(DK) The Classical Music Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained

MUSIC
THE END AND FINAL AIM OF ALL
























SHOULD BE NONE OTHER THAN THE

GLORY OF GOD










ST. MATTHEW PASSION (1727),


JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH



























US_098-105_JS_Bach_Passion.indd 99 26/03/18 1:00 PM

100 HIGH BAROQUE RELIGIOUS CHORAL MUSIC


the final development of the used it to control the flow of their
IN CONTEXT Baroque aesthetic known work by modulating between
T as the High Baroque was different keys. Increasingly complex
FOCUS underway by around 1680. The new counterpoint, combining distinct
High Baroque religious tonal system, in which music was melodic lines, one of the defining
choral music
built from notes forming major and characteristics of Baroque music,
BEFORE minor scales, was fixed by this was employed to create vivid
1471 The Flemish composer time, and High Baroque composers dramatic effects; coupled with
Jacob Obrecht writes a Passio such as Johann Sebastian Bach incisive rhythmic features, the
secundum Matthaeum music achieved an unprecedented
(Matthew Passion). The Crucifixion, often depicted in emotional power.
Renaissance art, as here by the German In earlier periods, vocal art
1620s In Rome, Giacomo painter Lucas Cranach the Elder, music had been preeminent; now
Carissimi produces oratorios became a subject for composers, too, increasing interest in instrumental
on Old Testament subjects to as music grew ever more descriptive. music offered composers another
satisfy the demand for operatic
entertainment during Lent.
1718 Handel composes
the first version of Esther,
about the Old Testament
queen. Eventually, in 1732,
this piece would be revised
into the first English oratorio.
AFTER
1829 Felix Mendelssohn
conducts the Berlin premier
of the St. Matthew Passion—a
key moment in the revival of
interest in Bach’s music.

1846 Mendelssohn premieres
his oratorio Elijah, depicting
the life of the Prophet Elijah.
1850 The Bach–Gesellschaft
is formed in Leipzig by Moritz
Hauptmann (Cantor of the
Thomaskirche), Otto Jahn
(a biographer of Mozart),
and the composer Robert
Schumann, in order to publish
the complete works of Bach.
1963–1966 Polish composer
Krzysztof Penderecki writes
the St. Luke Passion, an atonal
orchestral-choral setting of the
Passion story.








US_098-105_JS_Bach_Passion.indd 100 26/03/18 1:00 PM

BAROQUE 1600–1750 101

See also: Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott 78–79 ■ The Art of Fugue 108–111 ■
Elijah 170–173 ■ The Dream of Gerontius 218–219


dramatic resource. Breaking the Many of the genres heard in choral
bounds of pure accompaniment, music of this time are the same as
the ever-more prominent orchestra those found in secular music. As
could play a far more varied and church composers were required
expressive role, which helped to to write music for more than 60
fuel the popularity of Baroque services a year, it was not unusual
opera. This tended to flourish in for them to remodel secular pieces,
mercantile centers, where wealthy as Johann Sebastian Bach did
individuals joined the nobility to (1685–1750) when writing his
enjoy the spectacle, offering rich Christmas Oratorio (1734–1735).
opportunities for composers such
as George Frideric Handel. Most Evolving choral genres
citizens, however, experienced the During the High Baroque period, Johann Sebastian Bach
new musical developments during the form of the Mass in north
church services. Germany evolved from the Born in Eisenach, Germany,
prima pratica (“first practice”), in 1685, Bach was the most
Dramatizing church music characterized by a polyphonic prominent of a long line of
Composers soon realized that the setting of the most important musicians. Taught music first
operatic techniques and music parts of the church service (Kyrie, by his father, then his brother,
that infused classical myths with Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei) Bach was appointed as a court
contemporary relevance could with a choir and an instrumental musician in Weimar on leaving
serve liturgical purposes equally, accompaniment, into a much school in 1703. His reputation
bringing life to the biblical texts, grander entity. This was due as an outstanding keyboard
which many in the congregation partly to the influence of Italian player quickly spread. He had
soon written the first of more
could not themselves read. Since traditions, which, after 1712, Bach than 200 cantatas.
operas were not permitted to be encountered through the music of In 1717, Bach moved to
staged during the six weeks of Antonio Vivaldi. The orchestra Köthen to take up a postion as
Lent, composers would present grew in size and, especially with Kapellmeister and wrote many
performances of oratorios on obbligato (essential, fully written) instrumental works, including
biblical themes instead. accompaniments, made a much the Brandenburg Concertos.
greater musical contribution. Solo In 1723, he took up his last
voices were also more common. post as cantor of St. Thomas
Bach wrote five Masses, but Church in Leipzig, where he
the B minor Mass (1749) stands remained until his death in
apart as one of the most important 1750 at the age of 65. During
works in the Western music canon. this period, he became the
Not “brook” [in German: It was written at the end of his life preeminent composer of High
Bach], but “sea” should he and unperformed before his death. Baroque music, with a skill
be called because of his Unusually for the Lutheran tradition, for counterpoint that has
infinite, inexhaustible richness it presents a complete setting of arguably never been equalled.
in tone combinations the Latin Ordinary in 25 separate
and harmonies. movements over some two hours. Other key works
Ludwig van Beethoven Although on the wane by this
period, the motet (sacred verses set 1723–1732 Six Motets,
BWV 225–231
to music) was still an important 1733 Magnificat, BWV 243
choral genre, particularly in France, 1749 Mass in B minor,
where two distinct styles had BWV 232
been established. The petits ❯❯





US_098-105_JS_Bach_Passion.indd 101 26/03/18 1:00 PM

102 HIGH BAROQUE RELIGIOUS CHORAL MUSIC


Oratorio Oratorio versus Opera Opera


Plots are inspired by
Takes religious text as
its subject matter. stirring myths, history,
and literature.




Performed as musical
Performed as a concert theatre, with sets,
piece without props.
scenery, and costumes.




In later operas,
Uses a singing narrator
to advance the plot. characters advance
the plot.




Singers are static and
characters do Characters move and
interact.
not interact.




motets were accompanied only The anthem was prevalent in and accompaniment continued to
by continuo, whereas the grands England, as a sectional dramatic be popular in the Baroque period.
motets, such as those of Jean- work placing instrumental sections The subtle word-painting that the
Baptist Lully, included soloists with solo passages, recitatives, and madrigal engendered influenced
and an increasing number of full choruses. Purcell was a gifted other genres and is found in many
instruments. They were less exponent of the form, and Handel sacred choral works of the period.
common in Germany; the best- took it to even greater heights. His
known examples today are by four ceremonial anthems include St. Matthew Passion
Heinrich Schütz and Bach. Bach’s the renowned Zadok the Priest, For a musician such as Bach who
motets, which strongly influenced written for the coronation of King was principally concerned with
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart George II in 1727. church music, the Passion, which
(1756–1791), were virtually the The Magnificat, sung at vespers set the biblical events from the Last
only works of his to be regularly and evensong, is the canticle (hymn) Supper up to the Crucifixion, was
performed after his death until of the Virgin Mary from Luke’s an opportunity to use the dramatic
the Bach revival in the early Gospel, first set in the Renaissance. techniques of opera within a
19th century. Each was arranged Monteverdi and Vivaldi produced religious setting. Bach wrote at
for different sized choirs, and it is important Baroque settings, but least three such works (only two
unclear how they were used within Bach’s Magnificat for five parts have survived); for its mastery of
church services, although some and orchestra is probably the best emotion, imagination, and power
were written for funerals. known today. of expression make the St. Matthew
Other choral forms of the High Although the madrigal is more Passion a towering monument of
Baroque period include the anthem, usually associated with earlier human creativity. It was written
the Magnificat, and the madrigal. periods, this secular form for voices to be performed either side of the





US_098-105_JS_Bach_Passion.indd 102 26/03/18 1:00 PM

BAROQUE 1600–1750 103


sermon at the Good Friday service
(in either 1727 or 1729). Bach also Cantatas and oratorios such as recitatives, arias, and
collaborated with the Leipzig poet choruses, but the cantata tends
Picander to create a libretto, which The oratorio had traditionally to use them more subtly in
both presented the biblical drama been a concert piece for order to imply the drama.
By the High Baroque period,
and offered contemplations upon orchestra, choir, and soloists, it is difficult to differentiate the
the content. The St. Thomas Church depicting a biblical episode or
the life of a saint. It differed from cantata from the oratorio. Bach’s
for which it was written added an opera only in being unstaged Christmas Oratorio, for example,
extra layer of drama to proceedings; and lacking interaction between is actually a cantata. Bach,
by using its two organ lofts, Bach characters. The cantata often whose cantatas are considered
was able to distribute his forces used similar forces but was to be some of the most sublime
as a double choir across the venue. performed in church before religious music ever written,
Although he had employed such and after the sermon and was also wrote secular works in
techniques in other works, such as a series of reflections on the the genre, such as the Coffee
the motets, its use here with the service’s biblical texts. Both Cantata, which is essentially
addition of two orchestras and genres used operatic elements a short comic opera.
organists allowed for the widest
variety of dramatic textures. in four-part harmony, but three devastating pathos of abandonment.
In addition to the original are referenced as accompanying However, in the hands of Bach, this
material, Bach also inserted a elements in other movements. In same absence of strings in the
number of Lutheran chorales. this way, Bach was able to mix the soprano aria “Aus Liebe will mein
When Martin Luther had started known with the new—essential for Heiland sterben” (“Out of Love My
translating services into German, a congregation first experiencing Saviour Is Willing to Die”) suggests
new melodies had been required. such an intense, large-scale work. a different, almost plaintive mood.
These formed well-known hymns Throughout the work, Bach is
that became the mainstay of Musical characterization clearly aware of the need to use
congregational worship. Bach Rather like an opera, the key the orchestra to ensure that his
harmonized many hundreds of roles in the St. Matthew Passion congregation receives the full ❯❯
such melodies, regularly using are taken by soloists, but in the
them as the basis of cantatas or absence of physical drama and
chorale preludes. In the St. Matthew costumes, Bach often gives them
Passion, the chorale melodies date distinct musical characterizations.
from between 1525 and 1656, and The tenor Evangelist, the narrator,
would therefore have been familiar always uses recitative secco with
to his audience. Most are presented continuo (speechlike solo singing
with a sparse bass accompaniment)
to deliver the Gospel texts. This
allows the narrative to be strong,
clear, and unambiguous. The words
of Jesus, however, are recitatives
accompanied by the strings from
One who has completely the first orchestra. In playing
forgotten Christianity sustained notes and highlighting
truly hears it here key words, they add an unworldly
as Gospel. sound to the Vox Christi (voice of
Friedrich Nietzsche Christ)—often likened to a halo.
Such characterization is perhaps
most strongly heard when, almost Bach played the organ and taught
for 27 years at the St Thomas School
operatically, Jesus utters his last in Leipzig, as shown here in an 1882
words without the accompaniment engraving. He and his pupils supplied
of strings, resulting in the truly music for the city’s four main churches.





US_098-105_JS_Bach_Passion.indd 103 26/03/18 1:00 PM

104 HIGH BAROQUE RELIGIOUS CHORAL MUSIC


impact of the text. This attention two maids, although they are
to orchestration, which was far not usually all taken by different
more prevalent in stage works soloists. In many performances
of the time (which were often of the minor soloists are also members
similar length to the Passion), can of the choirs. With such a diverse
be seen in the use of the oboes da cast and discursive text, it was He demands that singers
caccia (a low oboe similar to the also possible for Bach to break from should be able to do with
cor anglais) to underpin the eerie the oratorio tradition of avoiding their throats whatever he
description of Golgotha in “Ach interaction between soloists; he can play on the keyboard.
Golgotha.” No less vivid is the included duets and crowd scenes Johann Scheibe
moment in “Buss und Reu” (“Guilt with passages that simulate Critic and composer (1708–1776)
and Pain”) where the alto describes simultaneous and interjecting
his tears to the sound of flutes speakers. So, in “Weissage uns,
playing staccato notes. Christie” (“Prophesy Christ”) the
two choruses alternate in a style
A large, varied cast known as cori spezzati, which was
The piece also has parts for Judas, first developed at St. Mark’s in
Peter, two priests, Pontius Pilate Venice, while in “Herr, wir haben freedom of the prisoner Barrabas,
and his wife, two witnesses, and gedacht” (“Lord, We Thought”) they they then embark on a series
sing simultaneously to represent of complex musical structures
the power-hungry Pharisees. notoriously difficult to perform.
The St. Thomas Boys Choir, Leipzig, The real glory of the choruses is An earlier, particularly poignant
still flourishing today, dates back more
than 800 years to 1212. With Bach as in the contrapuntal writing, notably moment follows Jesus’s capture in
Cantor (1723–1750), the church and city when, after singing in excruciating the garden, where after a sighing
became the center of Protestant music. dissonance as they call for the orchestral introduction, the soprano











































