Page "Classical period (music)" Paragraph 32

It was during this decade that public taste began, increasingly, to recognize that Haydn and Mozart had reached a higher standard of composition.

By the time Mozart arrived at age 25, in 1781, the dominant styles of Vienna were recognizably connected to the emergence in the 1750s of the early Classical style.

By the end of the 1780s, changes in performance practice, the relative standing of instrumental and vocal music, technical demands on musicians, and stylistic unity had become established in the composers who imitated Mozart and Haydn.

During this decade Mozart composed his most famous operas, his six late symphonies which helped to redefine the genre, and a string of piano concerti which still stand at the pinnacle of these forms.