THE CLASSICAL

PERIOD
The 3 Famous Composers of Classical Period:
Franz Joseph Haydn
• Within the musical field, the first name
that stands out in this period is Franz
Joseph Haydn, born in Rohrau, Austria
in the year 1732. Creator of the
symphony and nicknamed as “the
father of the string quartet”, he also
made important contributions in
musical forms such as the sonata,
helping to promote its evolution.
• His musical training was given along with a relative in Hainburg after
he agreed to the request of his parents to instruct the young Joseph
in music since in Rohrau there were no conditions for him to be
formed and develop a career. Once installed in Hainburg he quickly
learned to play the clavein and the violin, as well as being able to sing
the tiple parts in the chorus of the Hainburg church.
• In 1740, after the visit of Georg Von Reutter to the church and of
noticing the talent of Joseph as a chorister, he invited him to audition
for the choir of children in Vienna in which he successfully entered,
and where he continued his composition studies. Not by the hand of
Reutter but the professional musicians who resided in Vienna.
• After reaching an age in which he struggled to achieve high-pitched
tones he stopped being a choir soloist and was expelled, after a
difficult season he decides to become an independent musician and
attains certain notoriety until he gets the patronage of an aristocrat,
Countess Thun, launching his career as a composer, a time later he is
welcomed by two more patrons, with Count Morzin being his first
full-time patron, who also obtained him the position of chapel master
from which he had to be removed sometime later due to economic
difficulties of Count Morzin, however Haydn’s reputation got him a
new job thanks to the powerful Esterhazy family.
• His works, rather than exposing great motives, responded to the
obedience to the musical form, his compositions were always
monothematic, that is, the dominant tone was similar to the opening
of these. As a personal characteristic, it also included runs in the
classical style, something that was very often found in the baroque.
• 2. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Later of Haydn, there are the names
of Mozart and Beethoven. Mozart was the main
pioneer of classicism and it was his compositional
genius that gave him the title of greatest exponent
of the time, his work encompasses all genres and
musical forms of this period, being recognized as
masterpieces of symphonic music, opera, concert,
chamber music for piano and choral. Mozart was
born in Salzburg in 1756, son of Leopold Mozart,
also a composer and who instructs Mozart during
his first years in the musical discipline. His first
compositions date from his 7 years of age.
Mozart
His compositions were characterized by making use of the chromatic
harmony and its particular form of modulations through the pivot
chord. He is also credited with the creation of opera buffa, from the
creation of Bastian and Bastienne. Mozart, in addition to being a genius
composer, was also a virtuoso performer of the piano, and proficient in
instruments such as violin and viola.
3. Ludwig Van Beethoven
Beethoven, like Mozart is initiated into
music by his father from an early age,
probably against his will, but it was this
that made him one of the standards of
classicism and he managed to live long
enough to see the beginning of the
romanticism of which he himself was one
of the precursors and at the same time
serves as a transition from one period to
the other.
• Beethoven
• Ludwig Van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in 1770. His
repertoire includes works for piano, German lied, orchestral, chamber
and sacred music. In one of his trips to Vienna in 1792, where he later
decide to reside definitely, he studies composition with Joseph Haydn
and it is in this city where he achieves recognition but without really
supposing a direct competition for Mozart.
• His music, in the beginning, identified very well with the gallant style
of the time being calm and light, but after the historical events that
took place in Europe during the revolutionary times it became more
epic and turbulent, serving the latter as an example for romanticist
composers such as Brahms and others who even reformed the
orchestra’s original staff to adapt it to the new timbral needs that
arose later.
• Among the works of the three composers mentioned, there are
common links that gave identity to the musical classicism, the simple
and gallant style was the one that prevailed during this period,
responding mainly to artistic trends and the requirements of the new
compositional trend in which the structure rules over the melody.
THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
DURING CLASSICAL PERIOD
 • The violin, also known informally as a fiddle, is
a wooden string instrument in the violin family.
Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is
the smallest and highest-pitched instrument in
the family in regular use. Smaller violin-type
instruments are known, including the violino
piccolo and the kit violin, but these are
virtually unused. The violin typically has
four strings tuned in perfect fifths, and is most
commonly played by drawing a bow across its
strings, though it can also be played by
plucking the strings with the fingers (pizzicato)
and by striking the strings with the wooden
side of the bow (col legno).
violin
 • The cello or violoncello is a string
instrument. It is the bass member of
the violin family, which also includes
the violin, viola and the double bass. After
the double bass, it is the second-largest
and second lowest (in pitch) bowed string
instrument in the modern symphony
orchestra. The cello is used as a solo
instrument, as well as in chamber
music ensembles (e.g., string
quartet), string orchestras, as a member of
the string section of symphony orchestras,
cello and some types of rock bands.
 • The double bass, or simply
the bass (and numerous other names), is the
largest and lowest-pitched bowed string
instrument in the modern symphony orchestra.
• It is a standard member of the orchestra's string
section as well as the concert band, and is
featured in concertos, solo and chamber
music in Western classical music. The bass is
used in a range of other genres, such as jazz,
1950s-style blues and rock and
roll, rockabilly, psychobilly, traditional country
music, bluegrass, tango and many types of folk
music.
double bass
 • The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that usually has
six strings. It is typically played with both hands by
strumming or plucking the strings with either a guitar pick or
the finger(s)/fingernails of one hand, while simultaneously
fretting (pressing the strings against the frets) with the
fingers of the other hand. The sound of the vibrating strings
is projected either acoustically, by means of the hollow
chamber of the guitar (for an acoustic guitar), or through
an electrical amplifier and a speaker.
• The guitar is a type of chordophone, traditionally
constructed from wood and strung with either gut, nylon or
steel strings and distinguished from other chordophones by
its construction and tuning. The modern guitar was
preceded by the gittern, the vihuela, the four-
course Renaissance guitar, and the five-course baroque
guitar, all of which contributed to the development of the
modern six-string instrument.
guitar
 • The basset clarinet is a clarinet similar to the
usual soprano clarinet but longer and with
additional keys to enable playing several
additional lower notes. Typically a basset
clarinet has keywork going to a low (written)
C, as opposed to the standard clarinet's E or
E♭ (both written), and is most commonly
a transposing instrument in A, although basset
clarinets in C and B♭ also exist, and Stephen
Fox makes a "G basset clarinet/basset
horn". The similarly named basset horn is also
a clarinet with extended lower range, but is in
a lower pitch (typically F); the basset horn
predates, and undoubtedly inspired, the
basset clarinet.
basset clarinet
 • The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in
the double reed family that typically plays
music written in the bass and tenor clefs,
and occasionally the treble. Appearing in its
modern form in the 19th century, the
bassoon figures prominently
in orchestral, concert band, and chamber
music literature. The bassoon is a non-
transposing instrument known for its
distinctive tone colour, wide range, variety
of character and agility. Listeners often
compare its warm, dark, reedy timbre to
that of a male baritone voice. Someone who
plays the bassoon is called a bassoonist
bassoon
 • The cor anglais or English horn in North America,
is a double-reed woodwind instrument in
the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half
times the length of an oboe.
• The cor anglais is a transposing
instrument pitched in F, a perfect fifth lower than
the oboe (a C instrument). This means that music
for the cor anglais is written a perfect fifth higher
than the instrument actually sounds. The
fingering and playing technique used for the cor
anglais are essentially the same as those of the
oboe and oboists typically double on the cor
anglais when required.

