WK 10 & 11 - 18th Century, Early Classical Period Opera, VOcal, Instrumental.ppt

Prelude IV
The Eighteenth
Century

Continuities between Seventeenth
and Eighteenth Centuries
 Classical music and classical style
• Classic era: 1730–1815
• classical: mature music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven
• analogy to Greek and Roman art
 simplicity, balance, perfection of form, diversity within unity, seriousness of
purpose, restrained use of ornamentation
• galant style, 1730s
 French term for courtly manner: modern, sophisticated
 emphasis on “naturalness”
 simple melody with light accompaniment
• empfindsam style
 from German verb empfinden, “to feel”
 intimate, sensitive, subjective tendencies

Europe in the Eighteenth Century
 Realignment and revolution
• balance of power among strong centralized states
• France had biggest army; Louis XIV’s lavish spending depleted the treasury
• Britain: powerful navy, dominant power after Seven Years’ War (1756–
1763)
• Austro-Hungarian Empire increasingly influential
• Prussia became a kingdom, 1701
• Prussia, Russia, and Austria divided Poland’s territories
• American Revolution (1775–1783); French Revolution (1789)

(cont’d)
 Economic expansion after 1750
• new agricultural methods, growing food supply
• improved roads, faster travel
• growth in manufacturing and trade
• middle class grew in size and economic clout
• landed aristocracy’s importance diminished
• continent more urbanized, nature idealized

(cont’d)
 Education and learning
• new schools founded for elite and middle classes
• London, 1702: daily newspapers
• more books published, purchased, read, circulated
• Enlightenment: Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, reason and science

The Enduring Enlightenment – Late 18th century
•Enduring assumptions that trace back to the
Enlightenment
• music serves human needs
• music’s primary purpose is pleasure
• music is a universal language
• music should appeal to a wide audience
• a piece should be understood on first hearing
• feelings music suggests may change quickly
Classical Era &
The Enlightenment

CLASSICAL ERA &
THE ENLIGHTENMENT

 The Enlightenment – the age of reason, nature, progress
• individuals had rights
• role of state was to improve the human condition
• individual faith and practical morality over church and religion
• promoted universal education, social equality
 The philosophes
• French thinkers, social reformers: Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau
 developed doctrines about individual human rights
 Humanitarianism
• rulers promoted social reform
• programs expanded education, care for the poor
• Freemasonry: teachings of secret fraternal order of Masons
(brick/stone layers)
 Popularization of learning
• pursuit of learning widespread among expanding middle class
• new demands on writers and artists
CLASSICAL ERA &
THE ENLIGHTENMENT

 The Enlightenment (cont’d)
 the arts
 promise of new political and economic order
echoed
in the arts
 new genre of novels, celebrate ordinary
people
 Henry Fielding Tom Jones (1749), Samuel
Richardson Pamela (1740–1741)
 Figaro
 fictional character, symbolizes challenge to the old
order
 protagonist in two French comedies by
Beaumarchais
 The Barber of Seville (1755), The Marriage of
Figaro (1784)
(cont’d)
An early nineteenth-century sketch
by Massimo Gauci of the character
of Figaro, as portrayed in a
performance of Beaumarchais’s
Marriage of Figaro at the King’s
Theatre in London in 1823.

(cont’d)
The Enlightenment (cont’d)
• three phases of the French Revolution
 1789–92, reformist
 stimulated by Louis XVI’s ruinous fiscal policies
 popular uprisings: assault on the Bastille
 king accepted new constitution
 1792–94
 1792, Austria and Prussia attacked France
 radical group declared France a republic
 king and queen executed
 Reign of Terror
 third phase: more moderate constitution sought

French Revolution – Storming of
the Bastille
Contemporary oil
painting of the fall of the
Bastille, July 14, 1789.
The citizens of Paris
stormed the old fortress,
a symbol of royal
authority, to obtain the
guns and ammunition
stored there and to
protect the new
municipal government
from attack by the king’s
forces. The action cost
almost one hundred
lives but demonstrated
the popular will for
revolutionary change.
The anniversary is now
celebrated as Bastille
Day, a French national
holiday.

