Edexcel GCSE Music Area of Study 1: Instrumental Music 1700 to 1820 overview

What this area of study demands

Area of Study 1 covers instrumental music between 1700 and 1820, spanning the Baroque and Classical styles. The two set works represent each style and two genres, the concerto and the piano sonata. You must know the stylistic features so you can recognise them in the set works and unfamiliar extracts, and compare the two pieces. This overview ties together the four dot-point pages.

The Baroque and Classical styles

Baroque music (about 1600 to 1750) features a basso continuo, terraced dynamics (block contrasts), ornate ornamentation, and contrapuntal/polyphonic textures, often in ritornello form. Classical music (about 1750 to 1820) values clarity and balance: homophonic textures (often an Alberti bass), balanced periodic phrasing, diatonic harmony, and sonata form. The piano replaced the harpsichord, allowing gradual dynamics.

Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, third movement

The Bach finale (around 1721) is a Baroque concerto-grosso movement in D major, a lively gigue (compound 6/8) built as a fugue on ritornello principles. The concertino (solo group) is flute, violin and harpsichord against the ripieno strings; the harpsichord is a full soloist. The texture is contrapuntal, alternating solo and tutti, with continuous energetic rhythms and terraced dynamics.

Beethoven: Pathetique Sonata, first movement

The Beethoven movement (1798) is a dramatic solo piano work in C minor, in sonata form (exposition, development, recapitulation) framed by a slow, heavy Grave introduction that returns within the movement. Drama comes from extreme dynamic contrasts, sforzandos, a driving left-hand tremolo, and an agitated leaping theme. It keeps Classical form but looks forward to Romanticism.

Comparing the two set works

The two contrast across most elements: Baroque chamber concerto (D major, contrapuntal, continuo, terraced dynamics, ritornello/fugue) versus Classical-Romantic solo piano (C minor, homophonic, gradual and extreme dynamics, sonata form). They share the 1700 to 1820 period, diatonic harmony and virtuosic writing. The 12-mark Section B comparison may pair either with an unfamiliar related extract.

Check your knowledge

1. Name the three concertino instruments in Brandenburg Concerto No. 5. (2 marks)
2. What metre and dance style is the Bach finale? (2 marks)
3. What structure is the first movement of the Pathetique in? (1 mark)
4. Name two ways Beethoven creates drama. (2 marks)
5. Give one difference in the performing forces of the two set works. (1 mark)