Life of Jesus Christ

Dear students,

Below is a brief biography of Jesus Christ, a little bit simplified by me. In some places I even put the Vietnamese version of some possibly unfamiliar words.Read and try to understand it properly, as such texts are extreamly useful for you to enrich the general knowledge.

I'll post similar articles about Prophet (tiên tri)Muhammad, fouder of Islamism (đạo Hồi) and Buddha (Đức Phật) of Buddhism.

Teacher Tan

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Jesus Christ (between 8 and 4 BC-c. AD 29), the central figure of Christianity, born in Bethlehem in Judaea. Jesus is believed by the great majority of Christians to be the Son of God, and to have been divinely conceived (thụ thai từ thần thánh) by Mary, the wife of Joseph, a carpenter of Nazareth. The name Jesus means deliverance (sự giải thoát). The title Christ means anointed one. The principal sources of information concerning Jesus' life are the Gospels (kinh Phúc âm), written in the latter half of the 1st century to facilitate the spread of Christianity throughout the ancient Western world.

Birth and Early Life

Two of the Gospels, those of St Matthew and St Luke, provide information about Jesus' birth and childhood. They also provide genealogies (phả hệ) tracing Jesus' descent through Abraham and David. Presumably, the genealogies are offered as proof of Jesus' messiahship. According to Matthew' gospel, (see 1:18-25) Jesus was miraculously conceived by his mother. He was born at Bethlehem, where Joseph and Mary had gone to comply with the Roman edict (lệnh) for the census (kiểm tra dân số). Matthew' Gospel alone describes the flight into Egypt, when Joseph and Mary took the child out of reach of the Judaean king Herod the Great. Only Luke' Gospel relates the compliance of Joseph and Mary with the Jewish law, which required circumcision (cắt bao qui đầu) and presentation of the first-born son at the Temple in Jerusalem; Luke also describes their later journey (see 2:41-51) with the young Jesus to the Temple for the Passover feast (lễ Vượt qua). The Gospels mention nothing concerning Jesus from the time he was 12 years old until the time he began his public ministry (thuyết giảng), about 18 years later.

Beginning of His Public Ministry

All three synoptic Gospels (the first three Gospels, so called because they present a similar overall view of the life of Christ) record Jesus' public ministry as beginning after the imprisonment of John the Baptist, and as lasting for about one year. The Gospel of John describes it as beginning with the choosing of his first disciples (see 1:40-51), and as lasting for perhaps three years.

Each Gospel describes the baptism nghi lễ tắm nước) of Jesus in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. Each reports that after the baptism Jesus retired to the neighbouring wilderness for a 40-day period of fasting (ăn chay) and meditation (suy ngẫm) and had to face the temptations brought forth by the devil.

After Jesus' baptism and retirement in the wilderness, he returned to Galilee, visited his home in Nazareth (see Luke 4:16-30), where his fellow Nazarenes objected to him, and then moved to Capernaum and began teaching there. About this time, Jesus selected 12 disciples (tông đồ) to work with him.

Growth of Jesus' Following (sự tin theo)

Using Capernaum as a base, Jesus, accompanied by his 12 chosen disciples, travelled to neighbouring towns and villages, proclaiming the advent (sự xuất hiện) of the kingdom of God, as had many of the Hebrew prophets before him. When the wounded in body and spirit asked help from him, he sought to heal them with the power of faith. He stressed the infinite (vô bờ bến) love of God for the lowest and weakest individuals, and he promised pardon and eternal life in Heaven to the most hardened sinners (người phạm tội nặng), provided their repentance (hối lỗi) was sincere. Pharisees, who feared that his teachings might lead to disregard (coi thường) for the authority of the Law. Other Jews feared that Jesus' activities and followers might prejudice the Roman authorities against any restoration of the monarchy.

Despite this growing opposition, Jesus' popularity, especially with social outcasts (tầng lớp nghèo) and the oppressed, increased. Eventually, the enthusiasm of his followers led them to make an attempt to “take him by force, to make him king”. Jesus, however, frustrated (bực mình) this attempt, withdrawing with his disciples by ship over the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias) to Capernaum.

Jesus then divided his time into periods of travelling to cities in and outside the province of Galilee and periods of instruction (dạy) of his disciples, and retirement in Bethany and Ephraim, two villages near Jerusalem. Jesus spent most of his time in Galilee, and made numerous visits to Jerusalem. His discourses and the miracles (phép lạ) he performed at this time, particularly the raising (làm sống lại) of Lazarus in Bethany, made many people believe in him.

The Last Days

On the approach of Passover, Jesus travelled towards Jerusalem for the last time. On the Sunday before the Passover, Jesus entered Jerusalem, where he was met by crowds of people who acclaimed (hoan nghênh) him enthusiastically. There he drove (đuổi) from the Temple (đền thờ) the traders and money-changers who, by long-established custom (phong tục), had been allowed to do business in the outer court (sân ngoài), and he disputed (tranh luận) with the chief priests, the scribes (những nhà th ần học Do Thái), the Pharisees questions about his authority, tribute (đồ cống nạp) to Caesar, and the Resurrection (sự sống lại).

On Wednesday, Jesus was anointed (xức nước thơm) in Bethany. Meanwhile in Jerusalem the priests and scribes, concerned that Jesus' activities would turn the Romans against them and the Jewish people, conspired (âm mưu) with Judas, one of his disciples, to arrest and kill Jesus. On Thursday, Jesus ate the Passover supper with his disciples and during the meal referred (ám chỉ) to his imminent betrayal (sự phản bội sắp xảy ra) and death as a sacrifice (hy sinh) for the sins of humanity.

After the meal Jesus and his disciples went to the Mount of Olives, where Jesus said that he would be “raised up” (from the dead). Knowing then that the hour of his death was near, Jesus retired to the Garden of Gethsemane, where, he meditated and prayed. A crowd sent by the chief priests and the elders of the Jews, and led by Judas Iscariot, arrested him in Gethsemane.

Trial and Crucifixion (xét xử và đóng đinh)

Jesus was brought after his arrest to Annas, the father-in-law of the high priest Caiaphas, for a preliminary examination. At the council meeting, Caiaphas asked Jesus to declare whether he was “the Christ, the Son of God”. Upon his affirmation, the council condemned Jesus to death for blasphemy (tội phỉ báng). Jesus was taken to Golgotha and nailed to a cross, the Roman punishment for political offenders and criminals. Two robbers were crucified (đóng đinh lên thánh giá) also, one on each side of him. On the cross, above Jesus' head, “they put the charge against him, which read ‘This is Jesus the King of the Jews’”. Late in the day, his body was taken down, and because of the approach of the sabbath (ngày chúa nhật), when burial was not permitted, it was hastily laid in a nearby tomb by Joseph of Arimathea.

The Resurrection

Early on the following Sunday, “Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James”, going to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body for burial, found the tomb empty. Inside the tomb, “a young man” clothed in white announced to them that Jesus had risen. Later on the same day, Jesus appeared to the women and to other of the disciples in various places in and around Jerusalem.

All the Gospels add that for a brief time after his Resurrection Jesus further instructed his disciples in matters pertaining (liên quan đến) to the kingdom of God. He also commissioned (ra lệnh) them to “Go … and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Đức chúa cha, đức chúa con và các thánh thần). At Bethany Jesus was seen to ascend (bay lên) into the heavens. This occurred 40 days after Jesus' Resurrection.

Người viết: Thái Bá Tân

Nguồn ảnh: chưa biết

Nguồn bài: trang web của thầy tôi Thái Bá Tân

Life of prophet Muhhamad

Muhammad (c. 570-632), chief prophet of Islam. He isdescribed as the founder of Islam.

Muhammad is said to have been born in Mecca in western Arabia. Muhammad's family belonged to the clan of Hashim, part of the tribe of Quraysh. Quraysh dominated Mecca and made up most of its population. Muhammad's father, Abdallah, died before he was born, and his mother, Amina, died while he was still a young child.

The name Muhammad is said to have been given to him as a result of a dream his grandfather had. He is also said to have had other names, such as Abul-Qasim, Ahmad, and Mustafa.

As a young man he is reported to have visited Syria as part of a caravan from Mecca for purposes of trade. While there, he was recognized by Jewish and Christian holy men and scholars as a prophet whose coming had been foretold in their own scriptures. His future prophetic status was indicated by certain marks on his body and by miraculous signs in nature.

The people of Mecca, the tribe of Quraysh, have a reputation as great traders. One of them, a widow called Khadija, recruited the young Muhammad to manage her affairs and, impressed with his honesty and acumen, then offered him marriage. Muhammad is said to have been about 25 when he married Khadija, and so long as she lived he had no other wife. After her death he had several others, perhaps the best known of whom was the young Aisha.

Muhammad is said to have been about 40 when he had his first prophetic experience. It is not always described in the same way, but one of the most widespread traditions is that it occurred while he was in a state of solitary withdrawal in a cave on Mount Hira outside Mecca.

After a short period during which he received no further revelations (lời truyền của thánh, chúa), they then began again and continued until the end of his life.

When the revelations were collected together after his death to form the Koran, they were not organized according to any order of revelation: revelations thought to come from different times in his life were placed together to form the chapters of the Koran.

In 632 Muhammad came to Mecca from Medina for the last time to perform the pilgrimage (hajj) ceremonies. This is known as the Pilgrimage of Farewell for, not long afterwards, having returned to Medina, he died. He was buried in his house in Medina, and the second most important mosque in Islam grew up there around his tomb.

Tác giả: chưa biết

Nguồn ảnh: chưa biết, ảnh chỉ có tính chất minh họa

Nguồn bài: trang web của thầy tôi Thái Bá Tân

Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791), Austrian composer, a centrally important composer of the Classical era, and one of the most inspired composers in the Western musical tradition.

Born on January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, and baptized Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, he was educated by his father, Leopold Mozart, who was leader of the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg and a celebrated violinist, composer, and author.

Mozart's Musically Precocious Childhood

By the age of six Mozart had become an accomplished performer on the keyboard, violin, and organ and was highly skilled in sight-reading and improvisation. Five short piano pieces composed by Mozart when he was six years old are still frequently played. In 1762 Leopold took Wolfgang on the first of many successful concert tours through the courts of Europe. During this period Wolfgang composed sonatas for the harpsichord and violin (1763), a symphony (1764), an oratorio (Die Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gebots, 1766), and the opera buffa (Italian, "comic opera") La Finta Semplice (The Simple Pretence, 1768). In 1769 Mozart was appointed Konzertmeister to the Archbishop of Salzburg, and later in the same year, at La Scala, Milan, he was made a chevalier of the Order of the Golden Spur by the pope. He also composed his first Singspiel (a kind of light opera in German with some spoken dialogue), Bastien und Bastienne, in the same year. At the age of 14 he was commissioned to write a serious opera. This work, Mitridate, Rè di Ponto (Mithridates, King of Pontus, 1770), produced under his direction at Milan, completely established an already phenomenal reputation.

The Mozarts returned to Salzburg in 1771. Hieronymus, Count von Colloredo, the successor to the Archbishop of Salzburg, who had died while the Mozarts were touring Italy, cared little for music. Mozart's appointment at Salzburg, however, proved to be largely honorary; it allowed ample time for a prodigious musical output during his next six years, but afforded little financial security. In 1777 Mozart obtained a leave of absence for a concert tour and left with his mother for Munich.

A Difficult Later Life

The courts of Europe ignored the 21-year-old composer in his search for a more congenial and rewarding appointment. He travelled to Mannheim, then the musical centre of Europe because of its famous orchestra, in hopes of a post, and there fell in love with Aloysia Weber. Leopold promptly ordered his son and wife to Paris. His mother's death in Paris in July 1778, his rejection by Weber, and the neglect he suffered from the aristocrats whom he courted made the two years from Mozart's arrival in Paris until his return to Salzburg in 1779 one of the most difficult periods in his life.

While at home Mozart composed two masses and a number of sonatas, symphonies, serenades, divertimentos, and concertos; these works reveal for the first time a distinctive style and a completely mature understanding of musical media. The success of Mozart's Italian opera seria Idomeneo, Rè di Creta (Idomeneo, King of Crete), composed in 1781, prompted the Archbishop of Salzburg to invite Mozart to his palace at Vienna. A series of court intrigues and his exploitation at the hands of the court soon forced Mozart to leave. In a house in Vienna rented for him by friends, he hoped to sustain himself by teaching. During this period Mozart composed a Singspiel called The Abduction from the Seraglio, which was performed for Emperor Joseph II in 1782.

In the same year Mozart married Constanze Weber, Aloysia's younger sister. Unending poverty and illness harassed the family until Mozart's death. The Marriage of Figaro (1786) and Don Giovanni (1787), with librettos by Lorenzo Da Ponte, while successful in Prague, were partial failures in Vienna. From 1787 until the production of Così Fan Tutte (All Women Do So, 1790, again with a libretto by Da Ponte), Mozart received no commissions for operas. For the coronation of Emperor Leopold II in 1791 he wrote the opera seria La Clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus; libretto by Metastasio). His three great symphonies of 1788-no. 39 in E-flat, no. 40 in G minor, and no. 41 in C (the Jupiter)-were never performed under his direction. While Mozart was working on the Singspiel The Magic Flute (1791, with a libretto by Emmanuel Schikaneder), an emissary of a Count Walsegg mysteriously requested a requiem mass. This work, uncompleted at Mozart's death, proved to be his last musical effort. It was completed after his death by Franz Süssmayr, one of his pupils. He died in Vienna on December 5, 1791-recent research suggests the cause was chronic kidney failure. His burial was attended by few friends. The place of his grave is unmarked. The legend that the Italian composer Antonio Salieri murdered him is unsupported by reputable scholars.

Evaluation

Mozart had an unsuccessful career and died young, but he ranks as one of the great geniuses of Western civilization. His large output (more than 600 works) shows that even as a child he possessed a thorough command of the technical resources of musical composition as well as an original imagination. His instrumental works include symphonies, divertimentos, sonatas, chamber music for a number of instrumental combinations, and concertos; his vocal works consist mainly of church music and operas. Mozart's creative method was extraordinary, for his manuscripts show that, although he made an occasional preliminary sketch of a difficult passage, he almost invariably thought out a complete work before committing it to paper. His music combines an Italian taste for clear and graceful melody with a German taste for formal and contrapuntal ingenuity. Mozart thus epitomizes the Classical style of the 18th century, the goal of which was to be succinct, clear, and well balanced while at the same time developing ideas to a point of emotionally satisfying fullness. These qualities are perhaps best expressed in his concertos, with their dramatic contrasts between a solo instrument and the orchestra, and in his operas, with their profound contrasts between different personalities reacting to changing situations. His operas achieved a new unity of vocal and instrumental writing; they are marked by subtle characterization and an unusual use of Classical symphonic style in large-scale ensembles.

Beethoven, Ludwig van (1770-1827), German composer, generally considered one of the greatest composers in the Western tradition.

Born probably on December 16, 1770, in Bonn, Beethoven was reared in stimulating, although unhappy, surroundings. His early signs of musical talent were subjected to the capricious discipline of his father, a singer in the court chapel. In 1789, because of his father's alcoholism, the young Beethoven began supporting his family as a court musician. His early compositions under the tutelage of the German composer Christian Gottlob Neefe-particularly the funeral cantata on the death (1790) of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II-signalled an important talent, and it was planned that Beethoven study in Vienna with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Although Mozart's death (1791) prevented this, Beethoven went to Vienna in 1792 and became a pupil of the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn.

In Vienna, Beethoven dazzled the aristocracy with his piano improvisations; meanwhile, he entered into increasingly favourable arrangements with Viennese music publishers. In composition he steered a middle course between the stylistic extravagance of the German composer Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and what the public had perceived as the over-refinement of Mozart. The broadening market for published music enabled him to succeed as a freelance composer, a path that Mozart a decade earlier had found full of frustration.

In the first decade of the 19th century Beethoven renounced the sectional, loosely constructed style of works such as the popular Septet for strings and winds op. 20 (1800), and turned to a fresh expansion of the musical language bequeathed by Haydn and Mozart. Despite his exaggerated claim that "he had never learned anything from Haydn"-he had gone so far as to seek additional instruction from the German composer Johann Georg Albrechtsberger-Beethoven soon revealed his complete assimilation of the Viennese Classical style in every major instrumental genre: symphony, concerto, string quartet, and sonata. The majority of his works which are most often performed today were composed during the decade bounded by the Symphony no. 3 (Eroica, begun 1803; first performed, 1805) and the Symphony no. 8 (1812), a period known as his "heroic decade".

Beethoven's fame reached its zenith during these years, but the steadily worsening hearing impairment that he had first noted in 1798 led to an increasing sense of social isolation. Gradually Beethoven settled into a pattern of shifting residences, spending the summer in the Viennese suburbs-Heiligenstadt was a favourite choice-and moving back to the central city in the autumn. In 1802, in his celebrated "Heiligenstadt Testament", a quasi-legal letter to his two brothers, he expressed his agony over his growing deafness. After 1805 accounts of Beethoven's eccentricities multiply. He performed in public only rarely and made his last appearance in 1814.

Although reports circulated among Beethoven's friends that he was constantly in love, he tended to choose unattainable women, aristocratic or married or both. In his letter to the "Immortal Beloved" (presumably never sent and now dated at 1812), he expressed his conflicting feelings for the woman who may have been the sole person ever to reciprocate his declarations. The long-debated riddle of her identity was solved beyond reasonable doubt in 1977 by the American musicologist Maynard Solomon. She was Antonie Brentano, the wife of a Frankfurt merchant and a mother of four. Conceivably, Beethoven's sense of virtue and fear of marriage contributed to his flight from this relationship, with its deeply shattering conflicts.

In 1815, on the death of his older brother, Casper Carl, Beethoven devoted his emotional energies to a costly legal struggle with his sister-in-law for custody of her 9-year-old son Karl. The mother received a temporarily favourable ruling, and only the intervention in 1820 of Beethoven's most powerful patron, the Archduke Rudolph, won the composer custody of his nephew. Beethoven was not an ideal parent and enormous friction developed between the two, contributing to Karl's attempted suicide in 1826.

By 1818 Beethoven had become virtually deaf and relied on small "conversation books", in which visitors wrote their remarks to him. He withdrew from all but a steadily shrinking circle of friends. Except for the premières of his Symphony no. 9 and parts of the Missa solemnis in 1824, his music remained fashionable only among a small group of connoisseurs. His prestige was still such, however, that during his last illness he received huge outpourings of sympathy. He died in Vienna on March 26, 1827; tens of thousands witnessed his funeral procession.

Chopin, Frédéric François (1810-1849), Polish composer and pianist of the Romantic school, regarded by some as one of the greatest composers of piano music.

Born March 4, 1810, in Zelazowa Wola, near Warsaw, of a French father and a Polish mother, Chopin began to study the piano at the age of four and when eight years old played at a private concert in Warsaw. Later he studied harmony and counterpoint at the Warsaw Conservatory. He was precocious also as a composer; his first published composition is dated 1817. He gave his first concerts as a piano virtuoso in 1829 in Vienna, where he lived for the next two years. After 1831, except for brief absences, he lived in Paris, where he became noted as a pianist, teacher, and composer. He formed an intimate relationship in 1837 with the French writer George Sand. In 1838 Chopin began to suffer from tuberculosis and she nursed him in Majorca in the Balearic Islands and in France until continued differences between the two resulted in an estrangement in 1847. Thereafter his musical activity was limited to giving several concerts in 1848 in France, Scotland, and England. He died in Paris on October 17, 1849, of tuberculosis.

Nearly all of Chopin's compositions are for piano. Although an expatriate, he was deeply loyal to his war-torn homeland; his mazurkas reflect the rhythms and melodic traits of Polish folk music, and his polonaises are marked by a heroic spirit. The influence of Italian opera composer Vincenzo Bellini can also be heard in his melodies. His ballades, scherzos, and études (studies, each testing a particular aspect of piano technique) exemplify his large-scale works for solo piano. His music, romantic and lyrical in nature, is characterized by exquisite melody of great originality, refined-often adventurous-harmony, subtle rhythm, and poetic beauty. Chopin greatly influenced other composers, notably the Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt, and the French composer Claude Debussy. Chopin's many published compositions include 55 mazurkas, 27 études, 24 preludes, 19 nocturnes, 13 polonaises, and 3 piano sonatas. Among his other works are the early Concertos in E minor and in F minor, both for piano and orchestra and showing the strong influence in form and melody of the piano concertos of Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a cello sonata, and 17 songs.

Người viết: chưa biết

Nguồn ảnh: chưa biết, ảnh chỉ là minh họa

Nguồn bài: trang web của thầy tôi Thái Bá Tân

How to learn to love classical music

Dear students,

Classical music is a wonderful world that is unfortunately still unfamiliar to many of you. Some told me they want to listen to it but are afraid they don't understand.

Well, actually classical music doesn't have concrete content to understand. Sounds, as you know, can not convey the meaning of words or notions. The matter is how you feel it. Feel with your heart. And nothing more.

Nevertheless, in order to be more at easy while listening, you should have some basic knowledge of what generally classical music is, particularly its forms, genres (the loai), structure and musical instruments. At the end of this letter I'll attach specific short articles about them. But for the moment, I'd like to tell you very briefly what you should do for the start. First you should know:

1. What you are listening to. It may be a symphony, with a whole orchestra of up to over 100 musicians playing. It, as a rule, has 4 movements (chuong) with such succeeding tempos - fast - slow - moderate fast and very fast. Other genres are concerto for orchestra and a solo musical instrument, usually piano, violin or cello; sonata, usually for two instruments, one of them the piano; a trio for three instruments and a quartet for four. All these genres have three movements of fast - slow and fast consecutively.

2. The composers. Here are some well-known names: Bach, Beethoven (Germany), Mozart, Strauss (Austria), Chopin (Poland), Tchaikovsky (Russia), Bizet (France) and so on.

3. The composers' schools (truong phai) that may be classical (roughly 18th century), romantic (19th century) or modern, as well as their times.

4. The nature of each musical instrument and its techniques.But the most important thing is that you should get used to classical music listening by doing this from easy things to more difficult ones, and little by little.

Following is a list of works recommended for beginners, in the order of difficulty. I can supply you with these works. Just give me a USB, preferably of large capacity.

1. The most famous classical music pieces (there is such a CD)

2. Waltz by Richard Strauss.

3. Some sonatas, concertos and symphonies by Mozart.

4. Tchaikovsky's ballet music and small pieces.

5. Beethoven: Most famous piano pieces, sonatas and symphonies.

6. Some other composers.

Unlike pop music, classical one requires much attention to listen to. And no one does it in a hurry. On the contrary, you should listen many times, until you learn them almost by heart.I am more than sure that once get used to it, you will enjoy a lot. It makes you feel very much different, that is happy, tranquil and life-loving.

So try, my dear students. Nothing to lose, and by the way it takes no pain, if not to say the opposite. And some day you will want to go to the concert hall to hear live music as I frequently do now. Very best regards and good success!

Your caring teacher Tan
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Classical Style (music), musical language developed by Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven, characterized by a supreme balance of musical form and content.

The term “Classical” was applied to the music of Haydn and Mozart even during the final years of the 18th century. Shortly after Mozart's death in 1791, his first biographer observed that his operas, concertos, quartets, and other works were praiseworthy because they could be listened to again and again without tiring. Even before 1800 it was already recognized that Mozart's works would repay continued study, by analogy with the masterworks of Greek and Roman art. During the Classical period universality of musical language was a declared aim, the theorist Johann Joachim Quantz remarking as early as 1752: “…A music that is accepted and recognized as good not by one country only…but by many peoples…must, provided it is based as well on reason and sound feeling, be beyond all dispute the best.” Though the Classical style effectively transcended national boundaries, its most celebrated proponents were in fact all associated with Vienna.

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Symphony (Greek, syn, “together”; phn, “sound”; hence, “a sounding together”), in music, orchestral composition consisting usually of four contrasting sections, or movements. The term was first applied in the 16th century to the instrumental interludes in such musical forms as the cantata, opera, and oratorio. A noteworthy example is the “Pastoral Symphony” from Handel's Messiah (1742). The symphony in the modern sense of the term arose in the early 18th century.

Germany and Austria

By 1740 the symphony had become the principal genre of orchestral music, and important centres of composition arose in Mannheim, Berlin, and Vienna. The Bohemian composer Johann Stamitz brought the orchestra at Mannheim to internationally acclaimed brilliance and used its resources to the fullest in his symphonies. He was one of the earliest to add a fourth movement, a rapid finale following the minuet, and in his sonata-form movements second themes are often of sharply contrasting character to first themes.

In Berlin the composers Johann Gottlieb Graun and C. P. E. Bach (son of J. S. Bach) wrote three-movement symphonies with few sharp thematic contrasts but with strong emphasis on development and emotional expressiveness.

Four-movement symphonies predominated in Vienna, with the first movement being given special prominence. Wind instruments were more fully exploited, and special care was given to melodic integration; for example, a transition between themes might make use of short segments from a main theme. Among important Viennese composers were Georg Matthias Monn and Georg Christoph Wagenseil. Also influential was another of J. S. Bach's sons, J. C. Bach, who studied in Italy and worked in London and whose symphonies are full of graceful Italian melody.

Haydn and Mozart

The Austrian composer Joseph Haydn, the first of the great Viennese symphonists, experimented continually with new devices and techniques in orchestral composition. He composed 107 symphonies in which he greatly lengthened and expanded the symphonic form. Slow introductions often precede first movements; sonata movements often avoid thematic contrast; finales, either in sonata or rondo form, have a vigour and weight not found in the works of earlier composers. He frequently used counterpoint (interwoven melodic lines), integrating it into symphonic style. These characteristic traits predominate even in symphonies known for a special feature, such as the gradual departure of the musicians in the Farewell (1772).

Haydn and his younger friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart considerably influenced each other in symphonic technique. One of the greatest masters of the symphony, Mozart displayed in his 41 symphonies unsurpassed richness of imagination. Among the most famous are the Linz (No. 36, 1783), Prague (No. 38, 1786), and Haffner (No. 35, 1782); his last three, the E-flat Major, G Minor, and Jupiter (all 1788), raised the symphony from an entertainment genre to a vehicle for profound expression.

Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven produced nine symphonies in which the symphonic form was vastly expanded and made capable of portraying an immense range of emotional conflict and expression. This power is present to a considerable degree in Beethoven's first two symphonies, but it becomes especially significant in his Third Symphony in E-flat Major (1805), known as the Eroica. This work consists of an immense first movement filled with creative energy, a profound slow movement in the form of a funeral march, an ebullient scherzo, and a finale in the form of variations on a theme. In his Fifth Symphony in C Minor (1808) Beethoven introduced a four-note melodic and rhythmic motif that unifies the contrasting sections of the work. The Sixth Symphony in F Major (1808), known as the Pastoral, describes the emotions aroused in the composer by the recollection of rural scenes. It uses some of the techniques of programme music, telling a simple story and imitating such sounds as birdcalls and thunder. The Ninth Symphony in D Minor (1824), considered one of Beethoven's greatest works, ends in a choral movement based on the poem An die Freude (Ode to Joy), by the German poet Friedrich von Schiller.

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Concerto, musical composition, typically in three movements, for one or more solo instruments with orchestra. The musical title concerto was first used in Italy in the 16th century, but it did not become common until about 1600, in Italy, at the beginning of the era later known as the Baroque. At first concerto and the related adjective concertato referred to a mixture of instrumental tone colours, voices, or both, and were applied to a wide variety of sacred and secular pieces that called for a mixed group of instruments, singers, or both. The group could be treated either as a unified but mixed ensemble, or as contrasting sounds set in opposition to one another. This “concerto style” was developed especially by the Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, particularly in his fifth to eighth books of madrigals (1605-1638). Influenced partly by Monteverdi, the German composer Heinrich Schütz applied the new style to German sacred works. This meaning of concerto continued into the 18th century, as in Johann Sebastian Bach's many sacred cantatas entitled “Concerto”.

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Sonata (Italian suonare, “to sound”), musical composition for one or more instruments. The term sonata form refers to the musical form typical of the first movements of 18th- and 19th-century sonatas and related genres. Since the mid-18th century, the term sonata has generally been used for works in a three- or four-movement format for one or two instruments, as in the piano sonata (for solo piano) or violin sonata (for violin with a keyboard instrument). Terms other than sonata are used for works cast in the same overall format but composed for other combinations of instruments; for instance, a sonata for orchestra is called a symphony, a sonata for a solo instrument with orchestra is called a concerto, and a sonata for string quartet is called a string quartet.

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