Symphony

Symphony is one of the most beautiful contribution of the classical period to orchestral music. Symphony is an extended musical composition which typically last between 20 to 45 minutes. Since the late eighteenth century, composers have regarded the symphony as "the central form of orchestral composition". Most symphonies usually consist of four movements with the first movement in sonata form, it evoke a wide range of emotions through contrasts of tempo and mood, however many symphonies by the acknowledged classical masters of the form, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven, do not conform to this model. A typical sequence in a classical symphony is (1) fast, (2) slow, (3) moderately fast, (4) quite fast.

In 17th century, for most of the Baroque period the terms symphony and sinfonia were used for a range of different compositions, including instrumental pieces used in operas, sonatas and concertos—usually part of a larger work. The strict terminology “symphony” arrived only after Haydn and Mozart had begun their symphonic labors; as late as 1766 symphonies could be advertised to the public (in London and in Holland, for example) not as symphonies but as “overtures”. But by 1770, Mozart gave a program for a concert in Mantua and uses the word "symphony". In the late eighteenth century the term “symphony” became firmly established. The classical symphony was marked by overall balance and intricate design in which structural symmetry was a general characteristic of a movement.