The Classical period was an era of classical music between roughly 1750 and 1820.
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orchestration is the assignment of different instruments to play the different parts of a musical work. For example, a work for solo piano could be adapted and orchestrated so that an orchestra could perform the piece, or a concert band piece could be orchestrated for a symphony orchestra.
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers, with one performer to a part. However, by convention, it usually does not include solo instrument performances.
Carl Philipp Stamitz was a German composer of partial Czech ancestry. He was the most prominent representative of the second generation of the Mannheim School.
Mannheim school refers to both the orchestral techniques pioneered by the court orchestra of the Elector Palatine in Mannheim in the latter half of the 18th century and the group of composers of the early classical period, who composed for the orchestra of Mannheim. The father of the school is considered to be the Bohemian composer Johann Stamitz. Besides him, two generations of composers wrote compositions for the orchestra, whose reputation was due to its excellent discipline and the individual skill of its players; the English traveler Charles Burney called it "an army of generals". Their performance style included new dynamic elements, crescendos and diminuendos. Composers of the Mannheim school played an important role in the development of the classical period's genres and of the classical symphony form.
Johann Christian Innocenz Bonaventura Cannabich, was a German violinist, composer, and Kapellmeister of the Classical era. A composer of some 200 works, he continued the legacy of Johann Stamitz and helped turn the Mannheim orchestra into what Charles Burney described as "the most complete and best disciplined in Europe.". The orchestra was particularly noted for the carefully graduated crescendos and diminuendos characteristic of the Mannheim school. Together with Stamitz and the other composers of the Mannheim court, he helped develop the orchestral texture that paved the way for the orchestral treatment of the First Viennese School.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Oboe Concerto in C major, K. 314 (271k), was composed in the spring or summer of 1777, for the oboist Giuseppe Ferlendis (1755–1802) from Bergamo. In 1778, Mozart re-worked it as a concerto for flute in D major. The concerto is a widely studied piece for both instruments and is one of the most important concertos in the oboe repertoire.
The Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra in C major, K. 299/297c, is a concerto by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for flute, harp, and orchestra. It is one of only two true double concertos that he wrote, as well as the only piece of music by Mozart for the harp. The piece is one of the most popular such concertos in the repertoire, as well as often being found on recordings dedicated to either one of its featured instruments.
The Serenade No. 10 for winds in B-flat major, K. 361/370a, is a serenade by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart scored for thirteen instruments: twelve winds and string bass. The piece was probably composed in 1781 or 1782 and is often known by the subtitle Gran Partita, though the title is a misspelling and not in Mozart's hand. It consists of seven movements.
A solo concerto is a musical form which features a single solo instrument with the melody line, accompanied by an orchestra. Traditionally, there are three movements in a solo concerto, consisting of a fast section, a slow and lyrical section, and then another fast section. However, there are many examples of concertos that do not conform to this plan.
The Piano Concerto No. 6 in B-flat major, K. 238, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in January 1776. His Concerto No. 7 for three pianos and his Concerto No. 8 in C major would follow within three months. The three works share what Cuthbert Girdlestone refers to as a galant style.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 7 in C major, K. 309 (284b) (1777) is a piano sonata in three movements:
The Rondo for Piano and Orchestra in D major, K. 382 is a set of variations by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart intended as a substitute finale for his Piano Concerto No. 5 in D major.
Ignaz Fränzl was a German violinist, composer and representative of the second generation of the so-called Mannheim School. Mozart, who heard him at a concert in November 1777, wrote of him in a letter to his father: He may not be a sorcerer, but he is a very solid violinist indeed. Fränzl carried the Mannheim violin technique, established by Johann Stamitz, one step further to real virtuosity. Mozart, quite a good violinist himself and thoroughly acquainted with the instrument, praised Fränzl's double trill and said he had never heard a better one.
The Flute Quartet No. 4 in A major, K. 298, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is Mozart's final composition for flute quartet. Unlike the previous three quartets, written for the flutist Ferdinand De Jean, the Quartet in A is believed to have been written for recreational purposes, as opposed to on commission. The low Köchel number is misleading. The work is thought to have been written sometime in 1786 or 1787, only a few years before the composer's death.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his String Quartet No. 22 in B-flat major, K. 589 after a visit to the court of King Friedrich Wilhelm II, King of Prussia. Mozart traveled with his friend and piano student Prince Carl Lichnowsky, and during these travels they had the opportunity to stop in Potsdam and hold an audience for Mozart at the King's court. Mozart was under financial stress and had hopes of having a position at the court of King Wilhelm II. Wilhelm was an amateur cellist and the set of "Prussian Quartets", of which the String Quartet No. 22 is a part, feature an unusually prominent role for the cello. Despite such compositional efforts by Mozart to gain employment from the king, these quartets were sold without any dedication and published by Artaria.
Anton Bernhard Fürstenau was a German flutist and composer. He was the most famous virtuoso in Germany on his instrument and the most important Romantic flutist of the first half of the nineteenth century. His son Moritz Fürstenau (1824–1889), whom he later sent to study with Theobald Boehm in Munich, was one of his numerous students. Skeptical as to the technical advancements of the flute, he remained faithful to the nine key flute until his death.
Joseph Aloys Schmittbaur was a German composer, Kapellmeister, instrument maker and music teacher.
Johann Baptist Wendling was a flute player and composer of the Mannheim School. He held the position of principal flute in the Mannheim and Munich court orchestras under directors Johann Stamitz and Christian Cannabich, and was acknowledged as one of the finest virtuosos of his time.
