Development of the Symphony

Question 1

Essay Points: Rhythm

Answer 1

Thesis:
- Early classical, rhythm was quite simple, and was used stylistically and categorically, such as dotted rhythms in a slow introduction, or racing demisemiquavers in sturm und drang.
- Towards the end of the classical era, these rhythmic conventions became less common, and into the romantic period, composers began to use more complex rhythmic ideas such as cross-rhythms, unusual time signatures and unusual subdivisions.
- However, classical rhythmic conventions are still found in romantic music, often in the form of dance movements that help tell a story.

Essay:
Early classical:
- Styles: galante, mannheim features (Stamitz) and sturm und drang (Haydn 26).
- Categorical use: slow introduction (…).

Mature classical:
- These conventions became progressively less common, but still featured (Haydn 104)
- Composers were experimenting more with more unusual rhythmic ideas, such as hemiola and extended phrasing (Haydn 104)

Beethoven:
- Further experimentations – triplet and cross rhythms (symphony 2 mvt 1 introduction)
- Using rhythm as a motif (symphony 5)
- Changing time signature within a movement (pastoral symphony, scherzo – metric modulation from 3/4 to 2/4)

Early romantic:
- When traditional rhythmic conventions are used, it’s often to depict a dance (Harold en Italie, mvt3, saltarello)
- Overlapping of tempos in recapitulation (same Harold en Italie)
- Romantics tried to create more range and contrast in musical elements, tempo being one of them. Virtuosic tempos (Mendelssohn Italian Symphony, mvt1 and esp. mvt4)

Late romantic:
- Unusual time sigs (Tchaik 6th)
- Search for contrast continues at the slow end of the spectrum too (Dvorak 9th)
- Complex scherzos (Dvorak 9th)
- More fluidity of tempo within movements (Dvorak 9th mvt3, ‘poco sostenuto’)

Question 2

Essay Points: Dance Music

Answer 2

Thesis:
- Early classical, variety of dances from suite of dances were used, typically ‘elegant’ dances that were easy to dance to.
- Over time, as composers to begin to challenge musical conventions in their symphonic works, they also challenged the conventions of dance, creating more complex rhythmic features. The growing use of dance in programatic music and storytelling made it primarily characterful rather than easily danceable.

Essay:
Early classical:
- Symphonies were not written for large ensembles, so were often performed in venues where people would have the opportunity to rise and dance.
- Composers often finished with a dance movement for this reason (Stamitz in D, minuet and trio), moderate, danceable allegro
- Other styles such as sturm und drang and empfindsamerstil weren’t very danceable, so dance movements didn’t use these styles.
- The style galante was therefore the most popular style for a dance movement, as it made for very ‘elegant’ dances; simple rhythms and melody-dominated textures, with balanced phrasing.

Mature classical:
- Composers start to experiment with the dance conventions and push the boundaries of what’s rhythmically acceptable (Mozart 40, more aggressive, less ‘elegant’ minuet with accented third beats, creating a jaunty feel’), (Haynd 104, minuet has hemiolas, extended phrases and accented third beats – humorous in the way it is almost deliberately difficult to dance to (yet still perfectly possible to))

Beethoven:
- Pushed limits of minuet further, often replacing it with a scherzo (Pastoral symphony, a very fast allegro and irregular phrasing in the opening melody, accelerando into 2/4)
- This seems a ridiculous feature for a dance, making us think that perhaps this movement wasn’t intended for that purpose. However, this 2/4 section ironically has many folk features (drone, repetitive, simple melody), and folk music is heavily associated with dance. This suggests that Beethoven might still have intended this as a dance movement, and was instead trying to broaden the horizons of dance itself.

Early romantic:
- While composers continued to push rhythmic boundaries into the romantic period, dances became no less popular in symphonic works.
- In some sense, they became even more important with the rise of programatic music, as well-known dances would help tell a story. (Symphonie Fantastique ‘un bal’), (Harold en Italie, the saltarello, depicting the mountains where this kind of folk music may be locally heard)
- Mendelssohn also used multiple different dances in the same movement (Italian Symphony, mvt 4, saltarello, tarantella)

Mature romantic:
- Popularity of a waltz grew towards the end of the romantic era; the choice of triple metre dances has now extended from just minuets to scherzos to waltzes.
- Tchaikovsky made a notable use of waltzes, such as in his symphony 5, along with the now common rhythmic challenges of irregular phrasing and hemiolas.
- Another peculiar example is in his Symphony 6, in which he takes the stylistic features of the waltz and compresses them into a 5/4 time signature.
- Composers continued to use dances as a storytelling device, without the expectation of them being used to be danced to.
- Dvorak’s 9th Symphony’s scherzo is a Slovanic dance said to be inspired by ‘the feast where the Indians dance’, associated with a poem which depicts the wild dance of the magician Pau-Puk-Keewis.
- The manic outer A sections effectively depict the sense of urgency of this ‘wild’ dance, even though it may be an unrealistic piece to dance to by a listener.

Question 3

Essay Points: Second Movements

Answer 3

Thesis:
- Became established in early classical
- Over time, conventions were experimented with and broken
- A lot more variety over time, such as dances
- When traditional features were used later on, they were often used in their extremes to achieve greater contrast

Essay:
Early classical:
- Features established, such as subdominant key and andante tempo (Stamitz in D)
- Sometimes, a minor might modulate to the relative major for tonal contrast (CPE Bach in E minor)
- Exceptions sometimes arise when symphonies only have three movements – the third movement is typically a minuet and trio, with the trio in the dominant preparing for the final movement in the tonic. However, when the penultimate movement is the second movement, composers may choose to put this movement in the dominant (Haydn 2).
- Another unusual occurrence that can happen when the second movement is the penultimate one is the use of attacca. (CPE Bach in Eb major)

Mature classical:
- These conventions continue into the later classical period (Haydn 104).
- Composers are now experimental more, however. The second movement could be considered to have less weight in the symphony overall, as it neither opens, nor closes it. This is perhaps why Haydn used his second movement in 104 for some interesting harmonic experimentation; the movement features two major to tonic minor modulations, a sturm and drang section within a piece written mostly in style galante (bar…), and a modulation to Db major, a tritone relationship to the movement’s tonic key.

Beethoven:
- Begins to break conventions: mediant relationships (Symphony 5), speed, time signature, attacca (Symphony 9, scherzo)

Early romantic:
- Ambitious modulations continued (Italian Symphony, A major to D minor, end and start on A)
- Triple metre second movements weren’t considered unusual anymore (Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, un bal)
- This movement contains a lot of tempo variation, showing that the second movement doesn’t have to be slow or fast.

Mature romantic:
- Tchaikovsky’s version of a movement two waltz was in 5/4 (Symphony 6)
- Traditional ideas were still seen, but often exaggerated for contrast. Over time, the ‘slow second movement’ moved from what was typically an andante in the classical (Stamitz, Haydn) to what was often an adagio approaching the romantic era (Beethoven 3 and 4, a Larghetto in 2) was now a very slow largo in Dvorak’s 9th symphony, allowing for a very slow and expressive cor anglais solo.