I85PREP
⌘ K
Matura History of Music study materials
Matura History of Music study resources

Matura History of Music: Classical era (Viennese Classicism)

Matura History of Music · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

Classical era (Viennese Classicism)

Classical style

c. 1750–1820. Questions test sonata form, phrase structure, genre norms and how Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven differ.

Sonata form

  • Exposition: first subject in tonic; transition; second subject in the dominant (or relative major if the movement is minor); closing theme or codetta.
  • Development: fragments subjects, moves through distant keys, ends on a dominant preparation.
  • Recapitulation: first subject in tonic, second subject now in tonic; coda optional. A slow introduction is optional.

Genres and conventions

  • Symphony: usually four movements - fast sonata form, slow, minuet or scherzo (triple meter), fast rondo or sonata.
  • String quartet: two violins, viola, cello; conversational texture.
  • Concerto: double exposition, solo cadenza near the end of the first movement, ritornello heritage.
  • Opera buffa and opera seria; Mozart's Don Giovanni (1787) and Die Zauberflöte (1791); Singspiel uses spoken dialogue.
  • Periodic phrase: antecedent and consequent, often 4+4 bars.

Worked example

A major-key first movement states its second subject in the dominant. In the recapitulation that same theme returns in the tonic - this tonal adjustment, not literal repetition, is what confirms sonata form. If the movement were in minor, the exposition would normally move to the relative major.

Traps that cost marks

Calling every first movement 'sonata form'; expecting the recapitulation to repeat the exposition exactly; mislabelling the minuet (triple meter) as a scherzo; placing the cadenza at the start of the concerto.