Classicism in the Arts
Reported by: Melisa Camba, Lea Pineda, Sabrina Barangan, Jemima Reyes, Louie
Reyes and Joshua Pinca
• (1750-1825)• The Classical era is characterized by the
qualities of order, objectivity, and harmonious proportion.
• Classicists emulated the art of architecture of ancient Greece and Rome
• Age of strong aristocratic sovereigns in Europe
The Classical Spirit
Music of the Classical Era
Classicism in Music• Characterized by a singable, lyrical melody;
diatonic harmony; regular rhythms and metres; homophonic texture; and the frequent use of folk elements
• Music centred around the court, with composers and women musicians-employed under the patronage system (refers to the support that kings or popes have provided to artists).
Classicism in Music• Composers practiced their art in a time of
great musical experimentation and discovery• Musicians took on 3 challenges:
a) Explore the possibilities offered by the major-minor system
b) Perfect a large-scale form of absolute instrumental music that would mobilize those possibilities to the fullest degree
c) Differentiate music through its form
Elements of Classical Style• Simpler textures: Homophonic textures (usually melody and
accompaniment) became the standard.
• Simpler melodies: Classical melodies usually fall into even phrases, and often were organized into symmetrical "question and answer" structures. Many composers found inspiration in folk melodies.
• The piano: The piano, with its ability to produce gradations of dynamics, became the most important solo instrument for Classical composers.
• Simple, rational forms: Simple two- and three-part forms became the essential building blocks of all Classical forms, especially the Sonata Allegro form.
Top Composers of the Classical Era• FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN
(1732-1809)• Haydn was a German composer who was born of
poor parents. His musical talent showed itself at an early age and he became at the age of eight a cathedral chorister. He came into notice first as a street musician and soon became a popular music-master in Vienna. Haydn produced operas, symphonies, and oratorios and more and he is at his best in quartets and symphonies. He was a man of a happy disposition, and his character appears in his music; he was known at length as Father Haydn.
Top Composers of the Classical Era• WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
(1756-1791)• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, eminent musical
composer, was born at Salzburg and was distinguished for his musical genius as a boy. He produced over 600 musical compositions, but his principal works were his operas, the "Marriage of Figaro," "Don Giovanni," and the "Magic Flute." His fate was an unhappy one as he suffered much from poverty and neglect -- the last piece he wrote was a Requiem Mass, which he felt, he said, as if he were writing for himself, He died at Prague on the evening of its rehearsal. Mozart lived from 1756 to 1791.
Top Composers of the Classical Era LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
(1770-1827)• Beethoven is one of the greatest musical composers. He was
born in Bonn, of Dutch extraction and is the author of symphonies and sonatas that are known over all the world. He showed early a most precocious genius for music, commenced his education at five as a musician; trained at length under the tuition of the most illustrious of his predecessors, Bach and Handel, and was revealed the most wonderful musical talent. He left Bonn and settled in Vienna; attracted the attention of Mozart; at the age of 40 was attacked with deafness that became total and lasted for life. Beethoven continued to compose all the same, to the admiration of thousands. During his last days was a prey to melancholy and during a thunderstorm he died. Goethe pronounced him at his best "an utterly untamed character."
Dance of the Classical Era
Literature of the Classical Era
Architecture of the Classical Era
Theatre of the Classical Era
Visual Arts of the Classical Era
Classicism in Theatre
- The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal, restrained and Apollonian (nothing in excess)- Classicism in the theatre was developed by the 17th Century French playwrights- Implies a canon of widely accepted ideal forms- Theatre became formalized and an even more major part of Athenian culture and civic pride- Golden Age of Greek drama
Classicism in Theatre
RULES:• Unity of Time: need for the entire action of the play to take place in a fictional 24-hour period• Unity of Place: the play should take place in a single location• Unity of Action: the play should have a single plot-line
*Shakespeare was not approved by the Classicists because he constantly broke the rules.
Types: Tragicomedy (Classical Precedent)
-A serious action with a happy ending*Mid-15th CenturyGiovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio – produced his own examples of tragicomedy playsGiovanni Battista Guarini - offered modulated action that never drifted too far either to comedy or tragedy, mannered characters, and a pastoral setting.*16th CenturyPhilip Sydney - Romantic play that violated the unities of time, place, and action, that smoothly mixed high- and low-born characters, and that presented fantastic actions.
Types: Comedy
-Drew its subjects from everyday life and social reality. -consisted of people's preconceptions and shortcomings, of current political or social events-Birth of comedy was from the singing of a noisy partying group, the comus, uniting the god's worshippers in unbridled high spirits.-On another view it started from the wordkome ('large village').-The villagers would come in to the city by night, and sing accusing songs in front of the houses who had done them some injustice
Types: Comedy
*Comedy can be divided into three stages:- Old Comedy (late 5th century B.C.) was
above all spoof, full of energy, and preoccupied with ongoing political issues.
-Middle Comedy (early4th century B.C.) -New Comedy (4th-3rd centuries B.C.)
concentrated on family life and character-study.
Authors• Aeschylus
-Born at Athens in 525/24 B.C., and he died at Gela in 456/55 B.C.-Scion of an old aristocratic family and was in touch with many of the leading poets of his generation (Pindar and Simonides)-Wrote 8 plays in all, 7 tragedies were saved (Persians-472, Seven Against Thebes-467, Suppliants-465, Oresteia[ the only surviving trilogy]-458, Prometheus Bound-?)-The 3 tragedies (trilogies) were taken from one of the same cycle of myths-He was the one to introduce the second actor – played greater emphasis on dialogues
Authors• Sophocles
-Born in around 497/96, and died in 406 B.C.-Also a scion of a wealthy aristocratic Athenian family, thus had a chance of a broad education-Wrote about 120 plays, 7 tragedies and 1 satyr play-Brought important innovations into his plays; introducing a third actor and not confining himself into a single myth for the content of a trilogy-His work is animated by the experience of a lifetime of nearly a hundred years; a century full of contradiction and opposition.-Sophocles dealt with problems from the citizen’s relationship to the polis, he did not just showed the problems but suggested some solutions.Ajax (450s), Antigone (442), Trachiniae (438), Oedipus Tyrannus (434 or 432), Electra (earlier than 417), Philoctetes (409), Oedipus at Colonos (staged in public in 401 after the playwright's death)
Authors• Sophocles
-Born in around 497/96, and died in 406 B.C.-Also a scion of a wealthy aristocratic Athenian family, thus had a chance of a broad education-Wrote about 120 plays, 7 tragedies and 1 satyr play-Brought important innovations into his plays; introducing a third actor and not confining himself into a single myth for the content of a trilogy-His work is animated by the experience of a lifetime of nearly a hundred years; a century full of contradiction and opposition.-Sophocles dealt with problems from the citizen’s relationship to the polis, he did not just showed the problems but suggested some solutions.Ajax (450s), Antigone (442), Trachiniae (438), Oedipus Tyrannus (434 or 432), Electra (earlier than 417), Philoctetes (409), Oedipus at Colonos (staged in public in 401 after the playwright's death)
Authors• Euripides
-born in around 485/484, died in 406-He was born on a family estate at Salamis, his father as a grocer and his mother as a greengrocer-19 of approximately 90 plays survived. He was the favorite of the later generation that’s why more papyri with texts have survived than from the other two writers.Euripides also set his own stamp on his work: introducing personal idioms and innovations.-Made the prologue in the form of a monologue to orient the audience about what the playwright was about to take the myth-Laid particular emphasis on the verbal skirmishing(agon) which enlivened the scenes in law courts-Alcestis (438), Medea (431), Heraclidae (430, Hippolytus (428), Hecuba (?426), Andromache (425; not at Athens), Suppliant Women (?424), Electra (417), Hercules, Furens (416), Trojan Women (415), Ion (414), Iphigenia among the Taurians (?413), Helen (412), Orestes (408), Iphigenia at Aulis, and Bacchae (later than 406 and up to 400)
• Authors: • AeschylusBorn at Athens in 525/24 B.C., and he died at Gela in 456/55 B.C.Scion of an old aristocratic family and was in touch with many of the leading poets of his generation (Pindar and Simonides)Wrote 8 plays in all, 7 tragedies were saved (Persians-472, Seven Against Thebes-467, Suppliants-465, Oresteia[ the only surviving trilogy]-458, Prometheus Bound-?)The 3 tragedies (trilogies) were taken from one of the same cycle of mythsHe was the one to introduce the second actor – played greater emphasis on dialogues
• SophoclesBorn in around 497/96, and died in 406 B.C.Also a scion of a wealthy aristocratic Athenian family, thus had a chance of a broad educationWrote about 120 plays, 7 tragedies and 1 satyr playBrought important innovations into his plays; introducing a third actor and not confining himself into a single myth for the content of a trilogyHis work is animated by the experience of a lifetime of nearly a hundred years; a century full of contradiction and opposition.Sophocles dealt with problems from the citizen’s relationship to the polis, he did not just showed the problems but suggested some solutions.Ajax (450s), Antigone (442), Trachiniae (438), Oedipus Tyrannus (434 or 432), Electra (earlier than 417), Philoctetes (409), Oedipus at Colonos (staged in public in 401 after the playwright's death)• Euripidesborn in around 485/484, died in 406He was born on a family estate at Salamis, his father as a grocer and his mother as a greengrocer19 of approximately 90 plays survived. He was the favorite of the later generation that’s why more papyri with texts have survived than from the other two writers.Euripides also set his own stamp on his work: introducing personal idioms and innovations.Made the prologue in the form of a monologue to orient the audience about what the playwright was about to take the mythLaid particular emphasis on the verbal skirmishing(agon) which enlivened the scenes in law courtsAlcestis (438), Medea (431), Heraclidae (430, Hippolytus (428), Hecuba (?426), Andromache (425; not at Athens), Suppliant Women (?424), Electra (417), Hercules, Furens (416), Trojan Women (415), Ion (414), Iphigenia among the Taurians (?413), Helen (412), Orestes (408), Iphigenia at Aulis, and Bacchae (later than 406 and up to 400)
