Study Notes: The Classical Concerto First-Movement Cadenza

Overview and Definitions of the Classical Cadenza

• Conceptual Framework: The classical cadenza is not a homogenous musical phenomenon but rather a wide spectrum of musical possibilities that evolved during the mid-to-late eighteenth century.
• Structural Role: Historically singled out as a prominent structural element by theorists such as Heinrich Christoph Koch ($[1793] 1983$), Augustus Frederic Kollmann ($1799$), Carl Czerny ($[1830] 1848$), Ebenezer Prout ($1895$), William Caplin ($1998$), and Mark Evan Bonds ($2017$).
• The Biographical Model: Adopts Philip Whitmore’s ($1991$) approach, describing the cadenza through its antecedents, birth, growth, prime, decline, and death.
• Distinction from Early Practices:     * Vivaldi (Pre-1730): The unaccompanied solo passages labeled "cadenza" by Antonio Vivaldi were postscripts to the principal part, often followed by an additional closing ritornello. They were not yet the integrated Classical convention.     * Pietro Locatelli (1695–1764): In his $1733$ L’Arte del violino, op. 3, Locatelli treated the cadenza as a separate entity from the "capriccio," placing cadenzas for extemporization at the end of capriccios.     * Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770): In his Trait des agrmens de la musique (written c. $1750$), Tartini defines the cadenza as distinct from the capriccio. Tartini’s cadenzas were typically short, maintained a single character, and lacked clear meter.

The Quantzean ‘Blueprint’ for the Mid-Eighteenth-Century Cadenza

• Definition: Johann Joachim Quantz, in his Versuch einer Anweisung die Flte traversiere zu spielen ($1752$), defines the cadenza as an extempore embellishment created by a concertante part at the close of a piece on the penultimate note of the bass, which is the $\text{fifth}$ of the key ($\hat{5}$).
• Aesthetic Objective: The goal is to surprise the listener unexpectedly at the end and leave a "special impression," sounding as if improvised spontaneously.
• Musical Characteristics According to Quantz ($1752$):     * Meter: Regular meter should not be observed; it must feel free. Leopold Mozart ($1756$) echoed this, stating performers are "not tied to strict time."     * Melodic Content: Should consist of "detached ideas" rather than sustained melodies. Quantz suggests using a short repetition or imitation of pleasing phrases from the movement to ensure the cadenza confirms the "prevailing passion."     * Harmonic Scope: Quantz warns against roaming into remote keys; a short cadenza must not modulate out of its principal key at all, though it may touch upon closely related keys.     * Brevity: Cadenzas must be "short and fresh." Singers and wind players are limited by single-breath capacity, while string players have more flexibility, though "vexing length" is discouraged.
• Historical Examples:     * Joseph Ferdinand Timmer (1708–1771): A violin concerto cadenza from the $1740s$ featuring sequential $16^{th}$-note and $32^{nd}$-note patterns.     * Johann Matthias Sperger (1750–1812): A double bass concerto cadenza from the $1780s$ exhibiting scalar motion and repetition without definite meter.     * Luigi Borghi (1745–1806): His op. 11 collection ($1780s$) features "textbook cadenzas" that follow Quantzean idioms and emphasize short embellishment.

Reconceptualizing the Classical Cadenza as a Musical Spectrum

• The Spectrum Model: Rather than a binary of "short" vs. "long," the cadenza is viewed as a spectrum of increasing length and complexity.     * One End: Short, cadence-embellishing ornaments.     * The Other End: Long, elaborate, quasi-independent fantasias or capriccios.
• Evidence of Expansion:     * Tommaso Giordani (1730–1806): His op. 33 ($1782$) contains cadenzas longer than Borghi’s, featuring explicit instructions for tempo changes to sustain the impression of extemporization.     * Giuseppe Buccioni (1759–1830): His Keyboard Concerto in C Major ($1783$) features a cadenza exceeding Giordani’s in length, following Daniel Gottlob Trk’s rule that the same tempo/meter should not be maintained throughout.
• Critical Backlash to Length:     * C. F. D. Schubart (1784): Claimed a long cadenza is a "state within a state" detrimental to the whole.     * Trk (1789): Criticized the "executant who goes to excess."     * Johann George Tromlitz (1791): Described long cadenzas as "monstrosities" that make listeners forget the movement's subject because they wander so far afield.

