Transcript for:
Exploring the Classical Music Period

[Music] good day students in today's lesson we will be proceeding to another mapping component which is music the second quarter lesson for music will focus on the classical period so let's start with a little background about the classical times and the kind of music produced during this time the classical era also called age of reason is the period from 1750 to 1820. the cultural life was dominated by the aristocracy as patrons of musicians and artists who generally influenced the arts significant changes in musical forms and styles were made the term classical denotes conformity with the principles and characteristics of ancient greece and roman literature and art which were formal elegant simple freed and dignified harmony and texture during the classical period is homophonic in general now let's proceed to the different vocal and instrumental music that became famous during the classical period let's start with the different kinds of instrumental music meaning music that has no voice and only music the first one is what we call sonata this is a multi-movement work for solo instrument sonata came from the word sonare which means to make a sound this term is applied to a variety of works for a solo instrument such as keyboard or violin there are three movements in a sonata first movement is allegro which is a fast movement second movement has a slow tempo like andante largo etc this is mostly lyrical and emotional and the third movement is called minuet it is in three four time and in a moderate or fast tempo next one is what we call sonata allegra form this is the most important form that was developed during the classical era and it consists of three distinct sections the first section is called exposition this is the first part of a composition in sonata form that introduces the theme second is development this is the middle part of the sonata allegro form wherein themes are being developed and last section is called recapitulation this repeats the theme as they first emerge in the opening exposition next one is called concerto concerto is a multi-movement work designed for an instrumental soloist and orchestra a concerto has three movements the first movement is fast which is the sonata allegra form with expositions of the orchestra and then by the soloist the second movement is slow it has more ornamentation than the first movement and the third movement is fast which is the finale and it is usually in the form of rondo resembling the last movement of the symphony and usually a short cadenza is used next is what we call symphony this is a multi-movement work for orchestra the symphony is derived from the word sinfonia which literally means a harmonious sounding together it is a classical music for the whole orchestra it generally has four movements first movement is fast sonata allegra form second movement is slow gentle lyrical and typical aba form or theme and variation third movement is medium or fast which uses a dance form which is minute or skarzo fourth movement is fast typically rondo or sonata form after the instrumental music there is one particular vocal music that became popular during the classical time and it was the classical opera opera is a drama set to music where singers and musicians perform in a theatrical setting it has two distinct styles first one is called opera seria which means serious opera usually implies heroic or tragic drama that employs mythological characters which was inherited from the period second style is opera buffa which means comic opera this is from italy which made use of everyday characters and situations and typically employed spoken dialogues lengthy arias and was spiced with sight gags naughty humor and social satire here are some other important terms to remember in this lesson the first one is sin spill this is an opera based on a serious plot that usually revolves around mythological beings such as gods and goddesses arya a separate song usually for one voice recitative it's the style of delivery in which a singer can adopt the rhythms and delivery of the ordinary speech bel canto is an italian phrase which means beautiful singing grand opera means a spectacular opera music drama is a style of opera that is created by a single artist who writes both the text and the music to advance the drama alberti bass which is a special type of broken chord accompaniment where the chord is played in this order lowest note to highest note the middle note to highest note then repeats the pattern now i will introduce you to the famous classical music composers and their musical pieces first we have friends youssef haydn he is one of the most prominent composers of the classical period his life is described as rags to riches he came from a poor family and his music led to his rise in social status he was named the father of the symphony most of his symphonies have nicknames such as the surprise symphony the clock and the military next is wolfgang amadeus mozart mozart is a child prodigy and the most amazing genius in musical history he experimented in all kinds of music and composed over 700 words unfortunately jota mismanaged finances he lived his life in poverty he composed wonderful concertos symphonies and opera such as the marriage of figaro don giovanni and the magic flute which became popular other known works are incline knot music symphony number 40 in g major and sonata number 11 in a major k311 another is ludwig van beethoven he was the composer who bridged the late classical era and the early romantic era he was a talented pianist and composer he began to go deaf in 1796 but this did not became a hindrance he continued composing through the help of an assistant and hearing gadget some of his famous compositions were made when he was deaf his works include famous symphonies like symphony number three like heroica number five number six which is pastoral and number nine which is coral other famous works are piano sonata number 14 in c sharp minor which is the moonlight sonata piano concerto number five entitled emperor in e flat major symphony number 5 c minor and the most famous one which is fur elise did you know that works of haydn mozart and beethoven are still popular today their compositions are now commonly used as music to animated series of popular cartoon companies such as looney tunes warner brothers 20th century fox pixar etc here are some examples watch and listen to these videos so [Music] to generalize all the lesson just remember that music of the classical era is usually associated with the nobility for the rich people during that time most of the members of the nobility would financially support the musicians music was played in the courts which makes the music of the classical era more familiar to the nobility than the lower classes this association of the rich and classical music is still being experienced in some parts of the world however with the dawn of radio and tv classical music may now be experienced by the masses and that is all for our lesson today i hope you learned many things about the music of the classical period this time here are the activities you need to do in your music modules this second quarter if you have noticed after module 1 is already module 3 that's because there is no module 2 in music the next one is already entitled module 3. so even if it is module 3 it is just the second module and that would be the end of our discussion today thank you for listening and see you in our next lesson