Late 18th Century

As I have never been good with a clear chronological understanding of events, I am once again surprised to look at the dates of Haydn and Mozart and actually see them becoming active during Bach's time, not later.

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) - String Quartet in Eb Major, Op 33 No.2, Presto

The last movement in this string quartet also titled "The Joke". I love that ending! Haydn plays the main theme with rests in between so the audience doesn't quite know when it will return again, and then it just ends mid-phrase.
Reading though Haydn's history and his work under a patron, he was quite constricted to his patron's whimsy and wasn't able to explore composition freely. Instead he brought a personality and sense of humor to work within those restrictions.

Some musical evolution here from the previous time period:

Instrumentation
A string quartet, replacing the trio sonata, no longer relying on a chordal instrument to produce harmonies, but working them in with 4 melodic instruments. The sound of a quartet is more fluid and resembles the earlier vocal music in texture.

Form
Rondo. Music is getting fixed forms that are driven by harmonic functions and melodic motives.

Harmonic Importance
Harmonic shifts that are based on functional harmony seem to be the main prospect


Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) - Symphony in G minor, No. 40

It's so fun to listen to Mozart and follow the score, it sheds even more light on his genius. I love Mozart so much.
What I love about Mozart is his effortless control of complex harmony, phrasing, orchestration, motivic development, knowledge of instruments, dynamics, sudden shifts.. I can go on and on. I love Mozart.
From my many days of playing Mozart on the piano and singing in a choir, I have grown to appreciate Mozart through participation. Especially as a choral singer, once you witness chromatic lines and key changes that are really not very easy to sing, you come away with an awe of how easy he makes everything sound.
People who aren't musicians often find Mozart boring and that his music sounds the same, I think that stems from the fact that he was so prolific and is performed in so many different mediums while still holding on to his sensibilities. My response is usually once you perform him the amount of intricacy, detail and complexity is so cleverly written that it comes off as too easy.

As promised, my appropriation selection for Mozart is "Mozart in Egypt" - An orchestra and a  "classical Egyptian" ensemble going back and forth throughout the piece. I think Mozart would have liked the absurdity of it!
The attempt of weaving these two thoughts together is not always successful but is pretty interesting. There is a whole series of those. 


I'm pretty sure Mozart also would have loved this Don Giovanni setting featuring girls in bikinis



Mozart's individuality as he fought for artistic right and freedom while constantly working to develop and absorb new things is inspiring.

Also inspiring is Gluck's resolution to go against patrons and diva singers to reclaim the importance of text, sentiment and musical integrity.