Classicism
In many ways, classicism was the high point of music history. The word is normally used about a period that was characterized by greater clarity and balance, than earlier or later periods. That is, words like classical and classicism describe principles and characteristics that are connected to the literature and art of Ancient Greece and Rome, particularly those that express formal elegance, simplicity, dignity and exactitude. Classicism was art for art’s sake, rather than an expression of the artist’s personality. The Parthenon in Athens is an example of the spirit of classicism.
Even so, despite all balance, elegance and dignity, classicism contained the embryo of the great political upheaval, for instance the great revolutions, above all the French revolution.
The greatest composers were Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), and Franz Schubert (1797-1828).
It’s been said that Haydn wrote the happiest, most resplendant and vivacious symphonic music. That’s the impression I get too. Haydn himself once said: “Since God has given me a joyful heart, I’m sure he will forgive me for serving him in a joyful way.”
Haydn was a very lonely person, whose only friend was a young man, 24 years younger than himself. That young man’s name was Mozart. Despite his loneliness his music and his personality were cheerful and uplifting.
Haydn has been called the father of the symphony. The truth is he evolved the genre, rather than created it. In addition, you could say that he more or less created the string quartet and he is also said to have been the godfather of the sonata.
He was far from a prodigy. His first symphony wasn’t written until he was 27 and it wasn’t until he was about 40 that the word masterpiece was being said in connection with his work.
Haydn’s young friend Mozart once said: “It was from Haydn I learned the right way to write quartets”.
For almost thirty years, Haydn worked for prince Nikolaus Esterhazy, and before that, he worked for the prince’s brother, Paul Anton Esterhazy, for about a year. The Esterhazy family was one of Hungary’s richest and most influential noble families. Haydn spent most of his life in their castles, Eisenstadt and Eszterhaza.
He was born in a little Austrian village, as the son of a wheelright, and he went to school in a church in Vienna, where he also sang in the choir until his voice broke. After that he was forced to make his living on the street, playing music and singing. However, it wasn’t long before he was discovered by the Esterhazys, and from then on, his future was secure. His contract with his employer contained the following rules:
“Haydn must behave well, and not act superior with the musicians… Joseph Haydn must wear white stockings and white shirts, either powder his hair and hold it back with a ribbon or wear a whig… He can not have bad table manners…”
Haydn lived according to one simple rule: “Be conscientious and industrious and serve God ceaselessly.” It would seem as if he succeeded.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Most people agree that Mozart was the greatest genius in the history of music. Besides, many would claim that he’s the greatest genius in all cultural history. He doesn’t really need an introduction. Most people will have seen the movie Amadeus. Tchaikovsky called Mozart the Christ of music.
There can’t be anyone in the entire world who hates Mozart’s music. Even the ‘experts’ are clearly filled with enthusiasm over the greatest of all composers. Two words in particular recur over and over again: balance and perfection. His music has more charm, more grace, more effortless simplicity than that of any other composer and besides there are many simple, incredibly beautiful melodies.
My own favorites include the operas The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro, the famous symphony Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and many others, far too many to mention here.
Mozart was born in Salzburg. His father Leopold too was a composer, a successful violin player and music teacher. Wolfgang Amadeus was taught to play the piano from the age of four and was already an accomplished musician at the age of six, when he began to tour Europe. When he was eight, Mozart composed his first symphony, the first oratory at eleven and the first opera at twelve. When he was fourteen, he conducted that same opera twenty times. After listening to Haydn’s string quartets the young genius composed the first string quartet of his own at the age of seventeen.
