Galant style
Light, pleasing compositional style of about 1720–1770 between Baroque and Classical.
What it means
The galant style is a compositional style that was widespread between about 1720 and 1770 and forms the transition from the Baroque to the Classical period. It relies on light, pleasing, and songlike melodies, clear periods, and a simple, often homophonic accompaniment. The name comes from the French “galant,” meaning courteous and worldly.
Musical use
The galant style arose as a countermovement to the dense contrapuntal writing of the high Baroque. Characteristic are regularly built phrases, frequent cadences, accompaniment figures such as the Alberti bass, and a primacy of the upper voice. It was represented among others by Johann Christian Bach, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, and in part by Georg Philipp Telemann and Johann Joachim Quantz. The Classical style of Haydn and Mozart emerged from it.
The galant style should be distinguished from the Baroque, which works with dense counterpoint and figured bass, and from the empfindsamer Stil, which within the same period stresses inner expression and sudden changes of mood more strongly. As a term of style it is to be kept apart from the performance term “galant,” which means a graceful, courtly delivery.
Performance practice
Play galant music with a light touch, clear phrase endings, and without heavy accents. Attend to the upper voice, shape ornaments elegantly and with restraint, and keep the accompaniment calm so that the melody can carry.