Outline the major musical development of the classical period and the main characteristics of the classical style. Main characteristics of the classical style: Contrast of mood – Mood in classical music may change gradually or suddenly. Masters like Haydn and Beethoven were able to impart unity and logic to music of wide emotional range. Rhythm – In Classical music, there is a flexibility of rhythm. A classical composition has a range of rhythmic patterns. The classical style also can include unexpected pauses, syncopation, and frequent changes from long notes to short ones.
Also they have a change from one pattern of note lengths to another, which may be either sudden or gradual. Texture – Classical music is basically homophobic. However, texture is treated as flexibly as rhythm. Pieces shift smoothly or suddenly from one texture to another. Melody – Classical melodies are one of the most tuneful and easy to remember. The themes of even highly sophisticated compositions may have a folk or popular flavor. Occasionally, composer simply borrowed popular tunes, but more often, they rote original themes with a popular character.
Classical melodies often sound balanced and symmetrical because they are frequently made up of two phrases of the same length. The second phrase, in such melodies, may begin like the first, but it will end more conclusively and it will be easier to sing. Dynamics and the piano – The Classical composers’ interest in expressing shades of emotion led to the widespread use of gradual dynamic change – crescendo (gradually getting louder) and diminuendo ( gradually getting softer).
The end of basso continuo – The basso continuo was gradually abandoned during the classical period. One reason why the basso continuo became obsolete was that more and more music was written for amateurs, who could not master the difficult art of improvising from a figured bass. The major musical development of the classical period and the main characteristics of the classical style. By Rebecca The dates of the Classical period in are generally known as being between about 1750 and 1820.
However, the term classical music is used colloquially to describe a rarity of Western musical styles from the ninth century to the present, and especially from the sixteenth or seventeenth to the nineteenth. The Classical period falls between the Baroque and the Romantic periods. The best known composers from this period are Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven; other notable names include Lugging Bickering, Mezzo Clementine, Antonio Soles, Antonio Saltier, Francis Joseph Gooses, Johann Stamina, Carl Frederica Able, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and Christopher Willable Cluck.
Ludwig van Beethoven is also sometimes regarded either as a Romantic composer or a composer who was part of the transition to the Romantic. At first the new style took over Baroque forms, the ternary dad capo aria’ and the ‘assassin and concerto’, but composed with simpler parts, more notated ornamentation and more emphatic division into sections. However, over time, the new aesthetic caused radical changes in how pieces were put together, and the basic layouts changed. Composers from this period sought dramatic effects, striking melodies, and clearer textures
