Transcript Don Giovanni

The Classical Era
1750-1800
Neoclassicism in Art
Imitation of Greco-Roman art
 Clarity and simplicity
 Symmetry and balance
 Objectivity (intellectual rather than
emotional)

The Enlightenment

Reason over tradition or custom



Social reform- rise of middle class
Encyclopedic frame of mind
Age of revolution – government should arise
from the will of the people rather than be
imposed by a ruling class


American Revolution
French Revolution
David,
David,Oath
Oathofofthe
theHoratii,
Horatii,1785
1785
David, Death of Socrates, 1787
Jean Honoré Fragonard, The Swing
(1766)
Rococo
Francois Boucher
First Painter to King
Louis XV
Nude on a Sofa
Toilet of Venus
Old
Aristocratic
Tradition-bound
Decadent
vs.
New
Egalitarian
Enlightened
Self sacrifice
Thomas Jefferson – Rotunda at the University of Virginia
The Pantheon in Rome, Italy
Jacques-Germain Soufflot
Sainte Genevieve, 1757-1792
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (1805)
Arch of Constantine, Rome, Italy
Napoleon -Canova
Greek, c. 480 B.C.
Classicism in music
Not modeled on ancient music
 Modeled on classical ideals: balance,
symmetry, clarity
 Should appeal to both the amateur and
professional

The Changing Audience
Aristocratic in the Baroque
 Both middle class and upper class in 18th century
 Music that appeals to all
 Rise of comic opera
 Plots from everyday life
 More natural text setting
 Vernacular
 Instrumental music (played at public concerts)
 Focus on melody
 Balanced phrases

The Situation of the musician: The
Patronage system
Benefits:
 Steady income
 Housed, fed, and
clothed
 Worked with good
musicians
 An audience of
connoisseurs
Disadvantages:
 Musicians were
servants
 Had to cater to the
patron’s tastes
Contrasting Careers:
Haydn and Mozart
Franz Joseph Haydn
(1732-1809)
 Struggled to earn a
living teaching in
Vienna
 1761-Got a position
with the Esterhazy
family

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756-1791)



Leopold Mozart, violinist
and composer for the
archbishop of Salzburg
Child prodigy
Position for the
archbishop of Salzburg


Disagreements
1781-Mozart fired, moved
to Vienna
Conventions for Instrumental Genres

4 Movements: Fast-slow-minuet-fast
 Symphony
(a new genre)
 String Quartet (developed from Baroque trio
sonata)

3 Movements: Fast-slow-fast
 Keyboard
Sonata
 Concerto (same principle as Baroque concerto)
Classical Style (vs. Baroque)
Scoring: no basso continuo
 Dynamics: gradual changes; clarifies form
 Rhythm: a variety of rhythmic patterns
within one movement; clarifies form
 Melody- balanced phrases; used to clarify
harmonic and formal content

Classical Style (vs. Baroque)

Harmony- Rameau develops a new theory
of harmony (Treatise on Harmony, 1722)
 Progressions
of harmonies
 Slower harmonic rhythm
Texture: variety within one movement;
clarifies form
 Form: Sonata form (developed from
Baroque binary form)

Sonata Form: For first and last
movements
Part 1
Part 2
Development
Exposition
Section 1
Section 2
P
S
(T, t)
I
V
i
III
Recapitulation
Section 3
(K, k) •
•
V
III
Section 4
•“Fantasy” P (T, t) S (K, k) •
•
•
Modulatory I
I
Modulatory i
or
i
i
I
I
Classical Style (vs. Baroque)
Baroque: rhetorical model
 Classical: dramatic model

 The
working out and resolution of conflict
Mozart’s Da Ponte Operas

Librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte:
 Le
nozze di Figaro (The marriage of Figaro)
 1786
 Don
Giovanni
 1787
 Cosi
fan tutte (Thus do all women)
 1790
Don Giovanni







Don Giovanni
Leporello- his servant
Donna Annanoblewoman
Commendatore- her
father
Don Ottavio- her
boyfriend
Donna Elvira
Zerlina- peasant girl
1
Die Zauberflöte
(The Magic Flute)
1791
Singspiel
 Emanuel Schikaneder
 The plot and
Freemasonry
 Protagonist’s (and
audience’s) journey
from ignorance and
superstition to
enlightenment

Die Zauberflöte’s
Principal Characters






Tamino - a Prince
Sarastro – Priest of the
Sun
Queen of Night
Pamina – her daughter
Papageno – a bird catcher
Monostatos – overseer of
Temple
Jenkens' Queen of Night/