Factors Facilitating the Growth of the Cadenza

• Proportionality: As concerto movements grew in size from the $1720s$ to the $1780s$, cadenzas grew in relative proportion.
• Structural Weight Shift: Statistical analysis by Maliniak and Greenberg ($2022$) shows that in the mid-$18^{th}$ century, the last solo was the longest section. By the $1770s$ and $1780s$, weight shifted to the first solo, and the shorter last solo served a recapitulatory function.
• Sonata-Form Standardization: The adoption of exposition-development-recapitulation logic made last solos more predictable and phrase-oriented. This precluded the traditional abundance of passagework within the main body, requiring a designated "free" area (the cadenza) for virtuosity.
• Aesthetic Function of Surprise: Trk argued that whereas sonata form provides "unity," the cadenza provides the "variety" and the "unexpected" necessary to hold the listener's attention.

Structural Adjustments and Formal Influences of the Cadenza

• Orchestral Preparation Evolution:     * $1740s–1750s$: The cadenza followed the solo passage directly ($0$ measures of interruption) or with a very brief orchestral moment.     * $1760s$: $40\%$ were adjacent to the solo; $38\%$ followed a $1–2$ measure tutti interjection.     * $1770s$: Tutti interjections of $3–4$ measures appear in $34\%$ of cases to allow the soloist to "take a breath."     * $1780s$: Substantial preparations of $7–12$ measures appearing in $28\%$ of cases. These long buildups highlighted the cadenza as an independent structural module, referred to by Leeson and Levin ($1976$) as the "ritornello to cadenza."
• Refinement of Caplin’s Model: William Caplin defines the sixth section as a closing ritornello interrupted by a cadenza. Maliniak proposes an amendment:     * Most cadenzas are part of the last solo, not an interruption of the ritornello.     * Omitting the cadenza reveals the preceding material usually does not function as the onset of a closing ritornello.     * In cases of long preparation, the term "orchestral preparation and cadenza" is preferred over "ritornello."
• Tonicization: Arrival at the cadenza was often highlighted by reaching $\hat{5}$ in the bass via its leading tone ($\sharp \hat{4}$).

The Decline of the Classical Cadenza and the Rise of the Romantic Model

• Statistical Decline in Usage:     * $1770s$: $77\%$ of movements included a cadenza space.     * $1790s$: $53\%$.     * $1800–1805$: $38\%$.
• Contributing Factors to Decline:     * Composer Mistrust: Fear of performers spoiling the effect of the work with "bad fancy cadences" (Kollmann).     * Virtuoso Brilliance: The move toward the "virtuoso concerto" (Steibelt, Field, Hummel) featured such elaborate solo writing in the main sections that a cadenza became redundant. Czerny ($1830$) noted that modern concertos were already "as brilliant as possible."     * Jan Ladislav Dussek: Effectively phased out the cadenza in his works by the late $1790s$.     * William Ling: His $1794$ oboe concertos show him crossing out cadenza sketches in favor of resuming the solo.
• Beethoven’s Transformation:     * Beethoven detached the cadenza from its cadential role, viewing it as a long unaccompanied fantasia.     * In works like the Violin Concerto (op. 61) and Piano Concertos Nos. 3 and 4, he used the $6-4$ chord as a signal for a cadenza rather than a resolution.     * The End of Ad Libitum: In Piano Concerto No. 5 (1810), Beethoven wrote out the cadenza, forbidding the performer from improvising.
• The Romantic Cadenza:     * Composers like Hummel, Kalkbrenner, and Moscheles incorporated fantasia-like embellishments anywhere in the movement.     * Liszt placed a cadenza only $10$ bars into his Piano Concerto No. 1 ($1856$).     * Mendelssohn used the cadenza as a lead-in to the recapitulation in his Violin Concerto, op. 64.     * By this era, the "Classical" structural function had vanished, leaving the cadenza merely as a "topic" or homage to predecessors.