MUSI 316 Test One Quick Review

General History
Musicians in the late eighteenth century worked mainly for courts, cities, and churches, but they
also made money by teaching, performing, and composing on commission or for publication. As
popularity with the public became more important, the most successful composers wrote music
that pleased everyone from connoisseurs to those with little learning.
The generation born around 1770 came of age in a whirlwind of change. From the French
Revolution in 1789 through the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the old political order in
Europe gave way to a new one. At the same time, a new economic order began to emerge, in
which the Industrial Revolution and middle-class entrepreneurship would eventually overtake the
old wealth of the landed aristocracy.
The Americas - Independence was won in Latin America. The United States expanded west
between 1803 and 1848 and began to establish its own cultural identity. The French and British
provinces in Canada united.
The New Order: The upheavals of 1789-1815 brought about numerous changes. Ideas of liberty,
equality, and national identity spread across Europe. The Congress of Vienna (1814-15)
redefined national boundaries
Mozart and Haydn
The two composers were friends and admired each other. Mozart and Haydn were seen as
equals and defined the music of the era.
Fundamental differences between their careers
1. Mozart achieved international recognition earlier, despite being twenty-four years younger.
2. Mozart never found a permanent position and worked as a free agent in Vienna.
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Haydn was the most celebrated composer of his day. He is best remembered for his symphonies
and string quartets.
The twelve London Symphonies, commissioned by Salomon, are his greatest symphonic
achievements. Haydn employed novel ideas to outdo competition from a rival concert series
featuring Ignaz Pleyel (1757-1831). For example: a fortissimo crash on a weak beat in the slow
movement of Symphony No. 94 gave this work the nickname Surprise.
Although he was not the first to compose string quartets, he was the first great master of the
genre. Many of his quartets were intended for amateurs. The quartets have been described as
conversations between four instruments.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Mozart was a remarkable child prodigy. Mozart's father was Leopold Mozart (1719-1787).
Leopold was a performer and composer for the archbishop of Salzburg. He published a highly
regarded treatise on violin-playing in 1756. Leopold sacrificed his own career to promote the
musical lives of his children.

Haydn spent winters in Vienna, and he and Mozart became friends. The music of J. S. Bach was
brought to Mozart's attention through Baron van Swieten, and Mozart responded with increased
contrapuntal textures. Swieten also introduced Mozart to Handel.
Mozart composed nearly fifty symphonies prior to moving to Vienna, many of which are in three
movements.
Mozart wrote only six symphonies in his Vienna years; each a masterpiece.
1. Haffner Symphony, K. 385 (1782)
2. Linz Symphony, K. 425 (1783)
3. Prague Symphony in D Major, K. 504 (1786)
4. Symphony in E-flat Major, K. 543 (1788)
5. Symphony in G Minor, K. 550 (17880)
6. Jupiter Symphony in C Major, K. 551 (1788)
Opera: Lorenzo Da Ponte and Mozart gave greater depth to the characters. Mozart's ensembles
allowed characters to express contrasting emotions at the same time. Mozart's orchestration,
particularly his use of winds, helped define the characters and situations.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music,
he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers.
Beethoven career is typically divided into three periods:
Early Period (1770-1802) - Bonn/Vienna
- studies with his father and Haydn; virtuoso pianist; piano music
Middle Period (1803-1814) Vienna
- begins to lose his hearing; goes beyond the limits of Mozart & Haydn
Late Period (1815-1827) Vienna
- extreme isolation and paranoia

Beethoven composed with deliberation.

1. His output is significantly less than that of Haydn and Mozart.
2. Beethoven jotted down ideas in notebooks.
3. These notebooks allow us to follow the progress of his ideas.
Beethoven realized that he was going deaf in 1802.
1. He considered suicide, but resolved to work for art
2. Beethoven appeared less often in public, but kept composing.
Many of Beethoven's compositions seem to reflect the struggle of his own life.
1. The themes can be seen as characters in a drama.
2. Instrumental music was no longer just an entertainment or diversion.