Mozart moved to Vienna when he was 25, but the first few years he scraped a living as a freelancer. Later he was hired by the emperor to compose chamber music. He only made half of what Gluck did for the same work. Despite that, he created huge numbers of pieces. And that was lucky, considering the fact that ten years later he’d be dead. It’s been claimed that Mozart’s competitor Antonio Salieri killed him. There’s no evidence of any kind for that. What is true, is that the composer died in agony, and was buried in a pauper’s mass grave and there was no stone raised over him. Today no one knows where he was buried. A tragic ending to such a promising life.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Personally I’m not quite as thrilled about Beethoven as I am about many other composers. Even so I have some favorites among his work, such as the Fifth Symphony, and in any case it would be impossible for me to avoid him entirely. Most typical when it comes to this man and his work, are the words powerful and forceful.
There’s an anecdote about Beethoven on his deathbed. A thunder storm raged across Vienna the night of 26 March. Lightning shook the room where Beethoven was dying. The eternal rebel raised his trembling fist towards the sky, then fell back onto his pillow, dead. This story might be true, but in any case, it perfectly characterizes Beethoven. And like the Italians supposedly say: “If it isn’t true, at least it’s a good story.”
Beethoven was a man who made his own rules for how he lived his life and for how he composed his music. He experienced the great revolutions, the French and the American, and no one was more devoted to the freedom and dignity of the individual than Beethoven. Passion, strength, pride and independence. All these words perfectly describe the master. Once he wrote: “I don’t want your morals. Strength is the moral of the independent, and it’s also mine.” His religion was freedom, and he would ask himself: “Against who do I need to fear to measure myself?” Also: “I can not and won’t have anything to do with people who don’t believe in me.”
Beethoven composed his music to force his will upon the world. He used to behave badly in public and never stopped lying about his age. Pride can be said to have been his weakness. When he realized he was going deaf, he wallowed in self pity. Despite that his attitude was defiant: “I’m going to grab Fate by the throat. It won’t be allowed to crush me entirely.”
Beethoven was born and grew up in Bonn in Germany. He was the second son of a tenor and a mediocre teacher of piano and violin, and he was given the name Louis or Ludvig. Before the age of 12 Ludvig was taught to play the organ by the court organ player. At about that age, he was hired to play the harpisichord, and at around the age of 14 he was promoted to organ player and was given a regular annual salary. In 1787 he met Mozart in Vienna, where Beethoven settled for the rest of his life. He became a student of Haydn’s and later Salieri.
The young man wasn’t popular in the Austrian capital. He was short, stocky and swarthy. Some people called him ‘the Moor’. Even Beethoven himself lamented his appearance. In his own words: “My God, what a torment it is to have a face like mine”. Unfortunately he didn’t behave any better than he looked. Perhaps it doesn’t matter. His work speaks for him even today. I must say I admire his attitude, but he must have been hard to be around.
Schubert was one of these brilliant young geniuses who created much lovely music in a short time and died young. At the time of his death he had written more than one hundred lieder (songs). He also wrote a number of symphonies. ‘The Experts’ claim that they’re far from perfect, but everyone agrees that they’re poetic, melodic and beautiful. The first three were written when Schubert was still a teenager.
According to Schubert himself his work was the ‘fruit of his genius and his desolation’.
Schubert’s father was a teacher in a suburb of Vienna. Young Franz, his father, and his two older brothers formed a family quartet. Franz learned to play the piano and the violin and he also had a beautiful singing voice. At the age of 12 he began to study at the emperial court’s choir school. Apart from music, he studied Latin, Greek, mathematics, history and natural science, and when he was seventeen he began to teach younger children.
Already the following year, he stopped teaching and devoted the rest of his life to composing. He also spent much time with his bohemian friends in Vienna – poets, artists and actors. Sadly enough those friends took Schubert to a brothel where he contracted syphilis, which apparently killed him at the age of 31.
My favorite Schubert music is the Trout. When I hear it, I can almost see the sunshine, the waterfall and the trout jumping up and down in the water. Unfortunately, I think the fisherman caught the trout in the end. Perhaps that could symbolize Schubert himself. He lived a short, but perfect life.
I have picked a few examples of the music of the composers mentioned above, though their work must be known to most people who love classical music.
