<sod>  
 ===The Early Classical Style (1770-1790)===
 
While overshadowed by Mozart and Beethoven, it is difficult to over state Haydn's centrality to the new style, and the future of Western concert music, at the time, before Mozart and Beethoven, with [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] known primarily to connisseurs of keyboard music, Haydn reached a place in music which set him above all other composers except perhaps [[George Friedrich Handel]]. Occupying a place equivalent to perhaps the Beatles in the history of Rock and Roll. It was he who, more than any other single individual, realized that the new style which had evolved, needed to be written according to new ideas and principles. He took existing ideas, and radically altered how they functioned - earning him the nicknames "father of the [[symphony]]" and [[father of the string quartet]]. One might truly say that he was the father of the [[sonata form]] -  which, in its classical incarnation, relied on dramatic contrast, tension of melody against harmony, rhythm and involving the audience in the playing out of the dramatic structure of a work the cardinal virtues of the new style.
 
 Strangely enough, one of the forces that worked as an impeteus for his pressing forward was the first stirrings of what would later be called "romanticism" - the "[[sturm und drang]]", or "storm and struggle" phase in the arts, a short period where obvious emotionalism was a stylistic preference, which was the fad of the 1770's. This caused him to want more dramatic contrast and emotionally appealling melodies which had more character, more individuality. This period faded away in music and literature - however, it would color what came afterward, and eventually be a component of aesthetic taste in coming decades. 
 
 <eod> <sod> 
 ===The Early Classical Style (1770-1790)===
 
While overshadowed by Mozart and Beethoven, it is difficult to over state Haydn's centrality to the new style, and the future of Western concert music, at the time, before Mozart and Beethoven, with [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] known primarily to connisseurs of keyboard music, Haydn reached a place in music which set him above all other composers except perhaps [[George Friedrich Handel]]. Occupying a place equivalent to perhaps the Beatles in the history of Rock and Roll. It was he who, more than any other single individual, realized that the new style which had evolved, needed to be written according to new ideas and principles. He took existing ideas, and radically altered how they functioned - earning him the nicknames "father of the [[symphony]]" and father of the [[string quartet]]. One might truly say that he was the father of the [[sonata form]] -  which, in its classical incarnation, relied on dramatic contrast, tension of melody against harmony, rhythm and involving the audience in the playing out of the dramatic structure of a work the cardinal virtues of the new style.
 
 Strangely enough, one of the forces that worked as an impeteus for his pressing forward was the first stirrings of what would later be called "romanticism" - the "[[sturm und drang]]", or "storm and struggle" phase in the arts, a short period where obvious emotionalism was a stylistic preference, which was the fad of the 1770's. This caused him to want more dramatic contrast and emotionally appealling melodies which had more character, more individuality. This period faded away in music and literature - however, it would color what came afterward, and eventually be a component of aesthetic taste in coming decades. 
 
 <eod>