Instrumental Music of the 18th

Century
Jessica Sebold
Music History 1600-1800
Monday, July 23rd
Overview

- Instruments
- Ensembles
- Genres
- Forms
Instruments! - Pianoforte replaced harpsichord
and clavichord as keyboard
instrument of choice

- Clarinet invented in 1710

NEW: Pianoforte and clarinet

MODIFIED: flute/oboe/bassoon
- Flute, oboe, and bassoon
modified with keys
Ensembles

String Quartets Orchestras

- amateurs playing for fun - 1760-1785 approx. 25 players

- 2 violins, viola, cello (Haydn)
- 1790 approx. 35 players (Vienna)
Wind Ensembles
- Role of the wind players shifted
- Flute players amateurs, other by end of century
winds mostly professionals
Forms

- Binary form - originally for dance music

- Simple - Denis Gaultier lute dances
- Balanced - Francois Couperin La muse victorieuse
- Rounded
- Sonata form
- 2 large sections, each may be repeated
- 1st section moves T-D, 2nd returns to T
- 1st section has one main period, 2nd section has 2
Genres
Less popular: preludes, toccatas, fugues, chorale settings, dance suites

Remained popular: variation sets, fantasias, and individual dances

New genres: symphony, concerto (orchestra), sonata (keyboard),

entertainment music (background music)
Themes of New Genres

- Preference for major mode

- New galant style - expressive melodies, much
writing over light accompaniment
- Period phrase structure from vocal music
- Singable melodies
- Contrasts in texture/style
Sonata

- 2-4 movements, contrasting mood and tempo

- Mainly popular for keyboard, but written for other

chamber groups
Concerto & - Rooted in Italian opera
Symphony sinfonia, overture, and the
orchestral concerto
- 3 movements, FSF, related
keys
- Homophonic
Written for orchestras
- Doubling and
reinforcement from winds
Symphonie Concertante
- Similar to concerto
- 2+ soloists plus orchestra
- Main material in solo parts

Joseph Bologne (1745-1799)

First composer of African descent
to achieve recognition in Europe
Symphony

Italy - Giovanni Battista Sammartini (1700-1775)

Symphony in F Major, No. 32

Mannheim - Johann Stamitz (1717-1757)

Sinfonia in Eb Major, Op. 4 No. 4

Vienna - Georg Christoph Wagenseil (1715-1777)