THE VIENNESE CLASSICAL CONCERTO The Enlightenment in Tone When the talent-mind of the artist exists and has the conditions to express itself, it seems to develop with great speed and daunting ease. — Clive James CULTIVATING A GARDEN
The arts flourish when the environment encourages them to grow.
If a life in the arts promises advancement and fulfillment — even if it poses challenges and difficulties — the artists will arise. Bill Atkinson, 1970s
Andy Herzfeld
Maria Theresa Joseph II Voltaire (1694–1778)
Rousseau (1712–1778) Holywell Music Room Oxford Built 1748
Leopold Hofmann Christian Cannabich Samuel Wesley William Boyce Adalbert Gyrowetz Jiri Benda Josef Myslivecek Franz Ignaz Beck Johann Baptist Vanhal Carlos Baguer Antonio Rosetti Carl Friedrich Abel Ignace Joseph Pleyel Joseph Martin Kraus Vacslav Pichl Leopold Kozeluch Karl von Ordoñez Karel Kohout Franz Xavier Richter William Herschel Pieter van Maldere François-Joseph Gossec Franz Krommer Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf Muzio Clementi THE EARLY STYLE
The Viennese Classical style required time to grow and develop: it did not spring directly into full maturity.
The earlier composers are not well remembered today, but they laid the foundations for Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven to come:
Georg Matthias Monn
Christoph Wagenseil
Ignaz Holzbauer
Johann Fux Fux: 1660 - 1741
Holzbauer: 1711 - 1783
Wagenseil: 1715 - 1777
Monn: 1717 - 1750
Haydn: 1732 - 1809
Mozart: 1756 - 1791 GEORG CHRISTOPH WAGENSEIL
Harp Concerto in G Minor: I WAGENSEIL
1715–1777
From 1749 to his death he was the court composer to the Hapsburgs in Vienna.
Among his students were Marie Antoinette, Franz Xavier Dussek, and Leopold Hoffman.
Mozart & Haydn knew his music well. THE CONCERTO
It’s in double-exposition sonata form.
However, the themes are not as clearly delineated as they might be in a later concerto. Exposition #1: Orchestra Exposition #2: Solo
Primary Transition Secondary Primary Transition Secondary
G Major G Major D Major Development
Secondary Primary Free Secondary Retransition
D Major E Minor Recapitulation
Primary Transition Secondary Coda
G Major
HAYDN’S CONCERTOS
Many date from his earlier years in Esterházy employ—the early to mid 1760s.
Haydn was never as enthusiastic of a concerto writer as his younger colleague Mozart.
However, he left posterity with a number of superb examples of the Viennese Classical concerto at its fullest maturity. CONCERTOS
Winds: Flute, Flute & Oboe, Oboe, Horn
Piano (Clavier) and Organ
Lira organizzata, an oddball string-wind hurdy-gurdy hybrid, a favorite instrument of the King of Naples, for whom Haydn wrote the concertos and other works. CELLO CONCERTO IN D, H VIIB:2: II (1783)
Jean-Guihen Queyras / Petra Mullejans / Freiburg Baroque Orchestra CLASSICAL FORM
Classical form is reduplicative: smaller structures are then used to build larger structures.
Two primary building blocks:
The period (two parts)
The three-part form (three parts) A Classical Period
Antecedent , Consequent . 4 measures 4 measures The Antecedent
1
œ™ œ œ œ # œ œ™ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ?## 2 J ‰ J ‰ œ ‰ 4 3 J The Antecedent
1 1
œ™ œ œ œ # œ œ™ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ?## 2 J ‰ J ‰ œ ‰ 4 3 J The Antecedent
1 1 2
œ™ œ œ œ # œ œ™ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ?## 2 J ‰ J ‰ œ ‰ 4 3 J The Antecedent
1 1 2
œ™ œ œ œ # œ œ™ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ?## 2 J ‰ J ‰ œ ‰ 4 3 J The Consequent
1 1 2
r œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ#œ œ œ œ œnœ œ œ ?###2 œ Œ 4 3 3 Three-Part Song Form
Part 1: Period Antecedent , Consequent
Part 2: Two Phrases ,
Part 3 = Part 1 Repeated Antecedent , Consequent First Rondo, a.k.a. Slow-Movement Ternary Reprise: Three-Part Song Form
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
Excursion: Period or other phrase structure
Reprise: Three-Part Song Form
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 D MAJOR CELLO CONCERTO
Haydn’s use of slow-movement ternary form is absolutely Classical.
