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CLASSIC MUSI

Jression, Frm, and Style

Leonard G. RaterPfss f MusicSf Uivsiy

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Ratner, Leonard GClassic music

Bibliography: pIncludes indexI. MusicHitory and criicism8h century

. Cass icism in usic. I. Tile.MJR8 780'.0' 7-708IBN 0-0-8700

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8 EXPRSSION

must please the listener rather tha excite him r ead him o relection Teody must be clear, lively, lowing, and wel tured; harmony ust seve onlyto make the elody clearer and must never dminate (this refrs to texturerather than chord progression). Joy delight love devotin, modesty and pa-tience are bes imitated in this style.

The low style a voids a cle ver ela�orains; it permits o exensions an

shuld be used in sor t pieces It repr e�ents nature in ts simplest frm and is

used or low-born persons and for obj:t and situaios associated with he.Its char acteristic ebdiment is the shepher; some ers are eggar s, saves

oor prisoners an armersThe evidence that a piece of music was expected to ove the passions of te

soul by expressing a ruling sentiment is imressive. It i ound i treatises, jur-nas and etters ad in t close cresponece beteen a ive text ad itsusial setting I vocal music, the conection betwen feeling and fgue wasexplicit In instruental musicwhich imitated opera curc msic a baletthis connection could only be imied but i t as unquestioabypesnt.

NOTES

1.

23.

4

5.

6.

7.

8

9

0

11.

12

13.

14.

15

16

17

AndersonThe Lettes of Mozart 2nd ed p. 833.

otwals,

joseph Haydn p 125.Koch Lexikon p 894.

Trk Klavieschule p 34.

Rousseau Dictionnaie p 206.

Koc Lexikon p. 172

Matteson Caellmeiste p 04

Koc Lexikon p 794

See Bukozer, Music in the Baroque Era, p. 388 ., r a discussion of the Af e-

tenehe or doctrne of aectons

Hawkins Htoy p. 626

Mateson Caellmeiste p. 224.

Krause Poesie p 92.Krnberger Kunst II, pt 2 p. 103 04.

Koc Lexikon pp 86 87See Walter H Brurd Gemany in the Eighteenth Centu, Cambrdge Uversty

ress London 135 p 45 and Artur Pryor Wats A Histo of Westen ivili- zation 2ols rentceHall New York 1939-1940 p. 3. for accounts osoca

classes n te 18t century

Spess Tactatus p 16ff

Scebe Citische Musikus p 126ff

2 Topics

From its contacts with worship poetry, dra· entertainment dance ceremo-ny, the military the hunt ad the lif fe wer classes, usic in the earl18th century deloped thesauus of characteristic fgure which frme arich legacy fr classic composersSome of these gres were associated with arious felings and aections others had a picturesque avor. They are designated as £ss f:sical discourse Topics appear as ly workedoutpieces'ie., type, or�as ures and progressions within a piece i.e tye. Thedistinction between tyes and styles is lexible; minuets and marhes repsntcomplete types of composition, but they also rnish styles fr oher piees

TYPES

Dances

The protocol and rmality of 18tc life were reected in dances: thmiuet, sarabande and gavotte were of the hi style, elegant and coutly; th�bourre and gie, peasant and o vey, repete the middle style whilecontredases and Lnl wee of the low style ustic and uoynt Minuets andpolonaises gew livelir towrd the end f the century, electing o a moreivolous fe style ad the restlessness of the times.

Dances, by virtue of their rhyth ad pace, represented feling. Thei trian ms served as oels for compin hey were writen by thethousands by cassc composers; Mozart compsed mor tha 300 minuets andcontredanses; Beethoven and Haydn produced a coparable nmber Boks of<anes were issued periodically fr the fashionable world much as popular musicis ublished today. ances were used to teach comosition and to instrut inperfrmance; they rnishe material r opera ad cabr music fr arias,

sontas conertos, symphonies sereades, an even ivaded crc music (seeCh 10 Kirnberger, in Recuei 1783, emphasies the importance of dance mu-sic as a bass fr elaborate ompositions and especially r the understanding ofthe rhythmic nature of vious types of gues Joseph Riepel in his Anfn:

rne 1752, says that the working out of a minuet is no dierent than tha of aconcerto, aria or smphony. 4 Koh 1793 makes the same point. Mozart useddances teach composition. 6 Dance rhythms virtually saturate classic music;therefore one of the principa points of atenton for the stuent listener, andperformer is the recognition of specic dance patterns that can provide impor-tant clues to the expressive quality of a omposition. The followng survey coversthe principal dances current during the classic era.

