The End of the Eighteenth Century

Haydn and Mozart in the 1780s and 1790s Musical friendship and mutual admiration Haydn Serving Nicholas Esterhazy to 1790 Increasing fame and freedom to publish Two visits to London — 1791–1792, 1794–1795 Mozart Independent life in Vienna from 1781 to 1791 Appointed to Gluck’s position in 1787 but at lower pay Died in 1791

Developments in the string quartet “Conversational” texture: “One hears four intelligent people conversing among themselves” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) Motivic interplay among parts — development Application to support unstable areas within sonata form — transition, section 3 Examples — – Haydn, String Quartets, op. 33 (“Scherzo” or “Russian”) – Mozart, “Haydn” Quartets

The symphony in 1780–1800 Addressed large public audiences, often in subscription concerts Cultivation of impressive effect Use of “conversational” or developmental texture allows integration of complete texture and form

Concerto Mozart’s genre — entrepreneurial works for “academies” (concerts) for his own benefit Thorough integration of ritornello form and sonata form

Mozart’s operatic works 1780–1791 Idomeneo — opera seria in fully Enlightenment style Die Entführung aus dem Serail — singspiel Collaborations with Lorenzo Da Ponte — opera buffa – Le nozze di Figaro — social commentary – Don Giovanni — horror story – Così fan tutte — satirical La clemenza di Tito — opera seria Die Zauberflöte — singspiel

Expression in Enlightenment music Drama as expressive model — sonata form as plot Themes identified by character Harmonic plan based on – initial stability (tonic key) – departure and move to greater tension (dominant) – complication (modulatory) – crisis and resolution (return to tonic) – dénouement (all characters restored to stability)

Beethoven 1770–1800 Born and raised in Bonn Moved to Vienna in 1792 to “receive the spirit of Mozart from Haydn’s hands” Period of study, cultivation of Viennese supporters Focused on piano — his performance strength 1792–1802 “period of imitation” — Vincent d’Indy

European music in the colonial Americas Sacred music traditions brought by earliest colonists Spanish and French Catholic missions — sacred music – Sixteenth-century polyphony – Seventeenth-century concerted music Pilgrims — psalters Secular music imported especially for eastern seaboard cities by the eighteenth century – concerts – ballad opera – domestic music — songs, etc.

The Moravian Brethren Immigrated in mid-eighteenth century, seeking religious freedom Important settlements – Bethlehem, Pennsylvania – Salem, North Carolina Sacred music — hymns, anthems, concerted pieces Concert music — for collegia musica

The First New England School Singing masters and singing schools to improve singing in worship Four-part hymns and anthems in homorhythmic texture Fuging tunes — passages in imitative polyphony

Questions for discussion In what ways might a late eighteenth-century instrumental movement seem to be operatic, and in what ways does the musical structure of the sonata help to dramatize the structure of action in an opera? How did the practical aspects of musical life shape the activities and compositional style of Haydn, Mozart, and the young Beethoven in the 1780s and 1790s? How did practical aspects of musical life shape the activities and compositional style of American composers in the eighteenth century?