Homophonic texture became the dominant style with its pleasant melody and simple harmonies. Classical composers tried to entertain their audience with pieces that contrasted mood and theme. This light, graceful music was called style galant or in a gallant style. Music historians later named the period the Classical. While the term classical is generally used to refer to anything other than rock, jazz or blues, it was used in this context to describe this period as the music of the time was not modern band music, but at the same time was not antique in form. The most famous of the Classical composers, and of perhaps all composers, were Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig Van Beethoven. .
These three master composers dominated the period with their music and essentially created the characteristics of the classical style. One of the main characteristics of classical music is the contrast of mood. In classical music it is possible for the mood of a piece to change slightly and gradually or all at once in a sudden moment. The masters of classical music like Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven were able to control these rushes of mood to express in the music surges of emotion while still retaining the music's unity. Rhythm was vastly changed from that of the Baroque with a huge variety of rhythmic patterns throughout the pieces rather than one pattern that simply reiterated itself in different ways throughout the piece. Classical music was mainly homophonic in texture but like the rhythm of the time could change textures throughout the piece smoothly shifting between homophonic or polyphonic depending on the mood of the movement. Melodies from songs composed in the classical are among the easiest to remember in the history of music, this is because they are made balanced and symmetrical by composing the tune into two phases, each with an equal length to the other. The second phase usually begins like the first but ends more decisively.