Minuet and Related Types. The most popular dance in the classic era was theminuet Originally it was associated with the elegant world o court and salon.

It was described as noble charming, lively expressing moderate cheerlnss by9



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10 EXPRSSION

virtue of its rater quick triple time. In classic music compositons ntedminuet o menuetto covered a wide range of expression om the aky hu-morous t the deeply pathetic. E x. 2 1 represens the elegant vei of tis dance;Ex 22a as a popular rustic avor; x 22b expresses a deepy pathetic ·ood;Ex 22 wile entited menuetto; exeiies the reathess and healong an-ner of Beethoven' later scherzos.

Ex. 2-1. Minuet

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Carles Burney in his Htry of Music 189, has many references to minuettime" in his comments on Handels musi Te minuet as a style was used infrs movements slow ovements and fnales as in te first movement of Mo-zarts Sympony No. 39 n E major K. 53 188 and the rst movement ofBeehovens Symphony No 8 Op. 93 1812.

Dances related to te minuet included the assepid described in Jean leRond dAlemberts Elens de musique 166 as a rater lively minuet andthe sarabande, which e characterizes as a slow minuet.0 E� 23 ilustrates thepassepied set typically in 3/8 meter; this topic was also used by Haydn in te -nale of is Sonata in G major H. V. XV No. 6 befre 166.

Ex 23 Paspied. Uhlein Clavier-Schle, 5th ed., 79, p. 74

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As a dance the sarabande disappeared towar te end of the 18th centur yetits caracteristi style was retained. The essential fature was the emphasis n

te second beat of is triple measure With its slow tempo tis alt gave te sara



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12 EXPRSSION

bande a deliberate, serious character wich repesented the high stye (Ex. 24;see also Haydn's D major Sonata H.V. XI, No. 37, circa 7791780, secondmovement).

x. 2-4 Sarabande stye. Mozart Symony No. 4 in C maor K. 55

788, 2nd movt.

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Popuar dances in triple time often masquerade as minuets Waltz,Ldl llmad, l (sliding daces) and waa alld had auicker tempo, more buoyant manner, and simper quaity relecting teieand ow styes (see Ex. 25). Haydn used the Swaian alemande stye with aconstant play of cross rhythms, in the menuetto of his Quartet in F ajor, Op.77, No. 2, 1799 to create a broady umorous eect

Ex 2-5 Saian aeande Christmann Eeentaruch, 7 82 examles, 5

Polonaise The lq a dance in ripe meter, was rather seious and deliberate in style in the early 18th century Its characteristic ature was a mo-mentary pause witin the measure, upon a syncopation or upon te last eat ofthe measure 11 It fel out of favor in idcentury but returned in classi times asa uick dance with many 16thnotes (see Ex. 26). Koch, in the Lx£k 182,says:

Recenty it appears hat the dance (oonaise) and the taste fr its meodieshave overcome their previous negect.

Haydn ugged polonaise gres with mazing dexterty in te fnae of his F major Quartet, Op. 77, No. 2, 1799 shifting the already mispaced accents andtrimming the fgures to iregular engths, again with delighly huorous ef

fcts (see Ex. 56).

Top 3

Ex. 2-6 Poonaise Beethoven Srenade in D maor O 8 796-797

Alleeo /l Polcc

Bourre. The was ra �her lively in maner and in dupe eter, ca-ing fr lightness in perfmance Wile the tem does nt apear inclassic usic as a title fr a movement the style was feuently used. Thebourre as a short u beat and an articuation after the third beat of th mea-sure. Exs. 27 and 28 ilustrate its use in early and late 18thcentuy music

Ex 27. Bourre tpe J S. Bach Partita n B minor ca 70

Ex. 2-8 oure stye ozar Concerto fr Cavier and Orhestra m

G major K. 45 84 finae.