(cont’d)
The Enlightenment
• Napoleon Bonaparte
 1799 became First Consul
of the Republic
 consolidated power,
crowned himself emperor,
1804
 expanded French
territories; ended Holy
Roman Empire
 defeat in 1814

From Baroque to Classic
 Aim of Classicism
• related to central ideas of Enlightenment
• renewed study of classical past
 architectural discoveries: Herculaneum (1738), Pompeii (1748)
 Realizations in the arts
• painter Jacques-Louis David
 featured morally uplifting themes from antiquity
 portrayed Napoleon in tradition of Roman Caesars
• sculptors: noble simplicity, calm grandeur
• lecture halls styled after Greek and Roman amphitheaters
• Royal Academy of Art in London (1768)

From Baroque to Classic (cont’d)
 Sensibilité (“sensibility”)
• rationalism tempered by sentimentality
 feeling is more important than reason in apprehension
of truth
 Rousseau celebrated nature and emotions in his writings
• Jean-Baptiste Greuze, painter
 themes of ordinary life
 depicted moral or pathetic subjects
• Jane Austen
 Sense and Sensibility embodies intellectual currents
of the age

The Place of Music in the Classic
Era
 Musical amateurs and connoisseurs
• amateurs bought music, publishers catered to them
 music to perform at home
• connoisseur: term coined early eighteenth century
 Sonatas for Connoisseurs and Amateurs, C. P. E. Bach (1779)
 Musical journals and histories
• catered to amateurs and connoisseurs
• first universal histories of music
 Charles Burney, A General History of Music (1776–89)

The Place of Music in the Classic
Era (cont’d)
 Public concerts
• new economy, private patronage declined
• affluent citizens emerge as modern audience
• Paris, Concert Spirituel: public concert series founded 1725
 Musical tastes and styles
• variety of styles coexisted
• distinctive traditions developed national form of opera
• preferred music: vocally conceived melody, short phrases, spare
accompaniment
 language of music should be universal
 preference for the “natural”

The Early Classic
Period: Opera and
Vocal Music
Chapter
15

Prelude
Musical life reflected international culture
• intellectuals and artists traveled widely
• importance of shared humanity and culture
• music thought to be “natural,” emulated from speech
• writers distinguished between learned and freer styles

General Characteristics of
the New Style
 Periodicity
• frequent resting points, segments relate to each other as parts of a larger
whole
• two- or four-measure phrases
• two or more phrases form a period
• composition: two or more periods in succession
 Musical rhetoric
• terminology of phrases and periods borrowed from rhetoric
• principles written by Heinrich Christoph Koch (1749–1816)
 treatise written for amateur composers
 components of musical phrase likened to subject and predicate

the New Style (cont’d)
 Harmony
• melody, phrases, periods: supported by harmony
• hierarchy of cadences
• less frequent harmonic change
 Alberti bass
• named for Italian composer Domenico Alberti
(ca. 1710–1746)
• arpeggiated underlying chords in simple repeating pattern

the New Style (cont’d)
 Form
• coherence, differentiation of material according to its function
• beginning, middle, or ending gesture; levels of relative strength
• distinctions clarify form
 Emotional contrasts
• new view of psychology
• deeper knowledge of human physiology, feelings constantly in flux
• composers introduced contrasting moods

Painting of a performance of an intermezzo, a short comic work given
between the acts of an opera seria. Venetian school, eighteenth
century.
Opera Buffa

Opera Buffa
 Opera buffa (comic opera)
• full-length work with six or seven characters, sung throughout
 plots entertained, served moral purpose
 centered on ordinary people
 caricatured foibles of aristocrats and commoners
 main plot revolved around serious characters
 stock characters resemble commedia dell’arte
 dialogue set in rapidly delivered recitative with continuo
 galant style arias
 Intermezzo
• two or three interludes performed between acts of a serious opera or
spoken play
 contrasted sharply with the principal drama
 comic plots, two or three people
 alternating recitatives and arias

Opera Buffa (cont’d)
 Intermezzo (cont’d)
• La serva padrona (The Maid as Mistress, 1733) by Giovanni Battista
Pergolesi (1710–1736)
 interlude to serious opera, 1733 Naples
 lightly scored, strings and continuo opera in miniature, only three characters
 Uberto (bass), rich bachelor
 his maid, Serpina (soprano)
 his mute valet, Vespone
 social hierarchy questioned
 Serpina declines Uberto’s marriage proposal (NAWM 107)
 dialogue in recitative, harpsichord accompaniment
 Uberto’s reactions: accompanied recitative (usually reserved for dramatic situations)
 many melodic ideas, shifting thoughts and moods
 stopping and starting in musical flow mimics indecision and confusion

 Opera in other languages
• comic-opera librettos written in the national tongue
• accentuated national musical idioms
• historical significance:
 reflected demand for simple, clear, “natural” singing
 anticipated trend toward musical nationalism

 Opéra comique (cont’d)
• French version of opera with spoken dialogue
• popular entertainment at suburban fairs
• almost entirely popular tunes, vaudevilles
• presence of Italian comic opera in 1750s
 opéra comiques with ariettes, mixed Italian-French styles
 vaudevilles gradually replaced by ariettes
 end of 1760s all music freshly composed
 spoken dialogue instead of recitative
• serious plots
 based on social issues before and during Revolution
 Belgian-born André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (1741–1813), leading French
opera composer; inaugurated vogue for “rescue” operas

 English ballad opera
• satirizes fashionable Italian opera
• popular tunes set to new words
• The Beggar’s Opera (1728, NAWM 109)
 German Singspiel
• success of English ballad opera inspired its revival
• librettists adapted English ballad operas
• translated or arranged French comic operas; provided new music
• Singspiel tunes published in German song collections
• Johann Adam Hiller (1728–1804), principal composer

Opera Seria
 Pietro Metastasio (1698–1782)
• dramas set to music hundreds of times; Gluck, Mozart
• court poet in Vienna, 1729
• heroic operas based on Greek or Latin tales
 present conflicts of human passions
 promote morality through entertainment
 models of merciful and enlightened rulers
 two pairs of lovers surrounded by other characters
 resolution of drama, deed of heroism

Opera Seria (cont’d)
 Alternating recitatives and arias
• recitatives develop action through dialogue
• aria: dramatic soliloquy by principal character
• occasional duets, few larger ensembles
• orchestra serves mainly to accompany
 Musical interest centered in the arias
• singers made demands on poets and composers
 added embellishments and cadenzas mere vocal displays
• da capo arias
 new features:
 succession of moods, variety of musical material
 ritornello may introduce material sung later

Opera Seria (cont’d)
 Musical interest centered in the arias (cont’d)
 vocal melody dominates, orchestra provides harmonic
support
 melodies in short units; antecedent and consequent
phrases
• Johann Adolf Hasse (1699–1783)
 great master of opera seria
 music and opera director, court of the elector of Saxony in
Dresden
 majority of operas use Metastasio librettos
 Digli ch’io son fedele (Tell him that I am faithful;
NAWM 108) from Cleofide (1731)

Opera Reform
 Changes reflected Enlightenment thought
• sought to make more “natural”
• more flexible structure, more expressive, less ornamented, varied musical
resources
• modified da capo aria, introduced other forms
 alternated recitatives and arias more flexibly
 greater use of obbligato recitative and ensembles
 orchestra more important
 reinstated choruses
 stiffened resistance to demands of solo singers

Opera Reform (cont’d)
 Changes reflected Enlightenment thought (cont’d)
• Niccolò Jommelli (1714–1774)
 composed 100 stage works; enjoyed great popularity
 cosmopolitan type of opera
• Tommaso Traetta (1727–1779)
 combined French tragédie lyrique and Italian opera seria; Ippolito ed Aricia
(1759)
 adapted Rameau’s libretto
 borrowed Rameau’s dance music and descriptive symphonies
 included a number of choruses

Opera Reform (cont’d)
 Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787)
• synthesis of French and Italian opera
• strongly affected by reform movement in 1750s
 resolve to remove abuses that had deformed Italian opera
 music serves the poetry, advances the plot
 overture: integral part of the opera
 lessen contrast between aria and recitative
• chorus of Furies in Act II of Orfeo
 music molded to the drama
 integrated chorus into the action
• Paris productions
 Iphigénie en Aulide (Iphigenia in Aulis, 1774); Armide (1777)
 balance of dramatic and musical interest
 models for immediate followers in Paris
 influenced nineteenth-century composers: Piccinni, Cherubini, Berlioz

The New World
 Opera slow to gain foothold in the New World
• little time for entertainment
• resources scarce, population scattered
• Puritans disdain for theater
 Spanish colonies
• theatrical productions at court
• La púrpura de la rosa (The Blood of the Rose; NAWM 90)
 first opera produced in the New World; Lima, Peru
 by Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco (1644–1728), most famous composer in the
Americas

