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What Is Classical Music?

Did you know that your local 'classical music' radio station has been misleading you for your entire life? We're used to thinking of classical music as a general label for everything written a long time ago by people who didn't know about electric guitars. Actually, the Classical period of music was a very specific and limited chunk of musical history: it lasted from the mid-18th century to the early 19th century.

The Classical period was a time when entertaining, tuneful music was trendy. Composers strove to write music that went straight to the heart, instead of challenging listeners with too much complexity. The Classical period also happened to produce three of music history's most famous composers: Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Their music defined the Classical style, and they were so celebrated by 19th century music historians that they've become poster boys for concert music in general. That's why you have the adjective 'classical' attached to your local concert-music radio station!

Franz Joseph Haydn

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was the oldest of the three and a friend and mentor of Mozart and Beethoven. Haydn grew up near Vienna in the Austrian countryside. At the age of seven, he embarked on a musical education, working as a choirboy at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. Vienna was a musical epicenter during the Classical period, so going to Vienna to learn music was sort of like going to Hollywood to get into the movies.

In 1761, Haydn started a job as music director at the court of a Hungarian aristocrat, Prince Paul Esterházy. During the Classical period, working as a court musician for a powerful aristocrat was one of the highest-profile jobs a musician could do. His job was to be the Esterházys' family iPod: he wrote music and organized concerts for them as the leader of a large group of staff musicians. He was known as a warm, kind director: his orchestra loved him, and nicknamed him 'Papa Haydn.'

Haydn spent 30 years working for the Esterházys, and the music he wrote for them gained him international fame. His works included instrumental music like symphonies and string quartets, as well as vocal music like operas and sacred pieces. Haydn is also remarkable for being one of the funniest composers in music history. He loved to write gag pieces like the 'Surprise Symphony', a work that lulls its audience with gentle music only to freak them out with a sudden blast of sound.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Haydn's contemporaries considered him the greatest composer of his time, but Haydn himself assigned that top slot to his younger friend, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). Born in Salzburg, Austria, Mozart was an astonishing musical prodigy who could play the harpsichord and compose by the age of six. His father, Leopold Mozart, was eager to showcase his son's talent; Mozart spent most of his childhood touring Europe with his father and sister, performing concerts for royalty and dignitaries.

Before he was 20, Mozart was already working as a court musician for a powerful archbishop in Salzburg. Leopold Mozart was happy to see his son in such a respectable position, and he was not thrilled when Mozart quit his job in 1781 to move to Vienna and be a freelance musician. In Vienna, Mozart published compositions, concertized as a pianist, and had his operas produced. Between it all, he managed to create an unorthodox, but successful career.

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haydn & beethoven - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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Classical Era Composers: Mozart, Haydn & Beethoven - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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Did you know that your local 'classical music' radio station has been misleading you for your entire life? We're used to thinking of classical music as a general label for everything written a long time ago by people who didn't know about electric guitars.

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Symphony No.101 in D major, movement II 'The Clock'.

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BBC - GCSE Bitesize: The sonata in the Classical period

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A secondary school revision resource for GCSE Music about the western classical tradition and the sonata

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The symphony was a very important form during the Classical and Romantic periods. A symphony is a large-scale orchestral work intended to be played in the concert hall. It is usually in four movements. The standard Classical form is:

1st movement: Allegro (fast) in sonata form

2nd movement: Slow

3rd movement: Minuet (a dance with three beats in a bar)

4th movement: Allegro

Notice that the first movement is in sonata form. Sonata form has three main sections: exposition, development and recapitulation. Learn more about sonata form.

Sonata form

Most of the musical ideas come from two contrasting themes heard in the exposition.

In the exposition the material is 'exposed', presented for the first time. There are two main melodies known as the first and second subject.

The first subject is in the tonic key.

The second subject is in a different key, usually the dominant or the relative minor, and has a different character.

The two subjects are connected by a transition or bridge passage.

In the development section the material from the exposition is transformed. The music goes through several modulations (key changes).

In the recapitulation the material from the exposition is repeated (recapped) in a slightly different and shorter form. The first and second subject are now both heard in the tonic key.

Symphony No.40 in G minor K.550

K.550 is the number of this symphony in the catalogue of Mozart's works. It is known as a Köchel number because the catalogue was compiled by Ludwig Köchel. Mozart's Symphony No.40 was completed in 1788. It is not known whether it was performed during Mozart's lifetime.

It has the standard four movements and is scored for:

woodwind - flute, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons

brass - two horns

strings - 1st violins, 2nd violins, violas, cellos and double basses

There are no trumpets or timpani (kettledrums).

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The symphony was a very important form during the Classical and Romantic periods. A symphony is a large-scale orchestral work intended to be played in the concert hall. It is usually in four movements.

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Listen live to Classic FM online radio. Discover classical music and find out more about the best classical composers, musicians and their works.

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Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was a German composer and pianist, who is arguably the defining figure in the history of Western music.

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Listen live to Classic FM online radio. Discover classical music and find out more about the best classical composers, musicians and their works.

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BBC - GCSE Bitesize: Classical chamber music

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A secondary school revision resource for GCSE Music about the western classical tradition and chamber music

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Hey! What's going on here? We've got classical music, and now we've got the classical period. What's all this about? This is confusing!

Yes it is. And like so many confusing things, it's all the fault of history. When the term 'classical music' was invented, the two 'classical' things were the same. Classical music was music from the classical period-just like baroque music is music from the baroque period (see the Baroque page). In fact, this is what some really serious musicians still mean by classical music. For these people, classical music is music from the classical period.

