Wiener Klassik#
Viennese Classicism, style of music dominating in Vienna from 1770 until 1830. Around 1720, first signs of specific changes in musical tastes and styles became visible; this era, called Pre-Classical or Early Classical Period, comprises various developments between late Baroque, style galant, Rococo and sentimental style. Composers of this transitional period include G. C. Wagenseil, J. Starzer and J. Bonno, to a certain extent also J. Haydn, W. A. Mozart and A. Salieri. Thus, the end of the classical period (around 1830) should be seen as smooth transition. L. v. Beethoven, for example, is considered to be both classicist and romanticist.
Seen from the socio-historical point of view, Viennese Classicism and
its main representatives J. Haydn, W. A. Mozart and
L. v. Beethoven ("Classical Triad") are based upon a
feudal society which saw itself as a champion of the Enlightenment.
Vienna, capital city and residence of the imperial family, became the
rallying point for this aristocratic society. All major composers of
Viennese Classicism were born in places other than Vienna but were
attracted by Vienna as a centre that offered numerous cultural and
social possibilities. From around 1740, the Court´s function as
a patron of the arts had been emulated by wider circles of the
aristocracy, which made it possible for musical life to expand and
open up. Public musical life was supported by these aristocrats
("amateur concerts") and several, often short-lived,
"nobility bands" were founded.
Typical of the music of Viennese Classicism, which had absorbed
elements of regional Italian, French and German styles from the age of
High Baroque and had become common international property, is the
development of new genres or the reinterpretation of existing ones as
well as formal and harmonic broadening and a concentration on
instrumental music. The formal basis of sonata, symphony, string
quartet and concert is the sonata form (exposition - development -
recapitulation - coda); the elaboration of the theme, which is
continuously enlarged and expanded, is an important innovation. The
minuet, the last remnant of the Baroque suite, was increasingly
alienated from the original dance form and ultimately gave way to the
"scherzo" towards the end of Viennese Classicism. While
older genres such as sonata, symphony (sinfonia) and concert
(concerto) were given a new interpretation, the string quartet, with
its equality of all four instruments is an innovation of Viennese
Classicism closely associated with Joseph Haydn. Subsequent
generations of composers (F. Schubert, A. Bruckner, J. Brahms, G.
Mahler) thought that the guidelines developed by Viennese Classicism
were almost unattainable ideals and standards; thus Brahms once said
that he felt the menacing steps of the "giant" (Beethoven)
following behind his back.
Literature#
E. Buecken, Die Musik des Rokoko und der Klassik, 1927; H. Engel, Das Instrumentalkonzert, 1971; K. Haller, Partituranordnung und musikalischer Satz, 1970; R. Klober, Handbuch des Instrumentalkonzerts, 1972; R. Barrett-Ayres, J. Haydn and the string quartett, 1974; W. Konold, Das Streichquartett, 1980; C. Rosen, Der klassische Stil, 1983; U. Hoell, Studien zum Sonatensatz in den Klaviersonaten J. Haydns, 1984; K. Dahlhaus, L. v. Beethoven und seine Zeit, 1987; K. Dahlhaus (ed.), 18. Jahrhundert (= Neues Handbuch zur Musikwissenschaft, vol. 5), 1989; P. G. Downs, Classical Music, The Era of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, 1992.