As with the beginning of most epochs , two dandies did n’t waken up one morning in London and have the following conversation over breakfast :
Bertram : I ’m commonplace of the same sometime Baroque rigamarole day in , Clarence Day out . Let ’s call everything from this sidereal day forward , The Classical geological era .
Oswig : I say , that does have a dainty gang to it Bertram … Heavens !
Bertram : What is it Oswig ?
Oswig : see at the front Sir Frederick Handley Page ! Another smallpox outbreak .
Bertram : Dreadful , indeed . Kindly pass the salted meat , would you quondam son ?
Likewise , there was no one event in 1750 that signaled the dawning of a new musical style . The Classical era ca n’t arrogate the equivalent of the now famous July 4 , 1976 concert by the Ramones at the Roundhouse in London , which put punk rock ‘n’ roll on the musical mapping . Perhaps this is because Johann Sebastian Bach never came up with a catchy song claim like " Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue . ” If he had , possibly things would ’ve been different . ( Though , to be fair , he did draw up a chorale , punkishly entitle , Es ist Genug!—which is German for “ It is Enough ! ” distinctly a humans well ahead of his time . )
But like the strong-armer rock apparent motion , the Classical era was rooted in rebellion . In punk rock ’s slip , artists like The Sex Pistols and The Clash were feed up with song like “ Hotel California , ” with their really really long guitar solos and detailed chord social structure . They ’d seen enough of Peter Gabriel prance around stage dress in a jumbo sunflower costume , leading Genesis through Song dynasty that sometimes occupied the entire side of a record .
Likewise , around 1750 , musicians and composers began to move forth from the intemperately ornamented churrigueresque style made noted by Bach . Young composers , including Bach ’s own Word , Carl Philipp Emanuel and Wilhelm Friedmann , lead off to mimic the esthetics of ancient Greece , resurrecting the water under the bridge culture ’s sportsmanlike , uncluttered stylus .
For the next seventy - five years or so , the euphony of the twenty-four hours became more about simpleness , ravisher , and balance . Composers like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart look at form and symmetry just as important as melody and harmony . The birth of rococo artistic creation and architecture , which coincided with the birth of one of the menstruation ’s most talented composers , Franz Joseph Haydn , had an influence , as well .
The rococo style began in France under the reign of King Louis XV , who ruled from 1715 until his death in 1774 from variola . Louis ’s schoolmarm , Madame du Pompadour , had an enormous influence on his esthetic , as did Philippe , Duc d’Orleans . Between the two of them , the young king was led off from the massive nobleness of his forerunner , Louis XIV , toward a lighter , more delicate and refined look .
At Versailles , rooms were made smaller and new article of furniture wreak in . This seemed to be the trend at Versailles every time dissimilar king took the throne . Each successive Louis felt the motivation for a complete castle makeover . Had reality telecasting existed back then , the producers of Queer Eye for the Royal Guy surely would n’t have wanted for cloth .
Louis XV ’s Modern rococo - for - cocoa - pop style was inspired not by the instant umber milk it created later on but by decorative tree branches , bloom , coral , seaweed , and seashell . That ’s where the term rococo comes from . In French ,
rocaille
intend “ rocks and shells . ”
In the rococo paintings of French creative person Antoine Watteau , there ’s a similar return to restraint . barrack by Classical Greek and Roman nontextual matter , Watteau seek a more whimsical look reminiscent of the old wine , women and song day . Scantily clad mythological gods and goddess pranced through open discipline . Rotund ladies lounge along riverbank , laughing , no doubt , at each other ’s boom thighs . Men sport about idyllic res publica options in small-grained wig , a sensuality to their expressions that stood out in penetrating demarcation to the serious-mindedness of the gravid spiritual subjects stylish under the previous Louis .
Not unlike a new Banana Republic outpouring collection , Louis XV ’s new facial expression was all about fun and frivolity using soft , muted pastels and light impersonal colour . From France , the zippy rococo style propagate throughout Europe quicker than a variola epidemic . When it arrived in Vienna , composer quickly figured out how to translate it into music .
[ Be sure to tune in next Wednesday for Part 5 of this serial ! ]
