Editing Classical period (music) (section)

== Classical period instruments ==
[[File:FortepianoByMcNultyAfterWalter1805.jpg|thumb|upright|Fortepiano by Paul McNulty after Walter & Sohn, c. 1805]]
{{See also|List of period instruments}}

=== Guitar ===
The Baroque guitar, with four or five sets of double strings or "courses" and elaborately decorated soundhole, was a very different instrument from the early [[classical guitar]] which more closely resembles the modern instrument with the standard six strings. Judging by the number of instructional manuals published for the instrument – over three hundred texts were published by over two hundred authors between 1760 and 1860 – the classical period marked a golden age for guitar.<ref>Stenstadvold, Erik. ''An Annotated Bibliography of Guitar Methods, 1760–1860'' (Hillsdale, New York: Pendragon Press, 2010), xi.</ref>

=== Strings ===
In the Baroque era, there was more variety in the bowed stringed instruments used in ensembles, with instruments such as the [[viola d'amore]] and a range of fretted [[viol]]s being used, ranging from small viols to large bass viols. In the Classical period, the [[string section]] of the orchestra was standardized as just four instruments:

* [[Violin]] (in orchestras and chamber music, typically there are first violins and second violins, with the former playing the melody and/or a higher line and the latter playing either a countermelody, a harmony part, a part below the first violin line in pitch, or an accompaniment line)
* [[Viola]] (the alto voice of the orchestral string section and string quartet; it often performs "inner voices", which are accompaniment lines which fill in the [[harmony]] of the piece)
* [[Cello]] (the cello plays two roles in Classical era music; at times it is used to play the [[bassline]] of the piece, typically doubled by the [[double bass]]es [Note: When cellos and double basses read the same bassline, the basses play an octave below the cellos, because the bass is a transposing instrument]; and at other times it performs melodies and solos in the lower register)
* [[Double bass]] (the bass typically performs the lowest pitches in the string section in order to provide the bassline for the piece)

In the Baroque era, the double bass players were not usually given a separate part; instead, they typically played the same [[basso continuo]] [[bassline]] that the cellos and other low-pitched instruments (e.g., [[theorbo]], [[serpent (instrument)|serpent]] wind instrument, [[viol]]s), albeit an octave below the cellos, because the double bass is a transposing instrument that sounds one octave lower than it is written. In the Classical era, some composers continued to write only one bass part for their symphony, labeled "bassi"; this bass part was played by cellists and double bassists. During the Classical era, some composers began to give the double basses their own part.

=== Woodwinds ===
It was commonplace for all orchestras to have at least 2 winds, usually oboes, flutes, clarinets, or sometimes English horns (see [[Symphony No. 22 (Haydn)]]. Patrons also usually employed an ensemble of entirely winds, called the ''[[harmonie]]'', which would be employed for certain events. The [[harmonie]] would sometimes join the larger string orchestra to serve as the wind section.
* [[Piccolo]] (used in military bands)
* [[Flute]]
* [[Oboe]]
* [[English horn]]
* [[Clarinet]]
* [[Basset horn]] (see [[Requiem (Mozart)]])
* [[Basset clarinet]]
* [[Clarinette d'amour]]
* [[Bassoon]]
* [[Contrabassoon]] (see [[The Creation (Haydn)]])
* [[Bagpipe]] (see [[Leopold Mozart]]'s divertimento, "Die Bauernhochzeit" or "Peasant Wedding")

=== Percussion ===
* [[Timpani]]
* "[[Turkish music (style)|Turkish music]]":
**[[Bass drum]]
**[[Cymbal]]s
**[[Triangle (musical instrument)|Triangle]]
** [[Tambourine]]

=== Keyboards ===
* [[Clavichord]]
* [[Fortepiano]] (the forerunner to the modern piano)
* [[Harpsichord]], the standard Baroque era [[basso continuo]] keyboard instrument, was used until the 1750s, after which time it was gradually phased out, and replaced with the [[fortepiano]] and then the [[piano]]. By the early 1800s, the harpsichord was no longer used.
* [[Organ (music)|Organ]]

=== Brasses ===

* [[Natural horn]]
* [[Natural trumpet]]
* [[Sackbut]] ([[Trombone]] precursor)
* [[Keyed trumpet]] (see [[Trumpet Concerto (Haydn)]])
* [[Serpent (instrument)|Serpent]] (commonplace in military bands)
* [[Post horn]] (see [[Serenade No. 9 (Mozart)]])