Q1 of Music ½ Yearly – Symphony No 41

 Mozart influenced Beethoven – Beethoven was considered the ‘bridge’ composer

(last of the Classical composers) and paved the way into the Romantic period

 Mozart’s late symphonies infused counterpoint – wasn’t as homophonic; used in

chamber music

 When Beethoven used a lot of fugue, variation, counter point

 Classical period music – tendency to be more HOMOPHONIC than anything else;

this is the general category is placed in

 Quartet No. 19 – K465 is far more dissonant in the introduction; sounds 20th
century: ‘the dissonance quartet’ – Mozart, pre-Jupiter symphony

 It has been said, that Mozart represents the dividing line between the Classical Era
and Romantic Era

DEVELOPMENT of the CLASSICAL STYLE

Classical Symphony – ‘common’ structure

- I – fast; sonata form – I tonic/ i tonic

- II – slow; binary form (including sonata form) – IV subdominant/ III rel.
major
- III – minuet & trio; ternary form – I tonic (+IV/V for trio)
- IV – fast; rondo/ variations – I tonic/ i or I tonic or tonic major

 Slow movements in loose sonata form – “1st movement form”: quite unusual

 Last movements of string quartets have fugues – unusual in symphonies

 Incorporates lots of elements of the Classical symphony – fits ‘the box’

1
Sudden changes of mood

 Greater polyphony (counter point) – more links back to the baroque

 These things are often more akin to chamber music – string quartet; had a
more personal element

 Use of counter melody in the 1st Mvt.; pedal points

 Counter point in the development of the 1st movement – possibly, a little

more than in a ‘traditional’ homophonic symphony

 Counter point in the 2nd movement – towards the end of the exposition and
development

 Greater use of polyphonic vocabulary was one of many elements used by

Beethoven, and then by future Romantic composers in their symphonies in
the next century

 Fits traditional structure, and inside this, there is a little bit more of a few bits
and piece, which hinted to things to come

MAIN POINTS

Structure fits traditional Classical symphony; fits the ‘common’ form

 Mvt I
 doing Mvt. II in sonata form is quite unusual
 Mvt III fits
 Fulfils the classical model of a typical symphony

Polyphony and counter point

 Homophonic as a whole, but more polyphony, than the average symphonies

of the time – and also in comparison to his earlier symphony

2
 Perhaps, there is a slightly greater emphasis – further emphasised in the Mvt.
IV

Sudden changes of mood

 Some of these changes – dispersing between textures, and changing mood

more abruptly, has many associated links to chamber music (esp. string
quartet)

 Features of string quartets and other chamber music of the same period =
greater use of polyphony, abrupt changes in mood, more personal – tradition
of the style, more complicated

 Commonly, conductors didn’t exist; therefore, counterpoint was not as

achievable – greater number of players = simpler music

Transitional to Romantic

 Not a greater use of dissonance, chromaticism, sense of drama

 Some of Mozart’s pieces did influence the Romantic Period – Don Giovani;
The Requiem

 Although some elements of Mozart’s greater use of polyphonic vocabulary

did have an influence on composers such as Beethoven (bridge into
Romantic Period), a majority of the harmonic language and structure was
purely that of the classical

 Counter point and fugue is ‘old fashioned’ – from the Baroque

 Firmly sits in the realm of the Classical period

3
4