However, he will use extended phrases—i.e., longer than expected—in order to avoid a static structure, and also to point up the most important points in the movement.
Phrases that lead into an important return are often extended, sometimes just a little, and sometimes a lot. Reprise Ant Cons Ant Cons Ant Cons
Excursion 1 2
Reprise Ant Cons
Cadenza Close
TRUMPET CONCERTO IN E-FLAT, H. VIIE:1
Wynton Marsalis / Raymond Leppard / National Philharmonic Orchestra THE CONCERTO
A late Haydn concerto, written in 1796 for his friend, the virtuoso Anton Weidinger.
The original instrument was a “keyed” trumpet, although nowadays the piece is usually played in a modern valved trumpet and in E-flat major instead of the original E Major.
The last movement is in classical Rondo form—albeit with some sonata-form aspects—and displays Haydn’s late art in full flower, as he extracts maximum effectiveness out of a few basic ideas. Orchestral Exposition Primary Primary+Trans Secondary
Reprise Primary Primary Transition
Excursion 1 Secondary Closing
Reprise Primary Primary+Trans
Excursion 2 Primary
Transition
Reprise Primary Secondary
Coda 1: Primary 2: Closing
MOZART’S CONCERTOS
27 Piano Concertos
5 Violin Concertos
4-ish Horn Concertos
Misc: Bassoon, 2 Flute, Clarinet, Flute & Harp
2 Sinfonias Concertante DOUBLE-EXPOSITION FORM
In Mozart’s mature concertos, the double-exposition form is heard at its peak of development. Exposition 1 (Orchestra) Exposition 2 (Solo)
P S1 Closing T1P S2 Closing
Tonic Key Secondary Key
Development
Secondary Key Recapitulation
P S1 & 2 Cadenza Closing
Tonic Key PIANO CONCERTO IN A MAJOR, K. 488
Murray Perahia / English Chamber Orchestra THEMATIC MATERIALS
T1 Theme 1, “Primary” theme of sonata form THEMATIC MATERIALS
Rs Orchestral “response” theme THEMATIC MATERIALS
T2 Theme 2, “Secondary” theme of sonata form THEMATIC MATERIALS
Dp “Deflection passage”, moves to minor mode THEMATIC MATERIALS
Tn New Theme, acts like another secondary theme THEMATIC MATERIALS
Cd Cadential theme, just as in sonata form T1 Rs T2 Dp Cd T1 Rs Br T2 Dp Solo Rs Tn Tn
T S T S T S
Tn Rtr Cz
T S T S T S T S T S
T1 T1 Rs Br T2 Dp Tn Rs Tn Cz Rs Cd Ed
T S T S T S T
SYMPHONIC CONCEPTION
As Mozart’s conception of the solo concerto evolved, increasingly he came to think of the genre as being a symphony with a soloist.
The elevated nature of the symphony began finding its way into the relatively lighter-weight environment of the concerto.
The opening orchestral exposition became something truly remarkable, worth hearing just for its own sake, no matter that a soloist was waiting to enter. PIANO CONCERTO IN D MINOR, K. 466
Not only is the orchestral exposition rich and varied, but the piano solo makes and entrance as part of the orchestra, rather than establishing itself as the “star.” PIANO CONCERTO IN D MINOR, K. 466: I
Clifford Curzon / Benajmin Britten / English Chamber Orchestra
CLARINET CONCERTO IN A, K. 622
Karl Leister / Neville Marriner / Academy of St. Martins in the Fields THE CONCERTO
Written in 1791 for Mozart’s friend Anton Stadler.
Mozart’s last completed instrumental composition.
The second movement is in First Rondo (Slow Movement Ternary) form.