The Sonata

• Sonata not only represents a form, but a type of piece for 1 or another small number of instruments

  • In Classical, a sonata was a composition for 1-2 instruments only

• Not for concerts, relatively rare, for private performances (often amateur)

• Piano sonatas were just for solo piano

• Violin sonatas was for violin and piano (equally)

• 3 movements

  • Opening: fast/moderate tempo, sonata form

  • Slow: slow/very slow tempo; sonata form, variations, rondo form, or some other form (varied)

  • Closing: fast/very fast tempo, often in rondo form

The Classical Concerto

• More variety than Baroque

• Creating balance between a solo instrument and the orchestra was hard

Movements of the Classical Concerto:

Double-Exposition Form

Extended version of sonata form

Beginning to end:

• Orchestra Exposition

  • First theme then second group

  • Tonic key

• Solo Exposition

  • First theme, bridge, second group

  • Tonic key then second key

• Development

  • Themes developed then retransition

  • Unstable keys (modulations)

• Recapitulation

  • First theme, bridge, then second group

• Solo Cadenza

• Orchestra’s cadence theme

Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488 (1786), First Movement

Gentle and songful (1st mvt.) to tragic (2nd mvt.) to exuberant and sunny (3rd mvt.)

The String Quartet

• Genre for 2 violins, a viola, and a cello

• Similar to symphony in movements, not equal in tone color/volume range

• Small informal audiences, or none at all

• Nuance, delicacy, and intimacy

• Haydn composed sixty-seven

Haydn, String Quartet in D Major, Op. 64, No. 5 (The Lark, 1790), First Movement

• First violin acts as a “songbird” with accompaniment for theme 1

• Theme 2 has syncopated chords

• Cadence theme has fast triplet scales

Other Types of Chamber Music

• Chamber music is music for 2-9 players

  • Supposed to be performed in a chamber (room)

  • Still has an intimate character

• A piano trio is for violin, cello, and piano

• String quintet is a string quartet with an extra low instrument

Opera Buffa

• Italian comic opera

• Lifelike quality of comedy

• Haydn wrote 12, Mozart wrote 6

The Ensemble

• Opera seria has recitatives and arias

• Opera buffa uses ensembles as well as solo arias

• An ensemble is a number sung by 2+ people

Mozart, Don Giovanni (1787)

• Technically opera buffa, has tragic elements

  • Might be considered “dark comedy” today

• Based around Don Giovanni, Italian Don Juan

  • Womanizer, sinner, goes to hell