The grandest form of classical music is the symphony. Although it has been transformed down through the years as audience tastes have changed, the traditional symphony is a large work in four movements, played by the entire orchestra. These movements generally follow a certain formula of both tempo and musical style. The opening movement is usually marked “allegro,” which means fast or bright. In contrast the second movement is slower, perhaps even funereal. The third movement ups the ante yet again, given to playfulness or some sort of dance tempo. During the Romantic era, the minuet was a popular choice here. The closing movement repeats the allegro style found at the beginning—although with different music—or is written as a rondo. This style calls for a certain pattern of repetition and thematic variation that builds upon itself, only to end up at nearly the same place where the fourth movement began.
During the Baroque era, when the symphony was proving to be a popular musical genre, most were relatively short pieces. Joseph Haydn composed more than a hundred symphonies during his lifetime, but few of them lasts longer than 15–20 minutes. Following in his footsteps, Mozart expanded the length and intricacy of the symphony. He composed 41 during his relatively brief time on earth. But the nine symphonies of Ludwig von Beethoven truly came to define the concept. He was also the first major composer to include a chorus and vocal soloists as part of the symphonic form, which he did with Symphony No. 9 and its iconic ending.
Symphonies began to express what has since become known as “programmatic” music, where the orchestration is meant to evoke a certain sensation or event. For example, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 features music that gives the impression of a storm overtaking the stage, ultimately giving way to birds singing and the sun shining again. Other composers have used martial music to portray various other events in nature, or dances, or even battle scenes.
The standard symphonic orchestra consists of four basic units: a large string section (violin, viola, cello, and string bass), woodwinds (flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon), brass (trumpet, trombone, and tuba), and percussion (tympani, snare and bass drums, and cymbals).
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