The New World (cont’d)
 Puritans
• Calvinists’ worship centered on metrical psalm singing
• Bay Psalm Book (1640), first book published in North America
 ninth edition, thirteen melodies for singing psalms
 William Billings (1746–1800)
• New-England Psalm-Singer (1770)
 108 psalm and hymn settings, fifteen anthems and canons for chorus
• The Continental Harmony (1794)
 fuging tunes, Creation (NAWM 112)
 independence from standard rules of counterpoint
 Moravians
• German-speaking Protestants from Moravia, Bohemia, southern Germany
 embellished church service: concerted arias, motets in current styles

The Early Classic
Period:
Instrumental Music
Chapter
16

Prelude
 Opera idioms became pervasive in instrumental music
• easier to follow, more engaging; drama without words
 Instrumental music was entertainment for players and listeners
• composers please performers and audiences
• piano replaced the harpsichord and clavichord
• string quartet developed for social music-making
• sonata, concerto, symphony: deep roots in Baroque music

Sonata
 Compositional procedure or form
• most common form for first movements of sonata, chamber work, or
symphony
• first articulated by Heinrich Christoph Koch, German theorist
 first-movement form, expanded version of binary form
 Keyboard sonata
• growing demand by amateurs for music
• sonatas regarded as most challenging

Sonata (cont’d)
 Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757)
• original and creative keyboard composer
 1719, service of king of Portugal
 1729, Spanish court in Madrid
 isolated from musical mainstream
• composed 555 sonatas
 Essercizi (Exercises) (1738), thirty harpsichord
sonatas
 typically in balanced binary form
 standard index numbers by Ralph Kirkpatrick
 sonatas paired: same key, contrast in tempo, meter
or mood
• Sonata in D Major, K. 119 (ca. 1749)
 diversity of figuration
 evocations of Spanish music
Domenico Scarlatti, in a
portrait from about 1740 by
Domingo Antonio de
Velasco.

Symphony
 Italian origins, 1730
• Italian sinfonia, opera overture
 three-movement structure: fast-slow-fast
 played as independent pieces in concerts
• Baroque concerto
• orchestral suites
• trio sonatas
 Giovanni Battista Sammartini (ca. 1700–1775)
• Symphony in F Major, No. 32, Presto (ca. 1740) (NAWM 115)

Symphony (cont’d)
 Giovanni Battista Sammartini (ca. 1700–1775) (cont’d)
 scored for two violins, viola, bass line played by cellos,
bass viola, harpsichord and bassoon
 three contrasting movements, each relatively short
 first-movement form described by Koch
 Johann Stamitz (1717–1757), Bohemian composer
• composer for Mannheim orchestra
 internationally famous orchestra
 discipline and impeccable technique
 astonishing dynamic range; thrilled audiences
• first symphonist consistently following four-movement structure
 minuet and trio third movement
 strong contrasting second theme after modulation in first movement
• Sinfonia in E-flat Major (NAWM 116), mid-1750s
 larger scale than Sammartini

The Empfindsam Style
 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
• one of the most influential composers of his generation
 keyboard works: numerous and important
 Prussian Sonatas (1742), Württemberg Sonatas (1744); influenced later
composers
 last five sets written for pianoforte
 invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori, ca. 1700
 changes of dynamics through touch
• second movement of fourth in Sonaten für Kenner und Liebhaber
(Sonatas for Connoisseurs and Amateurs, composed in 1765)
 empfindsam style
 descending lines, appoggiaturas suggest sighs, melancholy mood
 multiplicity of rhythmic patterns: Scotch snaps, asymmetrical flourishes
 unexpected harmonic shifts
 abundant ornamentation, expressive

The Empfindsam Style (cont’d)
 Strum und Drang
• 1760s and 1770s, Empfindsamkeit reached its climax
• trend described as sturm und drang, “storm and stress”
 movement in German literature, relished irrational feelings

Concerto
 Johann Christian Bach (1735–1782)
• J. S. Bach’s youngest son
• first to compose keyboard concertos
• early adoption of the pianoforte in public
performance
• influenced eight-year-old Mozart
 Concerto for Harpsichord or Piano & Strings in E-flat
Major, Op. 7, No. 5, 1st mvt, by J. C. Bach (ca. 1770)
• elements of ritornello and sonata forms
 framed by ritornellos
 first ritornello presents principal themes in tonic key
 three episodes function as exposition, development,
recapitulation
 improvised cadenza played by soloist before final
ritornello
Johann Christian Bach,
J. S. Bach’s youngest
son, known as “the
London Bach,” in a
painting by the famous
English portrait artist
Thomas Gainsborough.

