Week 8 assignment: essay – interrelationships reflection apa format | Applied Sciences homework help

1. Listen to Haydn’s Symphony no. 104, the London. It is available on YouTube played by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Listen closely for the A-B-A patterns within the first movement. Identify the repeated melodic material and consider the ways in which the orchestra varies the melodies as the piece progresses. How does watching the orchestra play help you identify theme and variation?

Symphony The symphony marks one of the highest developments in the history of Western instrumental music (Figure 9-6). The symphony is so flexible a structure that it has flourished in every musical era since the Baroque period in the early eighteenth century. The word “symphony” implies a “sounding together.” From its beginnings, through its full and marvelous development in the works of haydn, Mozart, Bee- thoven, and Brahms, the symphony was particularly noted for its development of harmonic structures. harmony is the sounding together of tones that have an estab- lished relationship to one another. Because of its complexity, harmony is a subject most composers must study in great depth during their apprentice years. Triadic harmony (the sounding of three tones of a specific chord, such as the basic chord of the key C major, C-E-G, or the basic chord of the key F major, F-A-C) is common to most symphonies, especially before the twentieth century. Even in classical symphonies, however, such as Mozart’s, the satisfaction that the listener has in triadic harmony is often withheld in order to develop musical ideas that will resolve their tensions only in a full, resounding chordal sequence of triads. The symphony usually depends on thematic development. All the structures that we have discussed—theme and variations, rondo, fugue, and sonata form—develop melodic material, and some or all of them are often included in the symphony. jac16871_ch09_224-253.indd 238 12/11/17 9:02 PM In general, as the symphony evolved into its conventional structure in the time of haydn and Mozart, the four movements were ordered as follows: first move- ment, sonata form; second movement, A-B-A or rondo; third movement, minuet; fourth movement, sonata form or rondo. There were exceptions to this order even in haydn’s and Mozart’s symphonies, and in the Romantic and following periods the exceptions increased as the concern for conventions decreased. The relationships between the movements of a symphony are flexible. On the one hand, the same melodic or key or harmonic or rhythmic approach may not prevail in all the movements. The sequence of movements may then seem arbitrary. On the other hand, some symphonies develop similar material through all move- ments, and then the sequence may seem less, if at all, arbitrary. This commonality of material is relatively unusual because its use for three or four movements can rapidly exhaust all but the most sustaining and profound material. A comparison of the tempo markings of several symphonies by important com- posers usually shows several similarities: fast opening and closing movements with at least one slower middle movement. An alteration of tempo can express a pro- found change in the feeling of a movement. Our ears depend on the predictable alteration of tempo for finding our way through the whole symphony. In such large FIGURE 9-6 The BBC Symphony Orchestra. ©ArenaPal/Clive Barda/Topham/The Image Works 239 jac16871_ch09_224-253.indd 239 12/11/17 9:02 PM structures, we need all the signposts we can get, since it is easy to lose one’s way through a piece that may last an hour or more. The following tempo markings in Figures 9-7 and 9-8 are translated loosely: haydn, Symphony no. 104 in A Major, the London 1. Adagio, allegro (slowly, fast) 2. Andante (moderately slow) 3. Menuetto and trio: allegro (slow dance, fast) 4. Finale: Spiritoso (ending, lively) Mozart, Symphony no. 41 in C Major, the Jupiter 1. Allegro vivace (fast and lively) 2. Andante cantabile (slow and songlike) 3. Allegretto (dancelike) 4. Allegro molto (very fast) The tempo markings, such as andante and allegro, in these and other symphonies, including those of modern composers, such as Charles Ives and Igor Stravinsky, suggest that each movement is designed with other movements in mind. That is, each movement offers a contrast to those that come before or after it. Composers of symphonies have many means besides tempo by which to achieve contrast, es- pecially rhythm. The first movement is often written in 4/4 time, which means that there are four quarter notes in each measure, with the first especially and the third usually getting accents. The rhythms of the second movement are so varied that no general pattern is discernible. The third movement, especially in the early period of the symphony (haydn and Mozart), usually is