cor anglais
 • The clavichord is a European
stringed keyboard instrument that was
used largely in the late Medieval, through
the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical er
as. Historically, it was mostly used as a
practice instrument and as an aid to
composition, not being loud enough for
larger performances. The clavichord
produces sound by striking brass or iron
strings with small metal blades called
tangents. Vibrations are transmitted
through the bridge(s) to the soundboard.
clavichord
 • The defining characteristic of the spinet
was its drop action (sometimes
called indirect blow action). In this device,
the keys did not engage the action
directly; rather they pulled upward on
rods called "stickers," which in turn pulled
upward on levers located below the level
of the keyboard, which in turn engaged
the action. The stickers were sufficiently
long that the hammer heads (the highest
part of the action) ended up at roughly
the same vertical level as the keyboard.
spinet
 • A fortepiano is an early piano. In principle, the
word “fortepiano” can designate any piano dating
from the invention of the instrument
by Bartolomeo Cristofori around 1700 up to the
early 19th century. Most typically, however, it is
used to refer to the late-18th to early-19th century
instruments for which Haydn, Mozart, and the
younger Beethoven wrote their piano music.
Starting in Beethoven’s time, the fortepiano began
a period of steady evolution, culminating in the
late 19th century with the modern grand. The
earlier fortepiano became obsolete and was absent
from the musical scene for many decades. In the
20th century the fortepiano was revived, following
the rise of interest in historically informed
performance. Fortepianos are built for this purpose
today in specialist workshops.

fortepiano
 • Timpani are musical instruments in
the percussion family. A type of drum, they
consist of a membrane called
a head stretched over a large bowl
traditionally made of copper. Most modern
timpani are pedal timpani and can be tuned
quickly and accurately to specific pitches by
skilled players through the use of a movable
foot-pedal. They are played by striking the
head with a specialized drum stick called
a timpani stickor timpani mallet. Timpani
evolved from military drums to become a
staple of the classical orchestra by the last
third of the 18th century. Today, they are
used in many types of ensembles,
including concert bands, marching
Timpani bands, orchestras, and even in some rock
bands.
 • A cymbal is a common percussion
instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals
consist of thin, normally round plates of
various alloys. The majority of cymbals
are of indefinite pitch, although small
disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient
designs sound a definite note
(see: crotales). Cymbals are used in many
ensembles ranging from the orchestra,
percussion ensembles, jazz bands, heavy
metal bands, and marching groups. Drum
kits usually incorporate at least
a crash, ride, or crash/ride, and a pair
of hi-hat cymbals. A player of cymbals is
known as a cymbalist.
cymbal
 • A bass drum, or kick drum, is a large drum that
produces a note of low definite or indefinite
pitch.
• Bass drums are percussion instruments and vary
in size and are used in several musical genres.
Three major types of bass drums can be
distinguished.
• The type usually seen or heard in orchestral,
ensemble or concert band music is the
orchestral, or concert bass drum (in Italian: gran
cassa, gran tamburo). It is the largest drum of the
orchestra.
• The kick drum, a term for a bass drum associated
with a drum kit. It is struck with a beater
attached to a pedal, usually seen on drum kits.
• The pitched bass drum, generally used in
marching bands and drum corps, is tuned to a
specific pitch and is usually played in a set of
three to six drums.
bass drum
 Let’s have a short review:
The 3 Famous Composers of Classical Period

Franz Joseph Haydn Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Ludwig Van Beethoven

 THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS DURING
CLASSICAL PERIOD
Strings

Cello Double Bass Guitar

Violin
Wood Winds

Baseet Clarinet chalumeau Bassoon Cor Anglais

Keyboards

clavichord spinet Fortepiano

Percussion

Timpani Cymbal Bass Drum