Classical music period facts for kids

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (seated at the keyboard) was a child musical genius. He was amazing at playing the piano and violin. Even before he wrote famous music, people knew him as a super talented player and improviser.

The Classical music period was a special time in music history. It lasted from about 1750 to 1820. During this time, some of the most famous composers lived. These included Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert.

When people say "classical music," they often mean any European music that isn't pop music, jazz, or folk music. It's music written by composers who deeply studied how to create music. This article, though, focuses on the specific "Classical music" period. This period happened in the late 18th century and early 19th century.

The word "classical" often reminds us of the art from Ancient Greece and Rome. It also means something that has become very famous and is remembered for hundreds of years. In music, the Classical period came after the Baroque period and before the Romantic period.

What Makes Classical Music Special?

Classical music often sounds simpler than the music from the Baroque period. You'll usually hear a clear tune. This tune often has a simple accompaniment. This accompaniment uses broken chords, which is a style called an "Alberti bass."

This picture shows the start of a sonata by Mozart. It has a typical classical tune over an Alberti bass.

For composers in the Classical period, the structure of their music was very important. They would start with a main tune, called a "theme." Then, they would develop this tune in many different ways. They might play it in different musical keys. They could change it from fast to slow, or from a major (happy) sound to a minor (sad) sound, or vice versa.

Famous Classical Composers

Here are some of the most famous composers from the Classical music period:

• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788)
• Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787)
• Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
• Luigi Boccherini (1743–1805)
• Muzio Clementi (1752–1832)
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
• Jan Ladislav Dussek (1760–1812)
• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
• Franz Schubert (1797–1828)

Images for kids

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  A modern string quartet. In the 2000s, string quartets from the Classical era are a very important part of chamber music. From left to right: violin 1, violin 2, cello, viola

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  Gluck, from a painting by Joseph Duplessis, 1775

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  Haydn portrait by Thomas Hardy, 1792

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  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a painting made after he died in 1819

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  The opening music of the Commendatore's song in Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. The orchestra starts with a clashing chord before settling into a D minor key when the singer begins.

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  The Mozart family around 1780. The picture on the wall is of Mozart's mother.

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  Portrait of Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler, 1820

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  Hummel in 1814

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  View of Vienna in 1758, by Bernardo Bellotto

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  An 1875 oil painting of Franz Schubert by Wilhelm August Rieder. It's based on his own watercolor portrait from 1825.

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  Portrait of Mendelssohn by James Warren Childe, 1839

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  A fortepiano made by Paul McNulty, like those by Walter & Sohn around 1805.

See also

In Spanish: Música del Clasicismo para niños