OCR A-Level Music: instrumental music of the Classical era, a complete overview

What this part of the course covers

Area of Study 1, Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, is the compulsory area of OCR's Listening and Appraising paper. It carries the prescribed work and is the source of the Section A unfamiliar extracts on Classical instrumental music. To answer well you need the context: the Classical style, the four instrumental genres, the movement structures, the three composers and the Classical orchestra. This overview ties them together; each has its own dot-point page with practice questions.

The Classical style and its genres

The Classical style (c.1750 to c.1820) prizes balance, clarity and elegance: tuneful melodies in periodic phrases, homophonic textures, diatonic functional harmony with clear cadences, and graded dynamics on the new piano. Its main instrumental genres are the symphony (large orchestral work, usually four movements), the solo concerto (soloist versus orchestra, three movements with a cadenza), the sonata (for a solo instrument or melody instrument with piano), and the string quartet (two violins, viola and cello, the prestige chamber genre).

Sonata form and the Classical structures

The most important structure is sonata form (exposition, development, recapitulation), driven by its key scheme: away from the tonic, into instability, and home again. The other structures are the minuet and trio (and Beethoven's scherzo), the rondo and sonata-rondo, and theme and variations, framed by the four-movement plan. Section B examines structure in the prescribed work; Section A asks you to identify it by ear.

The three composers

Haydn standardised the symphony and quartet, writing with wit and motivic economy. Mozart brought operatic melody, elegance and refined chromaticism to every genre. Beethoven extended the style with longer developments, the scherzo, extreme dynamics, motivic insistence and a Romantic intensity, while keeping Classical foundations. In Section A you may attribute an extract to one of them with reasons.

The Classical orchestra and texture

The Classical orchestra is a clear, modest body of strings, paired woodwind, horns and (in louder works) trumpets and timpani, with the piano replacing the harpsichord. Its textures are largely melody-dominated homophony, built on figures such as the Alberti bass, in balanced periodic phrases, with contrast between chamber-like passages and full tutti.

How this area serves the exam

The context makes every question on this area answerable:

• Section A draws unfamiliar Classical extracts from these genres; you name their style, structure, scoring and (with reasons) possible composer.
• Section B examines the prescribed work in detail against exactly this background.
• Section C essays reward arguing about the Classical style, its structures and its composers with named evidence.

Check your knowledge

A mix of recall and applied questions on Classical instrumental music. Attempt them, then check against the solutions.

1. Name the four main instrumental genres of the Classical era. (2 marks)
2. Name the three sections of sonata form. (3 marks)
3. In a major-key exposition, what key is the second subject in? (1 mark)
4. Give two features that distinguish the Classical style from the Baroque. (2 marks)
5. What is the Alberti bass? (2 marks)
6. Give one stylistic fingerprint each for Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. (3 marks)
7. What replaced the minuet in Beethoven's symphonies, and what replaced the harpsichord? (2 marks)
8. Name two ways a Classical composer creates contrast of texture or scoring. (2 marks)