But we're not really serious, are we? Well I'm not, anyway! So what is the classical period?

The classical period is between the baroque and romantic periods. This means that music from the classical period is music composed between about 1750 to 1820.

The greatest composers of the classical period are

It is important to note that the classical period ended before Beethoven died. This is because Beethoven was the one who ended it! At the end of his life, Beethoven's music was so new that it had to be called something completely different (see the Romantic page).

Other famous composers of the classical period include

So what is music from the classical period like?

Music from the classical period has a particular style. Like other styles, it is not easy to describe. The best way to understand what the style is, is to listen to the great classical composers -especially Mozart and Haydn.

Here are some of the common features you will hear in music of the classical period:

A tune! Most music of the classical period has a clear tune. There is little of the weaving together of different tunes that you get in baroque music. This means that music from the classical period often sounds much simpler than baroque music.

Loud one second, quiet the next (but not as much as romantic music). Music from the classical period keeps changing volume. It keeps changing in many other ways as well. You will notice these as changes of mood.

The name! The same names keep coming up over and over again in music of the classical period. For example, you will see lots of symphonies, sonatas, and concertos. Each of these is a style all of its own!

That should be enough to get you going. Happy listening-for a lot of music from the classical period is very happy indeed! Just look at this video to see for yourself. It's the beginning of Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusic (A Little Night Music).

First movement of Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusic

Picture credits:

An example art from the late 18th century (this type of art is called 'neoclassical'). This painting is called 'Charles Towneley in his Sculpture Gallery' and was painted in 1782 by Johann Zoffany. The image is in the public doman. Click here for the source of this image, along with the relevant copyright information.

Video credits:

Mozart - Eine kleine Nachtmusik (on period instruments). New Trinity Baroque, Atlanta's leading period instrument orchestra, conducted by Predrag Gosta, performing Mozart's masterpiece "Eine kleine Nachtmusik".

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Hey! What's going on here? We've got classical music, and now we've got the classical period. What's all this about? This is confusing! Yes it is. And like so many confusing things, it's all the fault of history. When the term 'classical music' was invented, the two 'classical' things were the same.

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The Classical Period Timeline by Classic FM

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The Classical period refers to an era that started around 1750 and includes composers like Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Also active in this period were Rossini and Paganini.

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As the Classical period took over in the mid-1700s and the Baroque era was winding down, a few defining characteristics emerged. Where the music of the Baroque period was ordered, efficient and complex, the new sound of the classical period tended to focus on simplifying things a little bit, but also making them bigger. Confused? Let our guide show you which pieces to listen to.

Classical Period Sound

On a purely musical level, there was simply more to hum along to in the Classical period. Melodies and plain-old good tunes took over from complex polyphony (everything playing at once), and composers like Haydn and Mozart flourished because they were so good at writing them.

Just think about how many Mozart tunes you know without realising it - it's all down to the melody. What about Eine Kleine Nachtmusik?

It's a classic tune from the Classical period. Listen to how the melody sits perfectly on top of the lower strings - it's eminently hummable. When it comes down to it, that's what defined the classical period's sound. It was the first time when melody really became the most important thing to get right.

Classical Period Instruments

The instruments of the Classical period were constantly changing and evolving as various bright sparks came up with handy innovations and grab ideas, but there are two main developments that we can point to - first, the piano. Previously, the harpsichord's twangy sound was all over the place in the Baroque period, but it gradually became replaced by the piano because of its ability to play much more softly and subtly than the harpsichord.

The second major development in sound in the Classical period was the expansion of the orchestra. In the Baroque period you could expect modest strings-only orchestras with occasional woodwind accompaniment and a harpsichord, but as woodwind instruments (clarinet, flute, horns, oboe etc) got better and more versatile, they managed to bag their very own section in a standard orchestra.

And with huge numbers of symphonies now being composed, the orchestra started to resemble the orchestras we see in concert halls today. Other developments included the emergence of the string quartet (Haydn was the real pioneer here), but the real meat was coming from the orchestra. Have a listen:

Classical Period Pieces

The sound and the instruments are nothing without the actual pieces of music. Fortunately, the Classical period saw the number of different types of piece expand massively, so you start to get more symphonies, concertos, solo instrumental pieces and even operas.

Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini, Paganini and more all wrote stunning works that were symptomatic of the time, but it was Beethoven who really stretched the Classical mould and laid the groundwork for the period that followed - the Romantic. His symphonies especially grew to mammoth proportions (the ninth needs a full orchestra and a huge choir) and were often deeply emotional or political affairs.

All manner of smaller works were composed too, so look out for extensive piano sonatas from Mozart and Beethoven and some cracking, witty string quartets from Haydn. King of opera would have to be either Mozart or Rossini (check out his overtures for a good starting point).

Basically, when it comes down to it, the Classical period is the sound of delicate order gradually being taken over by emotion and indulgence. As time went on and musical experiments started to succeed, the sound got more and more Romantic - leading perfectly into the Romantic period that followed.

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As the Classical period took over in the mid-1700s and the Baroque era was winding down, a few defining characteristics emerged. Where the music of the Baroque period was ordered, efficient and complex, the new sound of the classical period tended to focus on simplifying things a little bit, but also making them bigger.

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The dates of the Classical period in Western music are generally accepted as being between about the year 1730 and the year 1820. However, the term classical music is often used in a colloquial sense as a synonym for Western art music which describes a variety of Western musical styles from the Middle Ages to the present, and especially from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth.