Binary form into Sonata form PDF

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James Hepokoski: An in-depth exploration of the development of sonata form....

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October 29, 2018 Monday, October 29, 2018

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11:36 AM

Third type of Scarlatti sonata structure (infrequent) ○ First rotation is the same ○ Part 2 § New material (not head motive) § Replicate head motive in the tonic (double return), then correspondence measures □ Rotation 2 ○ Basically, rotation 1 is replicated in the tonic in rotation 2, with a "free section" in the middle ○ Foreshadows "textbook" sonata form ○ Hepo terminology: "Type 3" sonata form - not yet willing to call that fullfledged sonata form (not developed enough) "Type 2" sonata form - like K. 2, 21, head motive occurs in the tonic only once (no full recapitulation) "Sonata form" crops up in the early 1800s - the earliest composers who used it didn't think of their compositions as such Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach (1714 - 1788) - "The Great Bach" ○ Worked in Berlin - principal harpsichordist at the Prussian court § Under Frederick the Great (Friedrich Wilhelm II) § One of the first monarchs to begin to accommodate Enlightenment thought (revolutionary intellectual waves going through Europe) German-speaking region was split between ○ Prussia (Frederick the Great, Protestant North) and ○ Austria (Empress Maria Theresa, Catholic South) There was great hope that Frederick would be the "Enlightened King" ○ Voltaire, Diderot, d'Alembert, and the likes were brought in to enliven the intellectual atmosphere of the court ○ Voltaire was probably F's favorite - long correspondence, Voltaire even stayed at Prussian court for a brief while ○ F was bookish, but also an iron-fisted ruler § Many think of him as a sort of transitional figure ○ Very accomplished flautist, performed regularly, also composed (wrote flute sonatas and symphonies)

Made a point of making the Prussian court a center of galant music sustained a group of musicians at the court as well § Johann Gottlieb and Carl Heinrich Graun (wrote many operas for the court) - brothers, principal composers § Johann Joachim Quantz - F's flute teacher, wrote a treatise "Essay on Playing the Transverse Flute" □ Chock-full of advice about performance practice - one of the main sources for HP movement in the 1960s and 70s □ Very characteristic of Prussian quasi-enlightened court to organize knowledge in treatise or encyclopedic form § Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg - essay on Klavier playing in the galant style, major treatise on fugue § CPE Bach - court harpsichordist, most famous instrumentalist for sure CPE Bach ○ 3-movement keyboard sonatas in sets of 6 § 6 "Prussian" Sonatas § 6 "Wuttemberg" Sonatas ○ Also a treatise: Essay on the True Art of Klavier Playing (1753 and 1762 parts I and II) ○ JS Bach pays a visit to see his son - this is when Frederick gives him the fugue subject that eventually becomes the Musical Offering ○ "Sensitive" or "expressive" style - characteristic label that we place on the galant style ○ Prussian Sonata No. 6 in C § Nervous, volatile changes of mood and tone § Compositional surprises or non sequiturs § Capricious unpredictability, restlessness, instability ○ Sonata in B minor (Wuttemberg 6) § Mm. 1-4: descending bassline, creates a mood of anxiety , sorrow, desperation □ Diminished 7th block chords § Half cadence preceded by a German augmented sixth □ Dominant lock - not much harmonic motion, stay with V for a while § Break/caesura (increasingly common in 18th C music to put this after a dominant chord) § More diminished 7ths, more descending bassline (new idea, but ○

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probably not a secondary theme □ Modulate to III (D major) by mm. 12 § Empfindsamkeit, empfindsamer stil (sensitive, expressive) § Very strange behavior - not typical of anyone but CPE § Does demonstrate the continual expansion of binary form, though Movement/Spread of the Symphony ○ Becomes an extraordinarily popular form in the 1740s (especially at court) ○ Vienna, c. 1750: Hofburg court was the central residence § Johann Joseph Fux: Gradus ad Parnassum - counterpoint treatise (lasts for several centuries, Beethoven would have studied it) § Antonio Caldara - vice-Kapellmeister at court § Vivaldi in the final years of his career - died and was buried there § Empress Maria Theresa (reigned 1740 - 80) □ Bore 16 children, 11 daughters (many of whom were married to other European royals, including Marie Antoinette) § A fairly conservative court ○ Opera Seria was still the prominent genre in Vienna § Librettos of many were written by Pietro Metastasio - definitely the most celebrated opera seria librettist (wrote about 70, according to very strict formulas) □ Set and reset by multiple composers □ About 800 settings of 70 libretti (Vivaldi, Handel, Gluck, Mozart) □ 3 acts, classical topics, triumph of reason and virtue □ Catone in Utica, L'Olimpiade, etc. ○ 1740s: Galant style imported to Vienna, Symphony § Mathias Georg Monn, Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Johann Vanhal the symphony at midcentury □ Clear predecessors of Mozart § New genre of the (court) symphony spreads to Austria (and Germany) in 1740s and 1750s □ Longer individual movements (more internal variety) □ Whole work increases in length (10, 12, 14 minutes - pretty long for a binary form!) □ Originally normative three movements are sometimes expanded to four (outer movements are in binary format) ® Tradition had been 3 movements, with the last movement being a minuet/trio or gigue ® Move to four movements: minuet/trio (medium

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Move to four movements: minuet/trio (medium tempo), THEN rollicking gigue as a finale (but sometimes other allegro formats) ◊ Stop choosing between two dance forms - do both!...