The Classical Style by Charles Rosen
By ERIC WAGNER
Special guest blogger
Week 1: Overture
Schedule:
5/25/2026 Overture
6/1 Preface to the First Edition, A New Preface, Acknowledgments, Bibliographic Note, Note on the Music Examples.
I INTRODUCTION
6/8 1. The Musical Language of the Late Eighteenth Century
6/15 2. Theories of Form
6/22 3. The Origins of the Style
II THE CLASSICAL STYLE
6/29 1. The Coherence of the Musical Language
7/6 2. Structure and Ornament
III HAYDN FROM 1770 TO THE DEATH OF MOZART
7/13 1. String Quartet
7/20 2. Symphonies
7/27
IV SERIOUS OPERA
V MOZART
8/3 1. The Concerto
8/10 2. String Quintet
8/17 3. Comic Opera
VI HAYDN AFTER THE DEATH OF MOZART
8/24 1. The Popular Style
8/31 2. Piano Trio (Doomed Music)
9/7 3. Church Music
VII BEETHOVEN
9/14 1. Beethoven
9/21 2. Beethoven’s Later Years and the Conventions of His Childhood
9/28 Epilogue
At the end of first grade they put some of the first graders in the second grade classroom for the last few weeks of school. One day the second grade teacher told us about Franz Joseph Haydn. She said he had become famous, but then, as now, some people fell asleep at the concerts, so he wrote a special piece for them, and she played us the second movement of Haydn’s Surprise Symphony.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOLy6JxEDLw&list=RDVOLy6JxEDLw&start_radio=1
This utterly delighted my first grade mind. I could think of nothing cooler. I went home and told my mom about it, and she got me an LP of Haydn’s Surprise and Clock Symphonies that Christmas. I listened to them over and over again over the decades.
Around December 1990 I read Joseph Kerman’s The Beethoven Quartets which blew me away, and in 1991 I read a bunch of other Kerman books. In Kerman’s Contemplating Music he raved about Charles Rosen’s The Classical Style, so it read it that summer, and I’ve read it over and over again over the past 25 years, along with all of Rosen’s other books. I also love Rosen’s piano playing. I love the synergetic experience of reading him and then listening to his recordings and trying to grok the music. Thank you for joining me on this voyage to Esterhazy, Salzburg, Vienna, and beyond.
UPDATE: Given that there is interest in Sonny Rollins in the comments, I thought some of you might want to read the New York Times obituary (gift link).
12 comments:
I feel excited to start this journey. The reading schedule looks doable. I also got turned on to Hadyn's "Surprise Symphony" in school at roughly the same age. I think the teacher enjoyed the students shocked response when the triple forte section starts. Years later, at 17, I got a similar shock listening to "Careful with that Axe, Eugene" by Pink Floyd. It goes for awhile sounding very dreamy and mellow, perfect for a hash inspired mindset. You hear the title lyric then it gets shockingly loud and heavy. Perhaps one or all of them got turned on to Hayden in their youth?
Just before Eric's post arrived last night, I stayed up late to listen to Sviatoslav Richter's performance of Beethoven "Hammerclavier," which I believe in mentioned in SC.
I have read biographies of Beethoven and Mozart but I know little about Haydn, so I expect to learn quite a bit right away. I have noticed quite a few musicians describe Haydn as their favorite composer, so perhaps he is a bit underrated.
Thank you for your comments. "Careful with That Ax, Eugene" scared me as a teenager.
Yes, Beethoven's Hammerklavier shows up a great deal in Wilson's "Schroedinger's Cat". At one point a character orders all the books on that sonata. "The Classical Style" has a long analysis of that sonata. Rosen wrote even more on the Hammerklavier in his book on the Beethoven Piano Sonatas. At another point in "Schroedinger's Cat" that character invites a bunch of concert pianists to a party so she can talk with them about the Hammerklavier. I like to imagine her inviting Charles Rosen to the party as well as reading "The Classical Style".
I wrote the above. Also, Sonny Rollins just died.
Sonny Rollins was a great jazz player. People who don't know jazz but are into classic rock may want to know that he played on "Tattoo You" by the Rolling Stones, for example on "Waiting on a Friend."
And tomorrow marks the Miles Davis centennial.
Saxophone Colossus!
I listened to the "Saxophone Colossus" album as I drove to work today.
What a great album! All four of them sound so wonderful.
I grew up in a pretty non-musical household. My dad listened to Elvis, Chet Atkins, and Marty Robbins; my mom listened to show tunes and Mahalia Jackson. It was the early sixties, so I got exposed to a lot of rock, which, of course, I still enjoy..
My interest in classical music was aroused when I started reading Colin Wilson in High School. I liberated a copy of his Chords and Discords from the local library and began listened to some of the music discussed there. But it wasn't until years later that I began to listen more open-mindedly.
I should also mention that I also heard The Surprise Symphony in grade school but wasn't impressed by anything other than the surprise. Also, most of my listening these days is to Hard Bop.
Yes. A brutal blow, if not entirely unexpected.
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