CHAPTER 42

Music in the Age of

Enlightenment: Orchestral

Music

•With the rise of the middle class in the 18th century, high art music moved beyond the court and church to become popular entertainment.

•Public concerts and public theaters opened in many cities:

• Concerted spirituel in Paris, founded in 1729, emphasized instrumental music.

• At the Vauxhall Gardens in London.

• The Burgtheater in Vienna.

Development of Symphony

• By the 1620s, the Italians used the term "sinfonia" to an instrumental ritornello in a vocal composition.

• Soon after, the term "sinfonia avanti l'opera" began to design the instrumental opening of an opera (overture).

• As such, by the end of the 17th century it developed into a three-movement piece (fast/slow/fast).

• By 1730s, composers in Italy began to write symphonies as free-standing instrumental works.

• Concert symphony: a three or four-movement instrumental work projecting the unified sound of the orchestra.

• Giovanni Battista Sammartini: the leader in the creation of the concert symphony– composed 80 symphonies.

• While some are trio symphonies (two violins and a viola part)– most include four independent string parts,

with basses and cellos doubling the bass part.

• Oboes were at times added, either doubling a string part or playing independently.

• Expanded binary form: AB structure in which B is significantly longer than A.

Antecedent and consequent phrases: two interdependent phrases- usually of equal length, forming a parallel period.

Such symmetrical phrasing is typical of the galant idiom as well as the Classical style that followed.

• Johann Quantz: one of the great flutists of the 18th century working at the courts in Dresden and Berlin.

• He wrote Essays on Playing the Flute, one of the most important sources of 18th-century performance practice. Here we learn that at the time:

– the principal violinist would serve as conductor.

– a keyboardist plays continuo.

– the players should add ornaments to the written score.

– the players should perform standing up.

By the 1750s, the Italian symphony moved north of the Alps, especially in Mannheim, Germany.

There, the Elector's court hosted one of the best, if not the very best, orchestra in Europe at the time.

• Johann Stamitz: he composed nearly 60 symphonies and two dozen concertos.

• After assuming the position as director of the orchestra in Mannheim, he hired some of the best solo instrumentalists in Europe, and formed a highly-disciplined orchestra.

• Mannhein crescendo: a gradual increase from very soft to very loud with a repetitive figure over a pedal point.

• Mannheim rocket: a triad that bursts from a rising arpeggio.