Sturm und Drang
A brief 1760s-70s strain in Classical-period music — minor keys, sudden dynamics, agitated rhythms — anticipating Romantic emotional intensity.
What it sounds like
Sturm und Drang ('Storm and Stress') in music describes a stylistic current visible mostly between roughly 1765 and 1780, particularly in works of Haydn, the young Mozart and the Mannheim school. Hallmarks are minor-key tonality (unusual for the period), sudden contrasts of loud and soft, syncopated and irregular rhythms, tremolo string textures, jagged unison lines, and an overall sense of agitation distinct from the elegant balance otherwise associated with the early Classical style. The label is borrowed from a contemporaneous literary movement (Klinger's play of the same name premiered in 1776; Goethe's 'Sorrows of Young Werther' appeared in 1774).
How it came about
The musical Sturm und Drang reflects Enlightenment-era interest in subjective emotion, nature, and rebellion against polite restraint. Haydn's middle symphonies in minor keys — No. 49 in F minor 'La Passione' (1768), No. 44 in E minor 'Trauer' (Mourning), No. 45 in F-sharp minor 'Farewell' (1772) — provide the central examples; Mozart's Symphony No. 25 in G minor (K. 183, 1773) is the most famous single instance. The strain dissipated as both composers moved toward the lighter style of the later Classical period, but it foreshadowed Romantic emotional rhetoric.
What to listen for
Listen for the minor-key tension and the sudden dynamic shifts (a soft passage abruptly turning fortissimo). Strings often vibrate at high tremolo density. Phrases break their expected length, ending earlier or later than the listener anticipates. Even within the period's poised conventions, the emotional pressure is unmistakable.
If you only hear one thing
Trivia
The label 'Sturm und Drang' was applied to this music by 20th-century musicologists rather than 18th-century composers. The end of Haydn's 'Farewell' Symphony — players leaving the stage one by one until only two violins remain — was a coded message to Prince Esterhazy, asking him to release the orchestra from extended stay at his summer palace.