An Early Program Music Master

Program music is commonly associated with the late romantic era, and especially the work of Richard Strauss and Jean Sibelius.  However, J.S. Bach, the Baroque contrapuntal genius, also had a flair for programmatic elements in his music, especially in his vocal compositions.

In the Magnificat in D Major, for example, Bach uses myriad programmatic techniques.  For example, in the "Esurientes Implevit Bonis" movement, the alto's accompaniment stops when she sings "inanes" (meaning "empty").  In the "Deopsiut potentes" movement, the minor key, descending theme illustrates the overthrow of depots.  Finally, the three themes in the opening "Magnificat" movement all incorporate some sort of upward movement.

These techniques, while clearly precursors to program music, are lacking in a few essential features of classic, late-romantic programmatic writing.  First, there are no leitmotifs or recurring motifs.  As Baroque music, except operas, had no "characters" this is to be expected.  Second, the music supports the words, instead of the words supporting the music.  This difference between the Magnificat and, say, Strauss' Till Eulenspiegels is perhaps more serious.  However, the basic feature of program music, the story-music connection, is still quite present.

Telemann and the Classical Symphony

While reading the liner notes to a recording of Georg Philipp Telemann's Suite in A Minor, Concerto for Recorder, and Concerto for Viola, an unassuming passage caught my eye:

"It's likely Telemann preferred to avoid the constraints [of the three-movement Baroque concerto].  By fashioning his concertos in four movements, he could explore more varied musical styles; this stylistic variety was essential to apt characterization of mood and idiomatic use of solo instruments he favored over the usual concerto figuration."

This, seemingly unimportant at first glance, raises an interesting question: did Telemann, usually lambasted for his superficiality, help to inspire the Classical-era symphonic form perfected by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven?  The answer seems to be yes.

While listening to Telemann's concertos, something stuck out.  There was a genuine contrast in the movements, and each was emotionally unique. For example, take the Viola Concerto.  In the opening Largo, there is a genuine mournfulness, especially in the the VIm to IIm chordal cadences.  There is a similar mournful quality in the second movement of Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony.  Granted, Beethoven's work is much more sophisticated, but the roots clearly lie in Telemann.  The second and fourth movements of the Viola Concerto have a lively, jovial feel typical of the Baroque era, especially in composers like Vivaldi. However, the fast movements in Telemann are given a special quality due to their contrast with the slow movements.  This contrast is, for the most part, lacking in Vivaldi's mainly three-movement concertos.

Also, Telemann's addition of the fourth movement gives both the viola and recorder concerto a slightly larger scope than their other Baroque counterparts.  This scope can be seen, fully developed, in works like Mozart's "Jupiter" symphony (No. 41).

So, did Georg Phillip Telemann, prolific but fairly shallow, help to invent the Classical Symphony?  I'd say yes.

The Reform Impulse, Part II

Now, of course, over-complication is not the only reason for reform.  The other ingredient, which is much more concrete, is the need for a visionary.  Reform in music is generally powered by a few big innovations, not myriad small contributions.

The classic example of this is Beethoven and Romanticism.  By stretching symphonic form to its Classical-era limits, Beethoven almost singlehandedly ushered in the Romantic era, which made emotion and drama its top priority.

This reform is also an example of Principle 1.  The Classical style was too "simplistic" for the Romanticists.  The drama and power of their music needed bigger canvases with less rules; instead of Mozartian sonata-allegro form, Schubert, Schumann, and the other great Romantics painted vast musical pictures, often without regard to "traditional" forms.

Thus, to sum up, reform in music requires two elements:

1. A situation where the means of composition is not fitted to the goal of the work (either the means is too simple for the goal or too complex) and

2. A few select visionaries that are willing to break some boundaries.

One can find examples of this in all eras and genres of music (classical and others).

The Reform Impulse, Part I

One of the most well-known reforms is that of Christoph von Gluck, who revolutionized the opera seria which was previously the dominant reform in Italian opera.  His operas, like he famous Orfeo ed Euridice took the formerly elaborate, dramatic, exaggerated music of the opera and reduced it to a purely supporting role.  The text and the storyline, not the music, took precedence.

