Chapter II: Part I: The Classic Ideal

CHAPTER

I. THE REGENERATION OF THE OPERA 1

The eighteenth century and operatic convention--Porpora
and Hasse--Pergolesi and the _opera buffa_--_Jommelli_,
Piccini, Cimarosa, etc.--Gluck’s early life; the Metastasio
period--The comic opera in France; Gluck’s reform;
_Orfeo_ and _Alceste_--The Paris period; Gluck and Piccini;
the Iphigénies; Gluck’s mission--Gluck’s influence; the
_opéra comique_; Cherubini.

II. THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE CLASSIC PERIOD 45

Classicism and the classic period--Political and literary
forces--The conflict of styles; the sonata form--The Berlin
school; the sons of Bach--The Mannheim reform: the
genesis of the symphony--Followers of the Mannheim
school; rise of the string quartet; Vienna and Salzburg
as musical centres.

III. THE VIENNESE CLASSICS: HAYDN AND MOZART 75

Social aspects of the classic period; Vienna, its court
and its people--Joseph Haydn--Haydn’s work; the symphony;
the string quartet--Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart--Mozart’s
style; Haydn and Mozart; the perfection of orchestral
style--Mozart and the opera; the Requiem; the
mission of Haydn and Mozart.

IV. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN 128

Form and formalism--Beethoven’s life--His relations with his
family, teachers, friends and other contemporaries--His
character--The man and the artist--Determining
factors in his development--The three periods in his
work and their characteristics--His place in the history of
music.

V. OPERATIC DEVELOPMENT IN ITALY AND FRANCE 177

Italian opera at the advent of Rossini--Rossini and the
Italian operatic renaissance--_Guillaume Tell_--Donizetti
and Bellini--Spontini and the historical opera--Meyerbeer’s
life and works--His influence and followers--Development of
_opéra comique_; Boieldieu, Auber, Hérold, Adam.