21M.011 | Fall 2024 | Undergraduate

Introduction to Western Music

Week 8: Recitation 8A Listening & Reading (Goetjen)

Classical Concerto

The concerto continues to be an important genre through the Classical period, but the musical style changes to reflect the different aesthetics of this period. While concertos continue to have three movements, organized fast-slow-fast, the forms that are used in each movement tend to change. We’ll see similar forms from those used in symphony and string quartet that we have already discussed. For example, first movements of Classical concertos tend to be in sonata form while third movements tend to be rondos. The middle movement can be a variety of forms, but usually contrasts to the faster outer movements. Yet, there are still elements of the Baroque concerto which remain; first movement sonata forms in concertos retain aspects of ritornello form which haven’t completely gone away.

As with the Baroque concerto, instrumental virtuosity is important and it was expected that performers would improvise, not only to ornament the melody that is written but also in featured sections such as cadenzas. As an example, let’s look at all three movements of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467. Mozart typically wrote piano concertos for himself to play the solo part and so we can try to imagine what this piece might have been like when Mozart himself sat down to play and likely improvise his way through this concerto.

Mozart’s Piano

The piano in Mozart’s time was very different from our modern instrument (we can talk about this more in recitation). It was an invention not of a completely new instrument but rather of a modification to the harpsichord which used hammers to strike the keys instead of quills to pluck them. But the body of the instrument was much the same as the harpsichord. The piano was invented around 1700 (exact date unknown) by an instrument maker named Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655–1731). See this image for a photo of a now-lost portrait of Cristofori.

Cristofori called his invention the cembalo col piano e forte, which means the “harpsichord that can play soft and loud.” The main innovation in replacing the quills with hammers was to allow the player to change the dynamic (volume) by striking the keys harder or softer, something the harpsichord was incapable of doing. The name became shortened to pianoforte and later just to piano, as we know it today. Typically, reconstructions of the 18th-century piano are now called fortepiano to distinguish them from modern pianos.

At first, this invention was merely a curiosity (as discussed in the section on Bach’s Musical Offering and his visit to the court of Frederick the Great). The two instruments coexisted for most of the 18th century and in some cases could be played together in duets. (If you are interested in delving a little deeper, you can watch this video to see a performance of a Bach organ trio arranged for two keyboards, played as a duet for harpsichord and 18th-century piano. In the video, the harpsichord is played by my Rutgers dissertation advisor, Dr. Rebecca Cypess. This video is not required for this assignment, just a suggestion).

By the 1780s, the piano was becoming more popular than the harpsichord, especially in Vienna where Mozart lived. The Viennese instrument maker Johann Andreas Stein had developed a new design for the hammer action and created an early version of the damper pedal (which allows notes to continue to sound even if the player removes their hand from the key). Mozart loved Stein’s pianos and owned one which still exists and remains in a museum in Vienna

Take a few minutes to watch this video in which musicologist Robert Levin plays on Mozart’s piano and talks a little bit about the differences in sound from the modern instrument. 

The modern piano as we know it today did not fully develop until the 1860s. During the period from about 1780 to 1860, the instrument undergoes changes facilitated by the Industrial Revolution, including the addition of a metal frame onto the soundboard, the use of thicker, stronger steel wires, the addition of multiple strings per key, an increase in the range of pitches (size of the keyboard/number of keys), and an increase in the size of the instrument and volume of sound. Many of these changes were necessary to allow the piano to be heard over the increasing size of orchestras in the 19th century as well as to better suit the changing aesthetic of 19th-century music. Since the 1860s, pianos have not changed much in design; the main innovation since then is the creation of electronic instruments (either purely electronic or electroacoustic).

In the recordings below for each movement of Mozart’s piano concerto, the soloist is playing on a piano made as a replica in the style of Mozart’s piano. As you listen, take note of the ways in which it may sound familiar to you, but also perhaps have a slightly different timbre or tone color.

W. A. Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 21, K. 467 (concerto), first movement

Recording performed by the English Baroque Soloists, Malcolm Bilson (piano), directed by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. [Listen on YouTube]

The first movement of K. 467 is a type of sonata form typically called a double exposition form. This subset of sonata form is reserved specifically for concerto movements. The exposition is doubled because both the orchestra and the soloist get their own expositions, playing each of the themes in their own way. However, the orchestral exposition does not change the key, and functions similarly to the opening ritornello of a Baroque concerto, while the solo exposition takes the same themes but changes them in order to begin to move the key of the piece away from the home key. Take a look at this diagram to understand this form in more detail.

