The Viennese Classical Style, Homophony, and Cadence

Overview

The Enlightenment’s influence on musical style resulted in an emphasis on thematic and structural clarity and purity and expressive restraint. This new style became known as the Classical style. In this lecture, we compare the differences between Baroque and Classical music in their treatment of rhythm, thematic material, dynamics, and formal structures. We see how the new Classical focus on narrative (or linear) structure, as opposed to the cyclical structures of the Baroque Era, came to emphasize the function of the cadence, of which there are four basic types. Finally, we examine the geographical and social importance of the city of Vienna in the Classical style’s rise to its zenith.