melody and theme

Stamitz Op.3 No.2:

• Galant music makes much use of simple diatonic material with lots of motivic repetition (e.g. three note idea starting in 13th bar of 1st movement)

• Melody uses lots of sequence making it memorable and catchy

• Last movement begins with rising arpeggio - generic melodic idea typical of galant writing

• Made use of Manheim features: mannheim rocket, mannheim sigh, mannheim birds

• Stamitz was a part of the Mannheim school which started the use of many Mannheim features

CPE Bach in E minor

• He uses empfinsander style: ‘sensitive style’

• Unusually romantic / expressive effect for the time, long lyrical phrases with many chromaticism

• Themes all still balanced with expected functional harmony

Haydn 26

• Used classical thematic and melodic development like sequences and imitative voicings

• This work has a more moody atmosphere than is typical for other more playful works like stamitz

• E.g his melody for movement 1 contains chromatic intervals and many dim 7ths

Mozart No.40:

• Mozart’s melodies are simple, elegant and balanced to create a graceful style

• the melody at the beginning of first movement is constructed from short melodic ideas

• Falling motif played by strings, leaps up by a minor 6th, then descends again following same rhythmic pattern

• However, the overall effect is of a lyrical (if slightly breathless) melody in which the emphasis is on the broad sweep of each phrase 

• Second subject  had increased chromaticism moving away from the completely diatonic melodies of the early classical period

• In his 3rd movement there is intense hemiolas, suggesting a move away from melody imitating dance and an the growing rhythmic importance within melody (that beethoven would later run with)

Haydn 104

• Movement 1 and movement 4 are monothematic with intense development

• Movement 1 contains a simple ascending 4 quaver theme and 4 crochet theme on bars 2 and 3

• Later haydn uses the quaver motif variation in polyphony with the second phrase of subject 1 on bar 58

• Develops crochets and quavers antiphonally and inversely in the development

• Mvt 4 folk derived melodic content, with distinctive calls to folk ‘ol jelena’, drone and stamping rhythm

Beethoven No.5:

• Germanic motifs

• famous four-note opening of this symphony is used relentlessly as a motif both rhythmically and in terms of pitch throughout the rest of this movement e.g in horns in mvt2 and moved to accompaniment in mvt 3

• At end of the first movement the continued intensive usage of this rhythmic idea hammers home the perfect cadences

• The rhythm of the opening theme of the first movement can also be heard clearly in the third movement (but in crotchets rather than quavers)

• It also appears as an accompanying figure towards the end of the last movement

• Move away from melodic emphasis and into rhythmic and harmonic emphasis

• Themes are developed into leitmotif in a way, e.gn the fate motif, brought back at crucial points throughout movement rather than being methodically developed though traditional functional harmony, e.g finale ends with theme brought back in triple fugue, the fate motif remains varied and developed through orchestration and harmonic variations

• More passion and emotion than classical works

Beethoven no 9

Quasi- operatic ode to joy theme is developed through impressive virtuostic solos and texturally rich instrumentation

Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique:

• Uses a melody that recurs throughout the work which Berlioz called and idee fixe (‘fixed idea’) first see it in mvt 1 bar 72, then developed using musical style already on bar 80

• It was used to represent an idea or person

• Each time it's played, it’s used in a more or less complete form  but transformed by changing context, rhythms or instrumentation

• At the opening, the artist’s ‘beloved’ is introduced using the idee fixe melody

• In movement 2, idee fixe is combine with a waltz theme

• In the last movement the  melody is transformed nightmarishly onto a high Eb clarinet

Mendelsohhn italian

• Melodic development through lyrical and breathless melodies

• Tarantella triplet rhythm is found in every section of the movement developed alongside quaver passage work.

• We see mendelssohn's romantic development through harmony with a shift to  minor version of the theme in the last coda

Dvorak 9

• Movement 1 uses 3 distinct themes, interwoven throughout the mvt

• Famous ‘swing low’ inspired theme can be heard in augmentation and imitation in its development throughout the symphony, movement 2 contains the famous new world theme also

• This theme uses modal aeolian and minor 7 th moments .

• Movement 4 main theme, open with semitones before a grand fanfare opens