What's the difference between the rhythm of the first theme and the second theme?
  • How would you describe the mood of the piece? How does it change by adding the modern percussion?

🕐 15 min - Exercise 3 - Rhythmical Dice Game

• Tell the class about a piece Mozart composed for piano: 'Musikalisches Würfelspiel' ('Musical Dice Game'). It contains a table of one bar long motives with corresponding numbers and their order is determined by throwing two dice.
• Divide the class into small groups.
• Invite each group to have a look at the notation of 'Symphony No. 40 in G minor' and write down 6 different one bar long rhythmic motives.
  • Remember that these motives should make sense musically: it's quite common in this piece to start on the upbeat.
  • Check different parts, not only the main melody of the 1st violin.
  • Number the rhythmic motives from 1 to 6.
  • Using either a physical dice or an online dice roller, establish the order you'll be playing the rhythm.
• Each group performs their rhythm on simple percussion instruments or body percussion to the class. 'Symphony No. 40 in G minor' (or some tracks of it) could be used as a backing track to the students' performances.

🕐 5 min - Discussion

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of the compositional method using the dice?

Challenge students to go beyond the lesson by...

• Exploring the category 'Modern Classics' in the Song Library, listening to other pieces and comparing them to Mozart's Symphony.