Unit XI: Classical Chamber Music

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Unit XI Classical Chamber Music

• Chapter 32 -Eighteenth-Century Chamber Music Style

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Overview

• Chamber Music is for small ensembles (2-10), one
  player to a part (Orchestral literature may have
  2 to 18 players on a part.).
• Named because of its suitability to the intimate
  domain of the salon. Its character is likewise
  intimate and refined.

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Overview

• Drama is inward.
• Unlike the virtuosity of solo performance,
  chamber music is a team effort (a conversation
  among equals).
• Classical Era is the Golden Age of Chamber Music,
  established by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and
  Schubert.

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Types of compositions

• Divertimento, Notturno (night music), Cassation -
  18th Century musak.
• 2-, 3-, and 4-movement sonata cycles, dependent
  on the ensemble and the composer. Solo and duo
  sonatas tended to be 3-movement (sometimes only
  2) cycles, while the string quartet used the
  4-movement cycle as a norm.

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String Quartet

• Dominant position held by the string quartet
• 1st and 2nd violins, viola, cello
• 4-movement sonata cycle
• Since this combination lacks contrasting tonal
  colors, it tends to be a very cerebral musical
  genre. Some of the last quartets of all of the
  Viennese School contain their most profound
  musical utterances.

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String Quartet Composers

• Haydn
• Dense musical textures based on the development
  of motives
• Much use of folk elements
• Mozart
• Lyrical and relaxed
• Exhude the elegance of court dances

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String Quartet Composers

• Beethoven
• Expanded the architecture of the genre through
  motivic development
• Rousing scherzos replace the minuet
• Schubert
• Included the element of song

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Other Instrumental Combinations

• duo sonata - piano and violin piano and cello
• trio - piano, violin and cello
• quintet - combinations of winds or strings
• string quartet and a solo instrument (piano or
  clarinet)
• Larger groups - sextet, septet, octet, etc.