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Contredn Rousseau describes this ppular dance, 768

The meodies of contredanses are most often n dupe tie; tey oud bwarticuated, brlliant, and gay, and stil shod be ute sipe; sincetey must be heard many times, they wi become ntolerabe if they areoveoate. In every genre, the simpest things are those tat tire east.

If e ucken e pace o the bourre the music wi be in the stye of the contre-danse, als caled the agl15 Ex. 29 is a contredanse used as a teachingpiece.

Ex 29 Contredanse hristmann Eeentaruc, 78 examles .



1.

14 EXPRSSION

Contredanses were standard items in balet suites, e.g. ozart, Les petits

riens K. 299b, 1778; they were composed in sets fr danes and bals. The eervescent contredanse stye was a fvorite topic or nales (see Ex. 21 0).

2-10 Contredanse Mozart, Q \intet in EP major, K 64, 1791, finae

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Gavotte. The gavotte was a rather ively dance in duple time, 16 distinguishedby a cesura after the second quarternote of the measure. The principal charmof this dance ay in the retention of this rhythmic patte, which accomodateda melody of eegance, poise, and selfcontainment. Koch, 1793, quotes a gavotteby his teacher Scheinpug (Ex. 211).

211 Gavotte Koch, Versuch, III 793, 4.

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Gavotte stye was used at times in slow moements (Ex. 2-12). Ro ma nzas, with

their amoroso characte and ingratiating melody, were often set in gavotte

time, as in the slow movement of Mozart's Eine kleine N achtmusik K. 525,

1787. The distinctive rhythm of th gavotte was as adapted to neaty tue

meodies in quicker tepo (Ex. 213).

212 Gavotte style. Mozart, Quintet in E ajor, K 614, 791 2nd ovt

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213 Quicker gavotte tempo. Mozart, Sonata for Clavier and Vioin inA major, K 526, 787, finale

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Gige. The ,gigue was a quk dance, gay and lively, generay in /8meter. The distinctions made in the eary 18th century among the gigue igacanare forlane lourral related dancesdisapeared in cassic times. Fewpieces were entitled giue in classic music, but the stye remained in naes andoccasionaly in rst movements (see Ex. 214)

2-14 Gigue stye Haydn, Symhony No 01 in D major, 794, st movt

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Mozart's "Little Gigue in G major K. 574, 1789, is delierately odeed upon the earlier 18thcntury imitative gigues that often osed dance suites andpartitas. This litte ork, a tribute to J S. Bach, has none of the high exuber-ance of clssic gigue finaes. Its chromatic, twisting subect and its tightly wovencounterpoint retain ony the vestiges of the gigue manner (see Ex. 215)

215. Mzart, "Litte Gigue in G major, K 574, 789.

Siciliano Like the gigue the siciliano was set in 6/8 time, but i was performed in sow tempo, in a rather languishing manner. Its principa feature isthe dotted pattern f. Trk, 189, said that it shoud not be played staccato

to express its genteness.



6 EXPRSSION

E 2-16. Siciliano style. Mozart Quartet n D mnor K. 421 1783, finale

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Rousseau, 1768 cassifies the sicilio as a dance meody, athough it wasgenerall considered a style for songs and asora instrumenta pieces (see Ex216). It was traditiona in music fr the Nativity J. S. Bach used the style in theChristmas Oratorio BWV 248 1734 and Handel in the M�ssiah 1741. Moartevokes a pathetic mood in the music presented in Ex. 26 s he does in anothermovement using siciiano rhythm, Concerto in A major, K. 488 786 secondmovement

The MarchThe march had both dance and cer emonia meaning in the 18th centur y. As an

entre21 it ser ved to open balet per f or mances, cer emonies and stage pr esenta

tions. It was sometimes included among sets of dances in suites, as f r example in

Suites VII, IX, XII, and XXIV f rom the Little M u sic Book of Leopod Mozar t,

762. Its natur al habitats wer e the par ade gr ound and battleeld, wher e its

moder ately quick duple meter , dotted r hythms, and bold manner quickened the spir it If the minuet, the queen of 18thcentur y dances, symboized the social lif e

of the elegant wor ld, the march r eminded the listener of author ity, of the cava-

lier and the manly vir tues ascr ibed to him.

