The Age of Enlightenment 1745-1790 (The New Oxford History of Music, Vol. 7)

Covers the period that witnessed many changes in the aesthetic and formal conceptions of music, in techniques, styles and media such as the growth in instrumental music in both quality and stature as religious music ceased to play the leading part, the decline of opera buffa, opera comique and Singspiel, the establishment of the standard orchestra, the dominance of the piano over the harpsichord and clavichord and new forms such as the symphony, string quartet and solo concerto became the media for great masterpieces.Opera in Italy and the Holy Roman empire. Promotion and patronage ; Italian opera ; German opera ; The operas of Mozart / Anna Amalie Abert - The operas of Haydn / H.C. Robbins Landon - Opera in France / Martin Cooper - Opera in other countries : English opera / Roger Fiske - The rise of Russian opera / Gerald Seaman - Opera in Spain / Gerald Abraham - Church music and oratorio / Edward Olleson - Solo song / Rosemary Hughes - The early symphony / Egon Wellesz and F.W. Sternfeld - The concerto / Egon Wellesz and F.W. Sternfeld - The divertimento and cognate forms / Günther Hausswald -The rise of chamber music / Karl Geiringer - Keyboard music / Philip Radcliffe - Instrumental masterworks and aspects of formal design / F.W. Sternfeld.