Chapter 11 The Art of the Natural

Thursday, February 7, 13

Classical Era• the label “Classical” applied after the period

• historians viewed this period as a “golden age” of music

• Classical also can refer to the period of ancient Greece and Rome

• Various “classical” periods share aesthetic traits:

- balance

- proportion

- clarity

- naturalness

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Classical Era

• classical era prefers:

- understatement to overstatement

- clarity to obscurity

• see Bonds p. 298-299

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Music and the Idea of Nature

• aesthetic of Classical era is rooted in:

- ideas about nature

- difference between nature and art

- natural and artificial

• appeal of nature and the natural created a climate in which the ornate gave way to the simple

• preference for natural over excessively artful (or artificial)

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Music and the Idea of Nature

• emphasis shifted from musical expression of affect inherent in a poetic, dramatic or religious text to a more straightforward, natural representation of passions

• In 1737, Scheibe (music critic) said J.S. Bach’s music was “turgid” and “confused”(Bonds p. 299)

• Johann Mattheson criticizes Bach for his text setting “I, I, I, I had much grief, I had much grief, in my heart, in my heart. ...” (see Bonds p. 299)

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Bach’s cantata Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis,

(BWV 21)

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Music and the Idea of Nature

• “By the time [ J. S.] Bach died, even his sons viewed his music as old-fashion. It was too ornate, too elaborate - in a word, too artful.” (Bonds p. 299)

• For the Classical era, genius must be combined with technique to make enduring art (Bonds p. 300).

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Music and the Idea of Nature

NATURE (genius) vs. ART (technique)

• Inspiration

• Unconscious

• Effortlessness

• Divine

• Not teachable

• Craft

• Conscious

• Hard work

• Human

• Teachable

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Music and the Idea of Nature

• Boston composer William Billings said:

- “It must be Nature, Nature must lay the Foundation, Nature must inspire the Thought.” (Bonds p. 300)

• Haydn distinguishes between the natural invention of a tune and the artificial working out of the melody

- “I ... began to fantasize, according to whether my mood was sad or happy... Once I seized an idea, my entire effort went toward elaborating ... it according to the rules of art...” (Bonds p. 300)

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When to begin the Classical Period?

• some start as early as 1720 others start as late as 1780

• Classical era: 1750-1800

- alternately 1750-1820 & 1750-1827

• there is an overlap of style traits during the 1700s

- basso continuo continues through the Classical period in sacred music and secco recitative (including opera)

- dense contrapuntal textures continue into the Classical period

- strong tonal progressions underpin the music of the Baroque and Classical periods

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Harmony as a structural principle.

To illustrate the importance of harmony within even the most

contrapuntal structures, Kirnberger reduces the B-minor fugue from Book I of J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier to a series of harmonic progressions.

(see Bonds p. 302)

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Music in the Classical Era The Elements of Classical Style

• emergence of genuine homophony

• obbligato accompaniment: secondary voices contribute material essential to the musical fabric of a work

• periodic phrase structure

• slowing of harmonic rhythm

• move from paratactic forms to syntactic forms (forms based on a small number of themes)

- moving from A B C D E type forms to ABA or A B A C A type forms (persistent use and development of a single idea)

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Music in the Classical Era The Elements of Classical Style

• homophony features a single melody line supported by subordinate voices

• For example Haydn Piano Sonata in Cm, I

- the upper line is most important melodically

- the melody is supported in parallel by a second, but less important voice

- the bass mostly provides harmonic support and rhythmic propulsion

Thursday, February 7, 13

Music in the Classical Era The Elements of Classical Style

• obbligato accompaniment: secondary voices contribute material essential to the musical fabric of a work

• Haydn String Quartet in C, Op. 33, No. 3

- Violin 1 has primary melody

- Vln. 2, Vla, and Cello move from pure accompaniment (mm. 1-3) to real secondary lines (mm. 4-6)

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Music in the Classical Era The Elements of Classical Style

• Periodic Phrase Structure

• we’ve seen this type of phrase structure in dance music from Renaissance and the Baroque

• J.C. Bach Sonata in D, Op. 5, No 2, I

- mm. 19-42 divide up into 4-bar phrases that group into a series of 2-phrase periods

- these periods have an antecedent-consequent type phrase structure

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Music in the Classical Era The Elements of Classical Style

• Tonic keys to provide formal stability in the Classical period

• Baroque period pieces use keys in a far more superficial way. They tend to “wander” from key to key.

• Classic period pieces use keys in a more structural way. They use a tight network of keys to help articulate the form at play.

• compare the Aria of the Goldberg Variations to Haydn String Quartet in C, mvmt. IV

- Bach gives us only a relatively brief return to G major (even includes a brief turn toward C)

- Haydn gives us multiple sections solidly in C Major

- Haydn’s use of the tonic key provides formal clarity

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Bach Goldberg Variations

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Comparing the Baroque Style to Classical Style

• See Bonds p. 314 for a full table of comparisons

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Music in the Classical Era The Illusion of Order

• contrasting levels operate in music: surface may seem orderly and straightforward, yet below surface music is turbulent and unpredictable

• music abounds with irregularity, humor, irony

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Music in the Classical Era The Illusion of Order

•Fragonard, The Pleasant Dangers of the Swing (1766)

•Bonds says: it appears show an orderly scene of orderly playfulness but with an undercurrent of sexual tension (p. 304)

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The original title page from Mozart’s Musical Joke.

In this sextet, Mozart lampoons many of the conventions of Classical style. The part writing is intentionally faulty at times,

rhythms and harmonies are displaced and the closing fugue never quite gets off the ground.

(see Bonds p. 304)

Music in the Classical Era The Illusion of Order

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Form and Style in the Mid-18th Century

• hallmarks of the Classical style emerged as early as the 1720s becoming increasingly evident around the middle of the 18th century

• Preclassical, galant, rococo, and Empfindsamkeit (sensibility) have been used to describe the music of the early 1700s that already show traits of the incoming Classical style

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Form and Style in the Mid-18th Century The emergence of Sonata Form

• most important formal innovation of Classical era was sonata form

• applies to organization of individual movements in a variety of genres including sonatas, symphonies and quartets

• See Bonds p. 306 for general Sonata form diagram

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Form and Style in the Mid-18th Century The emergence of Sonata Form

• essentially expanded binary form that modulates within first reprise and usually involves more than one theme

• first reprise is called exposition

• exposition exposes thematic ideas that will be manipulated in the second reprise

Thursday, February 7, 13

Form and Style in the Mid-18th Century The emergence of Sonata Form

• Exposition begins with one or more themes in a primary key area (P or Th-1), followed by a transitional (T or Trans) modulation to one or more themes in a secondary key area (S or Th-2)

• Development: first part of second reprise

- develops thematic ideas of the exposition

• Recapitulation: second part of second reprise

- balances development with stability and predictability

• some conclude with a Coda (from cauda, tail in Latin)

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Form and Style in the Mid-18th Century The emergence of Sonata Form

• Constant elements of Sonata Form:

- modulation from primary to secondary key area in exposition

- departure from these harmonic areas in development

- simultaneous return of opening idea and the primary key area in recapitulation

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Form and Style in the Mid-18th Century The emergence of Sonata Form

• Early Sonata forms

• mix of Baroque and Classical tendencies

• Georg Matthias Monn Symphony in B (ca. 1740), first movement

- early sonata form

- balanced 4-bar phrases

- Exposition: two themes in contrasting keys

- Development: Th-1a developed in closely related keys (F# and C#m)

- Recapitulation: Th-1 and Th-2 back firmly in the Key of B

- Baroque traits remain:

- sequence a great deal (mm. 9-15)

- harpsichord with a continuo-like part

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Form and Style in the Mid-18th Century The emergence of Sonata Form

• Domenico Scarlatti Sonata in D (K. 492)

- one movement keyboard sonata that does not use sonata form (no recap)

- typical of Scarlatti to use a binary form

- mix of Baroque and Classical traits

- Baroque traits:

- virtuosic runs (mm. 36-38; 40-42)

- sequential passages (mm. 10-16, 36-42)

- Classical traits:

- periodic phrase structure (mm. 1-8)

- slow harmonic rhythm (mm. 1-4 are I ____ ii6 V7 I __ )

- significant use of homophonic texture (mm. 20-25; 43-53)

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Form and Style in the Mid-18th Century The emergence of Sonata Form

• Johann Stamitz Symphony in D, Op. 3, No. 2, first movement (ca. 1752-55)

- use a blend of Ritornello form and Sonata form

- Expo: Th-1 in D ... trans. ... Th-2 in A

- Dev: fragments of Th-1 plus a retrans. (mm. 82-86) to set up Recap

- Recap: Th-2 returns first followed by Th-1 but in the tonic key

• Written for the orchestra at the court of Mannheim. They were well know for their virtuosic ensemble playing. (see Bonds p. 309)

Thursday, February 7, 13

Form and Style in the Mid-18th Century The emergence of Sonata Form

• by 1760s, sonata form established as structural framework for first movements of most instrumental works and for some slow movements and many finales

Thursday, February 7, 13

Form and Style in the Mid-18th Century The emergence of Sonata Form

• J.C. Bach Sonata in D, Op. 5, No. 2, first movement

- shows a strong sonata form

- note the Alberti bass mm. 3-4

- homophonic texture

- balanced 4-bar phrases (antecedent-consequent phrase structure)

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Form and Style in the Mid-18th Century The Fantasia

• genre without formal conventions

• typically lacks a central theme around which the work as a whole is organized

• often opening with rhapsodic, quasi-improvisatory flourishes on triad

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Form and Style in the Mid-18th Century The Fantasia

• C.P.E. Bach Fantasia in Cm

- originally published as the finale a keyboard sonata

- this fantasia has no fixed form and lacks a single theme

- part of the German literary movement called Empfindsamkeit (sensibility or expressivity)

- Empfindsamkeit refers to an awareness and empathy for the experience of others

- See Bonds p. 313

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