Chapter 15 Flashcards
The Symphony
- By 1800 the symphony had established itself as the most prestigious of all instrumental genres because of its size and length as well as its distinctly public nature
- Double winds & brass
- Timpani and strings
- Additions: Trombones, two additional horns, “special effect” instruments (piccolo, contrabassoon, bass drum, triangle, cymbals)
- With so many timbral options, sonority became a distinctive feature of the genre
Meaning of the symphony 19c
- The symphony as an “expression of communal spirit”
- Extra musical meanings associated with individual symphonies
- Ex: an allegory or a detailed program
Beethoven’s symphonies
- 9 symphonies in total
- Each distinctive and explores a fundamentally new approach to the genre. For instance:
5th: cyclical coherence(overt connections between movements)
6th: “Pastoral” uses instrumental music to represent extramusical objects/ideas
9th: Final mvmt combines instrumental & vocal
Symphony No. 3 Eroica Background
- Composed in 1803, first performed in 1805 in Vienna
- Originall titled “Grand symphony entitled Bonaporte” after Napolean Bonaparte; Beethoven changed his mind after Napolean crowned himself emperor in 1805
Symphony No. 3 Eroica Overview
Four mvmts
1) Sonata form, but an unprecedented length
2) Funeral march (slow)
March: “Military form in duple meter characterized by a strong, repetitive beat for keeping soldiers in a military formation”
3) Scherzo: Means “joke” in Italian. Usually in triple time and is faster/longer than a minuet
4) Theme and variations: Thematic similarity to first mvmt, represents a culmination of the whole
* Taken as a whole, the symphony is a “passage from struggle (1) and death (2), to rebirth (3) and triumph (4)”
First movement Eroica Expo
Expo
- Intro: two loud chords
- P theme: metrically regular opening & syncopated
- Continuation
- Transition unusually long and contains three distinct thematic ideas
- S theme: from calm to turbulence
First movement Eroica Dvpt
- Primarily based on the 1st and 3rd themes from transition
- Fugato: A passage that begins like a fugue but does not sustain itself after a serious of initial entries
- Syncopated chords lead to a thematic standstill
- Entirely new theme (unusual for dvpt)
- Retransition: Standing on dominant does not lead directly to recap. Rather, orchestral texture thins over an extended V9, this is the true retransition.
- “Early” horn entrance
First movement Eroica Recap&Coda
- Recap: Harmonically unstable at first
- Coda: Very long–almost like a new dvpt. New theme in dvpt returns
Second movement Eroica
- Funeral march
- Minor key
- Slow tempo
- Imitation of muffled drums
- Dotted rhythms in melody
- Alternation between minor-mode and major-mode themes
- The mournful theme returns three times like a slow rondo form
- Evocations of death in coda:
- ->Tick tock of violins
- ->”dreamlike” syncopations”
- ->Fragmented return of the theme at very end
After Beethoven: Crisis of confidence
- How could anyone surpass Beethoven’s accomplishments in this genre?
- Schumann wrote that after Beethoven 9, there was reason to believe the dimensions and goals of the symphony had been exhausted–he declared Mendelssohn to have won “crown and scepter over all other instrumental composers of the day” but noted that even Mendelssohn had realized there was nothing more to be gained
- Wagner considered Beethoven 9 a demonstration of the “futility” of absolute music
New Directions Berlioz
Hector Berlioz “Symphonie Fantastique” 5th mvmt (finale)
- -> A detailed and highly personal program, written by Berlioz himself and distributed at the premiere
- -Idée fixe: Represents not the beloved herself, but rather the musician’s image of her
5th mvmt (finale) Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique
Dream of the Witch’s sabbath:
- The idée fixe returns in grotesque form
- “Witch’s round dance”
- Burlesque parody of Dies Irae
- Orchestration:
- ->Larger orchestration forces
- ->Extremes of dynamics
- ->New instrumental techniques
“Realism” in Symphonie Fantastique Finale
- Use of ugly, grotesque and unusual sounds (bells, col legno)
- Opens with extended dim 7th chord, then a series of fourths in strings
Concert Overture: History
- Definition: A work of instrumental music in a single movement connected in some way with a known plot
- Origins: 18 c opera overtures in concert hall
- First concert overture: Beethoven’s Leonore Overture no. 3–which he rejected because of the instrumental high drama, making the opera itself an anticlimax
- Other composers followed suit and by early 19c the concert overture was an established genre
Mendelssohn: Overture to a Midsummer Night’s Dream
- Presents a succession of themes representing the main characters of Shakespeare’s play
- Exposition:
- -> Enchanted forest
- -> Fairies
- -> Human lovers
- -> “Rude mechanicals”
- Development: Dominated by fairies theme