US_098-105_JS_Bach_Passion.indd 104 26/03/18 1:00 PM

BAROQUE 1600–1750 105


and alto bemoan Jesus’s fate
in resigned tones. In contrast,
the chorus demands his release,
creating an extraordinary tension
between the two moods. While the
resignation continues, the chorus,
which may depict the disciples
or the congregation, gets more
agitated, and the orchestra drives
the music forward to a breathless
conclusion. The ending of this
section in the major key might
seem surprising, underpinning as it
does the words “murderous blood.”
It is suggested, however, that the
music might be reminding the
listener that while the story is one
of suffering, without the capture of
Jesus, his Crucifixion—and thereby
salvation—is not possible.
Elsewhere, many of the more
contemplative texts, such as the
chorale “Ich bin’s ich sollte büssen”
(“It is I who should suffer”) or the
bass aria “Mache dich, mein Herze,
rein” (“Make thyself clean my betrayal of Jesus, as he repeats Bach and three of his sons pose for
heart”), encourage listeners to feel the 17 words of the text with a portrait (1730) by Balthasar Denner.
the emotion and identify with the increasing anguish. Bach had 20 children, and from the early
drama. The most striking example The St. Matthew Passion 1500s to the late 1700s, his family
produced more than 70 musicians.
is perhaps the aria “Erbarme dich, received only a handful of
mein Gott” (“Have mercy Lord, my performances in Bach’s lifetime.
God”). The simplicity of the lilting The newer Classical style had Passion existed only in hand-
rhythm, accompanied by a begun to revolutionize musical copied examples within a very
lamenting violin, underpins and composition and enjoyment, and small circle of admirers, some of
emphasizes the intensity of Peter’s the composer was considered to whom had been his students.
sense of horror and guilt at his be behind the times in writing It was through such a group that
contrapuntal music of this kind. Mendelssohn came to study Bach’s
works in the early 19th century
Bach’s legacy and put on a performance of the
By the end of Bach’s life, his music St. Matthew Passion in 1829. This
was called “learned” in the most performance, although a landmark
The most beautiful piece pejorative sense; the music of his in the revival of Bach’s music, was
of music ever written son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was neither complete nor authentic, but
for the violin. better known. Very little of Bach’s it did help to raise awareness of
Yehudi Menhuin music was printed, although the Bach’s work. It was not long before
Describing “Erbarme dich, mein Gott” keyboard works were sometimes societies were created to publish
studied; Ludwig van Beethoven and perform his work. Today, the
(1770–1827) often performed fugues St. Matthew Passion is frequently
and preludes from Bach’s The Well- presented as a staged work; with
Tempered Clavier. However, major its similarities to opera, it can have
works such as the St. Matthew a powerful effect on audiences. ■





US_098-105_JS_Bach_Passion.indd 105 26/03/18 1:00 PM

106


TELEMANN IS ABOVE


ALL PRAISE



MUSIQUE DE TABLE (1733),
GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN











he demand for Tafelmusik evening’s entertainment and
IN CONTEXT (table music)—background contains meticulously crafted
T music for banquets—grew music that is always memorably
FOCUS steadily from the mid-16th century melodious—even evoking popular
Tafelmusik
onward. Musique de table, a folk songs at times.
BEFORE collection of such music by Georg Handel, who was among the
1650 Joachim von Sandrart’s Philipp Telemann, a prolific collection’s 206 subscribers,
painting Das Friedensmahl German composer who relished appears to have borrowed some of
(“The peace meal”) depicts the assimilation and mastery its musical ideas. Themes in his
musicians performing of different musical styles, draws oratorio The Arrival of the Queen of
Tafelmusik at a banquet for together a range of chamber genres Sheba bear resemblance to material
a diplomatic conference. that lent themselves to Tafelmusik. from the Concerto in the second
Telemann marketed the collection “production” of Musique de table. ■
1680s Printed collections of as a prestige product that could be
Tafelmusik, mostly by German purchased by subscription.
composers of the day, become Telemann’s collection divides
more common. into three “productions,” each one
containing an orchestral dance
AFTER suite, a concerto, a quartet, a trio
1770s The genre of Tafelmusik sonata, and solo sonata, finishing He [Telemann] could
is gradually replaced by other with an orchestral “conclusion.” write a church piece in
types of “light” musical Apart from the dance suites, eight parts with the
entertainment such as the considerable use is made of the same expedition another
divertimento and serenade. slow-fast-slow-fast four-movement would write a letter.
pattern of the traditional Sonata da George Frideric Handel
1820 An engraving by Johann Chiesa (a genre of instrumental
Wunder depicts a performance chamber or orchestral music
of Tafelmusik at a municipal sometimes performed at church
banquet in “Krähwinkel”—an services). Each “production”
invented place name intended provides enough music for an
to suggest old-fashioned,
small-town parochialism. See also: Corelli’s Concerti Grossi 80–81 ■ Water Music 84–89 ■ The Four
Seasons 92–97 ■ C.P.E. Bach’s Flute Concerto in A major 120–121







US_106-107_Telemann_Rameau.indd 106 26/03/18 1:00 PM

BAROQUE 1600–1750 107


HIS WHOLE HEART


AND SOUL WERE IN



HIS HARPSICHORD



HIPPOLYTE ET ARICIE (1733),
JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU






alant music was born
IN CONTEXT out of opposition to the
G perceived complexity of
FOCUS Baroque music. While the latter
The style galante
was often characterized by
BEFORE seriousness and grandeur, the
1607 Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, style galante was elegant, light,
the earliest opera still in the and immediate.
current repertoire, is premiered One of the most lauded
in Mantua. advocates of this style was the
French composer Jean-Philippe
1673 The French operatic Rameau, whose first opera,
tradition was born with the Hippolyte et Aricie, premiered in
premiere of Jean-Baptiste Paris in 1733. Rameau cast his
Lully’s Cadmus et Hermione, opera in the conventional five-act US mezzo-soprano Jennifer Holloway
the first of Lully’s tragédies form of a tragédie en musique that plays Diane during a rehearsal of
en music (tragedy in music). was established by Jean-Baptiste Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie in the
Lully. In every other way, however, Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse, in 2009.
AFTER he broke Lully’s mold, using daring
1752 A performance of dissonances, longer phrase The debate between Lullistes and
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s structures, and an ornate approach Ramistes raged for several years,
opera buffa (comic opera) to melodic writing that came to during which Rameau released a
La serva padrona (“The typify the style galante. further four operas. In time,
servant turned mistress”) however, his music became more
ignites the Querelle des War of words accepted, and by the time of the
Bouffons, a dispute between Hippolyte et Aricie drew harsh Querelle des Bouffons in 1752, a
supporters of serious and criticism from so-called “Lullistes,” two-year dispute about the relative
comic opera. who feared that Rameau’s Italianate merits of French and Italian opera,
music threatened the iconic status Rameau’s music was considered
1774 Having reformed Italian of Lully’s operas in French culture. typically French. ■
opera, Christoph Willibald
Gluck composes Iphigénie See also: Le bourgeois gentilhomme 70–71 ■ Orfeo ed Euridice 118–119 ■
en Aulide for the Paris stage. The Magic Flute 134–137 ■ The Barber of Seville 148 ■ La traviata 174–175







US_106-107_Telemann_Rameau.indd 107 26/03/18 1:00 PM

108

IN CONTEXT
BACH IS LIKE AN FOCUS

Baroque counterpoint
ASTRONOMER WHO … BEFORE

c. 1606–1621 Sweelinck
composes the Fantasia
FINDS THE MOST chromatica, one of the first

works to demonstrate
WONDERFUL STARS contrapuntal development
of a single subject.

1725 Fux publishes Gradus
THE ART OF FUGUE (1751), ad Parnassum (“Steps to
Parnassus”), which includes
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH exercises in how to write
fugues. Mozart later studied
this work.
AFTER
1837 Mendelssohn publishes
Six Preludes and Fugues,
Op. 35, demonstrating the fugue
as a viable Romantic genre.

1910 Busoni publishes the
Fantasia contrappuntistica, a
homage to The Art of Fugue
which includes a postmodern
completion of its last fugue.




n contrast to later music that
frequently depended on a
I single melody line over a series
of harmonies, Baroque music was
often constructed by combining
a number of independent and
interlacing melody lines, or
voices. This technique, known as
counterpoint, allowed composers
to create works of overwhelming
complexity and drama, reflecting
the richness of other contemporary
art forms. However, it also required
consummate skill to compose long
spans of music with sufficient
variety and interest.
The rise of the Classical style,
and its emphasis on simplicity and
preference for more slowly changing





US_108-111_JS_Bach_Fugue.indd 108 26/03/18 1:00 PM

BAROQUE 1600–1750 109

See also: Missa l’homme armé 42 ■ Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott 78–79 ■ St. Matthew Passion 98–105 ■ Elijah 170–173 ■
Fauré’s Requiem 210–211 ■ The Dream of Gerontius 218–219


The second fugue of Bach’s The
Well-tempered Clavier is in C minor.
Both sets of 24 preludes and fugues are
arranged in the 12 major and minor
keys between C and the B above it.


harmony, reduced the need
for musicians to master such
complex techniques. However,
Bach, the preeminent practitioner
of counterpoint in the Baroque
period, considered the skill to be
so vital that he attempted toward
the end of his life to organize and
display the results of his knowledge
in works such as The Art of Fugue,
a cycle of some 20 fugues. then transferred to the other parts experience a satisfying musical
(or “voices” as they are known, performance. While these works
Principles of counterpoint even in instrumental music) while abide by the strict Baroque rules
Much earlier, Bach had published the first part continues with a that govern dissonance when
didactic works to teach keyboard complementary melody. it is permitted (for instance, on
players counterpoint. These For the performer, the difficulty passing notes on weak beats),
included two collections of special of such works is not just to be able their structure is relatively free.
significance—the 15 Inventions to play the often swiftly flowing
in two parts and the 15 Sinfonias in parts with ease but also to be able Building a fugue
three parts. In each of the pieces, to balance the relative importance Bach was best known for his
a simple opening melody is of the voices, so that the listener fugues, which follow the same
presented unaccompanied and can appreciate the interplay and principles but organize them ❯❯

Preludes, fugues, and well-tempered tuning

Bach’s two books entitled The Frequency ratios between other
Well-Tempered Clavier each notes are more complex, so
contained 24 preludes and tuning to a C major scale,
fugues in all the major and keeping all the intervals pure,
minor keys. These provided would make other scales sound
models that keyboard players out of tune to slightly different
could use to develop their degrees. The mean-tone system,
proficiency and also celebrated used from c.1570 and based on a
the range of keys that could be pure third interval, worked well
employed using the tuning only for 10–15 of 24 keys. The
methods of his time. well-tempered system was a
Tuning, or “temperament,” compromise, tuning to intervals
was always a tricky issue. sufficiently equidistant to allow When tuning a piano, such as this
A note one octave apart from for performances in all keys. The Schimmel concert instrument from
another sounds similar because modern equal temperament Germany, the tuner uses a tuning
the sound frequency can be system divides the octave into fork or an electronic device to adjust
reduced to a simple 2:1 ratio. equal, mostly impure intervals. the strings to the required pitch.







US_108-111_JS_Bach_Fugue.indd 109 26/03/18 1:00 PM

110 BAROQUE COUNTERPOINT


Structure: The fugue

EXPOSITION EPISODE MIDDLE SECTION EPISODE FINAL SECTION CODA

Soprano S FP FP A FP S CS FP CS FP FP



Alto A CS FP S CS FP FP FP FP S FP FP


Bass S CS FP FP FP FP FP FP A FP FP S TP


In a fugue, a word derived from the Key
Latin for “flight,” each of three or more S = Subject—The principal theme of the fugue.
voices enter one after the other, imitating A = Answer—The subject, repeated a fifth (5 notes) higher.
and modifying the initial theme. The CS = Counter-Subject—A contrasting secondary theme.
structure illustrated here has many FP = Free Part—Material based on the first theme.
other possible variants. TP = Tonic Pedal—Sustained final bass note.

within far more rigorous structures, same note in a different octave, although they are often performed
which allow for very rich listening while the second voice now in concert halls, they are not as
experiences. The basic structure of performs the counter-subject and powerful as his organ fugues or
a fugue requires a melody known the first voice will usually play free those found in his sacred music.
as the “subject” to be presented by material derived from the subject. However, they had a considerable
the first voice in the home key. The This continues in the same way influence on later composers, who
next voice then presents the same until all the voices have entered, dubbed them the “Old Testament”
melody but starting on the fifth creating an exposition that of music (the Beethoven sonatas
note of the scale being used, and moves rapidly from simplicity to were the New Testament) and paid
this is known as the “answer.” complexity, while using limited tribute to them; Shostakovich, for
When replying to this, the original musical material. instance, composed 24 Preludes
voice plays a “counter-subject,” The fugue will then progress and Fugues. Even now, pianists
which may be very contrasting. by adding mood-changing study Bach’s The Well-Tempered
The third voice then enters with “episodes,” again often derived Clavier as part of their training.
the “subject” again, starting on the from the opening material. The Bach’s fascination with
middle section, in turn, presents counterpoint did not merely focus
the subject in different keys and on the fugue. His suites of dance
formats until the work returns to movements rely on an understanding
the opening key. However, further of counterpoint for their inner
variants heighten this journey, such energy; even when the music is for
as the “stretto,” where subjects and solo violin or cello, it often hints at
Ceaseless work, analysis, answers enter before the previous what the other voices would play
reflection, writing much, ones have been resolved. if there were more instruments by
endless self-correction, injecting notes and phrases in
that is my secret. Teaching tools different registers.
Johann Sebastian Bach In writing the 48 fugues of The Bach was similarly attracted
Well-Tempered Clavier, Bach offered to canons, where one voice follows
a compendium of techniques to be the exact melodic contour of the
studied by both keyboard players other but slightly later (the round,
and composers. These were “London’s Burning” is an example
designed as teaching tools, and of this). His use of this technique is





