Spencer Dawson

Choral Literature
Worksheet #3

Classical Era: ca.1750-1820

Definitions:

1. Alberti Bass—simple (and often commonplace) accompaniment to a melody, consisting of broken chords (triads) of which
the notes are in the order: lowest, highest, middle, highest; it takes its name from the Italian composer who favored it,
Domenico Alberti
2. Aria—now understood as a short lyrical work for solo voice, with or without accompaniment, often in a dramatic context,
although may be used for purely instrumental works of a similar character; the aria began in the late 17th century and
drastically evolved over the years
3. Bel Canto— “beautiful singing or song”; a term covering the remarkable qualities of the great 18th century and early 19th
century Italian singers and suggesting rather perfect in the lyrical style, in which tone is made to tell, than in the declamatory
style; bel canto consists of vocal agility, beauty of tone, legato phrasing, with faultless technique
4. Cadenza—a flourish (properly, improvised) inserted into the final cadence of any section of a vocal aria or a solo instrument
movement; the conventional final cadence consists, harmonically, of three chords: the second inversion of the tonic chord,
and the dominant and tonic chords in root position; from the time of Mozart and Beethoven, the tendency grew for the
composer to write out the cadenza in full
5. Castrato— “castrated”; male soprano or countertenor whose voice was preserved by castration before puberty; in great
demand in Italian opera in the 17th and 18th centuries, the voice being brilliant, flexible, and often sensuous; castrati survived
in Vatican chapel and Roman churches until the 20th century; famous castrati include Senesino, Farinelli, and Caffarelli
6. Classical Aria—in the 19th century, the operatic aria became more elaborate and complex, and continued to evolve until they
became dramatically blurred and often indistinguishable from the surrounding narration in the 20th century
7. Classical Mass—the Roman Catholic eucharistic service; in the 17th and 18th centuries, the development of solo singing and
increased understanding of the principles of effective orchestra accompaniment led to great changes in the style of musical
treatment led to great changes in the style of musical treatment of the Mass, and the settings of the late 18 th century and early
19th century composers (Haydn, Mozart, Weber, Schubert, etc.), however musically effective, have not the devotional quality
of the settings of the late 16th and early 17th centuries; the practice had grown up of treating the five passages as the
opportunity for providing and extended work in oratorio style
8. Classical Motet—although the old style of Palestrina was still sometimes cultivated in motets after the Renaissance era, from
1600 onwards composers largely adopted the new styles for their motets, writing pieces for one or more voices often with
instrumental accompaniment; by 1700 the solo motet, a cantata-like piece for one voice and strings, often setting a
picturesque non-liturgical text, had become the most common form of motet; while classical composers such as Mozart
contributed to the genre, motet composition since the Baroque era has seen a decline
9. Classical Oratorio—a sacred work for soloists, chorus, and orchestra on a large scale intended for concert performance; in the
latter half of the 18th century, the oratorio began to be seen as a largely choral work (for example, Haydn’s The Creation); in
the 19th century, composers increasingly began to express views which did not belong to orthodox Christianity; Mendelssohn,
the central figure of the 19th century oratorio, drew on both German and English traditions and was inspired by both Jewish
and Christian values in his tow masterpieces, Paulus and Elias
10. Classical Recitative—a form of speech-like solo singing, free in rhythm and lacking in structured melodies; in the 19 th
century, recitativo secco (recitative with continuo accompaniment only) and then recitativo stromentato (recitative with full
orchestra accompaniment) gradually died out as a distinct mode of singing; eventually, it would become no longer possible to
separate arias from recitatives
11. Coda—an addition to a standard form or design, occurring after the main structure of a piece or melody has been completed
with a cadence in the home key; a section of a movement added at the end to clinch matters rather than to develop the music
further; however, in terms of Mozart, Haydn, and especially Beethoven, the coda came to have integral formal significance,
becoming at times second development section and sometimes containing new material
12. Empfindsamer Stil—a term applied to an aesthetic movement that flourished in Europe and especially north Germany in the
mid-18th century; its origins lay partly in the English cult of ‘sensibility’ as seen in Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, one of the
several works which stressed the importance of a personal, emotional response; the most significant representatives of the
empfindsamer stil were Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johann Jachim Quantz, and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
13. Enlightenment—a European intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries in which ideas concerning God, reason,
nature, and humanity were synthesized into a worldview that gained wide assent in the West and that instigated revolutionary
developments in art, philosophy, and politics; the objective of enlightened artists became to move an audience through
representations of its own humanity
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14. Form—the structure and design of a composition; an enormous growth in understanding of the principles of form and in
mastery of the application was apparent in the 19th century; in the 16th and 17th centuries, instrumental compositions were
usually very brief, but by the 19th century they became frequently long; all six categories of form exploit the idea of contrast
plus variety both in the domain of content and in that of key
15. Genre—a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions;
it is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style, although in practice these terms are sometimes used
interchangeably; these classifications are often subjective and controversial, and some genres may overlap
16. Hoboken—abbreviation for the standard thematic catalogue of the works of Joseph Haydn drawn up by the Dutch collector
