First Viennese School

The First Viennese School is a group of late 18th- and early 19th-century composers associated with Vienna, chiefly Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven.

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Joseph Haydn: Joseph Haydn was an Austrian composer whose symphonies and string quartets helped shape Classical-era music. His long career in Vienna and at Esterházy made him the school’s senior figure.
Classical period (music): The Classical period in Western art music spans roughly the mid-18th to early 19th centuries. The school’s music belongs to this broader period and helped define its style.
The Creation: The Creation is an oratorio by Joseph Haydn, composed in 1796–1798 and premiered in Vienna in 1798. It demonstrates Haydn’s late sacred style and the school’s capacity for large public works.
Mannheim School: The Mannheim School was a circle of composers and performers active at the Mannheim court in the 18th century. Its orchestral innovations developed outside Vienna and helped shape the musical environment Haydn and Mozart inherited.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an Austrian composer of operas, concertos, symphonies, and chamber music. His mature works brought operatic drama and expressive range into the school’s shared forms.
Sonata form: Sonata form is a musical structure commonly organized around an exposition, development, and recapitulation. Its flexible treatment of themes became a central framework for the composers’ instrumental works.
The Marriage of Figaro: The Marriage of Figaro is a comic opera by Mozart, premiered in Vienna in 1786. Its ensemble writing shows how Mozart integrated dramatic action with musical form.
Sturm und Drang (music): Sturm und Drang was an 18th-century artistic movement whose musical works often use minor keys and dramatic contrasts. Its heightened emotional style overlaps with some works by Haydn and Mozart but is not the school’s defining identity.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer whose music bridged Classical and Romantic styles. His innovations extended the school’s Classical traditions toward new scale and expressive intensity.
String quartet: A string quartet is a chamber ensemble of two violins, viola, and cello, and music written for it. Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven each developed the genre through distinctive cycles and techniques.