Vienna

Vienna was the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. At that time, the Empire expanded
through several territories. The ruling family was the Habsburg family that succeeded
to expand the empire through marriage.
Vienna became the capital at the end of the 15th century in 1683, the year of the end of
the Ottoman siege of the city. After the siege, the city was rebuilt and was re-built as a
political and cultural centre.

Austrians, Germans and Italians resided in Vienna and it was a Catholic city. During
the years 1740 – 1780, Maria Theresa ruled. She was a strict Catholic. The language
of the aristocrats was Italian.
People in the Empire used to move to Vienna looking for employment opportunities,
even though it didn't have very good conditions, especially sanitary-wise.

The Viennese enjoyed entertainment, and even though they were not very well-off,
they spent one third of their income on entertainment. These reasons of work, money
and a good audience attracted musicians from distant places to Vienna.

Music in Vienna:
- church music – masses, vespers etc
- Italian opera seria
- Music in aristocratic courts and houses
- Outdoor music at events
- Public concerts

The classical Viennese style evolved from a combination of many international

influences also including folk sources.

1780 – Joseph II reign begun which lasted till 1790. He tried to promote reforms –
Enlightened despotism. He reduced the number of Catholic monasteries by a third.
In 1783, he issues an order that prevented playing in churches, except for main
holidays. Thus there was no church music written. In 1782, he opened the National
German Opera House, however it was closed 3 years later.
He initiated compulsory education and public health laws. He also tried to develop the
bourgeois class. Under his reign, the city developed very much as an industrial city
and in terms of expansion.

Tonalism (homotonal) – as a reflection of the ideals of the Enlightenment age. The

music contained characteristics that mirrored the ideals of the time: centralization,
advancement, rationalism, purposefulness, the goal to achieve the aim & gravitation
(Newton).

Pure instrumental music, that did not have a specific connection or function – how
was it digested?
The ‘pure’ music is understood in the context of functional music – the musical
dictionary contains music from different forms like dances, aria types from opera
seria, accompaniment music for parades and receptions, hunting music, Turkish
music, church music (stile antico). All of these have their own source of expression,
which is called topoi (topic).
Music in the 18th century – based on rhetorical theory

Boethius, a priest that lived in the 6th century in medieval times explained arts in terms
of the trivium – grammar, logic and rhetoric. The study of these were the base of
medieval liberal arts education, and was considered as a preparation for the study of
quadrium – music, geometry, astronomy and arithmetic.

In the 16th century, music changed its position and was connected to the rhetoric laws
of speech theory. There exists a spoken speech and a musical speech. Musical speech
addresses emotion - docere, pelectare, movere meaning to delight, to move, to touch.
- Music acts according to the laws of speech. The goal being to convince.
- The means of convincing – emotion (not intellect). The message conveyed is also
emotional in nature.
- The development of an idea and the presentation of the theme / topic

The stages of writing a musical piece (= speech):

a) Inventio – invention of the topic
b) Dispositio – Arrangement and organization of the material in the piece and the
structure
c) Elaboratio – development and design
d) Memoria – learning and memorizing the piece
e) Pronuntiatio – the style of the performance

Music  Language
 Cadence types = punctuation marks
 Perioda = Sentence (subject + predicate).
The function of the perioda was
- to show the main subject of the piece,
- to form a basis of the scale,
- to create the feeling of an end using a perfect authentic candence,
- to arrange the material using repitions, sequences, patterns and middle cadences
etc.
The classic perioda, in many ways emerged from dance forms.

Example: Mozart’s piano sonata no. 11, K 331 in A major. The topoi is a south Italian
dance song called a Siciliana. The perioda lasts 8 bars that are divided into 2
sentences + phrase +cadence. The sentence is divided into 1st motive and a 2nd
repeating motive and a grouping of them that is the phrase.
Gluck (1714 – 1787)

Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck – Born to a low class family of Czech origin.
His father was a forester by profession. Gluck was sent to Prague to study law at
university and at the same time he studied music with a famous church composer.
Afterwards he worked in Milan, and learnt music with Sammartini.
He worked immensely in Europe between 1741 – 1752.

In 1752, he moved to Vienna working as a court composer for Maria Theresa. Here he
composed various opera types, dramatic music and ballets.

In 1756, he received a badge of honour from the Pope.