In this form, there are a few remnants of the Baroque ritornello form. In addition to the orchestral exposition functioning like an opening ritornello, the orchestra plays the closing (or cadence) theme after the solo cadenza in the end, functioning like the closing ritornello. Although the solo and orchestra generally play together in the middle, there certainly can be moments where the solo drops out and the orchestra plays for a while in a kind of ritornello. But the idea of repeating melodies from the ritornello throughout the movement does not happen here.

Take a listen to the first movement of K. 467 and follow the form outline below. I’ve also pointed out here some ways in which this movement is unusual in its enactment of the form.

Orchestra exposition: 0:00–2:02

        First theme 0:00–0:21 (monophonic at first, later expands, listen for alternations of winds and strings)

        Transition/bridge: 0:21–0:49 (based on first theme, does not change key this time)

        Second theme: 0:49–1:05 (contrasting melody to first theme, prominent winds)

        First theme again?: 1:05–1:19 (first theme surprisingly reappears in imitative polyphony)

        Closing theme: 1:19–2:02 (interrupts return of first theme, closes out with definitive cadences)

Eingang: 2:02–2:39 (means Introduction, gradual entrance for the soloist before exposition, sometimes improvised)

Solo exposition: 2:39–6:21 (notice how much longer this is)

         First theme: 2:39–2:58 (orchestra starts theme but soloist takes over and embellishes and extends theme)

         Transition/bridge: 2:58–3:30 (soloist introduces new theme for transition instead of using first theme as in orchestral expo, moves the key from home key of C major to G major)

         Second theme: 3:30–4:32 (soloist plays completely different second theme in minor, which returns to major at 4:05, stay tuned to see how these competing themes are reconciled in the recap, also the melody here sounds very similar to his Symphony No. 40 which was composed three years later)

         First theme again again: 4:32–4:53 (first theme returns in imitative polyphony as in orchestral expo but is extended by soloist)

         Closing theme: 4:53–6:01 (again, extended and embellished by soloist)

         Orchestral closing: 6:01–6:21 (like a ritornello, based on first theme, quickly reaches a cadence)

Development: 6:21–8:24 (begins like an extension of the closing theme but soon swerves into more distant keys)

Recapitulation: 8:24–11:38 (listen for how the two expositions are reconciled in terms of their differences)

         First theme: 8:24–8:44 (same as orchestral exposition, soloist silent)

         Transition/bridge: 8:44–9:04 (same as orchestral no solo exposition, but this time it goes too far, sending the piece into F major, not the expected home key of C)

         Soloist fixes it: 9:04–9:35 (soloist comes in and gradually moves the key back to C major where it is supposed to be)

          Second theme: 9:35–10:02 (skips the minor section from the solo exposition, but now the soloist and orchestra share the theme that the soloist introduced)

          First theme returns (again): 10:02–10:21 (overlapping statements of opening of first theme)

          Closing theme: 10:21–10:41 (starts to play through the closing theme in home key but is soon interrupted!)

          Orchestral second theme: 10:41–10:56 (the second theme that the soloist had ignored in its exposition is now played by both soloist and orchestra)

          More closing material: 10:56–11:38 (leads to big trill in the soloists that signals the end)

Orchestral coda: 11:38–12:00 (like closing ritornello, leads to a big open-ended cadence)

Solo cadenza: 12:00–13:25 (in our recording completely improvised, brings back many themes from earlier)

Final orchestral closing: 13:25–14:05

W. A. Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 21, K. 467 (concerto), second movement

Second movements of Classical concertos can take on a variety of forms, such as theme and variations, maybe a modified type of sonata form, or even just a basic ternary form. The last one is what we have here in the second movement of K. 467, which has an ABA’ form. In many ways, it mimics the (by this point) old-fashioned da capo aria form, except here there is a piano instead of a vocalist. The homophonic accompaniment with one single, clear melody makes this movement almost like an opera aria in one of Mozart’s operas. Like a da capo aria, an initial melody is heard (A), which is followed by a contrasting section (B) and returns to the first section (A’), which is varied slightly, possibly with improvised embellishments. In fact, the pianist in our recording adds many ornaments throughout the piece to embellish the fairly simple melody. Follow along with the form guide below:

Recording performed by the English Baroque Soloists, Malcolm Bilson (piano), directed by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. [Listen on YouTube]