Ex 217 illustr ates the mar ch ty pe, used as a teaching piece Many r st move-

ments, especialy in symphonies and concer tos, have mar ch r hythms. One of the

most f amiiar examples is the f r s movement of Mozar t's J upiter Symphony,

K. 55, 788. French vioin music af ter the R evolutonconcrtos, q artets,

tr ios, duetsused a br oadly scald march style f r frst ovements.

Ex. 2-17. March ty pe. Christmann Elementarbuch, 1782, examples p. 24

The mrch and the bourre shared a common tempo and metera quick4/4 Quantz 752 refers to marches in bourre rhythm. Ex. 28 ilustratesthis combination; the dotted rhythms come om the march; the sprighty manner and the upbeat rhythm are those of te bourre.

E 218 Mixure of bourre and march. Mozart Sonata for Claver and

Volin n major K 376, 1781 fnale.

Topics 7

Incorporation of Dances into Classi MusicDances were incorporated into classic music in three genera ways socia, theat-rica, and specuative

. Scial dances. In socia dances, the music conorms to choreogaphy; themeody is simpe, and the sections are brief and symmetrical in frm

2. Theatrical dances. Theatrica dances coud confrm to the patterns of so-cia dances or become eer and more extended, as in the Dance of the Furies"

fom luck's DonJuan, 161 (see Ex 2112). Koch comments on the distinctionbetween social dance and theatrica dance as embodied in ballet, 1802:

One distinguishes by tis word the theatrical dance from those social danceswhose one and on object is to provide pleasure r the dancers. Includedunder the name baet are those theatrica dances whose apparent object iso pease the spec�atr by a series of steps and leaps that are more highyreguated and artcal than those of the social dances; as fine art suchdaces deserve no rther mention The true alet presents an interestingactn by means of dance and pantomime, nd often is called the panto-mimic balet, classied ito serious and comic Like drama, it has pan,plot, and dnouement. The music consists of an unbrokn series o variousstyes and genres of piees, in whic the expression of the sentients is de-

ned by the content and progress of the plot Here te art of gesure shouldbe as intimate uniied wth musi as poetry is with usic in opera

Theatrical dances had some mimetic content Mattheson, 173 gives a detaiedaccount of the GeerdenKunst," the art of gesture. Krause, 1752 says thatthe poet and musician shoud provide the singer with opportunities r postureand pantomime. Kirnberger, 7477 relates the note vaues in dances tovarious kinds f movement, step, and gesture oncerning the pantomimicstye, Schubart, in his Ideen zu einer Aesthetk der onkunst, witten circa1784785 says

This is ac _tually the interpreter of the music . It is partiay ramatic,

party soa The composer of dances must have amost as much skil as thegreat oper _a cmose

rs. Indeed, the exated, the aweinspiring, the Shake

spearean e wth hs sphere . e must be as we versed in the tragic asin the comic

For JreJoseph de Momigny, Cours coplet, 1806 the idea performershoud have the qualities that beong to the perct actor

3 Speculative treatment of dance material This phrase rers to the use ofdance rhythms as subjects fr discourse in sonatas, symphonies, and concertos,as wel as in church and theater usic. Koch, 193 says

Dan melodies, when they are not secifcay intended or dancing, may

con ta more than 8 measures even in the first reprise. [See Ch. 12.



24 EXPRSSION

style; ater there is an extended section in which the alla breve style is workedover in various ways (see Ex. 224) The juxtaposition of these contrasted topics

2-24. ad tl ad alla . Beethoven Quartet in A ma �Op 18, No 5 1800 finale.

