Also they have a change from one pattern of note lengths to
another, which may be either sudden or gradual. Texture – Classical
music is basically homophobic. However, texture is treated as
flexibly as rhythm. Pieces shift smoothly or suddenly from one
texture to another. Melody – Classical melodies are one of the most
tuneful and easy to remember. The themes of even highly
sophisticated compositions may have a folk or popular flavor.
Occasionally, composer simply borrowed popular tunes, but more
often, they wrote original themes with a popular character.
Classical melodies often sound balanced and symmetrical
because they are frequently made up of two phrases of the same
length. The second phrase, in such melodies, may begin like the
first, but it will end more conclusively and it will be easier to
sing. Dynamics and the piano – The Classical composers’ Interest In
expressing shades of emotion led to the widespread use of gradual
dynamic change – crescendo (gradually tenting louder) and
diminuendo ( gradually getting softer). The end of basso continuo –
The basso continuo was gradually abandoned during the classical
period.
One reason why the basso continuo became obsolete was that
more and more music was written for amateurs, who could not master
the difficult art of Improvising from a figured bass. The dates of
the Classical period in are generally known as being between about
1750 and 1820. However, the term classical music is used
colloquially to describe a rarity of Western musical styles from
the ninth century to the present, and especially from the sixteenth
or seventeenth to the nineteenth.
The Classical period falls between the Baroque and the Romantic periods. The best known composers from this period are Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven; other notable names include Lugging Bickering, Muzzy Clementine, Antonio Soles, Antonio Saltier, Francis Joseph Gooses, Johann Stamina, Carl Frederica Able, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and Christopher Willable Cluck. Ludwig van Beethoven is also sometimes regarded either as a Romantic composer or a composer who was part of the transition to the Romantic.
