Giorgio Pestelli examines one of the crucial periods of musical history, from the middle of the eighteenth century to the era of Beethoven. This was a time of great cultural, technical and social changes. The free professional composer, in direct contact with the wide musical public, replaced the dependent court musician. Instrumental music became the centre of new developments, and sonata form, the cornerstone of nineteenth-century musical architecture, dominated its language. With the decrease in private patronage came the birth of the public concert; there was a vast increase in music publishing, and important developments were made in instrumental techniques, the dominant feature being the rise of the piano. Standing out from this common background are three major figures; Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, whose specific characteristics are discussed in detail, along with their links with many other musicians. Dr Pestelli also emphasizes general lines of development: the galant style, the passion for antiquity and curiosity for the exotic, the debate over 'literary' opera, the Sturm und Drang movement, the influence of the French Revolution and the Restoration, and the origins of romanticism. The originality of the book arises from the fact that it views the music against the background of social, political, philosophical and cultural trends of the time, rather than relying on detailed analyses of specific works.
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"In every respect it is a brilliant achievement." Times Literary Supplement
"...Pestelli has managed to bring ideas back into our picture of the classical period without falling into distortion or oversimplification...admirable..." Atlantic Monthly
"...Pestelli has managed to bring ideas back into our picture of the classical period without falling into distortion or oversimplification...admirable..." Atlantic Monthly
Language Notes
Text: English, Italian (translation)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Deeply informative/highly readable,
By D. Schuster (Texas) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Age of Mozart and Beethoven (Storia de La Musica Series) (Paperback)
Pestelli's book is a welcome addition to the musicological world; deeply informative and highly readable. The book is geared towards those with a comfortable familiarity of music history and was probably intended for music professionals and/or university-level music students. Appropriately titled (the AGE...) it focuses heavily on lesser known, yet influential, figures and trends that allowed the music of Mozart and Beethoven to become possible. Those with a lesser musical background are advised to have a good music dictionary on hand, as this writing does carry the informational weight of a university level text book.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
A great change was about to take place in the musical geography of Europe in the second half of the eighteenth century. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
buona fighola, buona figliola, opera sera, strophic regularity, galant style, symphonic field, instrumental field, opera seria, sonata style, cantabile style, sonata principle, reform opera, sonata form, querelle des bouffons, serva padrona, instrumental recitative, opere serie, third sonata, keyboard sonatas, baroque concerto, playing keyboard instruments, accompanied recitatives, music printing, rescue opera, symphonic style Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Don Giovanni, Johann Christian, Concert Spirituel, The Seasons, Carl Theodor, French Revolution, Domenico Scarlatti, Emanuel Bach, Fifth Symphony, Padre Martini, Frederick the Great, Well-tempered Clavier, Gluck's Orfeo, Maria Theresa, San Carlo, Wilhelm Meister, Characteristic Passage, Grosse Fuge, Mercure de France, Mozart's Die, Antonio Salieri, Archduke Rudolph, Charles Avison, Joseph Haydn, Leopold Mozart New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
A great change was about to take place in the musical geography of Europe in the second half of the eighteenth century. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
buona fighola, buona figliola, opera sera, strophic regularity, galant style, symphonic field, instrumental field, opera seria, sonata style, cantabile style, sonata principle, reform opera, sonata form, querelle des bouffons, serva padrona, instrumental recitative, opere serie, third sonata, keyboard sonatas, baroque concerto, playing keyboard instruments, accompanied recitatives, music printing, rescue opera, symphonic style Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Don Giovanni, Johann Christian, Concert Spirituel, The Seasons, Carl Theodor, French Revolution, Domenico Scarlatti, Emanuel Bach, Fifth Symphony, Padre Martini, Frederick the Great, Well-tempered Clavier, Gluck's Orfeo, Maria Theresa, San Carlo, Wilhelm Meister, Characteristic Passage, Grosse Fuge, Mercure de France, Mozart's Die, Antonio Salieri, Archduke Rudolph, Charles Avison, Joseph Haydn, Leopold Mozart New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 23
books:
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17
books
cite this book:
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- Don Giovanni in Full Score by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on 17 pages
- The Age of Enlightenment 1745-1790 (The New Oxford History of Music, Vol. 7) by Egon Wellesz in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Stabat Mater: Vocal Score (Faber Edition) by H. C. Robbins on page 119, and page 172
- The Letters of Beethoven by Ludwig Van Beethoven in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents, Revised Edition by Hans T. David in Back Matter
See all 23 books this book cites
- Beethoven after Napoleon: Political Romanticism in the Late Works (California Studies in 19th Century Music) by Stephen Rumph on 4 pages
- Absolute Music and the Construction of Meaning (New Perspectives in Music History and Criticism) by Daniel Chua on 4 pages
- Haydn Studies (Cambridge Composer Studies) by W. Dean Sutcliffe on page 137, page 178, and page 249
- The Mozart-Da Ponte Operas: The Cultural and Musical Background to Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Cosï¿1/2 fan tutte (Clarendon Paperbacks) by Andrew Steptoe on page 184, and Back Matter
- Mozart: The 'Jupiter' Symphony (Cambridge Music Handbooks) by Elaine R. Sisman in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 17 books citing this book
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