The Late
Eighteenth Century:
Haydn and Mozart
Chapter
17

Prelude
 Classicism reached its peak in late eighteenth century
• age of “enlightened” rulers, Joseph II (r. 1765–90)
• fostered atmosphere in cosmopolitan Vienna
 attracted artists and musicians from all over Europe
 music of Haydn and Mozart defines era
• Haydn and Mozart
 personal friends, admired and influenced each other
 both composed prolifically
 practicing musicians:
 Mozart: virtuoso pianist, highly efficient string player
 Haydn: fine violinist, conducted from the harpsichord
 lives and careers differed

 Classicism reached its peak in late eighteenth century (cont’d)
• Haydn
 born during J. S. Bach’s lifetime, lived to age
seventy-seven
 growth to artistic maturity much slower than Mozart
 worked loyally in service of noble Hungarian family
 found his models within local traditions in Vienna
• Mozart
 Mozart died at age thirty-five
 child prodigy, burned brightly for a few decades
 became a free agent in Vienna
 traveled widely, absorbed many styles and practices
Prelude (cont’d)

 Most celebrated composer of his day
• born in Rohrau, Austria; thirty miles outside Vienna
• choirboy at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna; studied
singing, harpsichord, violin
• 1761: Esterházy patronage, prodigious rate of
composition
• publications: fame throughout Europe
• 1790–95 extended trips to London
• 1795 return to Vienna
• ambitious entrepreneur, hailed during his lifetime
• major works: 104 symphonies, 20 concertos, 68
string quartets, 29 keyboard trios, 126 baryton trios,
47 keyboard sonatas, 15 operas, 12 masses, oratorios,
numerous other chamber works
Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)

 Music at Eszterháza
• Esterházys: powerful Hungarian noble family
• spent nearly thirty years at court of Prince Paul Anton Esterházy, and
brother Nikolaus
• Eszterháza: remote country estate built to rival Palace of Versailles
 two theaters, two large music rooms
 duties: compose, conduct, train, and supervise music personnel, keep instruments
in repair
• Haydn built up orchestra to twenty-five players
• weekly concerts, operas for special occasions
• daily chamber sessions with the prince; Nikolaus played baryton
• kept abreast of current developments
 distinguished visitors
 occasional trips to Vienna; 1784 met Mozart
Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
(cont’d)

 Haydn’s style
• highly individual, drew on many sources
 folk, galant, empfindsam, and learned Baroque styles
• music appealing, conventions mixed with the unexpected
• musical wit and humor; evocations of the sublime
 Compositional process
• began by improvising at keyboard
• worked out ideas at keyboard and on paper
• wrote down main melody and harmony; finally to complete score
• process combined spontaneity and calculation
Haydn’s Instrumental Works

 Symphonies
• “Father of the symphony”: set pattern for later composers
 high quality, wide dissemination, lasting appeal
 wrote over 100 symphonies, most composed for Prince Esterházy’s orchestra
 ca. 1768 Haydn led orchestra while playing the violin
 1780s (Nos. 82–87), Paris Symphonies
 commission for concert series in Paris
 last twelve (Nos. 93–104), London symphonies
 for concert series organized by impresario Johann Peter Salomon
 best-known symphonies have acquired names
(cont’d)

 Symphonies (cont’d)
• Symphonic form
 3-movements (fast, slow, fast)
 derived from Italian opera overture (sinfonia)
 1760s established 4-mvt pattern, standard for the Classical era
 Allegro (fast, sonata form, often with slow introduction)
 Andante moderato (slow movement)
 Minuet and Trio
 Allegro (fast finale, sonata or rondo form)
(cont’d)

• first-movement form compared to a drama
 presents set of sympathetic characters; involves them in interesting plot
(exposition)
 introduces complications (development)
 resolves resulting tension in satisfying way (recapitulation)
 unfolds through alternating stable and unstable periods
 stable periods: first, second, and closing theme groups
 tonic, or closely related key; balanced 4-measure phrases, clear cadences
 string and winds present thematic ideas
 unstable passages: transition and development
 full orchestra, bustling rhythmic energy, sequences, modulatory twists and turns,
overlapping phrases, avoidance of cadences
 slow introductions usually unstable, create suspenseful mood (NAWM 119a)
 Symphony No. 88 in G Major (1787) illustrates common features
(cont’d)

