New Currents in the Early Eighteenth Century

1. New Currents in the Early Eighteenth Century

2. New aesthetic and stylistic values • Rejection of concentration on single affects: “The rapidity with which the emotions change is common knowledge, for they are nothing but motion and restlessness. . . . The musician must therefore play a thousand different roles; he must assume a thousand characters as dictated by the composer.” (Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718–1795), Der critische Musicus an der Spree (1749) • Flexibility and variety of style and texture become characteristic

3. The theory of tonality • Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764), Traité de l’harmonie réduite a ses principe naturels (1722) • Laid out basic principles of tonal harmonic practice • triads, chord roots, inversion • harmonic functions — tonique, dominante, sous-dominante • modulation by change of harmonic function • melody should be derived from harmony — reverses concept of harmony produced by counterpoint

4. The galant in music • From galer, to have a good time (cf. “regale”) • Elegant, charming, graceful, natural — opposite of learned, serious, strict, artificial • Term galant indicates • music departs from aesthetic stiffness and procedural rules of the older style • awkward capriciousness is kept in check and appeal maintained by grace and good taste

5. Aspects of galant style • Textures • light, soloistic; homophony, arpeggiation • change within a movement • Melodic/rhythmic flexibility and variety in a movement • short-breathed phrases rather than Fortspinnung • decorative surface — agréments • Simple harmony • considerable freedom from rules governing dissonances and voice leading • Simple forms

6. Operatic comedy in the early eighteenth century • Opera buffa — comparable to intermezzo but independent • Controversy in Paris in 1750s — La Querelle [or Guerre] des bouffons • incited by reaction to 1752 production of Pergolesi’s La serva padrona • argument over merits of French vs. Italian style • Opéra comique — French style • used spoken dialogue rather than recitative • Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), Le Devin du village (1752)

7. Empfindsamkeit • German reaction against Rationalism • Emphasizes sensitivity/sentiment “. . . the incorrigible sentimentality of the Germanic soul broke into tears at the slightest provocation. Where the French created a style, delicate and frothy, but with a fine net of judiciously designed lines, the Germans wanted ‘mood,’ ‘atmosphere,’ and ‘feeling.’” Paul Henry Lang, Music in Western Civilization (1940)

8. The empfindsamer Stil • Melody • speechlike model; rubato • sigh motives, gasping rests • ornaments interpreted as sentimental • Rhythmic flexibility • Dynamic effects • Harmonic irregularity • minor keys • chromatic harmony • unusual progressions • Varied textures • Freedom of form — especially in keyboard fantasy

9. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788) • Second-oldest son of J. S. Bach • Keyboard player — worked at court of Prussian king Frederick the Great in Berlin 1738–1768 • Kantor in Hamburg 1768–1788 • Composed keyboard music, songs, symphonies • Authored important treatise on keyboard playing, Versuch über die wahre Art das Klavier zu spielen (1753) • Leading composer in empfindsamer Stil

10. The sinfonia in the eighteenth century • Developed from Italian operatic sinfonia • three movements — fast, slow, fast • small orchestra of a dozen to twenty players, often strings and basso continuo • Mannheim orchestra important for expanding scoring • increased winds — flutes, oboes, bassoons, horns, trumpets (and timpani) • effects including “Mannheim crescendo” (Roller), increasing melodic register, total sound space above pedal point, number of instruments, and dynamics leading to climax

11. Forms in the early eighteenth century Basic model — binary form

12. Balanced binary form • Theme associated with secondary key (S) returns with arrival of tonic in part 2 • Characteristic in sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757)

13. Rounded binary form • Theme associated with initial presentation of tonic at the beginning returns with the tonic key in part 2

14. Questions for discussion • In what ways do the galant style and empfindsamer Stil differ, and what aspects of musical thinking do they share? • What social or political factors affected new ways of musical thinking in the early eighteenth century? • How did tonality’s function in the developing binary form in the early eighteenth century differ from its function in earlier musical forms?