a dancelike minuet—3/4 time, three quarter notes to a measure, with the first note receiving the accent. Occasionally in the second and third movements, march time is used, either 6/8 time or 2/4 time. In 6/8 time, there are six eighth notes to a measure, with the first and fourth receiv- ing the accent. In 2/4 time, the first of the two quarter notes receives the accent. FIGURE 9-7 The first theme of movement 1 of Haydn’s Symphony no. 104. The first theme of the symphony is played by the strings alone after a brief introduction by the entire orchestra. The top line is played by the first violins, the second line by the second violins, the third line by the violas, and the bottom line by the cellos. The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra performs this symphony on YouTube. 240 jac16871_ch09_224-253.indd 240 12/11/17 9:02 PM Sometimes this produces the “oom-pah’’ sound we associate with marching bands. The fourth movement, usually a sonata form or a rondo, normally returns to 4/4 time. Contrast is also achieved by varying the dynamics, with opposing loud and soft passages likely to be found in any movement. We might expect the middle move- ments, which are normally shorter than the first and last, to use less dynamic shifting. We usually expect the last movement to build to a climax that is smashing and loud. Variations in the length of movements add to contrast. And since the symphony is usually played by a large orchestra, the composer has a variety of instrumental families to depend on for adding contrast of tone colors. A theme, for instance, can be introduced by the violins, passed on to the woodwinds, then passed on to the Ó FIGURE 9-8 Opening bars of Mozart’s Symphony no. 41 in C Major, the Jupiter. The opening bars are dynamic, with the entire orchestra, loud in bars 1, 5, and 9 contrasting soft, simple passages in bars 2, 3, and 4, and bars 6, 7, and 8. You can watch Nikolaus Harnoncourt conduct the Chamber Orchestra of Europe on YouTube using an orchestra similar to Mozart’s. 241 jac16871_ch09_224-253.indd 241 12/11/17 9:02 PM 242 ChAPTER 9 horns, only to return to the violins. Secondary themes can be introduced by flutes or piccolos so as to contrast with the primary themes developed by other families of instruments. A secondary theme is often very different in length, pitch, and rhyth- mic character from a primary theme, thus achieving further contrast. Sometimes a theme or a developmental passage is played by a single instrument in a solo passage and then with all the instruments in that family playing together. Once the theme has been introduced by a single instrument or a small group, it may be played by the entire orchestra. These contrasts should hold our attention—for otherwise we miss much of what is going on—helping us to grasp the melodic material by showing us how it sounds in different timbres and ranges of pitch (higher in the flutes, lower in the cellos). The exceptional possibilities for achieving contrast in the symphony account, in part, for its sustaining success over the centuries. We readily perceive contrasts in tempo, time signature, dynamics, and instru- mentation, even if we are not trained and do not have access to the score of the composition. But there are subtler means of achieving contrast. For one thing, even within a specific movement, a composer will probably use a number of different keys. Usually they are closely related keys, such as C major followed by G major, or F major followed by C major. The dominant tone is the fifth tone, and one of the most convenient ways of moving from key to key is to follow the cycle of fifths, confident that each new key will clearly relate to the key that precedes it. Distant keys, A major to, say, D minor, can produce a sense of incoherence or uncertainty. Such motions between keys often are used to achieve this effect. The average listener cannot always tell just by listening that a passage is in a new key, although practiced musicians can tell immediately. The exploration of keys and their relationships is one of the more interesting aspects of the development portions of most symphonies. The very concept of development, which means the explora- tion of a given material, is sometimes best realized by playing the same or similar material in different keys, finding new relationships among them. Our awareness of an especially moving passage is often due to the subtle manipulation of keys that analysis with a score might help us better understand. For the moment, however, let us concentrate on what the average listener can detect in the symphony. PERCEPTION KEY The Symphony Listen to Haydn’s Symphony no. 104, the London, or to Mozart’s Symphony no. 41, the Jupiter. Haydn and Mozart established the form. Both symphonies can be heard on YouTube. Respond to each movement by keeping notes with the following questions in mind.