and bibliographer Anthony van Hoboken (1887–1983) and published in Mainz, 1957–78; Haydn's works, especially those
without distinguishing title or opus number, are often referred to by Hoboken number, as in the form ‘Hob. XVII: 6’ (the so-
called Variations in F minor for piano)
17. Köchel—abbreviation for the standard thematic catalogue of the works of Mozart drawn up by the Austrian music historian
Ludwig Köchel (1800–77) and published in Leipzig in 1862; Mozart's works, especially those without distinguishing title, are
nearly always referred to by Köchel number, usually further abbreviated to ‘K’.
18. Mannheim School—the name given to a group of composers who, from 1741, served the court of the Elector Palatine Carl
Theodor at Mannheim; prominent among them were the Bohemian composer and violinist Johann Stamitz, the original
director of the group; achievements of the school include the formation of the Mannheim orchestra and the creation of the
new devices such as the Mannheim crescendo
19. Minuet—a stately dance in triple meter that flourished between the mid-16th century and the end of the 18th century; in the
Classical period, the minuet was adopted as a movement in the evolving forms of symphony, solo sonata, and the string
quartet; eventually, the standard tripartile minuet and trio was adopted as the third movement of the four-movement plan of
symphonies and quartets, generally designed to provide light relief between the slow movement and the finale
20. Opera Buffa—the opera buffa began in early 18th century Naples as an entertainment involving characteristics drawn from
low life; characteristics of the genre are the rapid-firing recitativo secco accompanying and the multi-sectional concerted
finale with dramatic surprises; famous examples include Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Donizetti’s Don Pasquale
21. Opéra Comique—a French genre of opera that is influenced by the Ancient Greeks’ dramatic category of ‘komoidia’
(comedy); beginning in the early 18th century with farces and satires using spoken dialogue with well-known airs, the genre
developed into the sentimental comédie mêlée d’ariettes
22. Opera Seria—the grandest form of Italian opera from the late 17th century to the early 19th; the subjects were drawn from
mythology or Greek or Roman history, turned into elegant verse by such librettists as Apostolo Zeno or Pietro Metastasio and
organized in three acts; famous examples include Mozart’s Idomeneo and La clemenza di Tito
23. Opus—the custom of numbering a composer’s works as they appear ‘opus 1’ and so on is useful both as a means of
identification and to show the place a particular work occupies in that composer’s career, but the unsystematic application of
the numbering has made it less helpful in practice than it is in theory; the term appears in the late 15 th and early 16th centuries,
but was used methodically only from the early 17th, when it applied by Venetian publishing houses issuing the works of
prolific composers; ‘opus’ customarily referred to a volume containing several pieces, so that, for example, the third sonata
of a composer’s fifth published volume would be numbered op. 5 no. 3
24. Recitativo Obbligato—a section of recitative that includes brief yet dramatic moments of orchestral support; as a result, it is
less improvisational and declamatory than recitativo secco, and more song-like; the form is often employed where the
orchestra can underscore a particularly dramatic text as seen with composers such as Haydn and Mozart
25. Scherzo—a quick, light movement or piece, often in triple time; the term was first applied in the 17 th century to vocal music;
from the later Baroque period, however, it was used mainly for instrumental music; Haydn was the first composer to use a
movement marked ‘scherzo’ instead of a minuet, in his string quartets, but it was Beethoven who firmly established the
scherzo as a genuine alternative to the minuet
26. Serenade—serenades were originally played or sung in the evening by a lover at his lady’s window, or as a greeting to an
important personage, and were frequently accompanied by a guitar or other plucked instrument; in the 18th century a serenade
was a piece of instrumental music of up to ten movements, scored for a small ensemble, usually with a predominance of wind
instruments; there are reminiscences of the original connotations of serenade and a plucked instrument in the serenade arias
of some operas such as Mozart’s Don Giovanni
27. Sonata Form—sonata form is principally associated with the Classical period when it was ubiquitous but it was developing
before that time and was used for long afterwards; sonata form comprises a two-key tonal structure in three main sections;
section one, the exposition, generally presents all the thematic material of the movement, opening with one theme, or group
of themes, in the tonic key; section two, the development, exploits the thematic material of the exposition, through new
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material may be presented, and is tonally unstable usually leading to the dominant chord in preparation for the third section;
section three, the recapitulation, marks the return to the tonic key and also a return to the thematic material of the exposition
28. Ternary Form—a musical structure consisting of three parts or sections, the final section being a repeat of the first; in ternary
form, the middle section often provides a strong contrast to the outer two, both in tonality and in theme; ternary form can be
quite long, particularly in Classical minuets and trios, where ternary structure arises from the repeat of the minuet after trio
29. Theme—denotes the principal melodic passages of tonal music, and of non-tonal music which retains the feature of melodic
continuity; theme usually refers to complete phrases or periods, in contrast to the term ‘idea’ or ‘motif’ and is used typically
of the more important melodic passages; in the 19th century, especially in Liszt’s symphonic poems, one theme of an
extended composition could represent the central character of a literary programme, and the variation, or ‘metamorphosis’ of
this theme would convey the changing action
30. Tutti—tutti, meaning ‘everybody, is loosely used; a tutti is a passage where the orchestra (but not necessarily or even usually
the whole orchestra) plays without the soloist; ‘the opening tutti’ is a phrase often used in this connection