A Section: 0:00–2:01

         Orchestral introduction: 0:00–1:19 (A theme first played by orchestra without soloist)

         Soloist: 1:19–2:01 (soloist takes turn embellishing A theme, remains in home key of F major)

B Section: 2:01–4:15

         Transition passage: 2:01–2:54 (moves to D minor, but quickly moves away from D minor through other keys like a development)

          B theme: 2:54–3:11 (new theme introduced by soloist in C major)

         More development-like material: 3:11–4:15 (continues to change keys frequently but does not return to home key of F major)

A’ Section: 4:15–6:10 (combines A and B themes together)

         A theme: 4:15–5:07 (skips orchestral introduction, starts in wrong key, A♭, eventually moves to F minor before finally returning to F major)

         B theme: 5:07–6:10 (B theme now heard back in F major, leads to closing cadences)

W. A. Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 21, K. 467 (concerto), third movement

As with symphony and string quartet, the final movement of a Classical concerto is often a quick rondo. Like the other genres, the concerto rondo features a refrain which returns throughout and is interspersed with episodes of different material. But here, the interaction of soloist and orchestra is what makes the concerto rondo unique. In the third movement of Mozart’s concerto K. 467, the refrain is presented first as a rounded binary form (aaba’), a subtype of binary form where instead of aabb, the a section returns after b to “round out” the form. Follow along with the form guide below as you listen. I’ve marked the refrain as A and each episode as B, C, etc. The internal rounded binary is marked with lower-case letters (a and b). Notice how some episodes return also so that the overall form is ABA’CA’‘B’A’’'

This type of rondo is sometimes called a sonata-rondo because it mixes elements of sonata form with rondo form. Notice how B returns at the end, creating a structure similar to sonata form, where A and B are like the first and second theme groups, making their initial presentation like an exposition, while the return of both at the end is like a recapitulation. Everything that happens in between is like a development. It’s not a precise analogy, but it’s clear that composers like Mozart were thinking about the overall trajectory of a sonata form while writing these rondos.

Recording performed by the English Baroque Soloists, Malcolm Bilson (piano), directed by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. [Listen on YouTube]

A: 0:00–0:56 (full rounded binary theme presented here in home key of C major)

       aa: 0:00–0:13 (very short, played twice, orchestra only)

       b: 0:13–0:28 (ends with an open-ended cadence as the soloist comes in, playing a short improvised Eingang)

       a’: 0:28–0:56 (soloist leads the reprise of a melody, then orchestra takes over with closing material and ends with a big cadence)

B: 0:56–2:47

       0:56–1:16 (soloist plays new material, key remains in home key of C major)

       1:16–1:37 (soloist starts playing A theme then quickly moves into new material, key moves from home key to G minor)

       1:37–2:11 (now suddenly G major, orchestra takes over for a while, prominent winds)

       2:11–2:31 (solo only then orchestra slowly comes back in, ends with an open-ended cadence, starts heading back to home key of C)

       2:31–2:47 (another improvised Eingang before the next refrain)

A’: 2:47–3:20

       2:47–2:59 (aa, first soloist then orchestra)

       2:59–3:20 (first mostly soloist then orchestra plays the closing material of A but trails off, incomplete, failing to reach a cadence)

C: 3:20–4:29

      3:20–4:05 (hesitant at first, but gradually building, moves from C major to A minor and eventually to A major, including a slightly different version of the refrain melody in A major before returning to A minor and then moving to F major, this whole section acting like a sonata development)

      4:05–4:29 (still acting like a sonata development, starting in F major but moving quickly through key areas, before heading back toward C major at the end)

A’’: 4:29–4:49 (not the complete rounded binary but it does reach a clear cadence this time)

B’: 4:49–6:03 (not repeated exactly from its original presentation, does not change key, like a sonata recapitulation)

Solo Cadenza: 6:03–7:00 (in our recording, completely improvised)

A’’’: 7:00–7:23 (final statement of a theme in soloist leading to cadences to close out work)

Discussion Questions

  1. How does the Classical concerto use forms like sonata and rondo compared to symphony or string quartet? Think especially about the relationship between soloist and orchestra.
  2. Classical concertos are sometimes compared to opera arias, especially examples like movement 2 of our example. In what ways do concertos resemble opera arias and vice versa?
  3. Improvisation is an extremely important part of the Classical concerto in cadenzas and Eingänge. Since improvisation is not often taught to classical musicians nowadays, how do we experience this music if the cadenzas are improvised or if they are not?

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