Classical Period

The Viennese School

The Viennese School is the reason for some of today's most popular classical music. This school of composers started during the Classical Period1740-1825.

At the time the Austrian capital of Vienna the musical center for composers. Which soon became reason for many of the changes that were made to musical style composers came from all over Europe to train in Vienna in the classical time period. One of the great composer that came to Vienna is Franz Schubert he soon started a style of music called Viennese School that made many changes to the style of music as well as changes to instrumentation. The arrangements became one form to another while keeping certain similar characteristics, music became lighter and more complex, and melodies and harmonies became more complicated with more separate parts happening all at once. The instrumentation that was popular also changed. Solos, trios, quartets, and quintets became popular, beside large orchestras.

The three composers that made the music, which are called the founding fathers of the Viennese School, are Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. These composers studied together sometimes with one taking lessons from another. Mozart took lessons from Haydn when he was a young musician, also Beethoven took lessons from Mozart. Beethoven was taught by Haydn. Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven are known for their

similarities in their musical style. They all seemed to follow a set of basic rules which were different from the rules in place during their time. Those and other composers are responsible for the changes made to music during the Classical Period.

Orchestra music and other music groups often had complex melodies and harmonies with the melody sometimes traveling back and forth between different groups of instruments. The composers in the Viennese School did not write only orchestra music they also composed solo concertos and music for smaller groups of instruments. The string trio and quartet became quite popular, and the quintet was also used. The music of the composers often used joyousness, which was easy for listeners and became very popular. The same qualities that made the music popular has also been very popular with most of the listeners of modern times.

Music of the Classical period emphasized a homophonic texture. Texture is the way the melody and harmony go together. Homophonic texture-music in which the melody and accompaniment are very different- is a texture that dominated the Classical style. This means that one voice usually the high voice is the most important voice. Music of the Classical period was very structured controlled. It was tuneful and simple even the size of the orchestra was simple, usually with no more than 40 musicians.

The Classical period has been called the Golden Age of Music because at the time the major forms of Classical music-the symphony, concerto, sonata, and string quartet-were fully developed. The Classical period also used balance and contrast. Sonata form also called ABA form was the most important musical