Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences
Department of Music and Performing Arts
Music in Context
AF230002D
Topic Summary:
Music and the Enlightenment
Academic Year: 2009-2010
Semester 1 & 2
Music and the Enlightenment
[Semester One, weeks 1-6: Alan Rochford]
The term ‘Classical Music’ is consistently misunderstood not only by the layman (for whom it
merely implies non-popular or serious music of any kind), but also by the more discerning
listener who wrongly assumes that it is synonymous with Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven
(only). Indeed there is a tendency to regard the classical period as artificially partitioned off
from (and sandwiched) between the Baroque and Romantic eras. Through consideration of
musical examples extending from ca.1740 to 1810, this topic demonstrates the biological
development of musical style during the eighteenth century spanning the mythical bridge
between Baroque and Romantic music. Specifically it shows how music reacted to, and was
conditioned by, the all-embracing power of the Enlightenment movement. In doing so, this
contextual study reveals that the seeds of Romanticism originate in the revolutionary ideas
and compositions of the 1760s and earlier. Understanding will be enhanced by the
completion of pastiche harmony exercises based on eighteenth-century practice.
Principal Text

Rushton, Julian (1996): A Concise Guide to Classical Music (from Gluck to
Beethoven), London: Thames and Hudson
Week 1
The Principles of the Enlightenment
This introductory session will consider the principal factors that determined
the creation of great works of art using the eighteenth-century European
Enlightenment as the basis.
A contextual approach outlines the wider philosophical, political, sociological,
religious, commercial and educational aspects of the Enlightenment. The
session examines the way in which these factors influenced and conditioned
musical composition and performance.
Preparatory Listening
Haydn: Symphony No 6 (Le Matin)
Beethoven: Symphony No 5 (first movement)
Preparatory Reading
Rushton, J.: A Concise Guide to Classical Music (Chapter One: ‘Classicism
and its Background’)
Questions to Consider

How do you interpret the term ‘Classical Music’?

Are you able to identify from an unlabelled outline map of Europe the
exact location of principal cities of significant musical importance?

How were the fundamental ideals of the Enlightenment interpreted
and realised by contemporary composers and performers?

How was music disseminated (in performance and in print) in the first
half of the eighteenth century?
2
Seminar Activity

Short video presentation on the Enlightenment

Review of the harmonic language of the early Classical Period
(Neapolitan chords, circle of fifths, augmented sixth)
Follow-up work
Week 2

Technical exercises (non-assessed) relating to the use of classical
chord progressions as reviewed in the seminar

Students should also familiarise themselves (through listening and
playing) with the stylistic features of music of the Rococo, style galant
and the pre-classical periods (c 1720 – 1760)
Style Galant v. Empfindsamer Stil (Expressive style)
The contrasting styles of functional entertainment music and subjective art
music are explored (including the concept of the Doctrine of the Affects). After
a consideration of composers such as Boyce and Stamitz, the session
focuses on recorded examples from the keyboard works of CPE Bach and
the reform operas of Gluck.
Preparatory Listening

William Boyce: Symphonies (Style Gallant)

CPE Bach: Selected Keyboard Works (e.g. Sonatas for Connoisseurs
and Amateurs, and Piano Fantasias written in the expressive style)

Gluck: Orfeo and Euridice (openings of both Act One and Act Two)
Preparatory Reading

Rushton, J.: Classical Music: Chapter Two: ‘Italian opera and the early
symphony’, and Chapter Three: ‘Operatic reform’
Questions to Consider

How did Gluck’s operatic reforms mirror the aims and objectives of the
Enlightenment?

How important was the performer in contributing to the creative
process?

What significant developments were taking place in the technical
design of instruments during this period?
Seminar Activity

Analysis of harmonic effects found in extracts from Gluck’s Orfeo ed
Euridice (e.g. Dance of the Furies)

Technical exercises relating to the use of diminished sevenths,
chromatic pivot chords, abrupt modulation etc
Follow-up work (assessed)

Assessment One – Identify specific expressive features in a short
extract (e.g. Mozart or CPE Bach keyboard sonata). To be completed
and submitted during Week Three
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
Week 3
Additionally (as a non-assessed task), you should look at an extract
from Haydn Symphony 45 (Farewell) (slow movement) – an example
of extreme expressive modulation. Students should listen to a
recording and also attempt to score read at the keyboard the string
parts from Bars 150 to180.
Haydn at Esterhazy
This session considers the concept of artistic patronage and the sudden
emergence of the Sturm und Drang style in the 1760s. It focuses on Haydn’s
earlier years at the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt drawing on documentary
evidence presented by H. Robbins Landon (see Chronicles and Works:
Haydn at Esterhazy). The session includes an analytical study of some of
Haydn’s monumental Enlightenment symphonies dating from 1760-1772 that
are the forerunners of his own later London Symphonies and those of
Beethoven
Associated Text

Robbins Landon H, (1980) Chronicles and Works: Haydn at
Esterhazy, London: Thames and Hudson
Preparatory Listening

Haydn Symphonies Nos. 39 in G Minor, 48 in C Major (Maria
Theresa) and 49 in F Minor (La Passione)
Preparatory Reading

Rushton, J.: Classical Music: Chapter Five: Instrumental music: its
uses, its resources, its meaning
Questions to Consider

What artistic constraints are musicians subjected to within the
patronage system?

