An Outline of The History of Western Music Grout ... - The Reel Score

I. Sonata, Symphony, and Opera in the Early Classic Period
A. The Enlightenment
1. Challenged established systems of thought and behavior
a) religion - valued individual faith and practical morality more than the church as an
institution
b) philosophy & science - emphasis on reasoning from experience and careful
observation - favored the study of the human mind, emotions, social relations and
organizations
c) social behavior - naturalness was preferred to artificiality and formality
d) belief in individual rights - challenged the authority of the state
2. Stood for the conviction that reason and knowledge could solve social and practical
problems
a) Religion, philosophical systems, science, the arts, education, the social order were
all being judged by how they contributed to the well being of the individual
b) Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746) in "Concerning Moral Good and Evil" defined the
ethical ideal as - 'the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers'
3. The French 'philosophes'
a) Rousseau, Montesquieu, and Voltaire were social reformers
b) reacted in response to the terrible inequalities between the conditions of the
common people and that of the privileged classes in Europe
B. Background
1. Science - the advances in the application of scientific discoveries affected not only
industry and commerce, but the arts as well
2. A Cosmopolitan age
a) foreign born rulers - German Kings in England, Sweden, & Poland, Spanish King
in Naples, French Duke in Tuscany, German Princess (Catherine the Great) in
Russia
b) intellectuals and artists traveled freely
c) the humanity that all people shared mattered more than national and linguistic
differences - at least for those able to travel beyond their local regions
d) musical life reflected this cosmopolitan culture
1: German Symphonic composers were active in Paris, Italian Opera composers &
singers worked in Austria, Germany, Spain, England, Russia, and France
2: Johann Joachim Quantz (1697-1773) - proposed that the ideal musical style
was made up of the best features of the music of all nations
e) Vienna as a cosmopolitan center
1: People
i- from 1745-1765 the emperor was a Frenchman (Francis Stephan of
Lorraine)
ii- imperial poet was an Italian (Pietro Metastasio)
iii- a German (Johann Adolph Hasse 1699-1783) composed operas in the
Italian style to Metastasio's librettos
iv- manager of the court theaters was an Italian (Count Giacomo Durazzo)
v- imported French company mounted a regular season of 'opéra comique' -
with French style ballets also popular