Gluck turned his back on Italian opera seria and began to write opéra comiques. In
1761, Gluck produced the groundbreaking ballet Don Juan.
In 1762 in Vienna, Gluck met likeminded figures of the operatic world, like librettist
Calzabigi, which further encouraged his reformist works. In 1762, Orfeo ed Euridice
was given its first performance, with music by Gluck to words by Calzabigi. Gluck's
idea was to make the drama of the work more important than the star singers who
performed it, and to do away with dry recitative (recitativo secco, accompanied only
by continuo) which broke up the action. A more flowing and dramatic style of opera
resulted, however Gluck still remained within the rules of opera seria. This opera had
a happy ending, unlike that of the original Greek myth. It has noble characters and
originally used a castrati. The opera begins with the tragic peak of the story.

Second act, first scene from Orfeo ed Euridice

It doesn’t have the classical form of the scena (it is without recitative). The Aria here
not only describes feelings, but also draws the drama and the plot forward. There is a
continuous musical development along the course of the scene, and this is the main
tool to promote the drama.
The choir is significant here and this is influenced from oratorio. There is no
virtuosity, no ritornello, no closed arias but rather arioso parts that function as
episodes in different styles.
The most tragic aria in the opera, in which Orfeo grieves about loosing Euridice for
the second time, is not written in lamento style. Gluck said that the purpose of this is
expressing nobility.
Structure of the scene:
- orchestral introduction
- choir of the ghosts of the underworld
- Dance of the ghosts.
- Orfeo’s song
- Ghosts choir

1767 – Gluck wrote an opera following Orfeo, called Alceste (By Euripides), the
second of his ‘reform operas’, also a Greek myth on the subject of self sacrifice –
though still with a good ending. The liberetto was also written by Calzabigi. In the
publication they added a preface which set out their ideals for operatic reform. The
following orchestral opening summarizes the ideals. It shows the dilemma of Alceste
between self-sacrifice and love (commitment against emotion). A lot of composers
were inspired by this model of contradiction, including Beethoven. In this opera,
Gluck developed for the first time, emotional motives for the characters. The self
sacrifice is described with notes on strong beats moving in octaves, whereas love is
described with a lamentoso tempo with ‘sigh’ motives and delicateness.
In 1774, he moved to Paris where he wrote opera under the patronage of Marie
Antoinette – some successfully and some unsuccessfully. In Paris, the French version
of Orfeo ed Euridice was performed, with the castrato part rewritten for a tenor and
with additional French dances. The opera was received successfully in Paris, and
Gluck did the same for his opera Alceste. Gluck also composed his own opera of
Armide with the same liberetto as that used by Lully. Even though Gluck was a
foreigner, he was considered the reviver of the national French style of opera tradegie
lyrique. However, after a health stroke, and an unsuccessful opera, he returned to
Vienna and died there in 1787.

When he died, Mozart got his job in Paris for less than half of the salary.
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)

Haydn was born to simple family in Austria on the border of Hungary.

In 1740, he joined a children’s choir in St. Stepehen’s Church in Vienna.
In 1749, he left the church and started working as a freelance artist and composer.
In 1759, he jot his first job offer in the estate of Count Morzin.

In 1761, when the count suffered financial difiiculties, he received the position of
Vice kappelmeister to the Esterhazy family – one of the wealthies families in Austria
– where signed a contract for 30 years. By 1765, he was the main Kapellmeister, and
had a huge range of responsibilities, including composition, running the orchestra,
playing chamber music for and with his patrons, and eventually the mounting of
operatic productions. His works remained under the ownership of his patron prince
Nikolaus I. Despite this workload, the job was in artistic terms a superb opportunity
for Haydn.
During this time, he composed:
34 operas
15 masses, 14 cantatas, 5 oratorios and 40 other religious pieces
19 symphonies
About 180 trios
Over 80 string quartets
More than 50 keyboard sonatas
35 concerti for violin, cello, keyboard and wind instruments
Background music

In 1790, after the death of Nikolaus I, his son Paul who didn’t like music, let Haydn
retire with a comfortable pension. He did however, order a couple of masses from
him. Haydn was also considered famous by this time.

In 1791 – 2, Haydn was invited by Joseph Solomon to London where he published 6

symphonies with great success.
Also in London in 1794 – 5, besides publishing more pieces, Haydn was exposed to
new influences, among them the oratorio style of Handel.