• exposition
 reiterates opening statement with destabilizing turn
 transition or bridge to dominant or relative minor
 second thematic section: more lightly scored, melodically distinctive
 closing section: full orchestra, cadential, repetitive, vigorous figure
• development
 rarely new thematic ideas
 often begins with restatement of opening subject
 motives from exposition combined, superimposed, extended, manipulated
 abrupt changes of subject, digressions, sudden silences
 enriched through use of counterpoint
(cont’d)

• recapitulation
 onset dramatized by extended dominant pedal
 opening statement frequently rescored or extended in new ways, e.g.
counterpoint
 all material in tonic
• second movement
 oasis of calm, gentle mood
 contrasts drama and complexity of first movement
 often sonata form without repeats, Largo of Symphony No. 88 (NAWM 119b)
(cont’d)

• Minuet and trio
 shorter in length, popular in style, easy to follow form
 pair of stylized minuets, creates ABA form
 minuet itself in binary or rounded-binary form
 trio: possible change of mode, shorter, lighter orchestration
 Haydn often introduced humor, Symphony No. 88
• finale
 buildup of tension, climax, and release
 faster, shorter than first movement
 favored rondo finales (ABACABA)
 some are sonata rondos, Symphony No. 88
(cont’d)

 Haydn’s symphonic compositions
• 1768–72 mature technique
 longer, rhythmically complex, contrapuntal, more dramatic
 richer harmonic palette, extremes and contrasts in dynamics style
 symphonies in minor keys
 emotional, agitated character: Sturm und Drang (“storm and stress”)
• 1773–88 embraced popular style
 more cheerful style, influenced by his comic operas
 appealing but serious, stirring, and impressive
 Symphony No. 56 in C Major (1774): festive, broader emotional range
(cont’d)

 Haydn’s symphonic compositions (cont’d)
• 1780s composed for the public
 sold works to patrons and publishers abroad
 ensemble: flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, and strings, sometimes
trumpets and timpani
 Paris Symphonies 1785–86, (Nos. 82–87); Symphonies Nos. 88–92 (1787–88)
 combination of popular and learned styles
 deep expression, masterful technique
• 1791–95 London Symphonies (Nos. 93–104)
 commissioned by Johann Peter Salomon
 greatest symphonic achievements
 daring harmonies, intensified rhythmic drive, memorable thematic inventions
 expanded orchestra: trumpets, timpani, and clarinets; brilliant orchestration
(cont’d)

 Haydn’s symphonic compositions (cont’d)
• special effects
 Surprise Symphony (No. 94): sudden fortissimo in slow movement
 Symphony No. 103: folklike melodies
 Symphony No. 104: imitation of bagpipes
 Military Symphony (No. 100): “Turkish” band effects
 Symphony No. 101 (The Clock): ticking accompaniment in Andante
(cont’d)

 String quartets
• first great master of the genre
• primarily music for amateurs
• evolution of sixty-eight quartets parallels symphonies
 early mastery, increasing length and emotional depth, individual late works
• composed and published in groups of six
• Op. 9 (ca. 1770), 17 (1771), and 20 (1772)
 established same 4-movement pattern as symphony
 sometimes reversed second and third movements
 unique strategies
 one quartet in each set in minor key (Sturm and Drang)
 Op. twenty quartets end with fugues (transcends fashionable galant style)
(cont’d)

 String quartets (cont’d)
• Op. 33 (1781)
 lighthearted, witty, and tuneful
 minuets titled scherzo (Italian for “joke”
or “trick”)
 tricks on courtly dance, breaking metrical
pattern
 Op. 33, No. 2, Presto (NAWM 118b)
 humor pervades whole movement, plays
with expectations
 rests in coda, “refuses” to end
(cont’d)
Table for playing string quartets, from about
1790. With the tabletop (in the background)
removed and the music racks raised (as
shown here), the four players face one
another, ideally positioned to listen to each
other and engage in the “conversation” that
string-quartet playing was thought to embody.