US_108-111_JS_Bach_Fugue.indd 110 26/03/18 1:00 PM

BAROQUE 1600–1750 111


particularly evident in the Goldberg In The Musical Offering, his last
Variations, a set of 30 keyboard major keyboard work, written for
variations published in 1741, which the newly invented piano, Bach
were, he said, for “connoisseurs to wrote a collection of 14 canons
refresh their spirits.” and fugues based on a theme
Based on a repeating base purportedly composed by the King It’s the most difficult thing
line, Bach composed every third of Prussia, Frederick II. Rather than I’ve ever approached. You’ve
variation as a canon, but with one always writing out the music in full, got to keep it going; how
extra dimension. The first canon here Bach presents some musical do you do that? … There’s
begins with both voices starting conundrums that have come to be never been anything more
on the same note. In the next canon, called “riddle fugues.” In these, he beautiful in all of music.
however, although the second voice writes out only the main melody, Glenn Gould
is playing the same tune as the sometimes as an acrostic, and Pianist (1932–1982)
first, it plays it one note higher; here then, in Latin, briefly states what
incredible skill is required to create kind of canon it should be and in
melodic material that works and how many voices. The performer
sounds pleasing to the listener’s has to work out how to play the
ear. The next canon presents the piece. He even includes a so-called
second voice two notes higher, “crab canon” where the theme is
and this continues until, in the last played backward and forward at presented The Art of Fugue in the
canon, the voices are nine notes the same time. Interestingly, the same way, perhaps to suggest that
apart. Apparently not content with six-part fugue from this work, it was pure music without being
this plethora of canons, Bach had known as the “Ricercar a 6” is tied to any particular instrument.
14 more sketched out in his copy written on six staves—one staff
of Goldberg Variations, built on the per voice—rather than in an Unfinished legacy
first eight notes of the bass line. arrangement for two hands. Bach The Art of Fugue is the culmination
of Bach’s contrapuntal interests.
Written as 14 fugues and four
canons, each one uses the same
principal theme in some way
to generate music of extraordinary
subtlety and variety. The last
fugue, or “contrapunctus” as he
calls them, presents a series of
three different subjects, each
worked out in four voices before
moving to the next. The final one
presents one of the most poignant
moments in the history of music.
Bach introduces a four-note theme
that spells out his name (in German
notation B = B-flat and H = B, so
BACH = B-flat A C B), but before
he finishes working it out, the
manuscript trails off. ■


Glenn Gould, a brilliant 20th-century
Canadian pianist, seen here recording
Bach’s keyboard music, was noted for
his skill in clearly articulating the
texture of the preludes and fugues.





US_108-111_JS_Bach_Fugue.indd 111 26/03/18 1:00 PM

CLASSICAL






















1750–1820























































US_112-113_Chapter_Opener_ClassicaI_Era.indd 112 26/03/18 1:00 PM

CLASSICAL






















1750–1820























































US_112-113_Chapter_Opener_ClassicaI_Era.indd 113 26/03/18 1:00 PM

114 INTRODUCTION




The court composer Italian composer The opera Doktor
of Frederick of Prussia, Domenico Scarlatti und Apotheker, a
Carl Philipp Emanuel publishes 30 Essercizi Singspiel (“sing-play”)
Bach composes (“Exercises”) as part of by Carl Ditters von
his Flute Concerto more than 500 sonatas Dittersdorf opens
in A major. written for keyboard. in Vienna.






1753 1758 1786


1755 1762 1787








Johann Stamitz’s In Vienna, Christoph Antonio Salieri
Symphony in E-flat major Willibald Gluck’s Orfeo ed premieres his
transforms the symphony Euridice overturns the Tarare, a tragédie
form with its sudden conventions of Italian opera, en musique, set to
changes in dynamics and creating a more dramatic and a French libretto,
new fourth movement. integrated entertainment. in Paris.


he 18th century was the was so influential that the term artificial nature of Baroque opera,
“Age of Enlightenment” “classical music” is widely used to began a series of “reform operas,”
T in Europe, a time when refer to long-established musical simplifying the music and aiming
the old political order was giving traditions in general. Among the for a more realistic drama.
way to a new, more inclusive first to adopt the new style were
society. The aristocratic courts two of J.S. Bach’s sons: Carl Philipp The Viennese scene
continued to provide patronage Emmanuel, a court musician who As the Classical style became
for the arts, but the rise of an bridged the gap between Baroque established, composers and
urban middle class created a and Classical styles of music, and performers tended to gravitate
new concert- and operagoing his brother Johann Christian, who toward Vienna, which was
audience with different tastes. made his name in London, staging becoming the cultural as well as
The music of the period also public concerts and popularizing geographical center of Europe,
reflected Enlightenment values the newly invented piano. Some with a prosperous population
of rationalism and humanism that of the most exciting developments, eager to hear new music. Three
looked to the aesthetic ideals of however, were happening in composers stood out from the
Ancient Greece, rejecting the Mannheim, Germany, where the others: Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang
extravagant counterpoint of the court orchestra enabled composers Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig
Baroque era in favor of a more such as Johann Stamitz to explore van Beethoven.
detached style that emphasized new musical forms, including the Haydn, although a central figure
elegance and proportion. symphony and concerto. in the formation of this Viennese
The Classical period in music Opera was undergoing a similar musical scene, was not initially a
history began around 1750. It lasted transformation. Christoph Willibald part of it. He took a conventional
not much more than 50 years yet Gluck, dissatisfied with the stilted, job as Kapellmeister (musical





US_114-115_Chapter_Intro_ClassicaI_Era.indd 114 27/03/18 4:49 PM

CLASSICAL 1750–1820 115




Inventor of the string Muzio Clementi In London, the Czech
quartet, Joseph Haydn publishes his Piano piano virtuoso and
composes his Opus 54, Sonata in F-Sharp composer Jan Ladislav
three string quartets minor, Op. 25, No. 5, Dussek publishes an
whose originality introducing innovations influential treatise on
transforms chamber music. to the sonata form. piano playing.






1788 1790 1793


1788 1791 1803








Wolfgang Amadeus Singspiel reaches Beethoven releases his
Mozart composes its zenith with “Eroica” Symphony to
Symphony No. 40 in the highly successful widespread acclaim,
G minor, the high point premiere of Mozart’s paving the way for
of the symphony in the The Magic Flute the music of the
Classical period. in Vienna. Romantic period.


director) at the Esterházy family’s style as he toured Europe. Realizing did not make it as a child prodigy,
rural estate in Hungary, producing he was not suited to life as a court at the age of 13 he got a job as a
music for twice-weekly concerts. musician, he decided to try to earn a court musician in Bonn and then
Isolated from the wider musical living as a freelance composer—one became a freelance composer,
world, Haydn developed his own of the first to do so—in Vienna. Here performer, and teacher in Vienna.
particular style. He had a staff of he met Haydn on one of his trips to He settled there in 1792, too late
talented musicians (who referred the capital from Esterházy, and the to meet his hero, Mozart, who had
to him as “Papa Haydn”) and was two became friends. Mozart was died the year before, but he took
able to both hone his skills and inspired to develop his symphonies lessons in composition from Haydn.
refine musical forms, such as the and string quartets along the same Beethoven’s early compositions,
symphony, string quartet, sonata, lines as Haydn had, but he also symphonies, piano sonatas,
and solo concerto. Despite the made a living—and a reputation— and chamber music were in the
remoteness of the Esterházy estate, as a composer and performer of style established by Haydn and
news of his music spread to Vienna piano music. He later became Mozart but showed signs of a
and beyond, once it was published. known as the foremost opera more passionate temperament
As Haydn was starting his composer of the period. that differed from the Classicism
career as a court musician, a young of his elders. In 1803, Beethoven’s
musical prodigy from Salzburg was Enter Beethoven Third Symphony, the “Eroica,”
being paraded around the courts While Haydn and Mozart were extended the form of the symphony,
and concert halls by his ambitious at the height of their fame in the developing and expanding
father. A precocious genius, 1770s, another ambitious father expressive musical language and
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart learned had aspirations for his gifted son. heralding the beginning of a new
the elements of the new Classical Although Ludwig van Beethoven period of musical history. ■





US_114-115_Chapter_Intro_ClassicaI_Era.indd 115 27/03/18 4:49 PM

116


ITS FORTE IS


LIKE THUNDER,

ITS CRESCENDO

A CATARACT



SYMPHONY IN E FLAT MAJOR, OP. 11, NO. 3,
(1754–1755), JOHANN STAMITZ






IN CONTEXT

FOCUS
Expanding the scope
of the orchestra

BEFORE
1720s Composers of
Neapolitan operas, such
as Leonardo Vinci, write
“sinfonie” (symphonies) in
three movements as preludes
to their dramatic works.
1732 Italian composer
Giovanni Battista Sammartini
begins to write a series of
three-movement symphonies.
n 1741, the composer Johann Stamitz’s musical home Mannheim,
AFTER Stamitz moved from his home seen here in an engraving of 1788
1766 In Paris, Mozart I in Bohemia (now the Czech showing the Elector's castle, court
befriends the Mannheim Republic) to Mannheim, capital church (Hofkirche), and armoury
composer and conductor of the Electoral Palatinate, a became a center of music innovation.
Christian Cannabich, a pupil German territory. There he became
and follower of Stamitz. court violinist and, in 1745, was group, not from the keyboard, as had
appointed concertmaster of the previously been the norm, but from
1772 Haydn, in his Sturm orchestra. Stamitz raised the his desk at the head of the violin
und Drang (“Storm and Stress”) standards of orchestral playing, section, using his bow to signal the
symphonies, further explores hiring talented musicians, some start of the piece and to indicate
the emotive style of orchestral of whom were also composers rhythm and tempo. Under Stamitz,
music pioneered by the in their own right, and extended the Mannheim orchestra became
Mannheim composers. the orchestra by adding wind renowned for the superb quality
instruments, such as oboes and and precision of its playing and for
horns. He directed this diverse the new soundscape that it created.





US_116-117_Stamitz.indd 116 26/03/18 1:00 PM

CLASSICAL 1750–1820 117

See also: Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor 128–131 ■ Symphonie fantastique
162–163 ■ Schumann’s Symphony No. 1 166–169 ■ Faust Symphony 176–177


with the first movement concluding
on a recapitulation of the second
theme, this time in the home key.
This sonata form (usually with a
recapitulation of the first theme)
The wind instruments could became the template for symphonic
not be used to better writing in the Classical period,
advantage; they lift and carry, particularly in first movements.
they reinforce and give life to
the storm of the violins. Musical fireworks
C.F.D. Schubart An even more striking feature of Johann Stamitz
Poet, organist, and composer Stamitz’s symphonies, including
the E-flat—and of the Mannheim Born in Neˇmecký Brod (now
school in general—was the use Havlícˇku˚ v Brod), Bohemia, in
of strong, dynamic contrasts. 1717, Stamitz learned music
Sometimes a sudden fortissimo from his father, an organist
appears in a passage of soft music, and choirmaster, before
sometimes a dramatic crescendo, attending a Jesuit school in
Many of the works played by in which the orchestra’s sound Jihlava and university in
Stamitz’s Mannheim orchestra gets gradually louder and louder, Prague. He probably worked
were symphonies, a form that had to exhilarating effect. Another as a violinist before arriving
originated in Italy as the prelude, favorite mannerism was the in Mannheim in the early
1740s, rising rapidly to the
or overture, to operas but had now “Mannheim rocket,” a rapidly rising court post of director of
become part of the Baroque concert melody or phrase accompanied by orchestral music in 1750.
repertoire. These works usually a crescendo. Combined with the Stamitz lived most of his
consisted of three movements: Mannheim orchestra’s varied working life in Mannheim,
one slow between two fast. instrumental palette of strings and although he also spent a year
wind instruments, symphonies like in Paris, in 1754–1755, where
The symphony reinvented those of Stamitz thrilled audiences he was already celebrated as a
In the Symphony in E-flat, and other and pointed the way to a more composer and performed in
works, Stamitz took hold of the dramatic, emotional music. a series of successful concerts.
symphony form and transformed The E-flat symphony was one Stamitz wrote church music
it, creating many of the features of Stamitz’s last orchestral works, and many chamber works,
that distinguish its musical style. but his legacy lived on through but he is best remembered for
He added an extra movement: a his two composer sons, Carl and his orchestral pieces, which
minuet with a contrasting section, Anton. They and others, such as include violin concertos and
called a “trio” because it was Christian Cannabich (1731–1798), many symphonies, of which
58 survive. He returned from
originally meant to be played by who led the Mannheim orchestra Paris to Mannheim in 1755
three musicians. He also adopted after Stamitz’s death, developed and died there in 1757.
the sonata form, used in the his style, and soon court composers
opening movement of the E-flat all over Europe were writing new
symphony, in which the first symphonies to entertain their Other key works
theme, played in the home key employers. The Mannheim
(E-flat) by the full orchestra is composers impressed the young c.1745 Three Mannheim
contrasted with a second theme, Mozart, who admired their Symphonies (in G major,
here played by the oboes, in the orchestra and adopted some of A major, and B-flat major)
c.1750 Mass in D major
dominant key (B-flat). This is Stamitz’s compositional techniques 1754 Flute concerto in C major
followed by a development section, in his own music. ■





US_116-117_Stamitz.indd 117 26/03/18 1:00 PM

118


THE MOST


MOVING ACT IN



ALL OF OPERA



ORFEO ED EURIDICE (1762),
CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK






he opera Orfeo ed Euridice involving and more real. He also
IN CONTEXT by Christoph Willibald humanized his characters and
T Gluck was first performed their arias by making them
FOCUS in Vienna in 1762. It is based express emotions more directly.
Classical opera seria
on a familiar tale from classical
BEFORE mythology, the story of Orpheus’s Opera seria
1690 Composers such as journey to the underworld to In the mid-18th century, the most
Alessandro Scarlatti create a rescue his wife, Eurydice. Unlike fashionable type of opera was
new style of opera derived from the original myth, but in line with what is now called opera seria
Baroque vocal works—the contemporary taste, Gluck’s opera (serious opera). This type of opera
Neapolitan School—rapidly has a happy ending. features recitative—passages sung
popularizing the genre. Even if the opera’s story was in the rhythm of speech with many
largely familiar, Gluck’s style was syllables on the same note that are
1748 Gluck’s fame is quite new. He transformed opera usually accompanied only by
enhanced when his opera to integrate the music and drama continuo instruments (typically
La Semiramide riconosciuta more fully than before, streamlining harpsichord and cello alone),
(“Semiramis Revealed”) is distracting elements that slowed up playing an improvised added bass
performed in Vienna for the the action, making the work more line—and arias, accompanied by
birthday of Habsburg empress full orchestra. The arias have a
Maria Theresa. distinct structure, called da capo
(“from the top”), with three sections,
1752 Gluck and librettist the third being a repeat of the first,
Pietro Metastasio produce with ornamentation to show off the
the highly successful opera, singer’s ability. In between, the
La clemenza di Tito (The There is no musical second section introduces a new
Clemency of Titus). rule that I have not melody or develops the initial tune.
willingly sacrificed Meanwhile, features such as rich
AFTER to dramatic effect. and varied stage sets and elaborate
1781 Mozart’s opera Christoph W. Gluck ballets, often enliven the event.
Idomeneo premieres. It Gluck believed that the lavish
shows the influence of spectacles and the long showy
Gluck, particularly in the arias tended to get in the way of
accompanied recitatives. the drama and that the difference
in musical texture between the





US_118-119_Gluck.indd 118 26/03/18 1:00 PM

CLASSICAL 1750–1820 119

See also: Euridice 62–63 ■ St. Matthew Passion 98–105 ■ The Magic
Flute 134–137 ■ Der Freischütz 149


arias and recitatives interrupted This improved the flow and made
the flow. Gluck and his librettist, the music more expressive of
Ranieri de’ Calzabigi, wanted to character and emotion. In the
reform opera by putting the drama Act One aria in which Orfeo
center stage, sweeping away sings of his grief, the composer
absurdities of plot and making the inserts moving recitatives before
music serve the action. Musically each verse, further integrating
this meant doing away with the the elements.
repeats in the da capo arias and
developing a simpler, clearer style. Outcomes and effects
A good example is Orfeo’s Act III The effect of these changes was Christoph
aria “Che farò senza Euridice” to make operas more focused on Willibald Gluck
(“What shall I do without Eurydice”), character and action—in other
an aria in rondo form in which the words, if not fully realistic, more The son of a forester, Gluck
opening theme returns at the end real and more emotionally moving. was born in Erasbach, Bavaria,
but without the direct da capo The plots tended to be more in 1714. Largely self-taught,
repetition. Gluck also integrated coherent and the characters and he traveled widely, learning
the arias and recitatives, using the situations—even when drawn from the organ and cello in Prague.
whole orchestra to accompany mythology—more credible. At He studied with the composer
the latter as well as the former. the same time, there were fewer Giuseppe Sammartini in Milan,
opportunities for singers to make before heading to London in
the sort of virtuosic displays that the 1740s, where he composed
Gluck’s opera Il Parnasso confuso could interrupt the action. Later operas for the King’s Theatre.
premiered in 1765 at the marriage composers, especially Mozart, There, he met Handel, who
of Emperor Joseph II. Johann Franz famously stated that his own
Greipel’s painting shows Archduke further developed these ideas to cook (bass singer Gustavus
Leopold on the harpsichord. produce operatic masterpieces. ■ Waltz) knew more about
counterpoint than Gluck.
Gluck eventually settled in
Vienna, where he worked with
librettist Ranieri de’ Calzabigi.
The pair aimed to “reform”
opera by integrating the music
and the action. They made
operas inspired by classical
mythology, including Orfeo
ed Euridice (1762) and Alceste
(1767). Gluck’s fame grew
with further works, including
French versions of Orfeo and
some of his other operas. He
retired after suffering a stroke
in 1779 and died in 1787.

Other key works

1767 Alceste
1777 Armide
1779 Iphigénie en Tauride







US_118-119_Gluck.indd 119 26/03/18 1:00 PM

120


WE MUST PLAY FROM


THE SOUL, NOT LIKE



TRAINED BIRDS



FLUTE CONCERTO IN A MAJOR, WQ 168 (1753),
CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH






n 1738, the young C.P.E., or status of servants, and had to write
IN CONTEXT Emanuel, Bach was appointed and play music that suited their
I court harpsichordist in the employer’s tastes.
FOCUS household of the Crown Prince
A new freedom Frederick of Prussia. Two years later The king calls the tune
of expression
the prince acceded to the throne Frederick was an accomplished
BEFORE and became known as Frederick flautist. Emanuel was therefore
1750 C.P.E. Bach writes a the Great as his power increased. junior to the much better paid court
setting of the Magnificat in Emanuel, as Bach was known, flautist Johann Joachim Quantz
a style like that of J.S. Bach, traveled with the court to Berlin, and had the task of accompanying
possibly in a bid to secure his where he lived as a court musician the king in court concerts. He was
father’s former job as cantor of for 28 years. The best keyboard also expected to compose music for
the Thomasschule in Leipzig. player of his generation, he Frederick to play—pieces such as
attracted widespread admiration his Flute Concerto in A major. To
AFTER but never felt truly valued. Court save time, Emanuel took concertos
1772 Joseph Haydn writes his musicians of the time had the that he had written for another
Symphony No. 44, the “Trauer”
(Mourning) symphony, a Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
masterpiece of the portrayal of
emotion in orchestral music. The second keyboard instruments. He is,
surviving son however, best known for the
1777 Johann Christian Bach, of Johann symphonies and concertos in a
Emanuel’s younger brother, Sebastian highly personal and emotional
publishes his Op. 13 Keyboard Bach, Emanuel style that were written later
Concertos, almost the musical was born in in his career. Emanuel died in
opposite of Emanuel’s Weimar, Germany, in 1714. His Hamburg in 1788, aged 74.
dramatic, emotional music. father nurtured his son’s gift
for the harpsichord. Other key works
1779 C.P.E. Bach begins to Emanuel studied law before
publish his series of rondos devoting all his time to music. 1749 Magnificat in D, Wq 215
and other solo keyboard works In the service of Frederick the 1775–1776 Symphonies, Wq 183
that mark the high point of his Great from 1740, he composed 1783–1787 Keyboard Sonatas,
“emotional” musical style. works for the court musicians Fantasias and Rondos, Wq 58,
and wrote a treatise on playing 59, 61






US_120-121_CPE_Bach.indd 120 26/03/18 1:00 PM

CLASSICAL 1750–1820 121

See also: Great Service 52–53 ■ Water Music 84–89 ■ Musique de table 106 ■ Hippolyte et Aricie 107 ■
The Art of Fugue 108–111 ■ Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor 156–161



Patronage during the 18th century


Grand Prince The Esterházy Habsburg ruler Diplomat Baron
Ferdinando de’ Medici family of Hungary Emperor Joseph II Gottfried van Swieten
(1663–1713) (from 1761) (1741–1790) (1733–1803)





Invites Employs
Domenico Helps Salieri Sponsors Commissions Mozart on
Scarlatti to Commissions Employs Commissions become Mozart’s Die C.P.E. Bach’s various
his court in Handel ’s Haydn Beethoven’s director of Entführung six symphonies musical
Florence in opera Rodrigo for life from Opus 1 Piano the Italian aus dem Serail for string projects
1702 (1707) 1761 trios (1795) opera in 1774 (1788) orchestra (1773) (1782–1790)
A small circle of noble patrons supported composers in
the 1700s. As music became more popular, musicians gained
a greater independence, but patronage still played a crucial role.

instrument and transcribed them emotion. In this he was following a principal churches. He still had to
for the flute—like others, the A fashion known as Empfindsamkeit write to order, but he had time
major concerto began life as a (sensibility) that was a reaction to compose the music he wanted to
harpsichord concerto. against the rationalism of write, either to perform himself or
Although Emanuel Bach studied Enlightenment philosophy. In his for patrons who were willing to give
composition with his father, Johann bid to create expressive music, full rein to his emotional style. Later
Sebastian, their styles are very Emanuel developed a distinctive composers such as Mozart and
different. The father’s music was style that featured sudden, dramatic Beethoven worked increasingly
based on counterpoint, while his changes in harmony, dynamics, in this freelance way, carving out
son was interested in conveying and rhythm, giving his works a role that was less like that of
(especially in the fast movements) servant and creating music that
a spontaneous quality; he also was more personal. ■
created affecting, melodic slow
movements. Some strong rhythmic
and dynamic contrasts appear in
the outer movements of the A major
Keyboardists whose chief Flute Concerto, and Emanuel would
asset is mere technique … no doubt have heightened the
overwhelm our hearing drama had he not had to consider A musician … must feel all
without satisfying it and stun what Frederick would want to play. the emotions that he hopes
the mind without moving it. to arouse in his audience.
C.P.E. Bach Seeking independence C.P.E. Bach
The king did not like Emanuel’s
more dramatic, unpredictable
pieces; he preferred simpler works.
In 1768, Emanuel left to become
music director of Hamburg’s five





US_120-121_CPE_Bach.indd 121 26/03/18 1:00 PM

I WAS FORCED







TO BECOME









ORIGINAL

















STRING QUARTET IN C MAJOR, OP. 54


NO. 2, HOBOKEN III:57 (1788–1790),


JOSEPH HAYDN



























US_122-127_Haydn.indd 122 26/03/18 1:00 PM

US_122-127_Haydn.indd 123 26/03/18 1:00 PM

124 DEVELOPMENT OF THE STRING QUARTET


oseph Haydn invented the Rugeri, and the Guarneri family.
IN CONTEXT string quartet. Why he More responsive violins, violas,
J settled on the combination and cellos were exciting both to
FOCUS of two violins, viola, and cello is not composers and players. Haydn was
Development of the certain, but it may be that their also interested in the advances in
string quartet
individual pitch registers closely bow-making. Earlier bows had to
BEFORE reflect the voices in a choir. The stay close to the string, releasing
1198 Pérotin’s motet instruments, and the musicians to sounds in a sustained manner; by
Viderunt omnes establishes play them, would also have been “bouncing” the new bow off the
the practice of composing readily available at the Hungarian string, a quick, almost percussive
for four voices—the basis court of the Esterházy family, where sound could be produced, as Haydn
of the string quartet. Haydn was composer-in-residence. shows in the finale of his Op. 33, C
The standard chamber music major quartet (1781).
16th–17th centuries Early grouping before Haydn was the The sound-carrying qualities
pieces for string quartets trio sonata, in which a keyboard of these new instruments and
include Gregorio Allegri’s instrument was joined by two high- techniques eventually spurred the
four-part Sinfonia and melody instruments (violin or flute), composition of chamber music that
Alessandro Scarlatti’s Sonate a with a continuo instrument, such could be performed in large concert
quattro, but the standard form as a cello, doubling the bass line of halls and not just in private salons.
of chamber music was the trio the keyboard. Haydn’s inspired use
sonata, usually for two violins of four instruments of the string Original, emotive works
and basso continuo. family effectively modernized an The emotional expressiveness of
older tradition that Henry Purcell Haydn’s mature work links it to the
AFTER had developed a century earlier German Sturm und Drang (Storm
1890s Inspired by Haydn, with his String Fantasias for up to and Stress) artistic movement.
London concert promoter six voices, performed on viols. For Haydn, the string quartet was
Johann Peter Salomon brought the perfect vehicle for extreme
string quartets out of private Enhanced sound emotional contrasts designed to
drawing rooms and into public Haydn benefited from the great shock the audience. His early
concert halls. strides that had been made in accomplished quartets include
instrument-making, epitomized Op. 9, which he later declared
in Italy by the Amati family, was the true starting point of
Antonio Stradivari, Francesco his quartet compositions, and

Joseph Haydn Spanning the Baroque and capitals, most notably to London
Classical periods, Joseph where his compositions were in
Haydn was a key figure in great demand. After the London
the development of the Classical Symphonies (93–104), Haydn
style. Born in Lower Austria in wrote only six Masses and two
1732 to parents of modest means, oratorios. In his last public
he was a musically gifted child appearance, he conducted The
and attended a cathedral choir Seven Last Words in December
school in Vienna from the age of 1803. He died quietly at home
eight. His early music, including in Vienna in 1809.
some string quartets, was first
published in Paris in 1764. Other key works
Haydn’s employment from
1761 to 1790 at Esterházy 1768 Symphony No. 49
Palace, in Hungary, cemented 1795 Piano trio No. 24 in D major
his reputation as a composer. He 1797–1798 The Creation
later traveled to many musical 1798 Nelson Mass







US_122-127_Haydn.indd 124 26/03/18 1:00 PM

CLASSICAL 1750–1820 125

See also: Corelli’s Concerti Grossi 80–81 ■ C.P.E. Bach’s Flute Concerto in A major 120–121 ■ Clementi’s Piano Sonata
in F-sharp minor 132–133 ■ Die schöne Müllerin 150–155 ■ Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor 156–161


Op. 20, in which the gradual
liberation of the four parts into
solo voices within the quartet
framework marked a new
development of the genre.
Op. 20, No. 2 is particularly
interesting, as it reverses the more
usual form of a quartet, in which
the first violin dominates, by
casting the cello as top voice, the
second violin and viola below it,
while the first violin is initially
silent. The minuet third movement
of Op. 20, No. 4, is also innovative.
The standard pulse for minuets is
three, but here accents make it
sound as though it is in the rhythm
of two. Likewise, in three of the
finales (Op. 20, Nos. 2, 5, and 6),
Haydn uses a well-established
form, a fugue, to develop new ideas,
such as interrupting long stretches
of sotto voce (very soft) playing by the Austrian Carl Ditters von At the Esterházy Palace, shown
sudden bursts of forte (loud). Dittersdorf on first violin, and the here in an 18th-century image, Haydn
Czech Johann Baptist Vanhal on had a secure but onerous post—not
European acclaim cello, the four composers would only composing, but also managing
musicians, manuscripts, and events.
Haydn is thought to have first met often play quartets together and
Mozart in the early 1780s, and they experiment with each other’s
became close friends. With Haydn compositions. This led Mozart to quartets. He experimented with
on second violin, Mozart on viola, dedicate his first six mature string almost all possible tonalities
quartets to Haydn. (changes in pitch, and major and
As the demand for Haydn’s minor modes), as well as Classical
music spread through Europe, his forms (sonata, fugue, variations,
quartets were performed in concert minuet, scherzo, and rondo).
halls as well as in private salons, There are quartets that are more
When we invoke the name and he adjusted their style consistently virtuosic and more
Haydn, we mean one of accordingly. By making the first brilliantly projected, and there
our greatest men … Every violin parts ever more brilliant, are also earlier compositions,
harmonic artifice is at with higher notes and displays of such as the slow movement of
virtuosity, he naturally made the
his Op. 20, No. 1, that perhaps
his command.
Ernst Ludwig Gerber lower three voices more athletic, better convey the perfect intimate
sound of a quartet, but the extreme
too. The performers also had to
Organist and composer learn to project their sound. contrasts between the movements
(1746–1819)
of Op. 54, No. 2, as well as Haydn’s
A memorable, daring work inspired and brave decision to
Haydn’s Op. 54, No. 2 in C major, end with a slow movement, single
composed in 1788, is one of his this out as a truly memorable
many exceptionally inventive piece of music. ❯❯





US_122-127_Haydn.indd 125 26/03/18 1:00 PM

126 DEVELOPMENT OF THE STRING QUARTET






Second violin Viola
Often plays in Plays notes in the
harmony with the first mellow middle range
violin, but sometimes corresponding with
with the viola. the alto voice.









First violin Cello
Often leads and Plays the bass line,
plays the highest the foundation for
notes and the most the high-melody
difficult parts.  instruments.







Anatomy of a string quartet


The Op. 54, No. 2 quartet was turn in the development section, creation of what appears to be a
among those that Johann Tost, a while the recapitulation is marked quintet, when the lower three play
violinist much admired by Haydn by the cello’s exuberant arpeggio on with occasional double stops,
and a wily merchant, took to Paris and interjections from the first freeing up the first violin to present
to promote and sell. Its brilliantly violin. When the movement should a lament that sounds as if it is
soloistic writing for first violin was head to its conclusion, Haydn—like totally improvised. The freedom
aimed at a musical audience that other great Classical composers, of Haydn’s notation gives every
preferred the quatuor concertant, a such as Mozart, Beethoven, and violinist an opportunity to present
string quartet genre fashionable in Schubert—ignores compositional an individual and uninhibited
the French capital from around 1775 conventions by ending with a interpretation of this passage,
to the French Revolution of 1789. It huge climax. With both violins at which Brahms emulates in the
must also have suited Tost’s talent their loudest, the viola and cello slow movement of his Clarinet
for playing in very high registers. join in before the movement ends Quintet Op. 115.
almost reflectively but for its final The sadness of the ending—
An exuberant opening two upright chords. on a quiet chord—is deliberately
The key of C major that Haydn unresolved. Instead of the normal
chose for the quartet is traditionally Surprising contrasts break (and even the tuning of
an indication of happy, optimistic The ensuing adagio (slow) in instruments between movements
music. The piece begins with C minor is highly introspective that often occurred), the piece
bright and brilliant opening in mood. A sad gypsy melody is moves straight on into the minuet,
bars and a fast and vivaciously pitched in the lowest registers of all which starts hesitatingly and then
improvised melody in celebratory four instruments. The miracle of gradually emulates the optimism
mood. Each instrument leads in this movement is the imperceptible of the first movement. In the





US_122-127_Haydn.indd 126 26/03/18 1:00 PM

CLASSICAL 1750–1820 127


reassuring melody. Yet even here Chamber groups
the cello behaves unusually,
climbing into the pitch of the first In the 18th century, as
violin. After a fast interlude, the education widened and the
middle class expanded,
quartet ends peacefully. appreciation of music spread
It can safely be beyond the court and church.
suggested that there is Haydn’s legacy The number of amateur
no more original Haydn It is not known how well the musicians with money and
quartet [Op. 54 No. 2], nor quartet was received, and indeed, leisure time rapidly increased,
any that contains more the much less imaginative works and musical friends would
prophetic innovations. of a fellow Austrian, Ignace Joseph get together in a “chamber,”
Hans Keller Pleyel, were more popular in Paris or room, to make music at
at the time. However, less than 20 home. This created a market
years later, when Beethoven for musical compositions
produced his Op. 18 quartets in suited to an intimate setting,
1800, a revival of Haydn’s quartets especially for strings, which
occurred. The style of Haydn’s blended harmoniously and
83 quartets had revolutionized were more affordable and
contrasting trio sections, this all chamber music. Schumann studied widely available, following
improvements in the
changes as a dissonant A-flat note them before embarking on his three manufacture of instruments.
is repeatedly accented on a weak Op. 41 quartets, and all future While string quartets were
beat, sounding like screams of composers of quartets would take the most popular form of
anguish. The conventional repeat inspiration from Haydn. ■ chamber ensemble during
of the minuet plays a critical role the Classical and Romantic
in restoring an optimistic mood. periods, composers also wrote
The finale, however, produces Haydn often visited Vienna as part for quintets, with an extra
of Prince Esterházy’s retinue. In this
the biggest surprise. Instead of the 19th-century painting, he is shown (in viola, cello, or the addition
conventional fast movement, Haydn light blue) directing a quartet from his of a double bass, and
presents an adagio with a calm and preferred second violin position. eventually works featuring
other “fifth” instruments,
such as the clarinet, creating
a richer sound. Work for
woodwind quintets (flute,
oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and
horn) also appeared.
As many middle-class
households acquired a piano
in the late 18th century,
composers produced chamber
music for the piano—the piano
trio (piano, violin, and cello),
quartet (piano trio and viola),
and quintet (string quartet
with piano). The piano duet for
two players at one instrument
also became popular for
domestic and concert
performances, and a number
of composers wrote works for
four hands, including Mozart
and Schubert.








US_122-127_Haydn.indd 127 26/03/18 1:00 PM

128

IN CONTEXT
THE MOST FOCUS

Innovation in the Classical
TREMENDOUS GENIUS symphony

BEFORE
1759–1795 Joseph Haydn
RAISED MOZART composes more than 100

symphonies in the four-
ABOVE ALL MASTERS movement format.
1764 Aged eight, Wolfgang

SYMPHONY NO. 40 IN G MINOR, K. 550 (1788), Amadeus Mozart composes
his First Symphony in E-flat
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART major, K.16.
AFTER
1803 Ludwig van Beethoven
completes his stormy, political
“Eroica” symphony.
1824 Beethoven finishes his
symphonic project with the
Ninth Symphony, including a
final movement featuring vocal
soloists and chorus.






y the beginning of the
1780s, Mozart had written
B more than 30 symphonies.
These works were influenced by
both musical and extra-musical
factors, including his work in the
archbishop’s court in his home city
of Salzburg, his tours of Italy’s
musical centers, his search for
employment in Munich and Paris,
and his visits to Mannheim, the
capital of the symphony during
the 18th century.

Classical zenith
After he settled in Vienna in
1781, Mozart wrote relatively few
symphonies, focusing instead on
piano concertos, chamber music,
and works for the theatre. Yet in
the summer of 1788, he wrote his





US_128-131_Mozart_Symphony.indd 128 26/03/18 1:00 PM

CLASSICAL 1750–1820 129

See also: Stamitz’s Symphony in E-flat major 116–117 ■ The Magic Flute 134–137 ■
“Eroica” Symphony 138–141 ■ Der Freischütz 149 ■ The Ring Cycle 180–187


final three symphonies, Nos. 39–41, minor keys, syncopated rhythms,
including the Symphony No. 40 in melodic leaps, and other flourishes,
G minor, K.550, possibly composed all of which characterize Mozart’s
for a projected concert series in “Little” G minor symphony (No. 25,
a central Viennese casino. These K. 183/173dB), completed in 1773.
works represent the culmination This moody music often went
of the symphonic genre during hand in hand with the virtuoso
the Classical period—though they playing associated with the city
also look ahead to the music of of Mannheim in Germany, which
the 19th century, with its emphasis Mozart visited in both 1763,
on a broad range of harmonies, when he was seven years old, Wolfgang Amadeus
along with concert programs and again in 1777–1778, at age 21. Mozart
ascribing distinct narratives and Mannheim’s instrumentalists
themes to musical pieces. were famous for creating dynamic Born in Salzburg, then part
shifts and thrilling crescendoes. of the Holy Roman Empire,
Expressive forces But it was not just the style of the in 1756, Mozart followed in
As a young man, Mozart had been Mannheim symphony that was the footsteps of his father,
influenced by the Sturm und Drang new. Its structure also differed from Leopold, a musician and
(“storm and stress”) movement that its counterparts, consisting of four composer in the archbishop’s
emphasized emotion and creative rather than three movements. The court. Yet Mozart’s brilliance
individuality. This style, which symphony’s previously dancing ❯❯ as a violinist, pianist, and
took its lead from contemporary composer meant that Salzburg
literature, is also evident in works often seemed stifling, even
by the pioneering and prolific Mozart often composed music provincial, and he tried to
in segments before fleshing them
“father of the symphony,” Joseph out as finished manuscripts, such find employment elsewhere.
In 1781, he settled in the
Haydn. In music, Sturm und Drang as the one below of his Symphony city of Vienna, the seat of
found expression in the use of No. 40 in G minor. Habsburg pomp and power.
Working as a freelance
composer, he perfected genres
such as the symphony, the
concerto, and the string
quartet, and wrote a handful
of highly successful operas.
Mozart died of mysterious
causes in late 1791, at the age
of 35, leaving behind some
600 musical works and an
extraordinary legacy for the
generation that followed.

Other key works

1773 Symphony No. 25
in G minor
1779 Krönungsmesse
1786 The Marriage of Figaro
1790 Cosi fan tutte
1791 Requiem (incomplete)







US_128-131_Mozart_Symphony.indd 129 26/03/18 1:00 PM

130 INNOVATION IN THE CLASSICAL SYMPHONY


(and somewhat frivolous) finales of this was designed to impress
were also given greater weight by the worldly Viennese, as were the
these court composers, further audacious tonal choices that
revolutionizing the genre. Mozart made across all four
movements. These often require
The 40th symphony feats of musical ingenuity across
While several of Mozart’s early the scale, particularly at the
works flaunt these Mannheim- beginning of the development
influenced, dramatic musical section of the energetic finale.
characteristics—for example, Here, Mozart uses 11 out of the
juxtaposing the woodwind and 12 notes of the chromatic scale
string sections to powerful (leaving out only G, the tonic—or
effect—his later “Great” Symphony, central note—of the symphony),
No. 40 in G minor is characterized creating a complex and sometimes
by a more integrated instrumental dissonant sound. It is little wonder
palette. This style is typical of that Arnold Schoenberg, known for
works from Vienna, which along employing all 12 notes in a scale,
with Mannheim was the city most would later be drawn to this work
strongly associated with the in particular.
symphony as a genre in the 18th The home key, G minor, is also
century. While ostensibly more an important component of the Mozart created a second version
subdued, harmonic color and work. It was, for Mozart, the of Symphony No. 40 that included
melodic drama are in plentiful musical channel through which clarinets, which had only recently been
supply here as well. he frequently expressed pain or invented. These were created by the
Beginning with a sighing figure tragedy, not just in complete works 18th-century craftsman Jacob Denner.
in the strings, Symphony No. 40 but also in arias such as Pamina’s
in G minor features a number of “Ach, ich fühl’s” (“Oh, I feel it”) in first movement, which starts as if
bold, stormy passages, as well The Magic Flute. In addition to in mid-flow. Equally complex—and
as virtuoso writing for the entire Symphony No. 40’s harmonic twists sometimes quite confrontational—
orchestra. Indeed, the whole work and turns, its feeling of emotional is the orchestral texture. Although
has the feeling of an unspoken, unpredictability stems from the it never breaks out into a full fugue,
tragic drama and often echoes varying lengths of its musical as in the final movement of
Mozart’s music for the stage. All phrases, as at the beginning of the Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony

A musical hub Schubert (who was born in
Vienna), the Strauss family,
As capital of the Habsburg Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler,
Empire, Vienna was the center Schoenberg, and Webern.
of European music for two As the public interest in
centuries. It was home to many music expanded, new theatres
of the great Classical composers, and concert halls were built to
including Mozart, Haydn, and cater for them. Empress Maria
Beethoven. They converged on Theresa built the Burgtheater
the city in search of patronage close to the royal palace in 1741,
and audiences, the first in a and in 1833, the composer and
long list of composers, including conductor Franz Lachner
founded the Künstlerverein,
The Burgtheater on Michaelerplatz, the forerunner of the Vienna
Vienna, was operated by the Habsburg Philharmonic Orchestra, rival to
court. A number of Mozart’s operas the Berlin Philharmonic for the
were premiered here. title of world’s top orchestra.






US_128-131_Mozart_Symphony.indd 130 26/03/18 1:00 PM

CLASSICAL 1750–1820 131


in C major (No. 41) that followed, mold with radically different works,
counterpoint—alternate melodic such as “Eroica” in 1804, and the
lines played above or below the Ninth Symphony of 1824.
main melody—is apparent
throughout. Even the minuet Romantic developments
and trio of the symphony’s third Mozart’s music is so The tonally (and expressively)
movement, normally an exercise pure and beautiful that diverse music of Beethoven’s
in pleasant repetition, prove rather I see it as a reflection contemporary Franz Schubert
heated, more in the manner of a of the inner workings also found its model in Mozart’s
quarrel than a courtly dance. of the universe. final works. Those who followed
Together, the symphony’s four Albert Einstein these Viennese masters, such as
movements move us far beyond Hector Berlioz and Franz Liszt,
the balance and poise of Mozart’s continued to adapt the Classical
earlier works—as well as those symphony to their own Romantic
of his contemporaries. They look ends, introducing new dramatic
ahead to the more turbulent effects and elements, such as
music of the Romantic period. program notes to help the audience
After Mozart’s death, his final three interpret the music, as in Berlioz’s
Mozart’s legacy symphonies, a magnificent triptych Symphonie fantastique and
It is not clear if Symphony No. 40 with the G minor at its heart, were Liszt’s symphonic poems.
was premiered during Mozart’s repeatedly held up as the pinnacle Collectively, these gave the
lifetime, and many commentators of the Classical symphony. These symphony an even greater sense
claimed that it was not written works—along with Haydn’s own of theater and formed the basis
for Vienna at all, but for posterity. great body of symphonies—no for Richard Wagner’s “symphonic”
However, the presence of a second doubt provided the benchmark for operas, with their emphasis on
version of the score, including the young Ludwig van Beethoven. recurrent motifs and the changing
parts for two clarinets, probably Born in Bonn, Beethoven arrived role of the orchestra—Wagner was
written for Mozart’s friends, in Vienna the year after Mozart’s the first to place the orchestra out
the clarinetists and basset horn death and became one of Haydn’s of sight of the audience, focusing
players Anton and Johann Stadler, pupils, initially emulating the attention on the stage. The roots of
indicates that Mozart must have music of both his teacher and his such bold innovations are found in
heard at least one performance idol Mozart. Eventually, however, the symphonic works Mozart wrote
before he died in 1791. Beethoven would break their toward the end of his short life. ■



The first movement of a The second
symphony presents several themes and movement presents lyrical
develops the sections in different keys, ending melodies. It usually has a ternary form,
in the main key, usually in a fast-pace with three sections, the third
sonata-allegro form. repeating the first.





The fourth movement is
fairly fast and often in a rondo form, in Two brisk minuets separated by a
which the first section is repeated and there contrasting trio section in ternary form
is a different new section between make up the third movement.
each repetition.







US_128-131_Mozart_Symphony.indd 131 26/03/18 1:00 PM

132


THE OBJECT OF THE


PIANO IS TO SUBSTITUTE

ONE PERFORMER FOR A

WHOLE ORCHESTRA


PIANO SONATA IN F-SHARP MINOR, OP. 25, NO. 5
(1790), MUZIO CLEMENTI






he development of the became commonplace. Composers
IN CONTEXT instrumental sonata also began structuring their music
T mirrored a change in the into large-scale arcs called sonatas,
FOCUS function of music in the Classical which allowed the audience to
The instrumental sonata
period. Music was no longer an experience a more varied musical
BEFORE accompaniment to dance or prayer journey. Anglo-Italian composer
1758 Domenico Scarlatti but a focus in its own right, and Muzio Clementi was an important
publishes his 30 Essercizi per composers thus worked to find innovator in this evolving structure,
Gravicembalo, which form new ways to engage the audience. his Sonata in F-sharp minor being
part of his more than 500 With the rise in popularity of the a prime example of the form.
sonatas for keyboard. newly invented piano, one way
of achieving this was through the
1771 Joseph Haydn drama of juxtaposing loud and soft A Clementi & Co. square piano
from London, where Clementi’s
specifically names a piano passages, which had not been piano manufacturing company
piece a “sonata” rather than possible on the harpsichord. This flourished in the early 18th century.
a divertimento.
AFTER
1818 Beethoven completes
his Hammerklavier Sonata,
Op. 106, which takes the
sonata to new heights of
complexity and virtuosity.
1853 Franz Liszt writes his
piano Sonata in B minor and
redefines the genre for the
Romantic age.















US_132-133_Clementi.indd 132 26/03/18 1:00 PM

CLASSICAL 1750–1820 133

See also: Scarlatti’s Sonata in D minor 90–91 ■ Haydn’s String Quartet in
C major, Op. 5, No. 2 122–127 ■ “Eroica” Symphony 138–141 ■ Préludes 164–165


Generally, sonatas were formed of The Sonata Principle
three or four movements, the first
of which was structured according
to what is now called the Sonata Exposition
Principle. This was usually the Two themes are presented
longest and most dramatic of the in two different keys. The first
theme is in the tonic key.
movements and the one in which
the composer was expected to
demonstrate his dexterity in
musical discourse to move and grip
the audience. Usually a fast, driving Development Muzio Clementi
movement, the first movement of The themes are
Clementi’s Sonata in F-sharp minor manipulated, fragmented, Born in Rome in 1752, Muzio
is unusual in that it portrayed a extended, and transformed. Clementi came to the notice
slower, more meditative mood of of the English patron, Sir Peter
considerable pathos, distinguishing Beckford, at the age of 14.
it from other works of the time. Taking Clementi to his estate
A sonata’s second movement in Dorset, England, Beckford
was usually slower, giving the Recapitulation sponsored Clementi’s musical
composer a chance to demonstrate Both themes are replayed, education for the next seven
his finer sensibilities, and often had now both in the tonic key. years. At his debut, Clementi
songlike sections. In his F-sharp was possibly the most
minor sonata, Clementi goes one accomplished keyboard player
step further: sometimes the treble in the world, and he was the
first true piano virtuoso.
has a single line, resembling a In 1780, Clementi began
singer’s aria, accompanied by the Coda a two-year tour of Europe,
light repeated chords found in Rounds off the movement. during which he met Mozart
operatic string writing. By using in Vienna. (While Clementi
such a technique, Clementi was was impressed by Mozart’s
perhaps attempting to steal a little “spirit and grace,” Mozart in
limelight from the opera—the most turn called him a “charlatan.”)
public forum for music at the time. The sonata principle Back in London, Clementi
creates a musical became a celebrated composer
Minuet/trio and finale argument that creates and teacher. He was also a
In four-movement sonatas, it was tension and resolution. very successful publisher and
then traditional to include a minuet piano manufacturer, and he
and trio as a throwback to the helped to found the Royal
Baroque dance suites, and this Philharmonic Society. He
died in 1832 and is buried
provided a kind of respite amid the audience and often great acclaim in Westminster Abbey.
stronger movements—although for the performers. In this sonata,
Beethoven would soon exchange Clementi enjoyed showing off his
this respite for a vigorous “scherzo” technique of playing two passages Other key works
(Italian for “to joke”), whose mood a third apart with one hand—a skill
might range from irony to terror. for which he was famous. This was Before 1781 Piano Sonata
in B-flat minor, Op. 24 No. 2.
The finale was usually lighter in beyond the ability of amateurs (and 1800 12 Waltzes for Piano,
substance but far more brilliant in most performers), thereby setting a Triangle, and Tambourine
terms of technical display, thus seal on this work as a piece worthy 1826 Gradus ad Parnassum
allowing a satisfying ending for an of the concert hall. ■





US_132-133_Clementi.indd 133 26/03/18 1:00 PM

134

IN CONTEXT
WE WALK, BY THE FOCUS

Opera in German
POWER OF MUSIC, BEFORE

1770 Johann Adam Hiller’s
comic opera Die Jagd (“The
IN JOY THROUGH Hunt”), one of the most popular

18th-century singspiels opens.
DEATH’S DARK NIGHT 1789 The premiere of Oberon,
König der Elfen (Oberon, King

THE MAGIC FLUTE (1791), of the Elves) by Czech Paul
Wranitzky sets a trend for
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Zauberoper (“magic opera”).
AFTER
1805 Beethoven’s only opera,
Fidelio, a singspiel, has its
first performance in Vienna.
1816 E.T.A. Hoffmann’s
Undine, a Zauberoper about
a water spirit, opens in Berlin.
1821 Carl Maria von
Weber’s Der Freischütz
(“The Marksman”), a Romantic
singspiel with a supernatural
theme, premieres in Berlin.




ozart’s The Magic Flute,
a two-act opera first
M performed in Vienna in
September 1791, marked the peak
of the development of singspiel
(“sing-play”), a uniquely German
opera genre that combined music
with spoken word.
Based on a libretto by Mozart’s
friend Emanuel Schikaneder, the
opera is set in ancient Egypt and
tells the story of a prince, Tamino,
who strays into the realm of the
mysterious Queen of the Night
where he is attacked by a serpent.
Rescued by the queen’s three
ladies-in-waiting, he falls in love
with a portrait they show him of
the queen’s daughter, Pamina, who





US_134-137_Mozart_Magic_Flute.indd 134 26/03/18 1:00 PM

CLASSICAL 1750–1820 135

See also: Orfeo ed Euridice 118–119 ■ C.P.E. Bach’s Flute Concerto in A major 120–121 ■ Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G
minor 128–131 ■ The Barber of Seville 148 ■ Der Freischütz 149 ■ Tosca 194–197






































Mozart’s The Magic Flute remains Mozart’s Idomeneo (1781) and La songs. John Gay’s The Beggar’s
hugely popular. The opera drew more clemenza di Tito (1791)—often drew Opera (1728) was the most famous
than 400,000 spectators at Austria’s its stories from the mythology and ballad opera, but it was Gay’s
Bregenz Festival during a two-year history of ancient Greece and Irish contemporary Charles Coffey
run in 2013 and 2014.
Rome. Opera buffa was comic, who had the greatest impact in
with Mozart’s The Marriage of 18th-century Germany. His ballad ❯❯
has been abducted by Sarastro, Figaro (1786) an outstanding
high priest of the gods Isis and example of the genre.
Osiris. Tamino vows to rescue Singspiel had its roots in early
Pamina. He, his comic companion, 18th-century Vienna, where the
Papageno (the queen’s bird- imposing Theater am Kärntnertor
catcher), and Pamina undergo a specialized in popular musical
series of ordeals, armed only with dramas. Unlike the Italian operas I’ve just got back from the
a magic flute and magic chimes. performed for the court and nobility, opera; it was as full as ever …
Light eventually triumphs over these entertainments were for you can see [it] continuing to
darkness, bringing a happy ending. Viennese of all social backgrounds. rise in people’s estimation.
From Vienna, singspiels spread to Wolfgang
Popular appeal Germany, where in the mid-century Amadeus Mozart
Mozart wrote 20 operas in all, in they gained in popularity due to
three genres: opera seria, opera the influence of French opéra
buffa (both sung throughout), and comique and English ballad opera.
singspiel. Opera seria, the grandest Both these genres mingled spoken
form of opera—a style that includes dialogue, often satirical, with





US_134-137_Mozart_Magic_Flute.indd 135 26/03/18 1:00 PM

136 OPERA IN GERMAN



Mozart and Freemasonry many attractions—it offered a
free-thinking and enlightened
On December 14, 1784, Mozart approach to religion; espoused
was admitted to one of Vienna’s the virtue of justice, which for
eight Freemason lodges. The city many Masons meant active
at that time had more than 700 opposition to abuses of state
Masons, including “brethren”— and clerical power; and provided
then, as now, only men could be a place where men of different
Masons—drawn from the highest status could mix on terms
nobility, officialdom, and even of relative equality. Mozart
clergy, but also from the ranks remained a devoted Mason
of the middle classes: doctors, the rest of his life and wrote
Freemasons swear in a new merchants, booksellers, and several pieces for performance
member in a colored copper musicians, including Mozart’s at Masonic occasions, notably
engraving of c. 1750. Mozart was librettist for The Magic Flute, 1785’s Masonic Funeral Music in
similarly initiated into Vienna’s Emanuel Schikaneder. For men C Minor in memory of two of his
“Beneficence” lodge in 1784. like Mozart, Freemasonry had recently passed brethren.


opera The Devil to Pay, a huge numbers added for atmosphere and Vienna’s Burgtheater in 1778.
success in Britain, became a to convey character. In works such as One of its biggest successes was
success in translation in Berlin, in Hiller’s Die Jagd (“The Hunt”) (1770) Mozart’s The Abduction from the
the 1740s. Two adaptations of other and Benda’s Walder (1776) and Seraglio (1782).
operas by Coffey inspired the Romeo und Julie (1776), the singing In the spring of 1791, Emanuel
Leipzig-based Johann Adam Hiller, parts became the dramatic core of Schikaneder commissioned Mozart
regarded as the father of singspiel, the piece. Official recognition to write another singspiel—this
to begin his career in the 1760s. of such works as examples of a time for the Theatre auf der Wieden
popular and distinctively German in Vienna, where Schikaneder was
National genre genre, to be encouraged in the face the director. Oberon, the King of
In the hands of composers such as of the all-dominant Italian opera, the Elves, with music by Mozart’s
Hiller, Georg Anton Benda, Karl came when Habsburg Emperor friend Paul Wranitzky, was a recent
Ditters von Dittersdorf, and Ignaz Joseph II, a lover and patron of the hit for Schikaneder’s company
Umlauf, singspiels were no longer arts, established a short-lived and an example of a new breed
simply spoken dramas with musical National-Singspiel company at of singspiel, sometimes called

The Magic Flute’s characters expressed through music















The Queen of the Night Papageno (bird-catcher) Tamino and Pamina Sarastro (high priest)
Soprano, whose vocal Baritone, who sings upbeat Tenor and soprano, Bass, whose slow and dignified
dexterity culminates and bouncy folk melodies respectively, whose performance, with speechlike
in a staccato aria that with prominent use of pan romantic and deeply felt delivery in parts and heightened
represents instability, pipes, suggesting his arias represent enlightened by grand orchestral flourishes,
greed, and duplicity. happy-go-lucky nature. principles of light and joy. suggests justice and wisdom.





US_134-137_Mozart_Magic_Flute.indd 136 26/03/18 1:00 PM

CLASSICAL 1750–1820 137


Zauberoper (“magic opera”), which
mingled comedy with supernatural
elements and impressive spectacle.
Keen to repeat the success of
Wranitzky’s work, Schikaneder
himself wrote the libretto for the
new opera, although it is likely that
Mozart collaborated as well. The
two men took a fairy tale by August
Jacob Liebeskind, Lulu, oder die
Zauberflöte (Lulu, or The Magic
Flute), as their starting point but
transformed it almost beyond
recognition. Among other things,
they added Masonic elements
(Wranitzky, Schikaneder, and
Mozart were Freemasons), such
as in the initiatory ordeals that
the protagonists endure.
The Magic Flute
Mozart died in 1791, just two
months after The Magic Flute
premiered. It was not only his last Night to the touching comedy of Opera-goers in London watch from a
major completed work but also one the duet, “Pa-pa-pa-Papagena,” box in a 1796 painting by an unknown
of his most sublime. In all Mozart’s in which Papageno and his mate artist. Opera became fashionable in
operas, he showed an unsurpassed Papagena imagine a blissful future the early 18th century, with new operas
commissioned for each season.
gift for creating the right music to together. Only such a perfect
fit each character, situation, or command of musical expression
emotion. In The Magic Flute, this enabled Mozart to hold together The Magic Flute’s influence on
ranges from the deep solemnity of convincingly the often unsettling the development of singspiel and
the priest Sarastro’s songs and two ambivalences and reversals of the German Romantic opera was
powerful arias of the Queen of the opera, such as the point when the fundamental. It carried singspiel
Queen of the Night unexpectedly into the 19th century, when the
turns from grieving mother to spite- genre developed in two directions.
filled ally of her daughter’s worst One strand led to Beethoven’s
enemy, Monostatos. opera Fidelio (1805), and—more
The opera’s premiere on formatively—to further “magic
September 30, 1791, started badly operas,” such as E.T.A. Hoffmann’s
Salieri listened and watched but ended well. During the first act, Undine (1816) and Carl Maria von
with total attentiveness … the audience was muted in its Weber’s Der Freischütz (1821) and
there wasn’t a number that response. Perhaps, despite the Oberon (1826). These were the
didn’t call forth from him recent success of Oberon, King of precursors of full-blown German
a “bravo” or a “bello.” the Elves, they were baffled by the Romantic opera, best exemplified
Wolfgang Amadeus Zauberoper’s strangely magical in the works of Richard Wagner.
Mozart qualities. In the second act, The other strand of singspiel stayed
however, the audience came true to its lighter-hearted origins,
alive and at the end called Mozart leading to the Viennese operettas
onto the stage to applaud him. of Johann Strauss the younger
The Magic Flute has remained (Die Fledermaus) and Franz Lehár
perennially popular ever since. (The Merry Widow). ■





US_134-137_Mozart_Magic_Flute.indd 137 26/03/18 1:00 PM

138 IN CONTEXT

I LIVE ONLY FOCUS


Breaking the mold of
the classical sonata
IN MY NOTES BEFORE
1759 Joseph Haydn writes
his First Symphony—in three
movements.

SYMPHONY NO. 3 IN E-FLAT MAJOR, 1793 The German theorist
Heinrich Christoph Koch
is the first to describe how
“EROICA,” OP. 55 (1804), LUDWIG the sonata form works.
VAN BEETHOVEN 1800 Beethoven completes
his First Symphony.
AFTER
1810 Critic E.T.A. Hoffmann
describes Beethoven as
“a purely romantic composer”
in a review of Symphony No. 5.

1824 Beethoven’s Symphony
No. 9 amazes audiences by
adding voices to a previously
purely instrumental genre.





eethoven’s “Eroica” broke
boundaries and audience
B expectations on its public
premiere in 1805, representing a
radical reworking of what was
understood by a “symphony.” The
composer’s daring expansion of
sonata form, his rebalancing of
musical structure, and even his
ordering of the work’s movements,
met with puzzlement and outrage.
The seeds of the symphony
were sown, surprisingly, with a
dance. In March 1801, a new ballet,
Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus
(The Creatures of Prometheus) had
its first performance at the Vienna
Burgtheater. Beethoven provided
the music, which ended with a jolly
theme in E-flat major. The melody





US_138-141_Beethoven_Eroica.indd 138 26/03/18 1:00 PM

CLASSICAL 1750–1820 139

See also: Stamitz’s Symphony in E-flat major 116–117 ■ Mozart’s Symphony
No. 40 in G minor 128–131 ■ Symphonie fantastique 162–163 ■ Schumann’s
Symphony No. 1 166–169 ■ Dvorˇák’s Symphony No. 9 212–215

with a dedication to Prince Franz
Joseph (who paid Beethoven
handsomely for it) and given the
subtitle “composed to celebrate
the memory of a great man.” The
I’ll give another most likely candidate for the
kreuzer if the thing “great man,” and the source of
will only stop! the title “Eroica” (Italian for
Audience member “heroic”), is Louis Ferdinand,
Public premiere of the “Eroica” (1805) Prince of Prussia, who was killed
in battle against the French in Ludwig van Beethoven
1806 and to whom Beethoven
had dedicated his Third Piano The son of an obscure court
Concerto, Op. 37, in 1803. musician, Beethoven was born
in Bonn in 1770. He moved to
Tearing up the rule book Vienna in 1792 and studied
obviously appealed to him, as Symphony No. 3 begins with briefly with Haydn and
around the same time he included a movement that was stretched Antonio Salieri. A prodigiously
it in a collection of 12 orchestral and expanded far beyond anything talented pianist, he made his
Contredanses (country dances) that Viennese audiences had name first as a virtuoso and
and Fifteen Variations and Fugue heard before. Instead of the acquired a number of wealthy
for solo piano, which would later carefully balanced proportions of noble admirers, who aided his
form the basis of the “Eroica” finale. the classical sonata form, where an establishment as a composer.
“exposition” and “recapitulation” In every musical genre he
A symphony takes shape match each other around a short explored, Beethoven was a
radical innovator, constantly
Beethoven began to plan his Third “development” section, with a surprising audiences. After
Symphony in autumn 1802, had brief “coda” (“tail” in Italian) to ❯❯ Haydn’s death in 1809, he was
a complete piano score by October the preeminent composer of
1803, and had an orchestrated his generation and a leading
version by early summer 1804. The figure in the new Romantic
work was first performed privately age. In a cruel twist of fate,
at the home of Prince Franz Joseph Beethoven started to lose his
von Lobkowitz, one of Beethoven’s hearing in his late 20s, and by
patrons and sponsors, and then 1818 he was nearly completely
given its public premiere at the deaf. Nevertheless, after this
Theater an der Wien, in Vienna. date, until his death in Vienna
The composer had intended in 1827, Beethoven wrote
to dedicate his work to Napoleon some of his most inventive
and radical works.
Bonaparte. But when the general
declared himself the Emperor of
France, Beethoven crossed his Other key works
name from the manuscript.
Removing the dedication made 1808 Symphonies No. 5 and
political sense: once Napoleon’s No. 6, Op. 67 and Op. 68
1818 Piano Sonata in B-flat,
invasion plans became clear, it The herioc deeds of Napoleon Hammerklavier, Op. 106
Bonaparte, depicted in Napoleon
would have been career suicide to Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis 1824 Symphony No. 9 in D
celebrate him in a new symphony. David (1748–1825), inspired Beethoven minor, Op. 125
The work was eventually printed to write the “Eroica” symphony.





US_138-141_Beethoven_Eroica.indd 139 26/03/18 1:00 PM

140 BREAKING THE MOLD OF THE CLASSICAL SONATA


The Lobkowitz Palace, in Vienna,
in a colored etching by Vincenz Reim
(1796–1858), was the site of the first
performance of Beethoven's Symphony
No. 3 in August 1804.

The third movement is lighter—a
lively scherzo (Italian for “joke”).
Like most scherzo symphony
movements, it includes a trio
middle section based on three
instruments. Beethoven innovated
here by using French horns more
prominently in a symphony than
ever before. These instruments had
no valves in the early 1800s, so they
could play arpeggios only in a single
key, which made them sound
especially martial, like a battle call.
The main theme of the scherzo
round off the movement, Beethoven Beyond the thematic manipulation, starts in an unexpected key. The
composed a hugely extended the music of the first movement is music has already changed key,
development, falling between a full of syncopations that distort from E-flat to B-flat, before the oboe
long exposition and recapitulation, the listener’s sense of the rhythm. finally begins the theme. Once
and ending with a coda of more Also, strong dissonances—ugly again, Beethoven was deliberately
than 100 measures. to listeners in the early 1800s— catching his audience by surprise.
Not only was the extreme leap out, where major and minor
duration and balance of the first seconds (notes two semitones and The end and beyond
movement unusual, but Beethoven one semitone apart, respectively) The finale of “Eroica” is a set of
also introduced an entirely new grate against each other. variations on a theme. Although
theme after the exposition (where this was not the first symphony to
all themes were traditionally first Constant surprises
stated) had ended. This new theme Beethoven followed the huge
was in E major, a key very far from structure of the first movement,
the home key of the piece. with its surprising tonal twists and
The shape of the opening theme turns, with a slow movement, cast
of the “Eroica” is also atypical. as a Marcia funebre, or funeral This strange and
It includes a C-sharp, a rogue note march. It is an intensely dramatic thundering work, the
that does not belong in the key of piece, with the minor-key opening most extensive and
E-flat major, and so pulls the music theme eventually giving way to richly artistic piece of
away from its home key and a blazing, more hopeful C major, all those created by
unsettles it. As a result, Beethoven before the opening theme returns
had to rewrite this subject in the and is presented as a fugato—a Beethoven’s original
recapitulation to get rid of the short fuguelike piece, where the and wondrous spirit.
C-sharp and create a satisfactory theme is imitated simultaneously Opening of a review
resolution. This defied the rules by different instruments as if they Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung
of sonata form, in which the are chasing each other. To have (February 18, 1807)
recapitulation is meant to contain such rich and intricate musical
the work’s musical ideas in the textures woven so extensively
same form as they appeared in into more than one movement
the exposition. was groundbreaking.





US_138-141_Beethoven_Eroica.indd 140 26/03/18 1:00 PM

CLASSICAL 1750–1820 141


Expressive grandeur in Beethoven’s “Eroica”


More developed first movement
than any symphony to date,
and longer than many
Opens with two entire symphonies. A second movement
powerful chords. that opens with a sombre
funeral march in C minor.





“Eroica” is
Use of triadic revolutionary An energetic scherzo in
(three-note) themes. the third movement.






Huge range Harmonic tensions
of keys. and surprises.
Prominent use
of brasses to
produce “heroic” end.






use a theme-and-variation form as subtly interlinked. He was to
its closing movement, Beethoven venture even further in his later
broke with tradition by failing to symphonies, and by the time he
start with the theme itself. Instead, reached the Ninth, in 1824, what
the movement begins with a bass had once been four separate units
line, from which Beethoven builds linked only by a common title,
the orchestral texture until we had become a musical narrative
finally reach the theme melody. He brilliantly interwoven across the
was turning the form on its head by old sonata structure.
effectively writing variations before Those who witnessed the early
he had even got to the theme. Also, performances of the “Eroica” found
rather than the variations being it a difficult work to understand—it
based on a single melody, the whole was simply too far from their idea
orchestra is involved in exchanging of how a symphony should work,
and developing interweaving lines both in terms of its length and its
of material, ending in an elaborate structure. But it was soon accepted
fugato that brings the music firmly as a work of profound genius and
and finally to the home key. was to exert a huge influence on Symphony No. 3 was already known
Beethoven had created a four- later generations of symphonists, as the “Eroica” by the time it was
movement journey through keys, from Schumann and Brahms to published, as this frontispiece of
themes, and ideas, cleverly and Bruckner and Mahler. ■ the first edition shows.





US_138-141_Beethoven_Eroica.indd 141 26/03/18 1:00 PM

ROMANTIC





























1810–1920


















































US_142-143_Chapter_Opener_Romantic.indd 142 26/03/18 1:00 PM

ROMANTIC





























1810–1920


















































US_142-143_Chapter_Opener_Romantic.indd 143 26/03/18 1:00 PM

144 INTRODUCTION




Niccolò Paganini Franz Schubert’s In Paris, Hector Intended to convey a
composes the first of his song cycle Die schöne Berlioz premieres longing for springtime,
24 Caprices for Solo Müllerin marks Symphonie fantastique, Robert Schumann
Violin, which are among the high point in one of the most writes his Symphony
the most difficult violin the German Lied influential works in the No. 1 over four days
pieces of all time. (song) form. programmatic genre. in January.






1805 1824 1830 1841


1821 1826 1839 1846








Based on a German folk Epitomizing Frédéric Chopin’s The colorful
legend, Carl Maria Beethoven’s late style, cycle of 24 preludes, orchestration of Felix
von Weber’s opera his String Quartet covering all major Mendelssohn’s Elijah
Der Freischütz No. 14, Op. 131 abandons and minor keys, breathes new life
explores German the quartet’s traditional defies conventional into the oratorio, a
national identity. form and development. thematic structure. Baroque genre.


he Romantic movement bohemian clothes replaced the wigs example, are in a more Classical
arose largely as a reaction and formal costumes of the Classical style. Yet Schubert was inspired by
T to the rationalization and period, and the lifestyles of the the subjects of German Romantic
urbanization of European society Romantic composers were often poetry in the songs, or Lieder, for
following the Industrial Revolution. as colorful as their music. which he is best known. This
From the end of the 18th century, Beethoven developed a more aspect of Romanticism, especially
writers, artists, and composers personal style of music from 1803. the love of nature, later inspired the
turned away from the formal In what is regarded as his “middle work of Robert Schumann, whose
elegance of the Classical period period,” he produced groundbreaking symphonies and piano pieces were
in favor of personal expression piano sonatas, string quartets, often programmatic (painting a
and a fascination with nature. In other forms of chamber music, and, picture or telling a story in music),
music, this manifested itself in a above all, symphonies. In his “late a genre begun by Beethoven’s
gradual expansion of the harmonic period,” a final burst of creativity, “Pastoral” Sixth Symphony, which
and instrumental palette to appeal when he was isolated from the depicts a series of rural scenes.
to the emotions rather than the world by profound deafness, he Hector Berlioz relished the
intellects of the audience. produced work of extraordinary possibilities offered by a larger
intensity, such as his last piano orchestra and extended harmonic
The new style sonatas, string quartets, and language. His operas, orchestral,
Beethoven fulfilled the stereotype the Ninth Symphony, with its and choral works, all on a grand
of the Romantic musician, as innovative choral finale. scale with large orchestras, were
did the violinist Niccolò Paganini Not every composer joined the expressive and highly personal. He
and some other virtuoso performer- Romantic tide. The instrumental continued the drift away from the
composers. Long unkempt hair and works of Franz Schubert, for abstract to the programmatic in his





US_144-145_Chapter_Intro_Romantic.indd 144 27/03/18 4:49 PM

ROMANTIC 1810–1920 145




The premiere of Johann Strauss II
Giuseppe Verdi’s writes The Blue Johannes Brahms’s The brutal plot of Giacomo
La traviata in Venice Danube, a waltz First Symphony premieres Puccini’s opera Tosca
shocks audiences by with a rich symphonic in Karlsruhe, Germany, typifies verismo (“realism”),
taking a fallen woman sound that takes recalling the Classical a form of opera popular in
as its subject matter. Europe by storm. style of Beethoven. Italy and France.






1853 1867 1876 1900


1857 1876 1896 1908








Franz Liszt’s Faust The fourth part of Inspired by Nietzsche’s Gustav Mahler
Symphony, inspired by Richard Wagner’s Ring novel, Richard Strauss writes Das Lied
Johann Wolfgang von Cycle opens in Bayreuth, composes Also sprach von der Erde, a
Goethe’s play of the marking the end of his Zarathustra, a symphonic contemplation on
same name, premieres “total artwork,” composed poem that rejects the inevitability
in Weimar, Germany. over 26 years. Romantic conventions. of death.


symphonies, a trend that was Johann Strauss I and II, father and matter and aiming for a more
taken up later by many composers, son, played on this nostalgia with convincing form of dramatic
especially Franz Liszt, who their waltzes, but other composers representation. Others followed his
developed a form known as the also felt the lack of discipline in lead: Bizet in France, the giants of
symphonic poem, or tone poem. Romantic music. Foremost among Italian opera, Verdi and Puccini,
Liszt was also famous as a them was Johannes Brahms, who pursued a new kind of realism
young man for his virtuosity when who moderated expression within in opera, and in Germany, Richard
performing his own piano pieces, stricter Classical forms. Another Wagner, whose operas were on the
and he gained a large and devoted was Felix Mendelssohn, whose grandest of scales and stretched
following. These solo piano recitals oratorios harked back to the musical language. With his
were popular entertainment of the Baroque period, reviving German innovatory harmonies, Wagner
period, especially when given by and English choral traditions laid challenged the idea of tonality,
Romantic characters such as down by Handel and Bach. which had been the foundation
Liszt or Frédéric Chopin, whose of musical form since the end of
more delicate and lyrical style of Romantic opera the Renaissance.
composition appealed particularly Opera, with its combination of Wagner inspired what is now
to French audiences. literature and music, was ideally known as the late Romantic style,
suited to portraying Romantic exemplified by composers such as
Exceptions to the rule themes and ideas. Carl Maria von Anton Bruckner, Gustav Mahler,
Despite the popularity of Romantic Weber established the template and Richard Strauss. This heralded
music, some composers missed for Romantic opera by choosing the beginning of modern music in
the elegance of Classicism. In German folklore rather than which the old rules of harmony no
fashionable Vienna, for example, Classical mythology as his subject longer applied. ■





US_144-145_Chapter_Intro_Romantic.indd 145 27/03/18 4:49 PM

146


THE VIOLINIST IS THAT


PECULIARLY HUMAN

PHENOMENON … HALF

TIGER, HALF POET


24 CAPRICES FOR SOLO VIOLIN, OP. 1 (1824),
NICCOLÒ PAGANINI






iolinist-composer Niccolò that he had struck a deal with
IN CONTEXT Paganini’s career as an the devil in return for his gifts.
V international performer His greatest triumphs were
FOCUS lasted just six years, from 1828 to in Paris, which was in thrall to
The rise of the virtuoso
1834, but his influence on music grand spectacle, new technology,
BEFORE was immense. Setting out to and brilliance in every field.
1733 Pietro Locatelli publishes entertain, he introduced new
L’arte del violino, which inspires playing techniques and raised Technical innovations
Paganini’s own Caprices. the expectations of audiences, Paganini had studied and honed
performing feats no one had his art in Italy. It is thought that
1740 The violinist Giuseppe achieved before him. He owned he started composing his 24
Tartini, known for his fast and numerous violins, including a Caprices in the early 1800s, even
exciting playing, epitomized by handful by perhaps the greatest though he did not publish them
his violin sonata Devil’s Trill, maker of all, Antonio Stradivarius. until 1820. In these showpiece
makes a concert tour of Italy. Chronic illness, thought to be works, and numerous others, he
Marfan syndrome, left Paganini challenged every aspect of existing
AFTER looking gaunt. This led to rumors violin technique and introduced
1834 Hector Berlioz completes new ideas designed to showcase
Harold en Italie, a symphony the performer’s skills. The pieces
featuring a solo viola part are peppered with breakneck
composed for Paganini. passage work, double- or even

1838 Franz Liszt publishes triple-stopping (bowing two or
an early form of his technically Easter Sunday; in the three strings at the same time), as
demanding Études d’exécution evening I heard Paganini. well as new tricks such as left-hand
transcendante d’après What ecstasy! In his hands pizzicato (using the fingers of the
Paganini (“Transcendental the driest exercises flame up left hand to pluck the strings) and
studies after Paganini”), in like bithium pronouncements. ricochet (bouncing bowing).
which he transcribed six of Robert Schumann Inspired by Paganini
Paganini’s violin caprices for As a 19-year-old, in 1831, the
solo piano.
Hungarian composer Franz Liszt
heard Paganini in Paris and was
inspired to achieve the same level
of virtuosity on the piano and to





US_146-147_Paganini.indd 146 26/03/18 1:00 PM

ROMANTIC 1810–1920 147

See also: The Four Seasons 92–97 ■ Faust Symphony 176–177



cultivate an equally dramatic Paganini’s and Liszt’s talent
persona. His career coincided pushed the boundaries of existing
with technical advances in piano techniques for both violin and
manufacturing that made the piano. The concerto became a
instrument reliable, versatile, and stage for soloists to excel on these
loud enough to fill the large concert instruments, while the theme and
halls that catered for the growing variations form, in which a simple,
middle classes. Liszt was the most often well-known melody would
highly gifted of a new breed of be submitted to increasingly
composer-pianists who competed impressive reworkings, became
for prominence—sometimes in popular among concert-goers Niccolò Paganini
piano-playing duels. His celebrity and composers. The theme of
status helped establish the piano Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 inspired Born in the Italian port town
recital in its present form, thereby works by Liszt, Johannes Brahms, of Genoa in October 1782,
benefiting other composers. and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Paganini learned the violin
Later virtuosos included the and guitar from his father,
Belgian composer-violinist Henri who was an outstanding
The First Triumph of Paganini, Vieuxtemps and composer-pianists amateur musician. The young
by Annibale Gatti, c.1890, possibly Paganini supplemented his
depicts a performance at the court Louis Moreau Gottschalk in the US, training with a strict regimen
at Lucca, where Paganini built his Leopold Godowsky in Poland, and
reputation during the early 1800s. Rachmaninoff in Russia. ■ of practice, later claiming
he became a virtuoso after
hearing a performance by the
Polish-born French violinist
August Duranowski.
In 1809, Paganini left a
court appointment in Lucca
to pursue a solo career. He
traveled in Italy, composing
and performing works that
displayed his skills. Health
problems, including syphilis,
delayed him until 1828, after
which he went first to Austria,
Bohemia, and Germany and
then, in 1831, to Paris, where
his 10 concerts at the Opéra
caused a sensation. In 1834,
continuing ill health forced
him into semi-retirement in
Italy, where he died in 1840.

Other key works

1813 Le Streghe (The Witches)
1816 Violin Concerto No. 1
1819 Sonata “a Preghiera”
1826 Violin Concerto No. 2
in B minor







US_146-147_Paganini.indd 147 26/03/18 1:00 PM

148


GIVE ME A LAUNDRY


LIST, AND I WILL



SET IT TO MUSIC



THE BARBER OF SEVILLE (1816),
GIOACHIN0 ROSSINI






urviving a disastrous first marry her himself. Central to
IN CONTEXT night in Rome in 1816, the plot is the barber Figaro, a
S Il barbiere di Siviglia (The “fixer” in Seville. Its songs include
FOCUS Barber of Seville) by Gioachino Figaros’s “Largo al factotum della
Italian opera buffa
Rossini quickly won universal città” (“Make way for the factotum
BEFORE acclaim. Rossini had already of the city”) and Rosina’s “Una voce
1782 An earlier operatic written 16 operas, but this was his poco fa” (“A voice has just”).
version of Il barbiere di Siviglia first opera buffa (“comic opera”) as
(The Barber of Seville) by the opposed to an opera seria (“serious Operatic realism
Italian composer Giovanni opera”). It relates the attempts of The low-life settings and street
Paisiello is performed for the the Count Almaviva to win the language of the opera buffa brought
first time in St. Petersburg. beautiful Rosina, ward of the much fresh realism to musical drama, and
older Dr. Bartolo, who intends to its popularity spread throughout
1786 Mozart’s The Marriage Europe. Mozart’s The Marriage of
of Figaro receives its first Figaro and Così fan tutte are other
performance in Vienna. examples of the comic opera genre.
Beethoven admired The Barber
AFTER of Seville, as did Verdi and Wagner.
1843 Gaetano Donizetti’s Yet, apart from a one-act farce,
comic opera Don Pasquale is Dear God, here it is finished, Rossini wrote no other comedies.
performed for the first time at this poor little Mass. Is this In the 1820s, he became director
the Théâtre Italien in Paris. sacred music … or music of of the Théâtre Italien, in Paris,
the devil? I was born for opera where he wrote five more operas,
1850 Crispino e la comare buffa, as you well know. culminating in Guillaume Tell
(“The cobbler and the fairy”) Gioachino Rossini (William Tell) in 1829. After this,
by the brothers Luigi and his output declined. One of his few
Federico Ricci is one of the last large-scale pieces in the last three
examples of true opera buffa. decades of his life was his Petite
messe solennelle (“small solemn
mass”) of 1863. ■

See also: Le bourgeois gentilhomme 70–71 ■ The Magic Flute 134–137 ■
La traviata 174–175 ■ Tosca 194–197







US_148-149_Rossini_Weber.indd 148 26/03/18 1:00 PM