In music, like in no other kind of art, the concept of “classic” has ambiguous content. Everything is relative, and any yesterday's hits that have stood the test of time - be it the masterpieces of Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Prokofiev or, say, The Beatles - can be attributed to classical works.
Forgive me lovers of old music for the frivolous word "hit", but then even the great composers once wrote popular music for their contemporaries, without wagging at all for eternity.
Why all this? To the one, that It is important to separate the broad notion of classical music and classicism as a trend in musical art.
Era of classicism
Classicism, which replaced the Renaissance through several stages, developed in France at the end of the 17th century, reflecting in its art a partly serious rise of absolute monarchy, partly changing the world view from religious to secular.
In the XVIII century, a new stage in the development of public consciousness began - the Age of Enlightenment has arrived. In place of the pomp and highness of baroque, the immediate predecessor of classicism, came a style based on simplicity and naturalness.
Aesthetic installation of classicism
The basis of the art of classicism mind cult - rationality, harmony and consistency. The name "classicism" by origin is associated with the word from the Latin language - classicus, which means - "exemplary". The ideal model for artists of this trend was ancient aesthetics with its slender logic and harmony. In classicism, reason prevails over feelings, individualism is not welcome, and in any phenomenon, common, typological features take on paramount importance. Each work of art should be built according to strict canons. The requirement of the era of classicism becomes the balance of proportions, excluding all unnecessary, secondary.
Classicism has a strict division into "high" and "low" genres. "High" works are works that refer to ancient and religious subjects, written in a solemn language (tragedy, anthem, ode). A "low" genres - those works that are set out in the vernacular language and reflect the people's life (fable, comedy). Mixing genres was unacceptable.
Classicism in music - Viennese classics
The development of new musical culture in the middle of the XVIII century gave rise to the emergence of many private salons, musical societies and orchestras, holding open concerts and opera performances.
The capital of the music world in those days was Vienna. Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven are the three great names that went down in history as Viennese classics.
The composers of the Viennese school masterly mastered a variety of music genres - from domestic songs to symphonies. High style of music, in which rich figurative content is embodied in a simple but perfect artistic form, is the main feature of the work of Viennese classics.
The musical culture of classicism, as well as literature, as well as the visual arts, glorifies the actions of a person, his emotions and feelings, over which the mind reigns. Artists, creators in their writings inherent logic of thinking, harmony and clarity of form. The simplicity and ease of expression of classical composers could seem to the modern ear banal (in some cases, of course), if their music was not so brilliant.
Each of the Viennese classics had a bright, unique personality. Haydn and Beethoven more to the instrumental music - to sonatas, concerts and symphonies. Mozart was universal in everything - he easily worked in any genre. He had a great influence on the development of opera, creating and improving its various types - from opera buff to musical drama.
In terms of preferences by composers of certain imaginative spheres, Haydn is more characterized by objective folk-genre sketches, pastoral, gallantry, Beethoven is close to heroics and drama, as well as philosophy, and, of course, nature, to a small extent and refined lyrics. Mozart covered, perhaps, all existing figurative spheres.
Genres of musical classicism
The musical culture of classicism is associated with the creation of many genres of instrumental music, such as sonata, symphony, concert. A multipart sonata-symphonic form (4-part cycle) was formed, which is still the basis of many instrumental compositions.
In the era of classicism, the main types of chamber ensembles were formed - a trio, a string quartet. The system of forms developed by the Vienna school is still relevant - modern "frills" layered on it as the foundation.
Let us briefly discuss the innovations characteristic of classicism.
Sonata form
The sonatas genre existed at the beginning of the 17th century, but the sonata form was finally formed in the works of Haydn and Mozart, and Beethoven brought it to perfection and even began to break the strict canons of the genre.
The classic sonata form is based on the opposition of 2 themes (often contrasting, sometimes conflicting) - main and side - and their development.
Sonata form includes 3 main sections:
- first section - exposure (main topics)
- second - development (development and comparison of topics)
- and the third is reprise (Modified repetition of exposure, in which tonal convergence of previously opposed themes usually occurs).
As a rule, the first, fast parts of a sonata or symphonic cycle were written in sonata form, because the name was assigned to them the sonata allegro.
Sonata-symphonic cycle
According to the structure, the logic of the movement of parts, symphonies and sonatas are very similar, hence the common name for their whole musical form - sonata-symphonic cycle.
The classical symphony almost always consists of 4 parts:
- I - fast active part in the traditional for her sonata form allegro;
- II - the slow part (its form, as a rule, is not strictly regulated - variations and a three-part complex or simple form, and a rondo-sonata, and a slow sonata form are possible here);
- III - minuet (sometimes scherzo), the so-called genre part - in form almost always complex three-part;
- IV - the final and final part of the rapid, for which they also often chose the sonata form, sometimes the rondo or rondo sonata form.
Concert
The name of the concert, as a genre, comes from the Latin word concertare - "competition". This piece is for orchestra and solo instrument. The instrumental concert, created in the Renaissance and received a tremendous development in the musical culture of the Baroque, in the works of the Viennese classics acquired a sonata-symphonic form.
String Quartet
The composition of the string quartet usually includes two violins, viola and cello. The quartet form, similar to the sonata-symphonic cycle, was already defined by Haydn. Mozart and Beethoven also made a huge contribution and paved the way for the further development of this genre.
The musical culture of classicism has become a kind of "cradle" for the string quartet, in subsequent times and up to the present, composers do not cease to write more and more new works in the concert genre - so much this kind of works turned out to be in demand.
The music of classicism miraculously combines outward simplicity and clarity with deep inner content, to which strong feelings and drama are not alien. Classicism, moreover, is a style of a certain historical epoch, and this style is not forgotten, but has serious connections with modern music (neoclassicism, polystylistics).
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