Classical Period Performance Practice

Authenticity in Performance

Limitations of Early Instruments

Recreation of Original Instruments

General Aspects of Performance Practice in the Classical Period

In the Classical period, performance practices exhibited several key aspects that shaped how music was played and understood. These aspects are:

1. Bar Hierarchy

Bar hierarchy refers to the importance placed on different beats within a bar. For example, in a 4/4 time signature, the weightings are as follows:

  • Heaviest on Beat 1

  • Second Heaviest on Beat 3

  • Followed by Beats 2 and 4 which are lighter in emphasis
    This hierarchy affects how musicians interpret the rhythm and dynamics of a piece.

Example:

In 4/4 time:

  • 1 (strong)

  • 2 (weak)

  • 3 (strong)

  • 4 (weak)

2. Concept of Dissonance vs. Consonance

In performance practice, the distinction between dissonance and consonance plays a crucial role, with dissonance being perceived as 'strong' and consonance as 'weak'.

  • Consonance was considered bland whereas dissonance adds “spice.”

    • You don’t want to have too much dissonance, but not too much.

  • Dissonance has more sound because it is the point of interest.

    • It stands out, and the ear will fill in the note that is being expected.

    • Place more sound into dissonance and less on the consonance.

  • Leaning into the dissonance then phrasing off into the consonance is a huge part of the classical style.

Important Example:

  • Appoggiaturas, serve as practical examples of dissonance leading to consonance.

    • The appoggiatura which is a non chord tone that resolves step-wise to a chord tone.

    • In the Baroque period, they were considered an ornament, but in the classical period they become written out.

    • They often occur at a cadence or the end of a phrase during the classical period.

Johann Joachim Quantz (1697-1773)

In his work On Playing the Flute (1752), Quantz emphasizes:
"You must know how to make a distinction in execution between the principal notes, ordinarily called accented or in the Italian manner, good notes, and those that pass, which some foreigners call bad notes. Where it is possible, the principle notes must always be emphasized more than the passing."

Leopold Mozart’s Perspective

Leopold Mozart states:
"These strong beats differ perceptibly from each other. Good notes are those which, it is true, are at all times distinguished from the remainder by a small accent but on which the stress must be applied with great moderation."

Malcolm Bilson’s Viewpoint

Malcolm Bilson (1935 - ) remarks:
"If any piece of music consists of evenly-marked notes, we must learn how to make them uneven in order to convey their musical sense and syntax, just as we do in speech."

  • Musicians would have thought of music as speech during this time period.

    • Mozart used to call the development section the fantasia where he could go into his own fantasies and ideas.

    • The sections of sonata form follow the form of a speech.

    • Rhetoric = Speech

3. Slurs and Diminuendos

Musicians of the Classical era utilised slurs from bow strokes, which naturally created a diminuendo. The technique includes:

  • The concept of the weighted bow caused the correlation of slurs meaning a diminuendo stuck around after the creation of a more evenly weighted bow.

  • A lift at the end of slurs to indicate a change in phrasing or articulation.

  • Decreasing volume through resolutions as a form of expressive playing.

4. Historic Insights

  • Leopold Mozart (1719-1787) stated in his work A Treatise on Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing (1756) that “Crotchets and quavers should be held half their written value,” allowing different articulations to be accentuated in contrast to more sustained passages.

  • This differentiation accentuates character differences between articulated and slurred passages.

5. Gestural Phrasing

Gestural phrasing involves the practice of engaging in “micro-phrasing,” which interprets shorter note groups informed by slurs. This conveys that:

  • Every long note or group of shorter notes bears a shape, contrasting the modern style of “long line phrasing.”

    • Every small group is its own phrase.

      • Look for groups of slurs - phrase each off. Each slur is one separate gesture.

    • Multiple gestures are added together to create a phrase.

  • Longer notes are swelled <>

  • Long line phrasing crosses over bars. Gestural phrasing should not cross bar lines unless it is tied together with a group of notes.

  • In gestural phrases, the phrases begin and end without merging to one another.

6. Terraced Dynamics

This principle involves distinct levels of dynamics without gradual crescendos or decrescendos. Features include:

  • Repeats and formal structure apply a different interpretation in the second pass.

    • No two bars are played at the same level.

  • Vibrato is used as an ornamentation rather than as a standard expressive technique.

  • The concept of playing “im takt” where rubato is employed separately, particularly regarding the rhythmic steadiness of the left-hand lines.

Articulation

Notes were not held to their full value during the classical period.

  • Unless it was specified legato or you were in a lyrical section.

The standard consisted of shorter note articulations.

  • This also moved the tempo along.

People would critique Mozarts music for being short and choppy.

  • Note lengths and gestural phrasing combined could have created an even shorter phrase sound than just the gestural phrasing alone.

  • Gestural phrasing was seen before Mozarts time.

  • Strokes were as short as a staccato note with the weight of a downbeat.

Character = Affekt.

  • The emotion or character of a piece/passage

American vs European Oboe Playing

The European style used thicker reeds/materials. Thick and beautiful but not a lot of dynamics and shape.

The American style uses thinner reeds/materials so that you could get a wider range of dynamics and contour.

  • M. Tabuteau pioneered the style of American oboe performance.

    • He was obsessed with dynamics and would have his students number their dynamics from 1-10. He encouraged experimentation with dynamics and knowing what a ‘6’ was.

    • Tabuteau himself had a very extreme scale from 1-100.

    • He liked really big shapes that also happen really quickly.

      • For example, he went from 0-6 through just a few measures of quavers.

    • He did not care about bar hierarchy.

Specific Examples in Classical Performance

As demonstrated in the analysis of various pieces of music and their performances, principles discussed manifest in practical applications:

Mozart Piano Sonata in F, KV 332 / Mvt. 1

  • In the interpretations by Artur Schnabel, a revered pianist, he emphasized the approach of the right hand to stress the third beat of each bar leading into a "long line" of music which should conclude seamlessly into the subsequent downbeat without noticeable interruption.   

Quote from Schnabel:

"To keep the long line going and to deliver it gently into the following downbeat with no audible bump."

Additional Examples

  • The MENUETTO in canone represents another piece illustrating phrasing techniques where repetitive phrasing constructs dynamic and emotive expression.

Performing Pieces Relevant to Classical Practices

Paisiello - Overture to Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Instrumentation includes:

  • 2 Flutes

  • 2 Oboes

  • 1 Bassoon

  • 2 Horns

  • Violins, Violas, Cellos, Contrabass

Composition Notes:

  • Allegro Presto marked sections with crescendos and notational clarity on instrumentation distribution.

Example Instrumentation

  • 2 Flauti, 2 Oboi, 1 Fagotto…

Mozart, Overture to the Entführung aus dem Serail (1782)

  • Instrumentation differentiates between Violino I, Violino II, Viola I, II, Violoncello, and Bass.

Mozart, Overture to Cosi fan tutte, KV 588

Snapshots of orchestra sections include Flutes, Oboes, Clarinets, Bassoons, Horns, and Timpani among others.