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gives this movement a pictoria avor clearly understood b 18thcentury listen-ersperhaps the merymaking of an improvised rustic comedy, interrued by aprocession of priests. In a etter to Homeister, Apri 8, 1802, Beethoven writesabout composing a Mass in which the "Credo would be given "great notesweighing a pound each, "51 an obvious reference to al breve.

Fantasia

Thefantasia style is recognized by one or more of the foowing featureseabo-rate guration, shifting harmonies, chromatic conjunct bass ines, sudden con-trasts, l textures or disembodied meodic iguresin shot, a sense of improvisation and oose structural links between gures and phrases. Thus toward theend of the second movement of Haydns D minor Quartet, Op. 76, No. 2, 1798,the eisurey inuet rhythm is interrupted fr an extended antasialike section.

In 8thcentury opera, the fantasia style is used to evoke the supeaturalthe ombra, representing ghosts, gods, mora vaues, punishmentsand to bringrth eings of awe and terror. Mozart incorporates elements of te churchse- alla breve, stile legato the introduction to his overture to DonGionni K. 527, 1787, and later recals tis music in the due, Act I, and thesupper scene, Act II. Beethoven may we have had the ombra in mind in the

introductio n to his Symphony No. 4 in B major, Op 60, 1806.·

Topics 25

PICTORIALISM; WORDPAINTING

Given the weath of availabe topics, 8hcentury composers at times could eas-ily take a rther step and become ankly pictoria in their music. Pictorialismand wordainting in music represent eforts to imitate or symboize specicia om poey o other types of iteature itorialm geneay associatedwith instrumenta music, conveys sme idea of an action or scene Word-paint

ing is the matching of a word of phrase in a text to a musical gure Both procedures hd been onored fr centuries in maras, descriptive French clavecinmusic, battle pieces, etc.

Koch incudes an entry r "Sphonies a pogramme in the Lexikon 5 ementions Dittersdorf (The Four Ages The Fall of Phaeton) Rosetti (Tele machus) and Haydn( Seven Last Words circa 1786). He questions the vaidity of such etionships between iterature and music. Concerning these, hecomments in the artice "Malerey (pictoriaism):

When certain sounds and motions ut of inanimate Nature, such as theroling of thunder, the tumult of the sea, the ruste of the wind and such,are imitated in music, this is called tone painting. Some such similarities ex-ist between natura phenomena and musica tones and one can transr

them to music; but music betrays its nature when it takes over such descrip-tions, since its one and ony object is to depict the feeings of the heart, andnot the picture of inanimate things. Mos devices fr toe painting are ob- jectionabe, even though they alow the imgination ee play, since they di- vert the attention om the principal content to accessory things, and there-fore deprive the feelings of tha which wil maintain them musicaly . . .However, occasionay there are instanes in which such tone paintings areimmediately reate to the state o the soul or where it can express the stir-ing of feeings. 53

Haydn's The Creation 1798, is celebraed r its many touches of pictoriaism,especially when natura phenoena and fauna ar the subject of the text. Haydnaso introduced descriptive materia into his works om time to timethe naeof his Symphony No. 82, the Bear 1786; the second movement of his Smphony

No. 10, the Military 794. In his Symphony No. 103 in E major, 795, he mayhave been thinking of the Battle of Vienna, 168, between the Viennese and theTurks. Apart om the militay drum ro at the beginning, llowed by the imi-tation of plainsong as a prayer, the second movement, with its aternation of ex-otic and miitary versions of the same theme, suggests a conontation of the tworces; incuded is an episode which is unmistakably a bate, with riousrushes, drum tattoos, and cries of the wounded. John Stoye in The Siege of Vienna reates an incident during the siege

On July 3st, The Christian rces istened to their own bands making excel-ent music, so they said, with drum and pipe. In the Turkish camp, the Su-tans special envoy, Ai Aga, took his leave of the Grand Vizier bere returning to Belgade and the Turkish musicians were aso commanded tostrike up The accounts of the besiegers and the besieged serve t show thatth enemys music roused scorn on both sides.54



