Due Apr 10
Enlightenment: Classical Music
The orchestral sound we know as “Classical Music” coalesced in the 18th century. Of particular interest to us: the symphony and sonata form. Both are musical structures, not unlike the Petrarchan sonnet, with sonata form nested inside the symphony. Today we will focus on two early and prolific symphonic masters, Mozart and Haydn. Some of you are already students of classical music, but for those who are not trained musicians, the following exercises will likely prove somewhat challenging.
Sonata Form
Listen: the first movement of Mozart’s Symphony 40, (make sure to stop the video at 8:15, or you’ll end up listening to the whole symphony).
Watch and learn: Inside the Score, “How to Listen to Music: Sonata Form” (link)
Apply the lesson: here you get two options, depending on how confident you are in your skills. Note: because this assignment is unique, it is REQUIRED of everyone. It is separate from written HW, which as usual asks you to respond to one of my prompts and to one of your peers each week.
- Easier: anatomize movement 1 of Mozart’s Symphony 40, which you just heard analyzed.
- Harder: anatomize movement 1 of Haydn’s Symphony 88.
Symphonic Structure
Watch and learn: Enjoy Classical Music, “The Symphony—Explained in under 5 mins” (link)
Listen: Haydn Symphony 45, “Farewell.”
Writing: After listening to Haydn’s Symphony 45, “Farewell,” respond to ONE of the following prompts. To quote from the music, you can opt to specify the time signature or, better, paste in a YouTube URL that points to just before the moment you want us to hear. Either way, give a rich verbal paraphrase of what you want us to hear when we listen:
- Dynamics: point to a moment when Symphony 45 surprises the listener with a sudden shift from loud to soft or from soft to loud. What’s the emotional impact of this change?
- Instrumentation: point to a moment when Symphony 45 shifts instruments. What’s the emotional impact of this change?
- Key: point to a moment when Symphony 45 shifts musical key. What’s the emotional impact of this change? In your response, keep in mind that many of your peers don’t know much about Classical music, so help us understand why the musical key matters, and how it functions in this particular instance to produce an emotional response.
Dynamics
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Right at the beginning of the Menuet Alllegretto Trio at 15:02 there is a sharp shift from quite to loud. The initial emotional response is surprise, as the louder tones come in before the measure concludes. There is a consistent alteration in volume in this piece that mimics a call and response, and it’s typically the response that contains elevated volume.
I want to point to the very beginning of the symphony (0:00). Haydn starts with a very fast, loud, and ‘stabbing’ sound. But then, around 0:15 – 0:20, the music suddenly drops to a very soft level. There is a strong emotional impact. By jumping from loud to soft so quickly, Haydn makes the listener feel nervous or anxious, as if something is chasing them. It’s a kind of music that demands people pay attention to its mood swings.
I agree that the sudden drop from loud to soft at the beginning creates a striking sense of tension and surprise. It leaves the listener feeling unsettled and alert, as if something unexpected could happen at any moment. This sharp contrast in dynamics not only grabs attention but also emphasizes the dramatic and unpredictable nature of the music.
Instrumentation
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This specific shift happens more than once, first at around 3:49 and once more at 7:49, where the instrumentation shifts from the strings to primarily the woodwinds. I’m not sure if they’re clarinets or oboes but for a brief moment in time, the woodwinds primarily dominate the instrumentation giving the overall sound a sort of loftiness. It shifted the tone to a lighter, happier one that seems to bring a sense of relief which does make sense since the moments before the woodwinds come in are filled with very dense and heavy instrumentation that feels very imposing.
In this symphony, there was a shift in instrumentation when succeeding the ending to the Allegro assai and in the beginning of the Adagio. In the Allegro assai, the symphony played various strings instruments, coupled with woodwind and brass instruments–providing a great breadth of sounds and enabling the symphony to quickly shift their tone at a moments notice. However, specifically at 5:23 (the beginning oft he Adagio), the woodwind and brass players cease playing, leaving only the strings in the orchestra. This change marked a significant change in the dynamics and tempo of the symphony, as the music became much slowed greatly, became much softer, and relaxed as compared to the Allegro Assai. As a listener, this change, eased the tension that was built up from the boisterous Allegro Assai, and lightened my mood.
Musical Key
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In the finale, there is a key change from Presto to Adagio. The Presto starts off with a fast-paced, dramatic tone with a lot of growth and dynamics. This creates an intense emotion of urgency and anxiety, especially with the abrupt dynamic changes from piano to forte. The strong, repeated quarter notes, along with the fast, repeated runs from the violins, create a lot of drama in the piece, making the Presto end abruptly and allowing the key change into the Adagio to be very significant. From Presto to Adagio, the key shifts from minor to major, replacing the intense emotion with warmth and serenity. The set is very pleasant and soft because of the subtle, gentle dynamics, in contrast to Presto, which focuses a lot on striking moments and dynamic growth throughout the set.