As the Baroque era faded away in the middle of the eighteenth century, new composers such as Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart began to expand on the musical ideas of Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries. An emphasis on more detailed and precise dynamic and phrase markings in the scores of the period showed that composers were taking greater control of musicians in an effort to create a clearer sense of tonality and form in their work. Opera and vocal music gained prominence, as did extended symphonies and chamber music. At the end of the Baroque period, the work of Ludwig van Beethoven paved the way for the Romanticism of the next century.

Notable Artists: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven