| Music 344—Encounter 1 The Classical Era: Classical Instrumental Music—Classic Vocal Music & Opera |
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Readings—
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I. Classical Symphony Research ProjectThe ability to provide readable, meaningful written analysis of a musical work is an essential skill for any musician. Since analysis of one kind or another serves as the basis for most writing on music, it will serve as the focus for our first written assignment. Later assignments will ask you to address different audiences, but they all require you to say intelligent things about music! This first project focuses on the history, theory, and musical form of one of the sonata-form Classical symphony movements listed below. Your written paper will emerge from your work in these four areas:
ProcessI. Choose one of the following Classical symphonies for this project! (Musical scores & recordings are available on Blackboard.)
II. Research the historical and theoretical concepts that define the late 18th-century symphony in general and your specific Classical symphony in particular. The following four required readings (also listed above under Readings) will help you answer the questions in parts III and IV:
***In addition, research the location and date of your symphony's premiere within the article for your composer at Oxford Music Online (available electronically through the library website) III. Write short-response answers to the following questions
IV. Close Analysis—First, outline the formal structure of the symphony movement you selected. These are all sonata-form movements, so you have several models to draw on when you make your chart. You can use the listening guides for sonata-form symphony movements in NAWM (109, 112a, or 116 work well), or you can use the arch and tonal maps in the Sonata Form Listening Guide below. Your analytical chart should include keys and key changes and label important melodic motives and themes present in the movement (with measure numbers for each). Then write at least a 2-paragraph listening guide that highlights important features of the form.
What to turn in—
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II. Paper PreparationChoose three possible topics for your final research paper. Write a brief abstract (one paragraph description) about each topic that sketches out some of your ideas for that topic. Click here for more information about the paper. |
Listening Assignment 1Classical Instrumental Music, Vocal Music & OperaThe listening section on the Classicism Unit Exam will consist of several listening identification excerpts. All works on the Listening List below are fair game. Recordings are from NRAWM unless otherwise noted. For each work I play you will identify the following:
Listening ListEarly Classic Sonata & Concerto—Bach’s SonsA) NAWM 107—Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Sonata in A Major, H. 186, Wq. 55/4 (Early Classic Sonata)
B) NAWM 110—Johann Christian Bach, Concerto for Piano and Strings, Op. 7 no. 5 (Early Classic Concerto)
Study Questions on A-B:
The Classical SymphonyEarly Classic SymphoniesC) NAWM 108—Giovanni Battista Sammartini, Symphony in F Major, No. 32 (Early Classic Symphony)
D) NAWM 109—Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz, Sinfonia a 8 in E-flat Major (Early Classic Symphony)
Late Classic SymphoniesE) NAWM 112—Franz Joseph Haydn, Symphony No. 92 in G Major, “Oxford” (Late Classic Symphony)
F) NAWM 116—Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Symphony No. 41 in C Major, “Jupiter,” K. 551 (Late Classic Symphony)
Study Questions on C-F:
Late Classic String Quartet, Sonata, & ConcertoG) NAWM 111—Franz Joseph Haydn, String Quartet Op. 33 no. 2 (The Joke) (Late Classic String Quartet)
H) NAWM 114—Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piano Sonata in F Major, K. 332 (Late Classic Sonata)
I) NAWM 115—Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piano Concerto in A Major, K. 488 (Late Classic Concerto)
Study Questions on G-I:
Early Classic OperaJ) NAWM 101—Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, La serva padrona (Intermezzo)—Blackboard RESERVE
K) NAWM 102—Johann Adolf Hasse, Cleofide (Italian opera seria)—Blackboard RESERVE
Study Questions on J-K:
Late Classic Reform OperaL) NAWM 104—Christoph Willibald Gluck, Orfeo ed Euridice (Reform opera (Opera seria))
Study Questions on L:
Mozart OperaM) NAWM 117—Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Don Giovanni (Opera—dramma giocoso)
N) Mozart, Le Nozze di Figaro DVD—RESERVE VIDEO 782.1 N961
O) Mozart, The Magic Flute DVD—RESERVE VIDEO 782.1 T846
Study Questions on M-O:
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Classic Sonata Form Listening GuideIt’s not so hard to follow sonata form when you tune into the feeling of stability vs. instability. Theme statements (1st, 2nd, or closing themes) sound stable, with lots of tonic. dominant, and dominant prep chords. Transitional sections (bridge and development) sound unstable, with frequent modulations and non-scale tones. The following diagrams offer two ways of visualizing a sonata form movement. |
Sonata Form Features |
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| —Used as the standard
1st movement form for the vast majority
of Classic symphonies, string quartets
and solo sonatas —Evolved from Baroque rounded binary form —Divides into three sections: Exposition, Development, and Recapitulation —A dynamic, dramatic form defined primarily by its tonal contour: in the Exposition, tonic and dominant (or relative major) tonal areas separated by a modulation; in the Development, modulations and instability; and in the Recapitulation, stability and a reaffirmation of the tonic key |
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Slow Introduction |
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—An optional section in a very
slow tempo that provides a grand or sometimes
an eerie beginning to the movement —By contrast to this introduction, Theme 1 sounds even more lively! —May be stable or unstable, and it often begins in the parallel minor key! —N.B.: this is not part of the Exposition; the Exposition begins at the new, faster tempo marking |
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Exposition |
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Theme 1 |
A stable theme in the tonic key |
| Bridge | Unstable section beginning in the tonic key, then modulating and ending on a dominant chord in the new key (either dominant or relative major) |
| Theme 2 | Stable theme that often contrasts sharply with Theme 1, but in the “wrong” key, the first theme we hear in this new key, often repeated (but watch out for Haydn symphonies that re-use Theme 1 to establish the new key!) |
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Closing Theme |
Stable, final-sounding section (still in the new key) that uses and often repeats cadential figures |
Development |
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“Body” of the Development |
Often extremely unstable, characterized by frequent modulations, fragmentation of themes from the Exposition, and recombination of motives from those themes, often in a more polyphonic texture |
| Retransition | Final passage of the Development hovers around the dominant (or leading tone) chord in the original key, preparing for the Recapitulation’s return to tonic |
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Recapitulation |
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Theme 1 |
Basically the same as in the Exposition, but may be shortened or reorchestrated for grander effect |
| Bridge | May be similar to or completely different than the Exposition’s bridge; though it doesn’t need to modulate here, it often pretends to, but then ends on a dominant chord in the original key |
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Theme 2 |
Often literally the same as Theme 2 in the Exposition, but now transposed to the original key |
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Closing Theme |
Also often literally the same as Theme 2 in the Exposition, but now transposed to the original key; the ending |
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Coda |
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—An
optional section designed to end
with more finality than
the Closing Theme provides —Usually emphasizes cadential progressions, but sometimes begins with a developmental section —Stable theme in the tonic key —N.B.: this is not part of the Recapitulation; it begins after the Closing Theme ends —The easiest way to find the measure where the Closing Theme ends and the Coda begins is to compare (measure by measure) the Closing Theme from the Exposition with the Closing Theme from the Recapitulation; most of the time, they are the same length. Anything beyond that is Coda! |
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Extra Credit Listening—Buehler Library RESERVE
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Created 1/26/12 by Mark Harbold—last updated 1/31/12