Page:Pratt - The history of music (1907).djvu/344

 the manneristic Italian opera upon new and much nobler lines of development, in which Gluck was the pioneer; a rising interest in the song as an art-form of importance, and the reappearance of the singspiel; the recognition of the piano as the keyboard instrument par excellence, with advances in virtuosity upon it and in methods of instruction for it; the definition of the orchestra in its modern form, and of standard groups for chamber music; and a steady progress in theory, with the disappearance of most of the remnants of the old ideas and the complete supremacy of modern tonality. As the period merges in the next are seen the beginnings of the famous contrast between the 'classical' and the 'romantic' spirits in composition, with the consequent tokens of a coming revolt from mere regularity of outward form in favor of greater truth and variety of subjective expression.

144. Haydn.—By a curious coincidence, during the last months of Bach's life at Leipsic in 1750 a young musician at Vienna, as he faced the problem of his future career and sought to lay foundations for it by methodical private study, was fitting himself to become the next great leader in the musical world. This was Haydn, a poor peasant boy, just discharged from the choir of St. Stephen's and searching eagerly for musical opportunity. It was still some years before the opening came, but, when it did, he stepped into a place of singular influence, which he occupied for the whole later half of the century. His genius was strikingly different from Bach's and his special contribution to progress at first sight utterly diverse. Yet between the two there was a real bond of connection, and the work of the later master was a real supplement to that of the earlier. And Haydn had what Bach lacked, a vital hold upon the admiration and following of the rank and file of musicians in his own day, so that what he did had an immediate effect upon standards of style. To him belongs the honor of fixing a type of instrumental composition that not only became characteristic of the period, but is still decidedly influential. He also was helpful in settling the form of the modern orchestra as the crowning implement of musical expression. The circumstances of his mature life were favorable to his orderly development and to the production of a noble list of works, for which he is still held in affectionate regard.