Neoclassicism, classical period, 18th Century

(English, History)

The year 1685-1815 became a year known as the Age of Reason, which came after the Baroque era ended. There are many names for this era as you can see, it can be referred to as the classical period, it is mostly referred to musicians or music, Neoclassicism is related more to the arts and the 18th century is more of the period for it. Please do not confuse it with Classical antiquity or the classical architecture of Ancient Rome or the renaissance, although they are from different periods people in the classical era based off or reference the ancient Greeks and implied it into their movement, the people wanted more reasoning and common sense than the individual imagination and the ancient Greeks used a lot of science and studies back in their day, the science was not the only thing they based off the Greeks, classical arts and music was also inspired from them and was more modified to their taste.

(Music, English, History)

Music in the classical era started around 1730-1820, it was called “the age of reason” this period of music has characteristics such as tuneful Melodies’, the flexibility of rhythm, homophone, clarity of structure in musical form, greater variety, and contrast of mood. It came after the baroque period so the music was improved, it became clearer simplified, and much easier to understand but still complicated to us in the modern day. Early classical music was different and more simple than the last classical music since the early version was still experimenting and trying to separate itself from the baroque era, meanwhile, the late version was already starting to transition into the romantic period. There were a lot of famous musicians in that era most notably Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809), and Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827) these guys were very famous they would get commissioned by high socialites to play for them. Mozart wrote some comic operas (comedy operas) or helped in composing the music, opera became the height of popularity during this period even though it was originally improved/created in the baroque period. Now there is much more to talk about such as tonality but since they are a difficult and hard topic I am afraid we cannot discuss it, but here is a video link if you would want to learn more about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cksD_r8JvoU

(Art, English, History)

The art of the period is characterized by grace, the beauty of line, clarity of form, and balance of structure. This was a period when a large number of artists and scholars across Europe in the 18th century took inspiration from the classical Greeks just like they did with music but this time to the way they painted, they called this artistic movement neoclassicism which means new classicism. Neoclassical art was also shaped by the intense cultural questioning that arose with the French Revolution, and it found fertile ground during the industrial revolution. In the early 18th century there was a painting style called Rococo and which consists of soft and curved brush strokes and a pastel color palette the subjects of the painting were entertaining and sensual, but in the mid-18th century, French artists were getting tired of the Rococo style and started to resent it. The people in the mid-18th century were starting to prefer more rational thinking that could lead to a moral and just society and the neoclassical artist agreed. So they turned to the ancient Greeks just like musicians did, Jacques-Louis David a famous neoclassical painter was a philosopher and used his research and works in his art, The Oath of the Horatii was one of his famous works. The painting depicts a scene from Roman history and notices in the painting the use of shadows and the background, there are three groups of people and three arches dividing the groups to make it look perfect with symmetry, and see how the people look realistic almost actual human, they were inspired by the Greek and Roman sculptures. The artist in the neoclassical period implemented symmetry and realism were rational and lightened ways to communicate moral values in art.

(God, Science, English, History)

There was a great turning away from religion as a primary way of life. People got caught up in religious schisms and sometimes warfare from 1534, the year Henry VIII spilt away from the Catholic Church, until the Glorious revolution of 1589. England and other Western Europeans turned their attention to politics and scientific/logical analysis and reason. Today when we consider things true or scientifically correct, it is when the beliefs have been experimented with repeatedly and are proved correct. In religion which is back in the day, you accepted the dictates of the catholic church, whatever goes against the church is claimed as blasphemy and is again God. A great example of this is when Galileo Galilei an Italian astronomer, physicist, and engineer, was born in 1564-1642 which was around before the neoclassicism era started. Galileo theorized that the sun was the center of the solar system and not the earth, Copernicus another scientist also suggested this idea, but the church was against this idea since they believed that God would put us in the center of the universe and put their ideas down, 200 years later people started to consider Galileo’s theory correct. Now in the neoclassical era and so on people wanted proof; they did not want to accept an idea as true just because someone of higher authority said so, especially the Catholic Church. But just because the church put down ideas means they are bad, God makes no mistakes only man can, it is the people who decided that science was wrong. Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” I would like to perceive this verse as a way of supporting each other in our works and not demoting their feelings and effort, as well as lifting each other our rewards would be plentiful.

(HELE, Social studies, English, History)

Have you ever wondered how agriculture was back in the Age of Enlightenment, especially since they don’t have the modern tools we use today, they don’t have trucks to help transport large amounts of goods in such a short amount of time and they certainly don’t have water sprinklers to make sure all their crops are equally watered. In their day their tools were not advanced, between the 8th century and the 18th century, farming tools made little to almost no advancements, so that means the tools for farming in George Washington’s day is no different than the tools used in Julius Caesar’s day. But in the middle of the 18th century, a wave of modernization came, which created an increase in food production. By the 1750s population was already increasing at a faster rate, so the pressure on food production also increased, many scholars believed that food production would come to a halt since there would be not enough food for everyone, but little did they know that technology would help them in agriculture. There were many inventions such as the seed drills, and cotton machines were sold from Britain to the U.S., and by the 1850s mechanical harvesters and steam plows came and would continue to stay but in more modernized form. But the economy was bad, especially in France, the French revolution started and ended around the age of enlightenment, and now I won’t go too deep into this topic because if I do then it would need a whole new post just for it. Now in the French revolution, the royals and the high social class paid less tax, wasted money, and king Louis XVI was almost useless since no one taught him how to rule, while the high socialites were having fun partying and spending lavishly, the poor were suffering heavily, they were almost taxed for everything, food was scarce with their harvest not enough, and with the money only used for the king’s entertainment and not for the economy, the people were mad. The bread became scarce for people to buy, while the rich had plenty, and wasn’t an issue for them, the citizens were getting hungry and began protesting, breaking and raiding bakeries, and accusing bakers of hoarding the bread for themselves. After the last king of France was killed, Maximilien Robespierre took charge, he sorted out the economy a bit and food became more accessible, but he started to become a dictator, and whoever gets in his way or refuses his ideas gets sent to the guillotine or it was called the ” The National Razor “until people became tired of his constant beheading of innocent souls they decided to behead him instead.