Music History II

1
Music History II

• Lecture Notes 1
• (continued)

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When is music classical?

• A classic is any work of enduring value
• Basic features of a musical classic Balance
  Proportion Clarity Naturalness

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Art vs. Nature

• Simple vs. Ornate
• Bach too artificial
• Express passions in a natural way
• Music less elaborate
• A place for both Genius (nature) Technique (art)

• From the composer
• Billings art a servant to genius
• Haydn the heart inspires
• Mozart genius and technique go hand in hand

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Why 1750?

• A compromise between two extremes 1720s/1780s
• Regional differences mixture of styles
• Attitudes toward music changed at the end
• The composer as professional musician
• The role of music in society

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Elements of Classical Style

• Homophony (focus on melody)
• Counterpoint still viable
• Obbligato accompaniment
• Periodic phrase structure
• Emphasis on syntactic design
• Harmonic rhythm slower
• Tonic-dominant polarity

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Some examples

• The Pleasant Dangers of the Swing
• Haydns String Quartet in C Major, Op. 33
• Mozarts Piano Concerto in E?, K. 271
• Haydns Symphony No. 103 in E?

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Empfindsamkeit

• sensibility (attuned to nuance and detail)

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Sonata Form

• Exposition Intro of themes and movement from
  home key to the secondary key
• Development Work the thematic ideas while moving
  through several keys
• Recapitulation Return to original themes but
  with second theme now in the home key
• Coda (optional) to strengthen home key

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Monns Symphony

• What is your take on it? Melody Harmony
  Rhythm Texture Structure

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Scarlattis Sonata

• Pure sonata form? What do you say?

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The Orchestra at Mannheim

• An army of generals (Burney)
• Schubart imagines thunder (its forte), a
  waterfall (its crescendo), a distant brook (its
  diminuendo), a breath of spring (its piano)
• And the scholarly Riemann commended the
  composers for their forward looking orchestra
  scoring

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The Design of Choice

• Sonata form became the exclusive design for the
  1st movement of nearly every instrumental
  composition by the 1760s

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J. C.s Sonata

• A typical example?
• Why was he so fond of the Alberti Bass?

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The Bach Boys

• OK, lets hear it for the two famous sons of
  Johann Sebastian

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Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)

• Son of J. S. and Maria Barbara
• Eventually more popular than his father
• Could not succeed his father at St. Thomas
• Prolific composer of church music, 200works for
  harpsichord, 50 concertos, 18 symphonies, many
  chamber works, 2 oratorios, 22 Passions
• Burney considered him among the greatest of all
  composers

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Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782)

• Son of J. S. and Anna Magdelena
• Lived in Milan before moving to London
• His compositions for amateurs became very popular
• Composed works in almost all genre
• Introduced Mozart and his father to musicians and
  patrons in London in 1764-1765

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Fantasia in c minor

• What is structural analysis?
• Tonic harmony for a whole page?
• The Largo key?

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Baroque Classical

• Style two
• Text word focus
• Texture both types
• Rhythm simple and complex
• Melody virtuosic embellished

• modern conservative
• natural declamation
• mainly homophonic
• periodic phrase design
• lyrical, in regular phrases

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Baroque Classical

• Harmony gradually more tonal, freer with
  dissonance, more attention to vertical sonorities
• Form both kinds
• Instruments increase in idiomatic writing

• Solidly tonal, slower harmonic rhythm, controlled
  dissonance, tonic/dominant polarity
• Mainly syntactic
• Fully idiomatic modern orchestra becomes standard