How can the sudden stylistic change in Haydn’s music during the
1760s be accounted for?
Seminar Activity

Discussion of stylistic effects to be found in Haydn symphonies (e.g.
Minuet movements)

Working of a short technical exercise- harmonisation of an extract
from a Minuet or slow movement in the Classical style

Submission of Assessment One: Identification of specific expressive features in a short
keyboard extract (e.g. Mozart or CPE Bach sonata).
Follow-up work (assessed)

Assessment Two – Students will be issued with a technical exercise
– the completion of a sketch from a Classical Minuet – to be
completed and submitted during Week 4. Similar extracts (e.g. Haydn
and Mozart minuet and slow movements) should be consulted
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Week 4
Mozart and the Enlightenment
The session considers how Mozart embraced the ideals of the Enlightenment,
specifically in his operas.
Preparatory Listening

Mozart: Don Giovanni (Act 2 Finale)

Mozart: Magic Flute (Masonic Music)
Preparatory reading

Rushton, J.: Classical Music: Chapter Nine: Revolution and
Romanticism in Opera
Questions to Consider

Why does Mozart refer to Don Giovanni as a ‘Drama Giocoso’ (rather
than an opera)?

How does Magic Flute reflect the ideas of the Freemasonry
movement?
Seminar Activity (includes)

Discussion of harmonic effects (e.g. enharmonic changes/extreme
modulation found in selected Haydn symphonies (e.g. No. 45,
Farewell – slow movement)

Consideration of instrumental timbre in specific operatic examples by
Mozart
Submission of Assessment Two: Completion of a sketch from a Classical Minuet
Follow-up work

Week 5
Watch a video of complete staged performances of either (or both) of
Don Giovanni and Magic Flute
Haydn’s Creation
A consideration of the master’s late oratorio (1801) which marks the
culmination of a lifetime’s labour of a composer whose earliest works were a
product of the mature Baroque, but whose last utterances anticipate the
Germanic Romantic language of Wagner.
Preparatory Listening

Haydn: Creation - extracts to include the Representation of Chaos
(which opens the oratorio) and selected choruses plus vocal
ensembles and arias
Preparatory Reading

Temperley, N (1999). London: Haydn: The Creation (Cambridge
Music Handbooks), Cambridge University Press
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Questions to Consider

By looking at individual numbers from the oratorio, consider the ways
in which Haydn explores visual imagery in his interpretation of the
text?

What does this oratorio tell us about the romantic idealism of nature at
the start of the nineteenth century?
Seminar Activity

A consideration of dramatic effects employed in later works of Haydn
Haydn’s Creation will be performed on Wednesday, 11 November (7.30 pm) at King’s
College, Cambridge (Choir of Kings College/Academy of Ancient Music/Stephen Cleobury)
as part of the Cambridge Music Festival 2009 – details on www.cammusic.co.uk
Follow-up work (assessed)

Week 6
Assessment Three – Preparation of a harmonic analysis (Extract
from Representation of Chaos – Creation) to be submitted during
Week 6
Beethoven: The Revolutionary
This session considers the Beethoven’s response to the political turmoil of the
late eighteenth century that was fuelled by the Enlightenment. The musical
focus falls on his innovative expressive orchestral writing and tonal
manipulation both in the symphonies and his only opera, Fidelio
Preparatory Listening

Symphony No 6, Pastoral (Fourth and Fifth Movements – ‘Storm’ and
‘Thanksgiving’)

Fidelio (Start of Act 2)
Preparatory Reading

Rushton, J.: Classical Music: Chapter Eleven: Instrumental Music in
the Age of Beethoven
Question to Consider

What effect did the French Revolution (1789) have on artistic thinking
at the turn of the century?

How is the Enlightenment preoccupation with personal, individual
expression reflected in Beethoven’s music?
Seminar Activity

The influence of the Enlightenment on the music of the Early
Romantics including Schubert, Berlioz and Mendelssohn

Summary of defining characteristics of Enlightenment music
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Submission of Assessment Three: Harmonic Analysis of extract from Representation of
Chaos – Creation)
Further Reading (all books available from Anglia Ruskin Library)
Pauly, R. (1988) Music in the Classic Period, New Jersey: Prentice Hall
Robbins Landon, H. (1980) Haydn: Chronicle and Works (5 volumes), London: Thames
and Hudson (available on short loan)
Robbins Landon H. and Wyn Jones, D. (1988) Haydn: His Life and Music, London:
Thames and Hudson
Rosen, C (2005) The Classical Style: Haydn Beethoven and Mozart, London: Faber and
Faber
Schroeder, D.P. (1997) Haydn and The Enlightenment, Oxford: Clarendon
Temperley, N (1999). Haydn: The Creation (Cambridge Music Handbooks), Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Students may also like to consult the website and printed literature for the following two
modules. Both are general history courses which include references to music. They
demonstrate the interdisciplinary influence of the Enlightenment.
At Anglia Ruskin University, the Level Two module: The Enlightenment in England and
France (AG215012S). Module Leader: Dr Clarissa Campbell-Orr (see University Module
Catalogue)
At the Open University, the Level Two course: From Enlightenment to Romanticism c 17801830 (A207). See www.open.ac.uk for details
Internet Sites
www.history.ac.uk/search/
www.open.ac.uk
www.amazon.co.uk
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