 String quartets (cont’d)
• later years: thirty-four quartets; Op. 76 (ca. 1797)
 new approach, genre for concert performance
 expanded harmonic vocabulary, foreshadows Romantic harmony
 minuets full of satirical features
 juxtaposition of serious and jocular, artful and folklike, complex and simple
(cont’d)

 Keyboard sonatas
• early keyboard sonatas intended for harpsichord; limited changes in dynamics
• later keyboard sonatas: expressive features suggest pianoforte
• piano sonatas follow development in symphonies and quartets
• written for amateurs, private enjoyment
• 3-movement structure (fast-slow-fast)
• character: intimate, sentimental feelings
(cont’d)

 Opera at Eszterháza
• arranged, prepared, conducted seventy-five operas by other composers
• fifteen Italian operas, mostly comic
 three serious operas, Armida (1784) most successful
• successful in their day; rarely produced now
 Masses: last six (1796–1802)
• composed for Esterházy princess
• large-scale, festive works
 four solo vocalists, chorus, and full orchestra with trumpets and timpani
• traditional elements: contrapuntal writing, choral fugues
• modern operatic and symphonic elements
Haydn’s Vocal Works

 Oratorios: The Creation (1798), The Seasons (1801)
• inspired by Handel’s Messiah
• issued in German and English
• finest examples of pictorial description in music
 “Depiction of Chaos” in The Creation: disturbing, dissonant harmonies (NAWM
120)
• evoke awe and astonishment: sublime
Haydn’s Vocal Works (cont’d)

 One of the greatest musicians of the Western classical
tradition
• born in Salzburg; son of court composer and violinist, Leopold
Mozart
• early training from Leopold
• toured Europe with sister Nannerl
 exhibited skills as child prodigies
 composed at prodigious rate
• 1781 moved to Vienna, freelance musician
• 1782 marriage to Constanze Weber, two sons live to adulthood
• income: private and public performances, publications, teaching
• over 600 compositions, catalogued by Ludwig von Köchel in 1862
• major works: 20 operas, 17 masses, Requiem, 55 symphonies, 23
piano concertos, 15 other concertos, 26 string quartets, 19 piano
sonatas, numerous other works
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756–1791)

 Formative years
• taught by his father, Leopold
 well-regarded composer; author of violin treatise (1756)
• through travels exposed to every kind of music
 Paris: keyboard works of Johann Schobert
(ca. 1735–1767)
 simulated orchestra effects in harpsichord writing
 London: met J. C. Bach
 music influenced his concertos
 Italy: assimilated traditions of opera seria
 studied counterpoint with Padre Martini in Bologna
 Vienna: contact with Haydn’s music
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756–1791) (cont’d)

 Search for employment outside Salzburg
• 1777, traveled with mother through Germany and Paris
 mother died in Paris, July 1788
• commission and production of Idomeneo (1781) in Munich
 influence of Gluck and French tragédie lyrique
 Piano music
• thirteen piano sonatas, concert repertory
• several sets of variations, intended for pupils
• Ah, vous dirais-je mamn, K. 265 (300e)
• K. 279 through K. 284, published together
• K. 310 (300d): first minor-key sonata; Schobert influence
• K. 331 (300i): notable first movement and finale
• “alla turca” imitates Janissary music
Mozart’s Salzburg Years

 Other instrumental music
• 1770s and early 1780s, serenades and divertimentos
• composed for garden parties and other outdoor performances
 Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music, K. 525; 1787)
• notable compositions: Violin Concertos K. 216, 218, and 219; Piano
Concerto K. 271
Mozart’s Salzburg Years (cont’d)

 Freelancing
• Vienna fastest-growing and largest German-speaking city
• Mozart idolized as pianist and composer
 Seventy-one public and private performances as soloist
• Die Entführung aus dem Serail: success, repeated performances
• teaching: amateur pianists, talented composition students
• chamber music composer to Emperor Joseph II
• 1788–90: economic and political instability in Vienna, decline in music
patronage
Mozart’s Vienna Years

 Mature style
• extraordinary synthesis of form and content
 galant and learned styles
 polish and charm with emotional depth
• principal influences
 friendship with Haydn, intense study of his works
 Baron Gottfried van Swieten: works of J. S. Bach and Handel
 Solo piano works
• style exemplified: Sonata in F Major, K. 332, First movement (1781–83)
(NAWM 121)
Mozart’s Vienna Years (cont’d)