Symphony No. 9: This work was first performed in May 1824. Beethoven did not hear the
applause after the scherzo movement. The first three movements, lasting more than an hour, are
on a grand scale. The most striking innovation of the symphony is the use of voices in the finale,
which uses Schiller's poem Ode to Joy. The final movement follows an unorthodox format.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Schubert was the first great master of the Romantic Lied. Schubert was born and spent his entire
career in Vienna. He composed with astonishing speed and wrote over 140 songs in 1815.
Schubert composed over six hundred Lieder. Many of his songs were performed at Schubertiads,
home concerts for friends. He never secured a patron and lived off of his publications. Schubert
died at the age of thirty-one, possibly from syphilis.
Robert Schumann praised the C-Major Symphony for its "heavenly length". Like the Unfinished
Symphony, this work was not performed in Schubert's lifetime.

Romanticism
In a society driven by technology, Romanticism provided refuge in various ideals: the past, Myths,
Dreams, the Supernatural, the Irrational.
With the rise of a national concept, Romanticism viewed common people as the embodiment of
the nation. As people moved to urban centers, nature was increasingly valued. As
industrialization brought about a mass society, Romantics esteemed solitude and individuality.
Romantics pursued novelty and the exotic, while life in general became routine in factories,
shops, and homes. In a capitalist society, artists began pursuing their dreams not for money but
for art.
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
He was the grandson of Moses Mendelssohn, the leading Jewish philosopher of the German
Enlightenment. His father converted the children to Christianity. The family adopted the surname
Bartholdy. Mendelssohn was a remarkable child prodigy, whose youthful productivity rivals that
of Mozart.
Midsummer Night's Dream Overture (1826) is inspired by Shakespeare's comedy. This
masterwork was composed when he was seventeen. It became the standard for all subsequent
concert overtures. The overture projects various images, ranging from fairy dust to the braying of
a donkey. Mendelssohn would later write additional music for the play, including the famous
Wedding March.
Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-47)
Fanny Hensel (Mendelssohn), was a German pianist and composer, the sister of the composer
Felix Mendelssohn and granddaughter of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn.
Fanny Mendelssohn composed 466 pieces of music. Her compositions include a piano trio and
several books of solo piano pieces and songs. A number of her songs were originally published
under Felix's name in his opus 8 and 9 collections. Her piano works are often in the manner of
songs, and many carry the name Lied ohne Worte (Song without Words). This style (and title) of

piano music was most successfully developed by Felix Mendelssohn, though some modern
scholars assert that Fanny may have preceded him in the genre.
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
The first important composer of Lieder after Schubert. Schumann wanted to be a concert pianist
but injured his hand. He turned to composition and criticism, serving as the editor of Neue
Zeitschrift fr Musik (New Journal of Music) from 1834 to 1844. In his reviews, he opposed empty
virtuosity and urged the study of older music.
Schumann felt that the music should capture a poem's essence. He believed that the piano and
voice were equal partners and often gave the piano long preludes, interludes, or postludes.
Prior to 1840, all of Schumann's published music was for piano. Most of his works were short
character pieces. The character pieces are often grouped in sets with colorful names.
Clara Schumann (1819-96)
After Robert's death, Clara Schumann stopped composing and devoted herself to concertizing
and promoting her husband's music. Clara Schumann wrote several collections of Lieder. Her
approach to song was similar to that of her husband.
Clara Schumann was an acclaimed pianist at a young age. By playing only what was written, she
focused attention on the composer rather than the performer. She also performed her own music,
as well as that of her husband. Her works include polonaises, waltzes, variations, preludes and
fugues, character pieces, and a sonata in G minor.
Johannes Brahms (1833 -1897)
Brahms combined Classicism with Romantic sensibility. Brahms matured as a composer just as
the Classical repertoire became dominant. He composed in Classical traditions but added new
elements in order to appeal to contemporary audiences. He studied the music from the
Renaissance and Baroque, and incorporated elements from these traditions into his works. He
wrote in virtually all of the musical languages of his time.
Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68 (1876) was completed after twenty years of work. It is
indebted to Beethoven, but also departs from past traditions. Knowing that any symphony would
have to match the standards Beethoven set, Brahms wrote his four symphonies after the age of
forty.
Brahms is the true successor of Beethoven in chamber music. He composed twenty-four
chamber works, of which at least six are masterpieces. As in his orchestral works, Brahms
incorporates classical traditions within his own personal style. Seven chamber works feature
piano and strings, including three piano trios and three piano quartets.
Anton Dvorak (1841-1904)
He served as artistic director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York. He was hired to
help create a national style in the United States. He looked to the music of American Indians and
African Americans for a source of an American style. He applied some of these elements to the
Symphony No. 9 in E Minor (From the New World), his best-known work, and to the String
Quartet No. 12 in F Major (American).