Baroque, Classical and Romantic Concertos Flashcards
What are the features of a Classical Concerto melody?
- Diatonic
- Use of arpeggios and scales to create melodic lines
- Balanced phrases (4 or 8 bar, question and answer)
What are the features of a Classical Concerto instrumentation?
- Strings (up to 6 per section - double basses / double cellos)
- Double woodwind (2 of each, clarinet was later edition)
- Brass (trumpets and horns)
- Percussion (timpani)
- In tutti passages violins normally have melody
- unless they are soloists, woodwind and brass add colour and punctuate texture
What are the features of a Classical Concerto tempo?
- first movement - fast
- second - slow
- third - fast
What are the features of a Classical Concerto harmony?
- Diatonic
- Chords I IV V
- Regular cadences (particularly perfect/imperfect)
What are the features of a Classical Concerto tonality?
- Sense of key clearly established
* Modulations to related keys (relative minor, dominant)
What are the features of a Classical Concerto dynamics?
- Range from pp – ff
- Crescendos and diminuendos appeared
- Mostly quite reserved
What are the features of a Classical Concerto texture?
- Predominantly melody dominated homophony
* Some imitation
What are the features of a Classical Concerto structure?
- Balanced structures with repetition
- Ternary
- Rondo
- Sonata form
What are the features of a Classical Concerto accompaniment?
- Alberti bass common
* Quite simple but makes harmony clear
What are the features of a Romantic Concerto melody?
- More chromaticism
* Longer melodic lines
What are the features of a Romantic Concerto instrumentation?
- Strings – many more desks per section. Double basses have independent line.
- Woodwind – Clarinet much more common, extended instruments (piccolo, cor anglais, bass clarinet and contrabassoon) sometimes appeared
- Brass – trumpets, French horns, trombones and tuba found in varying numbers
- Percussion – bass drum, side drum, cymbals and more
What are the features of a Romantic Concerto tempo?
- Often (not always!) follows same plan as Classical
* Rubato used (strict tempo relaxed – conductor or soloist might move the tempo around)
What are the features of a Romantic Concerto harmony?
- Still diatonic
- But more frequent use of chromatic chords
- More dissonance
What are the features of a Romantic Concerto tonality?
• More freedom in modulations – to distantly related keys
What are the features of a Romantic Concerto dynamics?
- Dramatic contrasts
- Larger range
- Combination of sudden changes and long, dramatic crescendos and diminuendos