26 EXPRSSION

Perhaps Haydn had heard of ths ncdent as a boy and remembered t n laterlfe to use t as a amework r ths movement. Momy, 1806, n hs analyss ofte rst movement of ths symphony, suggests a pctoral nterpretaon, a pastoral scene wth thunder, prayers, dances, conversatons

USE OF TOPICSIi

Many f not most of the topcs descrbed above wee current throughout the 18thcentuy The use, however, dered consderably n baroque and classc musc.Baroque musc tended to develop one dea, aecton, or topc throughout apece, to mantan unty through consstency. But xtures and contrasts became ncreasngly equent unt, n classc musc, they were the rule. Burney'scomment, 1789, onJ. C. Bach could apply to classc musc generally:

Bach seems to hae been the frst composer who observed the law of cn-trast as a princle . he] seldom faled, after a rapd and nosy passage tontroduce one that was slow and soothng.56

Lack of contrast was noted by Buey n the musc of Tartn

He certanly repeats hs passages, and adheres to hs orgnal mtiv or themetoo much, r the favorte desultory style of the present tmes . . . .

Koch, n jual der Tnkunst 1795, complans of the recent tendency omx the styles of the serous and comc operas n the same artcle, he censuresthe mxture of the learned and the galant styles. John Marsh, an nglsh com-poser and conductor of the late 18th century, n Hints to Yung Cpsers,1800, crtczes partsans of e "new "admrng he brllany of the modernsymphony [they] thnk that the ancent musc s dull . . defcent n lght andshade. . . . 60 &_ e!__aycµ wt rescung the new style om the trvaltesthath _r<d t se te dgtes othe older style:

. . . the modern style would have also faled n ts tu (as t was about ths

tme 1784 degeneratng nto a lght, trval and unfom charactr) hadnot the great Haydn by hs wonderl contrvance, by the varety and eccen-trcty of hs modulaton, by hs judcous dsperson of lght and shade, andhappy manner of blendng smple and ntellgble ar wth abstruse andcomplcated harmony, geatly mproved the latter speces of compostonnsomuch that, nstead of beng able, as was befre the case, to antcpate ngreat measure the second part of any movement, om ts unorm relatonto the foregong, t s on the contrary, n hs works, mpossble to concevewhat wll follow, and a perpetual nterest s kept up, n much longer pecesthan any of the same knd ever before composed61

The Rev. Wllam Jones took a strong stand n hs Treate n the Art f Music, 1784, r the oler style:

Had t not been r the CONCRTS of ANCINT MUS C, some of the nest Compostons, and the ratonal and manly ntertanment arsng om

Topic 27

the superor manner n whch they have been pefrmed, would probablyhave been lost to ths country The Stream of Fashon would have carred onts surface what s lght and othy; whle that whch s more sold and valu-able would have sunk to the bottom.62

We are now dvded nto partes for the old and the new Musc, n whchthere s undoubtedly a great dversty of Style and a attenton to derent eects . . I confess that my elngs gve ther testmony to the Stylewhch s now called ancent. . . I qote Corell, Purcell, Gemnan, andHandel. . 63

Handel and Corell are dstnct n ther deas, and clear n the desgn ofther accents and easures. .. As or Haydn and Bocchern, who mert arst place aong the moderns fr ventin they are sometmes so desul-tory and unaccountable n ther way of treatng a subject, that th ey must bereckoned among te wld warblers of the wood and they seem to derom some peces of Handel as the talk and laughter of the Teatable(where, perhaps, nether Wt nor Inventon are wantng) ders rom theOratory of the Bar nd the Pulpt. 64

For the nlsh the polaraton of old and new was especally sharp, snce theyentertaned and cebrated the two most famous composers of ther tmes, Handel and Haydn.