In 1799 and 1801, he published two oratorios – The Seasons and The Creation.

In 1802, he wrote his last piece, a quartet Op. 103. He passed away in 1809.

Haydn’s String Quartets

A string quartet is a homogenous and equal work, thus fitting the values of the
Enlightenment age with equality and erasing of social borders. The music was now
for the musicians and not for the audience – it was intellectual, polyphonic music.

Between 1755 – 1776 he composed his early quartets.

His quartets had different tonal zones. The second motives were built in a more
modern style – they were based on a tonal point of view rather than being formed
from the theme.

His quartet Op. 20 no. 2, he emphasized the independence of the cello thus releasing it
from the continuo role.
Outline:
1st perioda 2nd perioda
Section 1- section 2 section 1 - section 2
Tonic - V tonal instability – rebasing of the tonic

(The theory of the sonata form was developed only in the 19th century.)
Second movement – Adagio capriccio – starts with the style of Emfindsamkeit, and
then moves to a lyrical motif in an operatic aria style. The whole movement is like a
scena in an opera – recitative accompaniato + aria.
Third movement – minuet in which the dance form is slightly blurred. It is
intentionally abstract music.
Fourth movement – fugue a quattro seggetti – emphasized the equality of the
instruments and their independence.

In 1781, he composed his 6 string quartets Op.33, commonly called the Russian
quartets since Haydn dedicated the quartets to the Grand Duke of Russia. They had
more complex ideas in them, and the instruments develop the motives together as one
body. For the first time in the 18th century, Haydn replaced the minuet with a Scherzo.

Haydn’s Symphonies

We spoke about the Italian Symphony, the Manheim Symphony and the French
overture as types of orchestral music. In Vienna, Haydn had colleagues that wrote
symphonies in the Viennese spirit.
Haydn wrote symphonies in 1759-1795, mostly as a part of his job at the Esterhazy
family. In his early symphonies Haydn approached different types of models such as:
the French Overture with a slow preface, ‘Sonata de Kyzer’ (slow-fast-slow-fast), and
also 4 movement symphonies in Manheim style.
He had a few symphonies with names such as ‘the fare well’, ‘the minor symphonies’,
‘Trauer’ (mourning) symphony – with dramatic elements in E minor key.
In his last symphonies Haydn was influenced by Mozart. Towards the end of the
1780s, he got musical orders from abroad during his service at the Esterhazy family.
On vacations, Haydn visited London, and composed 6 symphonies known as the
London symphonies.

Symphony number 98 – A London symphony written as part of a series of

perfomances in Heidmark theatre in 1794.
1st movement – Allegro Adagio
Structure: It has a slow introduction followed by a fast episode.
In the slow section, simple unison, usage of root position chords, imitative elements
and the usage of intervals of fourths are present. The fast section begins with the 1st
motive, after the introductory part. After the 1st motive, in the 38th bar, there is a
modulation bridge to the second motive which is in the dominant scale. The second
motive is on the dominant scale, but is the same theme as the first motive. Haydn had
more interest in the scale rather than thematic ideas. After these two themes, there is a
closing theme that strengthens the dominant scale using a chain of cadences. In bar
89, there is a chord that is reminiscent of the 1st motive. (this is the exposition in what
would be known the sonata form). During this exposition, we hear the themes that are
based on the tonic root position chord. The material is monothematic and in the
development, there is a usage of ideas from the exposition, with unstable scales. In the
development, there is ‘theme work’ using tonal, orchestral, harmonic and polyphonic
tools.
In the recapulation, he skips the second motive and adds a coda.

2nd movement – Cantabile Adagio

In form, it is in slow sonata structure. There is a thematic connection with the first
movement. In this movement, there is a usage of orchestration and motive
ornamentation
3rd movement – Minuetto
The tonic root position chord is used in this movement’s monothematism. In the trio,
we hear new material that is played by the wind instruments, in which Haydn puts all
the themes that build the symphony together.

Finale
The final movement is in the structure of a sonata. There is an idea of movements in
intervals of seconds. The motive appears also in the violins, then the bassoons, in a
very folk way. In the development, there is a violin solo. There are dramatic elements
such as stile concitato (emotional style). Haydn moves to non-diatonic scales, and
uses the cembalo.