Piano History: Classical Period

Monday, June 12, 2006

The classical period signifies the height of artistic achievement in music. It is paralleled to the classical time period of the Greeks and the Romans. There were great changes from the earlier Baroque style of music, and the piano as we know it today is finally coming into acceptance.

The main focuses of the Classical period of music are beauty of form, clarity of thought, and objective approach. The focus of this period was to explore the major-minor system created in the Baroque period and the piano sonata is very popular during this time period.

The three main composers of this time period were Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. Mozart was a brilliant child prodigy that started composing at age 5. By age 13 he wrote sonatas, concertos, operas, and symphonies. Haydn wrote about 40 piano songs and was successful much later in his life than Mozart. Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany and became deaf midway through his career. This is considered tragic for his career, however he continued to make music and is considered by many as the finest composer of his time period.