Moart was the greatest master at mxng and coordnatng topcs, often n theshortest space and wth startlng contrast. The allegro of te rst movement ofhs Prague Syphony, K. 504, 1786, s a panorama of topcs, old and new, nwhch a cange of subect occurs every few measures The ntroducton s lnkedto the allegro by the subtlest of means. We hardly sense at rst the change oftempo om adago to allegro the syncopaton on two levelsthe quarter andeghthnotes n the frst vols aganst the alla zppa (lmpng) quarter andhalfotes n the lower strngsclouds the rhythm the sngng melody s buredn the lower nstruments whle the harmony falters toward G, thanks to the C�.All ths lends addd brllance to the fanfares that conclude the rst perod ofthe allegro, nally gvng sharp profle to the key, melody, and rhythm Onceagan the tentatve frst phrase s heard, and agan the musc coalesces nto abrllant style, wth lvely contrapuntal giveandtake. Such quckslver changestake place throughout the movement, creatng a largescale rhythm of varedmoods, exhlaratng and eervescent. x. 225 lsts the topcs n ths movement.

E 2-25. Topics. Mozart, ag ymhony K. 504, 1786, 1st movt.

Measures

1. Sngng style, alla breve 37402. Brllant style, learned 41423. Fanre I 43444. Sngng style, learned 45485. Alla breve, brllant style 49506. Brllant style, learned 51547. Brllant style, modfed stile legat

55628. Fanfare II 5365


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Conclusion to Part I

The regoing survey of aect and tpic has fcused attention upon important

objectives in 18thcentury musical exressionto ·touch the elings through ap-propriate choice of gure and to stir the imagination through topical references.The theater was the principal source or these expressive aspects, with its projec-tion of feeling specicaly through word and gesture, and its imagery of storytell-ing. Classic music inherited its expressive attitudes om the baroque era, butmodied the frmalize sustained unity of baroque expresson by means of fe-quent contrasts to create a kaleidoscopic, sharply etched subtly nuanced, andsensitive expessive palette with a considerable admixture of humor.

Apart fom the clearly dened aects and topics described above, there aremany passages in classic music that show less sharply dened expressive or topi-cal prolerunning passages, connective gures, spunout melodic lines Still,the vivid climate of eling, with its theatrical overtones, that permeates all clas-sic music lends expressive color to such passages, giving each the quality of a

meaningl gesture. Moreover the fequent wellmarked contrasts of topic andmood in classic music bring about striking changes in posure and gesture tatadd expressive substance to even the most casual or routine figures, creating anevermoving series of highlights and shadows For analysis the recognition ofthese expressive qualities, explicit or implicit, is illuminating, often providing aclue to a striking aspect of structure; r perrmance such recognition is essential, since it points to the poetic implications of te music.

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II Retoric

T

he language arspoetry drama, and oratoryin addition to providingmusic with expressive and topical notions gave music important clesfor aming these expressive values. These are found in the parallels be-

tween linguistic and musica rhetoric that were extensively studid in the 18thcentury. Musicians acknowledged their debt to language as they borrowed concepts om rhetoric to designate various aspects of musica composition. Hawkins, 1776, expresses a widespread view as h compares music and retoric:

The art of invention is made one of the heads among th precepts of rhetor-ic, to which music in his and sundry insances bears a near resemblancethe end of persuasion or _aecting the passions, being common t? both.This faculty consists in the enumeration of common places, whch arerevolved over in the mind and requires both an ample store of kowledgein the subject upon which it is exercised, and a power of aplying thatknowledge as occasion may require 1

To be persasive, both lingistic and musica rhetoric had rst to establish co-herence and then promote eloquence. This was done by dening the variouscomponents of discouse, indicating their nctions, and demonstrating ways inwhich they might be persuasively arranged. Many 18thcentury theorists lookedupon phrase structure, chord progression, rhythmic scansion, melodic construc-tion, texture, and performance as the rhetoric of msic2 Part I of this book willproceed along these lines, linking rhetoric and music at the many points wherethe relationships between the two are relevant.

NOTES

1 . Hawkins, Htory, pp. XXX-XXXI.2. Forkel Allgemeine Geschiche I, pp 6668 See Lenneberg Johnn Mattheson

on Afect and Rhetoi n Mus" ]MT II Nos. 1 and 2 1958 pp 47-84 and193236.

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classic music - expression, form, and style - topics - leonard g. ratner

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