Questions tagged [classical-period]
Music composed in the Western European style approximately between the years of 1750 and 1820
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Should I play the piano with or without pedals?
I have been playing the piano for a while now, but I'm going to ask a question which still bugs me.
When Beethoven composed his piano sonatas, did he imagine that they would sound like they do now in ...
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What differs between the rondo and its Baroque counterpart, the ritornello?
So, ever since I heard the term ritornello, I have wondered what makes it different from the rondo. So I’ve listened to several pieces in ritornello form to try to find the difference, but I couldn’t. ...
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Why was Mozart so good at writing melodies?
I don't mean this in a "hurr durr IQ hurr durr GENIOUS" way. Do we know if Mozart specifically studied folk songs, lieder etc. over learning fugues and counterpoint?
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How many meanings does the word "classical" have in music?
I know that the word "classical" can mean the period of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. However, "classical" can also mean the whole common practice period (CPP). We can even take a step further -- it ...
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Why does music from the Classical era rarely use keys beyond 3 sharps/flats?
This is just something I noticed when looking through music from this period. They almost never go beyond 3 sharps or flats. For example, Mozart's symphonies:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
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Syncopation in classical music [closed]
Can anyone can point me, a lay person, to good examples of syncopation in classical music? I'm also wondering if syncopation shows up at all in Baroque music.
Thank you.
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Should pedals be used when playing Classical-era piano music?
I recently did some reading on the historical evolution of the piano. From my understanding, classical-era pianos did not have foot pedals. By classical-era I refer to the narrower meaning of ...
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What differentiates Mozart from Clementi as composers for piano?
Mozart and Clementi were composing for piano in similar styles at the same time and both were considered greats of their day.
The contemporary view, broadly speaking, is that Mozart is the superior ...
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Dynamic markings in harpsichord music
I have come across books similar to L'Art de Toucher le Clavecin, but written by English Composers. One such book "The Art of Playing the Harpsichord" IMSLP page and similar works have ...
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What is bad about Roman Numeral Analysis?
I have studied Roman numeral analysis in my theory courses, and I think that it's a good way of describing and understanding classical music, especially that of the classical and early romantic ...
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Can you help me expand this trill in Mozart's Sonata 16 (k545)?
I wonder if I am reading it wrong, or if i need much more practice on this segment. It simply doesn't sound right when I play it. Can you help me expand this trill into actual notes on the sheet ...
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Unclassifiable second-inversion
how is everything?
I have a question and I hope to find an answer.
As you already know, there are four types of second-inversion chords: cadential, passing, auxiliary, and bass arpeggiation. My ...
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Playing Haydn on the modern piano, reading list?
A typical modern score for Haydn has a boatload of editorial suggestions for dynamics, staccato, tenuto, etc. I'm sure these editors know more than I do (that's not hard), but I'd like to know more ...
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Ludwig van Beethoven "complete" 722 works in Chronological Order
It is known that "The compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven consist of 722 works".
However,
only about 138 of these works have Op opus numbers.
about 228 (till WoO 228b) have WoO numbers. (...
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Cyclic integration in music
In a book that I'm reading there is a term called cyclic integration, as follows:
In the genres that are the main carriers of classical sonata-form evolution, Mozart began to achieve a marked ...
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Do there exist contemporary composers writing in the style of Viennese classical music?
Do there exist known contemporary composers who work in the style of the so-called Viennese classical period, and if so, who?
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In the baroque period, did soloists play all the way through concertos?
In most recordings of baroque concertos that I've heard, the soloist plays straight through without stopping, especially in the first movement. While there are marked solo sections where the soloist ...
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Important composers in transitional eras
I understand Beethoven (and Schubert) to be very important composers in the transition from the Classical Era to the Romantic, such that they could be considered the first Romantic composers.
Are ...
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Why is Vivaldi's Seasons not the start of the Romantic Era?
Vivaldi's Seasons premiered in 1725 and directly express, well, the seasons. Wikipedia even adds
In addition to these sonnets, Vivaldi provided instructions such as "The barking dog" (in the second ...
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Tonal Harmony - Does a classical composer ever use the #6 chord in minor?
In melodic minor you get a #6 (and #7) ascending.
Do composers commonly use the #6 to build a chord on? Are there exceptions?
So in a min you'd get an diminished triad like (F# A C) which would ...
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A question on Staccato in the end of a slur (piano playing)
A staccato note in the end of a slur( 1)
A normal staccato note(2)
question
Do I play the (1) the same as (2)?
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J. S. Bach's place in musical history
Was there any reason Bach didn't follow the trends of the times? He was surely very much in touch with contemporary composers, and knew of Handel's and Scarlatti's works specifically. Amazingly, he ...
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How useful is a metronome for playing the piano?
I've been learning to play the piano for over a year and a half now, and have never used a metronome to date. My rythm and tempo are usually decent, at least after playing the piece properly a few ...
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Omitting the 5th in four part counterpoint
When writing four part counterpoint in context of the common practice period it is common to omit the 5th of a chord when in a jam. Is it always ok to omit the 5th and are there times when the 5th of ...
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How does the performance of "rubato" differ in the classical and romantic styles?
In the movie Amadeus, there's a scene of a chamber orchestra where the conductor uses a large pole and pounds the floor to indicate downbeats in a strict time. And in earlier music, such as Bach ...
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Is there a piece of music that "inaugurated" Beethoven's middle period, and thus the Romantic era?
Since Beethoven's early works are considered part of the Classical era, and his later works are considered part of the Romantic era, is there, by scholarly consensus, a single piece of his that ...
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Interpreting ornamentation in Haydn Piano Sonata in G Major Hob. XVI: 8
This is the first movement of sonata in G Major Hob. XVI: 8 by Haydn:
In bars 6, 8 and 12 there are trills (presumably in 8), but each one is represented a little bit differently. In bar 6 there are ...
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Why was basso continuo not widely used after the baroque period?
I'm studying a string quartet by Haydn. This (obviously) doesn't have a basso continuo.
Why were basso continuos no longer used in the classical period? Was it something to do with the development of ...
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