Western music historians often refer to the 18th and 19th century composers Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven as the Viennese Classical School; in the 20th century, three more composers appeared in Vienna: Schoenberg and Berg. and Weyburn. They are called the Second Viennese School or the New Viennese School.
The representatives of the Viennese classical music school are Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
Features:
The Viennese Classical Music School is a music school formed in Vienna with the development of the "Enlightenment Movement" from the second half of the 18th century to the 1920s. Its representatives The musicians were Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. The main characteristics of this music school are:
(1) In terms of musical content, the musical works were influenced by the ideological trends of the Enlightenment Movement at that time, with the main purpose of praising the human spirit and reflecting the beauty of nature.
(2) In terms of musical texture, the dominant position of the main musical form is established, the harmonic texture is clear, and the musical form structure is clear.
(3) In terms of music genres, genres such as symphonies, quartets, concertos, and sonatas have been established to make them more complete and standardized.
(4) Inheriting the German and Austrian musical cultural traditions, with strong artistic appeal and superb composition techniques, it brought classical music to its peak and had a profound impact on later generations of music.
Influence: The Vienna Classical School inherited the development of Baroque music and is a music style or era in the history of European music. This era saw the emergence of multi-movement symphonies, solo concertos, string quartets, multi-movement sonatas and other genres. The sonata form and rondo form became the most common musical forms in the classical and romantic periods, and their influence was profound until the twentieth century. The size of the orchestra has increased compared to the Baroque period, and it has gradually become a norm for the orchestra to be led by a conductor. The modern piano appeared in the classical period and gradually replaced the harpsichord.
The representatives of the New Viennese School of Music are Schoenberg and his two students: Webern and Berg.
Characteristics: The pursuit of absolute freedom in form and the breaking of old traditions are in line with expressionism in painting.
Differences from traditional music: Expressionist music is completely opposite to the old tradition. It completely ignores the tonal laws of the past. Give equal value to the twelve semitones in the octave and abandon the traditional concepts of tonic and dominant tones, thus giving atonality an absolute advantage. Because the old melody trajectory is destroyed, the melody has neither balance nor repetition, and is therefore just a series of unique sounds. Furthermore, the rhythm is elusive and the time signature is ignored. In terms of form, it appears to be very free as it ignores the conventional bandhas, repetitions and balancing methods. But its form based on new theories has the wonderful characteristics of being unique, flowing, and infinitely developing. In terms of counterpoint, there is a feeling of leaving traditional harmony and becoming a complex free progression of melody lines, which is the so-called linear free counterpoint. In terms of orchestra formation and orchestration, it is different from the exaggerated huge structure and sound pursued by late Romanticism. Instead, it adopts a small and exquisite orchestra, which often has a clear sense of chamber music. Its colors are not as mysterious and indistinct as impressionism, but simple, bright and strong.