Good afternoon, CGB!
You weren't using the word `classical' wrongly at all-it's kinda like the word Catholic and catholic. (at least to me). Classical in the broad sense is all traditional European style music (as opposed to popular), while the Classical period was actually very short-from
about 1775-1825 and includes Mozart(considered by many to be the greatest), Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert. These four were called the Viennese group.
Briefly, Classical music (the period)could be described as unified, reasonable, orderly, melodic, balanced, graceful. It was preceded by the Baroque (think Bach, very structured, logical, polyphonic) and followed by the Romantic (19c. to WWI) with Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Chopin, Puccini, emotion over form.
Beethoven greatly admired Mozart and wanted to study with him (Mozart thwarted him by dying too soon). There is debate over whether B. is a Classicist or a Romantic---his early works were definitely classical in form and design. Then he started expanding the forms, experimenting. And here is where Thomas and I part company. I claim he remained within the structures, TC says he became a Romantic. I think he just broke the ground FOR the Romantics and they just want to claim him in retro. For a boring, detailed, and comprehensive debate on this, see Feelings, Feb 14, 1997, but I assure you your life will
be just as rich and complete without reading it.
AND! Yesterday I read the new Joan Hess' Claire Malloy book--A Holly, Jolly (or was it Jolly, Holly?) Christmas. And it had a great cast of weird characters---Druids and Wiccans and Winter Solstice ceremonies. Cute. |
