Post on 14-Jun-2020
Today’s objectives: 1. Understand how art reflects the society in which it is created (through classical music) 2. Learn why Beethoven is the most influential person in the history of Western music (or is he?) 3. Work together to create a class poster that showcases music from our lives 4. Learn to love classical music… NO!!!
Music can be divided into three styles during this period:
Baroque (begins 1600) Classical (begins 1750) Romantic (begins 1805)
Baroque (1600 to 1750) • Portuguese word barroco, “meaning a pearl of
irregular shape and/or colour” • Baroque era coincides with the Scientific
Revolution and the Age of Reason Sir Isaac
Newton John Locke
Newton believed that underneath the complexity and visible chaos of the universe there existed systematic order
A musical example: Toccata and Fugue in D minor
by Johann Sebastian Bach (probably written before 1708)
Bach (1685-1750)
Classical (begins 1750) • Classical music mirrored the
Enlightenment (1730-1780)
Voltaire Franklin Jefferson
Middle class wanted a “music for the people,” music that was easier to listen to than Baroque, or even better…..
Mozart (1756-1791) • Child prodigy • Piano and violin virtuoso • A unique writing style:
“copying out”
A new formula: Enlightenment (individualism)
+ French Revolution (rapid change)
+ Napoleonic Wars (upheaval)
“My art is for me, not for you. What I feel, see, and hear is important!
My art will express what I feel, what I see, what I hear. Take it or leave it!”
Beethoven (1771–1827) • Tough father-son
relationship • Began going deaf just as
his career was taking off • An isolated social misfit • Hopes dashed by the
“Heroic” Napoleon
…not that Mozart had it all that easy
• Father blamed him for the death of his mother (which Mozart witnessed)
• Had six children, but four of them died before their 2nd birthday!
• At times destitute due to French Revolution
Beethoven “was a revolutionary man living at a revolutionary time, and…he was, without a doubt, the single most disruptive and influential composer in the history of Western music” -Robert Greenberg