Thus, in general, Gluck did the following:

1.  Identified an problem area where the means were obscuring the goal.

2.  Simplified the means, instead of complicating the goal.

So, the first principle of musical reform is:

Reform will usually occur when the elements of a composition are so complicated that they obscure the goal of the composition. This is usually remedied by simplifying the composition.

Good, alternate example: the Viennese Classical Period's simplification of Baroque ornamentation.  Music can thus be described as a cycle of simple --> extravagant -->simple.

Worrisome Winds

I've been listening to orchestral works and wind ensemble works for ages, yet have never been able to fully straighten out the sound difference between the clarinet and the oboe. The oboe sounds "reedier" to me (probably by virtue of its having a double reed) and the clarinet sounds "windier" to me (it has a single reed), but I've often mistaken a clarinet for an oboe and vice versa. Assuming that there are many classical beginners out there who are in a similar quandary, I've dug up a short list of works that can help you make the distinction between these "worrisome woodwinds".

Oboe
1. Albinoni- Oboe Concerto
2. Hadyn- Oboe Concerto
3. Poulenc- Oboe Sonata

Clarinet
1. Mozart- Clarinet Concerto
2. Gershwin-Rhapsody in Blue (check out that intro!)
3. Saint-Saëns- Clarinet Sonata

Both Together
1. Vivaldi- Concerto for Two Oboes, Two Clarinets, Two Recorders, Two Violins, Bassoon, Strings and Continuo
2. Schoenberg- Wind Quintet
3. Barber- Wind Quintet

Bruch and Dylan: The Unlikely Folkies

Late Romantic string genius vs. mid-'60's counterculture hero. Full orchestral works vs. guitar-harmonica-voice protest songs. Max Bruch vs. Bob Dylan.

So what do they have in common? For one, their pioneering use of folk melodies. Bruck's Kol Nidrei is one of the first pieces from the Romantic period to use a religious melody (from the eponymous Jewish service) in a secular composition. Dylan, in turn, was the first to use folk tunes for rock 'n' roll songs, garnering him widespread notoriety among '60s folk purists.

Just like Dylan, Bruch never thought of the Kol Nidrei theme as a religious theme; it was always just another melody. Before Bruch, religious music was religious music (i.e. the requiems and masses) and secular music was secular music (i.e. everything else). Bruch treatment of the Kol Nidrei combined the two fields, proving that music is always music. Dylan, by his combination of folk and rock, proved that songs are always songs, whether your instrument is plugged in or not.

And, indeed, music is always music. It's nearly impossible to be a purist because genre boundaries are so ill-defined. The hyphens are ubiquitous: folk-rock, baroque-pop, acid-jazz. Max Bruch and Bob Dylan, each in his own way, helped to break down those boundaries.

Goethe and Berlioz

The connection between the giant of literature and the giant of classical music is not just related to Berlioz's Opus 24, The Damnation of Faust. While that piece is a clear homage to the 18th-century German writer, Opus 14, the famous Symphonie Fantastique, is as inspired by Goethe as the Damnation is.

The Symphonie ostensibly tells an autobiographical tale of Berlioz's love for actress Harriet Smithson. However, the "plot" of the composition has a much closer correlation with The Sorrows of Young Werther, Goethe's first major work. Note, for example, the second movement, titled "Un Bal" and the third movement, titled "Scène aux Champs". The setting of the second is at a dance, much like where Werther first meets Charlotte in Sorrows; the setting of the third is in the country, much like where Werther lives, the fictional town of Walheim. Also, the fourth movement ends with the death of the main character; in Sorrows, Werther commits suicide, while Berlioz did nothing of the sort (he composed many pieces after the Symphonie Fantastique!)

Clearly, Berlioz was influenced by Goethe more deeply than just The Damnation of Faust shows. The whole Romantic ethos, of which Goethe was a pioneer, permeates Berlioz's work. From the tragic timpani rolls of the Fantastique to Les Troyens à Carthage, the drama of Romanticism, inspired by Goethe, is part and parcel of Berlioz and his music.