The 1700’s were the time of Enlightenment, reform and learning for the middle class of Europe. The power of the monarchies and the Church was being challenged. With creation of the Encyclopedia, information was becoming readily available for everyone, not just the wealthy and educated. The Industrial Revolution created a huge economic growth during the same time. It brought people away from farms into cities working in factories. The economic power of the middle class grew exponentially. With these groups gaining more influence, the arts changed to serve everyone compared to earlier time periods were the arts served the church and the upper class.
Now that the middle class was able to afford the luxuries of art, there was an overall change towards simplicity. Although the middle class was beginning to have more access to information, they did not have the advanced education that allowed the upper class to enjoy the complex music and theater. Entertainment now had to suit the masses. Instead of the complex pieces of the Baroque era music and theater began to change
Music
The middle class was now one of the biggest consumers of music in the 17th century. This group did not enjoy pieces that were as complex as pieces enjoyed by upper class during the baroque era, so in order to please them music had to change. It took on more melodic sounds. The invention of the piano brought a new dynamic to musical compositions. The middle class wanted something easy to listen to, recognizable and fun. Something that people of all ages could enjoy and dance along to at entertaining outdoor concerts. It seems to me that it was much like the creation of the top 40 lists in today’s music.
Two of the most popular composers of the time were Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig Van Beethoven.
One of the pieces that I have chosen to exhibit is Mozart’s Eine Klein Nachtmusik.(Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major). I choose this work because I think is showcase many of the characteristics preferred by the middle class during this era. It has a soft melody with a very recognizable tune. Within the first few measure one would be able to easily recognize the piece. I could just imagine a whole ballroom dancing along to this lovely melody. It does not contain many dramatic or heavy emotional parts like much of the music from the Baroque era, but it remain joyful throughout. The homophonic sound was also very popular for music of the time. I think the piece is able to highlight the lightness string instruments and different sounds that can be accomplished with them to create a fun and entertaining piece. I hope you enjoy listening to this short and sweet piece. You also might like to know that its name in German translates into “a light night music” or is sometimes referred as “a little serenade.”
The second piece that I would like to highlight is Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. This piece was completed in Vienna in 1808. This piece is more dramatic than Mozart’s Eine Klein Nachtmusik but it is able to show case the symphonic technique involving 4 identifiable movements. This allowed for the music to take shape and tell a story as the performers move through the piece. I enjoyed this piece because it was so different from Mozart’s. I liked that it showed the diversity of music even though many times to my untrained ear much of it sounds the same. The division of the music allows it to develop and take on more meaning as it moves from movement to movement.
Theater
Theater and opera continued to be a prominent form of entertainment during the 1700’s. Now that the middle class was joining in, theater had to change to fit their preferences. This change in theater could be seen in the development of a new genre of opera known as Ballad Opera. One of the most well known Ballad Opera’s was John Gay’s Beggar’s Opera from 1728 in Tate Britain. Because the middle class was not as found of the operas from Italy that were more complex and aimed towards the educated upper class, this new genre was formed. It took common music from the time and changed lyrics to fit the songs. The stories were very satirical and joked at the Italian Operas. I enjoyed this form of theater because of the humor in it. I think it was interesting to see what was funny to the people of the time. It is great to see humor come from a time period when we study revolution, science, classical art and government so we many not see the entertainment and fun that people commonly had. I have included a full version of the opera from a 1963 BBC show as well as a shorter clip.
Theater was also able to show the power of middle class because of the strict control the government placed over this art form. It was feared that with all this new power and knowledge available to the middle class, if the theater sparked an idea among them, it might cause uproar. They didn’t want anything to threaten their power, so the changes of the theater as it became more popular with the middle class were closely controlled.
Works Cited
http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg54/gg54-over1.html-18th-Century
http://musiced.about.com/od/medievalto20thcentury/a/The-Role-Of-Music-And-Composers.htm
http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/exhibitions/Renaissance/index
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/395455/Wolfgang-Amadeus-Mozart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Qb_jQBgzU-I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jh-E5m01wY
Algrimes ART/MUS/THR200 Blog 
I think your response is fantastic! I appreciate the history you provided with your introduction paragraph, not only did you include information on some of the scientific discoveries but you lead the way into a very informative section on how the middle class grew. It’s interesting to see that because the middle class suddenly was able to purchase art, the art became more simple, for lack of better terms. I think it’s great that you showed the middle class’s influence on both music and theater. I think your response to theater is good, however, providing insight on what type of governmental control was happening, might make the response more relatable. Do you think we have this kind of control being used now? Although there perhaps is no Licensing Act; what about all of the censorship? Where have those laws came from and do you think it has anything to do with the middle class- or just people in general?
I really enjoyed your blog. You provided a lot of background information and connections between the pieces in your exhibit and the rise of middle class, even a few scientific discoveries. I agree with your assessment on the fear of theatre to the upper class. Middle class was on the rise in power. Without their strong backs and hard work to stand upon the upper class would fall, fall hard.
I loved the music pieces you exhibited. They are both very recognizable tunes, having been used in movies and cartoons for decades now, probably a little to do with the melodies they employed in them. The four movement style of music touches on so many different emotions, completely allowing the audience to relate and understand. Although my favorite was always the concerto for violin, I really enjoyed Mozart’s Serenade no. 13 that you provided here. I like how there is a varying tempo throughout the piece that follow a simple melody. String instruments such as the cello and violin have a raw power to them that really reaches into you and touches your heart/soul. Thanks for sharing such interesting pieces!
Like the people above me, I also really enjoyed reading your blog. It was interesting to read about different pieces versus just artwork, as you provided different compositions instead, as well as theatre. Also, I didn’t see how much of an influence the middle-class had on the works from the Classical era until reading this, very interesting! I definitely was not as aware of how opera changed because of the middle-class. In all honesty I have a hard time seeing how opera can be complex as it all sounds pretty intricate to me.
You did an excellent job explaining the different influences on the middle class as well as the influences that the middle class had on the arts. I also believe that both of your music selections and theater selection would have been greatly enjoyed by the middle class. Both musical selections are easy to listen to; they don’t have too many things going on at once and they have a repetitive nature to them. As for the Beggar’s Opera, from the first few minutes I watched, I was entertained, so I imagine at the time this would have been splendid entertainment for people of all classes. I love that they had satirical lyrics and witty jokes.