Slovak music culture and music professions during Classicism era

Abstract

The Classicist period in Slovakia developed
between 1760 and 1830. At that time Slovakia
was a part of the territory of the Hungary.
Musical culture during the reign of Maria
Theresa, Joseph II and Francis I evolved
in three stages under the influence
of the European musical tradition and contacts
with foreign composers from Austria,
Germany and Czechia. People could listen
to all sorts of music in opera houses, concert
halls, noblemen’s courts, petty bourgeois salons
and in the countryside. Musical professions
in Slovakia were comparable with those
in Central Europe. Musicians’ jobs included
those of performers, composers, teachers,
writers, theoreticians and organizers of cultural
life. Usually, one person held two or more
of these positions. Composers wrote works
which were performed at various occasions.
Music teachers taught at state-run music
schools, pedagogical colleges and parochial
schools. Manufacturers of musical instruments
created a number of new instruments,
especially wind instruments, violins
and organs, many of which were regarded
as being highly significant throughout
Europe.