Essay - Overall form and style

Question 1

Overall form and style - Pieces

Answer 1

Stamitz Symphony in D Opus 3 No 2
Haydn Symphony No 26 in Dm
Haydn Symphony 104

Beethoven 3
Beethoven 5
Beethoven 6
Beethoven 9

Mendelssohn Symphony 4
Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique
Tchaikovsky Symphony 4

Question 2

Overall form and style - Stamitz Symphony in D Opus 3 No 2

Answer 2

• One of first symphonies in four movements/ that uses the standard four-movement pattern.
• The second movement is in the subdominant, which is a very common more relaxed key for the slow movement.

Question 3

Overall form and style - Haydn Symphony 26

Answer 3

• Storm and stress style - typical of such works are minor keys, syncopation and diminished harmonies - unusual for classical period to choose minor key
• First mvt ends in D major, signifying triumph of life over death - resurrection of Christ

Question 4

Overall form and style - Haydn Symphony 104

Answer 4

• It was predominantly Haydn who created the transition to the development section and the
  transition to the recapitulation section as moments of tension and interes
• Trio is in Bb major (unusual) - necesitates link section for minuet repeat in tonic.
• He often used slow introductions to opening movements
• He sometimes constructed Sonata Form on a single theme i.e. monothematicism

Question 5

Overall form and style - Beethoven 3

Answer 5

• Symphony is much more complex and a lot longer in length )
• Mv 3 scherzo trio - allows for more development than minuet trio

Question 6

Overall form and style - Beethoven 5

Answer 6

• Used longer intros, longer development sections, long codas that include more development (e.g. Symphony 5 and 9)
• Cm → C represents triumph over adversity (philosophical idea replaces gallant style)
• Idee fixe - thematic unification
• No pause between mv3 and 4.
• Tempo change at end of mv4 enlarges structure

Question 7

Overall form and style - Beethoven 6

Answer 7

• One of the first programmatic symphonies (used to express countryside)
• 5 movements
• Mv 4 (intense storm and stress) and 5 run into each other

Question 8

Overall form and style - Beethoven 9

Answer 8

• Mv2 scherzo, mv3 andante (2nd and 3rd swapped), mv4 switches between tempos → overall structure is unusual
• Dm → D represents triumph over adversity (philosophical idea replaces gallant style))
• Final mv ‘Ode to Joy’ theme where vocal parts borrow from previous mvs

Question 9

Overall form and style - Mendelssohn 4

Answer 9

• This symphony is one of the first to start in the major and end in the minor. The reverse journey from minor to major is familiar from Beethoven’s fifth and ninth
  symphonies but to start in A major and end in A minor is much more surprising.
• He chooses not to go for the aggressive scherzo-type minuet that was common to many later symphonies, but to write a more gentle mvt more like the original minuet.
• At the very end of final mvt, he brings back minor version of S1 from mvt 1 (like Beethoven no 9)

Question 10

Overall form and style - Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique

Answer 10

• Idee fixe made melodies have stronger links to each other
• The symphony also consists of five movements instead of the usual four
• 5 movements and he uses this dance form in the second movement rather than the third, showing him moving away from the traditional structures.

Question 11

Overall form and style - Tchaikovsky Symphony 4