MUSIC HISTORY STUDY SHEET

Dr. Barbara Heilmair

Musical Era/Period: Classical Era

Period, name and dates 1750-1820

Sub-periods, names and dates Rococo Period (1775-1800)
Galant Period (1720’s-1770’s)
Age of Enlightenment (1715-1789)

Main composers Giovanni Battista Sammartini (1700-1775)

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)
Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz (1717-1757)
Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782)
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754-1812)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Main genres/ performance media

Main instruments used Vocals, stringed instruments (violin, viola, cello,

baryton), wind instruments (clarinet, flute, oboe,
Ensemble sizes
bassoon), brass instruments (trumpets, trombones),
keyboard instruments (harpsichord, organ, piano),
percussion instruments (timpani, cymbals, tambourine,
bass drum, field/snare drum)
Main forms (vocal and instrumental) String Quartets/Quintets, Symphonies, Sonatas,
Concertos, Operas, Masses, Oratorios
Stylistic features: Lucid in style, delicate and tender in expression, more
notable for the freedom and variety of structural
design
Notation Modern standard notation

Meter, Rhythm

Texture

Melody, Phrases

Harmonic language

Dynamics, Articulation

Typical stylistic tools and traits

Other (e.g. language, nationality,

performance practice, etc.)
Main developments in arts, culture, Development of philosophy, the arts, the sciences, and
social politics. Belief of individual rights, natural-ness,
society, history and intellectual life
universal education, social equality