Page 138 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

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When we use the term form, whether discussing a building or a piece of music, we refer to that artifact’s external shape or to the way it is positioned in physical space. The forms of Classical architecture were consistent and widespread; around 1800, for example, buildings might look much the same in Vienna as in Virginia. Moreover, the forms of Classical architecture are still very much with us today. Consider, for example, the windows in the dance auditorium at the emperor’s court in Vienna (see Figure 8.1), where Mozart and his wife often waltzed. Windows of precisely this design still can be seen in much of the architecture of Washington, D.C., the concert hall of your author’s university, and even his living room. Look for others next time you walk around your campus.
Musical form during the Classical period was similarly well traveled. A few musical designs shaped most Classical music, no matter who the composer or where the concert. Some of these forms predated the Classical period, and some were created during it. And as in architecture, these forms have proved timeless, serving composers down to the present day.
Form, Mood, and the Listener’s Expectations
In many ways the concert hall is a musical museum, and audiences over time have determined what should be “hung,” or heard, there. Today when we at- tend a concert of classical music to hear an overture by Mozart, a symphony by Haydn, or a concerto by Beethoven, we revisit music that the orchestra has played in that hall many times over the years. These favorite overtures, sym- phonies, and concertos belong to the canon (standard repertoire) of Western classical music.
Figure 8.1
A ball at the Redoutensaal (dancing hall) in the emperor’s palace in Vienna, c. 1800. Mozart, Haydn, and, later, Beethoven composed minuets and “German dances” for these events, which sometimes attracted nearly four thousand fee-paying danc-
ers. Originally, the balls were closed to all but the nobility and military, but Emperor Joseph II (r. 1765–1790) opened them to all citizens—part of the democ- ratization of music in the late eighteenth century. The orches- tra can be seen in the gallery to the left. The Redoutensaal still provides a venue for concerts and balls today.
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