 Solo piano works (cont’d)
 themes: songlike (Italian influence)
 sonata form: contrasts define formal sections
 unparalleled skill using diverse styles
 galant homophony, learned counterpoint, intense Sturm und Drang

 Chamber works
• string quartets published in 1785
 dedicated to Haydn, known as Haydn quartets
 Italianate tunefulness
 more thorough development, increasing contrapuntal texture
• String Quintets in C Major (K. 515) and G Minor
(K. 516) (1787):
 comparable to last two symphonies in same keys
• Clarinet Quintet in A Major (K. 581)
 same comic spirit as opera buffa

 Symphonies
• nearly fifty early symphonies: “curtain raisers”
• Vienna years: six mature symphonies
 Haffner Symphony, K. 385 (1782)
 Linz Symphony, K. 425 (1783)
 Prague Symphony, K. 504 (1786)
 Symphony in E-flat Major, K. 543 (1788)
 Symphony in G Minor, K. 550 (1788)
 Jupiter Symphony in C Major, K. 551(1788)

• each is masterpiece with special character
 Haffner and Jupiter: begin with loud, forceful tutti statements
 Symphony in G Minor opens piano, sighing gestures
 Jupiter: borrowed melody of comic aria
• slow introductions create suspense
• finales: counterweight to opening movement
 Jupiter Symphony (NAWM 123)
 sonata form with learned counterpoint and fugue
 opening theme: contrasting ideas; contrapuntal, homophonic
 coda: 5-voice fugue using all thematic motives
 integration of galant style, his own rhetoric, and fugal style: sublime

 Piano concertos
• seventeen piano concertos written in Vienna
• vehicles for his own concerts: showpieces to dazzle audience
 balance between orchestral and solo portions
• traditional 3-mvt. pattern (fast-slow-fast)
• 1st mvt: J .C. Bach model (NAWM 122); blend of ritornello and sonata-
rondo
 Piano Concerto in A Major, K. 488 (1786) (NAWM 122)

 Piano concertos (cont’d)
 J. C. Bach style:
 solo sections resemble sonata form
 opening orchestral ritornello first theme, transition, second theme, and closing
theme in tonic
 abbreviated ritornello marks end of solo and the movement
 individual features:
 cadenza interrupts final ritornello
 full orchestra passages punctuate long solo sections
 transition material used for later ritornellos
 2nd mvt: resembles lyrical aria, usually in subdominant
 form varies: sonata without development, variations, or rondo
 3rd mvt: finale
 cadenzas balance longer modulatory or development sections

 Operas
• opera: most prestigious musical genre
• fame established in Vienna
 Singspiel Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the
Seraglio, 1782)
 “Turkish” style: “oriental” settings and plots were popular

 Operas (cont’d)
• Italian comic operas
Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro, 1786), Don Giovanni (Don
Juan, 1787), Cosi fan tutte (All Women Behave That Way, 1790)
librettos by Lorenzo da Ponte (1749–1838)
 raised opera buffa conventions to a higher level
 greater depth of characters, intensified social tensions between classes, introduced
moral issues
 comic opera with serious characters
 character portrayals: solo arias, duets, trios, and larger ensembles
 finales: combined realism with dramatic action
 orchestration (especially use of winds) defines characters and situations

• Don Giovanni
 premiered in Prague
 Mozart and da Ponte take Don Juan character
seriously
 merging of two genres, opening scene
 Leporello: opera buffa-style aria
 Donna Anna and Don Giovanni: dramatic opera-seria
style
 Commendatore mortally wounded, shocking event for a
comedy
 three levels of characters displayed in music
 Donna Anna and other nobles: elevated, dramatic tone of
opera seria
 Leporello and other lower-class characters: buffoonery of
opera buffa
 Don Giovanni: passes between both styles

• Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute, 1792), Singspiel
 first great German opera, spoken dialogue
 symbolic meaning: teachings and ceremonies of Freemasonry
 blend of musical styles and traditions

 Church music
• sacred compositions not among his major works
• Requiem, K. 626
 anonymous commission
 Mozart superstitiously thought he was writing his own Requiem
 unfinished, completed by his pupil and collaborator Franz Xaver Süssmayr
(1766–1803)

WK 10 & 11 - 18th Century, Early Classical Period Opera, VOcal, Instrumental.ppt

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