Music in the classical period tended to be rational and objective. The romantic period tended to be emotional and subjective. Composers in the classical period wrote more about objective things, while romantic composers expressed more inner feelings through their works.

Works in the Classical period rarely have titles, and among these few works, most of the titles were added by publishers or descendants. On the contrary, a major feature of music during the Romantic period is "titleness". Composers give titles to works to help listeners feel the content and emotions of the work more intuitively.

Early Classical Music School

1. Three Music Schools

New music in the form of main tunes that emerged in Italy after the Renaissance, with the background of aristocratic society , prospered throughout Germany and Austria. In its early days, there were three main schools of music: one was the Berlin School of Music, centered on Carl F. Bach, the second son of the music master Bach.

The second is the Mannheim School of Music centered on Johann Stamitz (1717-1757). The third is the early Viennese school of music centered on Wagenzal and Munn.

2. The characteristic lies in instrumental music

In classical music, although opera is also an important part, on the whole, the characteristic of classical music lies in instrumental music, especially Music in sonata and symphony forms. The chamber music and symphony of the Mannheim School not only had an impact on the Vienna School, but also had a direct impact on the young Beethoven in Bonn.

3. Sonata form

The sonata form is a very representative form in classical music. That is, there is a contrast between the first and second themes in the presentation part, the development part appears in the middle, and then the recapitulation part where the two themes are repeated. The Mannheim School already had this form quite complete at that time.

The Mannheim School was also the one who added the minuet movement to the symphony form. In their symphony orchestration, the woodwind instruments also used double-pipe arrangements. Mozart added the clarinet to his symphonies and learned it after hearing their orchestra perform in Mannheim.