HAYDN, MOZART & BEETHOVEN - KINGPINS OF THE CLASSICAL ERA: PART I
HAYDN, MOZART & BEETHOVEN
KINGPINS OF THE CLASSICAL PERIOD!
FRANZ JOSEF HAYDN (1732 - 1809)
The past few weeks, we have focused on the history, times and music of the CLASSICAL period. In particular we have looked at the compositions and musical careers of Haydn, Mozart & Beethoven.
In the 21st century, we often take for granted that musicians commonly create music for themselves and are involved in advertising and promoting themselves as well as recording and performance organisation. However this was not always the case. The fact that in past centuries musicians commonly survived by working for the Church or aristocracy - is a concept many do not think about. For example, Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809) had a variety of different musician roles throughout his life, however his longest position was working under the patronage of the Esterhazy family for about 50 years!!!! Written into his work contract (yes Haydn had a contract!) were the following duties:
- Perform for the Esterhazy court and compose musical works on a daily basis.
- Manage all the musicians of the Esterhazy court (and be a role model to them).
- Continue to develop his own musical skills in all instruments he plays and keep skills up to par.
- Management of all instruments used by musicians: maintain and keep instruments in working order.
Essentially Haydn was a servant of the Esterhazy family, and his freedom as a musician was restricted for the majority of his career as a servant of this family. Until his contract was amended later in his career, Haydn was not allowed to
- Compose for anyone else but the Esterhazy family
- His compositions were considered the property of the Esterhazy family, no copies were to be made and certainly no commissions or public performances were allowed without the express wishes of Esterhazy family.
By the end of Haydn's career, he was allowed greater freedom and able to accept commissions, sell publications and perform elsewhere, and during this period he was commissioned to write the London Symphonies.
The main work studied for this paper was Haydn's String Quartet No. 62, Op. 76, No. 3 (movement I-IV)
This is movement II of the 'Emperor's String Quartet' and today is most likely familiar to you as Germany's national anthem.
(Please see part II for a little info on Mozart & part III for info on Beethoven).
We have a number of Haydn, Mozart & Beethoven collections available in-store... if you cannot find what you are looking for, please just ask and we will happily find it for you!
Here are a few performances of Haydn compositions that are currently available at RELICS:
HAYDN STRING QUARTETS CD Opus 33
HAYDN, MOZART & BEETHOVEN - KINGPINS OF THE CLASSICAL PERIOD PART III
HAYDN, MOZART & BEETHOVEN
KINGPINS OF THE CLASSICAL PERIOD!
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770 - 1827)The past few weeks, we have focused on the history, times and music of the CLASSICAL period. In particular we have looked at the compositions and musical careers of Haydn, Mozart & Beethoven.
Beethoven's musical life is commonly divided into three periods in order to discuss musical style, structure and form: the early, the middle and late periods. During the early period his composition style more closely resembles Haydn and Mozart. During the middle period Beethoven recognised he was becoming increasingly deaf, and by the late period Beethoven was totally deaf and his works are considered challenging, to have intellectual depth and were not so popular amongst the Viennese community during the times in which he composed them. Historically Beethoven has been portrayed and idealised as grumpy, intense and dramatic. His music certainly has an element of drama and intensity that is distinctly different to Haydn and Mozart. One might note that he was born many years later than Haydn and Mozart, and as such was born into a different generation, one that was dealing with the French Revolution and very different times. So while all three composers are classified as Classical composers, each had very different life experiences that influenced their lives and their compositions.
The Beethoven work that we have focused on in class is Eroica, Symphony No. 3 in E flat Major, Op.55. Here is a historical clip of this work conducted by Leonard Bernstein performed by Wiener Philharmoniker:
Most of our discussions for works of the Classical era have been centred around the musical forms of each piece (such as sonata form and double exposition form). If you find that you are interested in learning more... check out www.otago.ac.nz/music for more information on music courses and local performances.
We have a large selection of pieces by all three kingpins: HAYDN, MOZART & BEETHOVEN in-store. If you are struggling to find a specific piece, we are only to happy to order it in for you, simply visit us in-store or give us a call:
Tel: +64 3 474 9394
Email: info@relicsmusic.co.nz
Here are two items
that we currently have available at RELICS:
BEETHOVEN - COMPLETE PIANO TRIOS (TRIO WANDERER)
BEETHOVEN SONATAS - MICHAEL HOUSTON
BEETHOVEN CELLO SONATAS - STEPHEN ISSERLIS CD
HAYDN, MOZART & BEETHOVEN - KINGPINS OF THE CLASSICAL PERIOD: PART II
HAYDN, MOZART & BEETHOVEN
KINGPINS OF THE CLASSICAL PERIOD!
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756 - 1791)Mozart was born 24 years after Haydn and his experience as a musician was quite different to the experiences of Haydn. Haydn had been very fortunate to be offered several life-changing opportunities and he was also an astute businessmen. Ultimately, Haydn ended up a very wealthy and famous musician in his lifetime.
As a young child Mozart was considered a child prodigy and his father toured him extensively as a performer along with his sister Nannerl. Under the tuition of his father he began composing at a young age and by the end of his life had composed an impressive amount of instrumental music including a large number of symphonies and piano concertos as well as violin concertos, chamber music and operas.
Mozart's concertos in particular "delivered brilliant passagework and impressive displays of virtuosity" that were very popular amongst the Viennese public. This is one example of a Piano Concerto that we studied in class:
Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K.488 (1786)
During the latter part of his life Mozart worked as a freelance musician, but ultimately died very poor and was buried in Paris in an unmarked grave. Freelancing was a new option for musicians in the Enlightenment period, but for Mozart this was certainly not lucrative. Despite Mozart's financial status by the time he died, he is more popular than ever in the 21st century. More often than not, his pieces are easily recognised by 1st year students - regardless of whether or not they have studied Classical music before!
Here is a youtube clips of one of his more popular symphonies:
Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K.550 (1788)
Most of our discussions for works of the Classical era have been centred around the musical forms of each piece (such as sonata form and double exposition form). If you find that you are interested in learning more... check out www.otago.ac.nz/music for more information on music courses and local performances at University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Here are two items that we currently have in stock at RELICS that feature performances of Mozart's compositions:
MOZART-SYMPHONIES 29 31 32 35 36
MOZART - LA FINTA GIARDINIERA Opera
For more info on Beethoven - see RELICS Part III blog post; for more info on Haydn - see RELICS Part I blog post.