Composers:

1. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach—1714-1788, German; fifth child of J.S. Bach; intended for legal carerr but turned to music while
at Frankfurt University; his achievement was to develop sonata-form and invest it with weight and imaginative quality, most
evidently in his sonatas and sinfonias
2. Carl Stamitz—1745-1801, Bohemian; son of Johann Stamitz; he was brought up at the court of Mannheim and was given his
first musical instruction by his father, whose influence, though curtailed by his early death, was doubtless embodied in the
teaching of his successors; with his training at Mannheim, Stamitz was well qualified to continue the work of his father;
many features of the Mannheim orchestral style are to be found in his symphoines, and he was especially successful in
consolidating the tonal and instrumental contrast of second themes
3. Charles Wesley—1757-1832, English; Wesley was a pupil of William Boyce, and participated with his brother Samuel in a
remarkable series of subscription concerts in their London home; his works which include fourteen organ concertos,
voluntaries, songs, and anthems, are fundamentally conservative in style (he idolized Handel), though his six string quartets
attempt a more modern galant idiom
4. Domenico Scarlatti—1685-1757, Italian; son of Alessandro Scarlatti, who attempted to exercise strict control of his life and a
career long after he had reached adulthood; although he began his career as a Neapolitan opera composer, Scarlatti’s
posthumous reputation has rested almost entirely on his output of more than 500 keyboard sonatas composed after his move
to Portugal; these are single-movement works in binary form, some grouped in pairs
5. Franz Joseph Haydn—1732-1809, Austrian; an influential figure in the development of classical style music, Haydn was
known for aiding in the establishment of the form of the string quartet and the symphony; during the 1760’s, Haydn began to
solidify and deepen his style; his new technique of working with small motifs to tighten the fabric of the sonata form turned
the first movement of the sonata, quartet, and symphony into a little musical drama; Haydn was an extremely prolific
composer with a total output of 108 symphonies, 47 piano sonatas, 20 operas, 14 masses and many more
6. Franz Xaver Süssmayr—1766-1803, Austrian; he was educated at the monastery of Kremsmunster until he settled in Vienna
in 1788, becoming a pupil of Salieri and Mozart; he was Mozart’s assistant during 1791; after Mozart’s death, Constanze
Mozart asked him to complete the Requiem, which he did in a version that leaves the extent of his contribution unclear; his
own works include many operas, the most successful of which reflects the influence of Mozart
7. Gioachino Rossini—1792-1868, Italian; Rossini’s chief legacy remains his extraordinary contribution to the operatic
repertoire; his comedic masterpieces, including L’Italiana in Algeri, La gazza ladra, and Il barbiere di Siviglia are regarded
as cornerstones of the genre; often described as ‘the last of the classicists’, Rossini is know for is masterly fusion of Italian
and French styles in his operas
8. Johann Christian Bach—1735-1782, German; the youngest son of J.S. Bach; J.C. Bach’s music reflects the pleasant
melodiousness of the galant style; its Italianate grace influenced composers of the Classical period, particularly Mozart, who
learned from and greatly respected Bach; his symphonies and sonatas were among the formative influences of the early
Classical period
9. Leopold Mozart-1719-1787, Austrian; violinist, and the father and principal teacher of his son Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart;
his treatise setting forth his method of teaching (A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing) was long a
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standard text and was widely reprinted and translated; his obsessional relationship to his son has been the subject of much
speculation
10. Ludwig van Beethoven—1770-1827, German; acknowledged in his lifetime as a musical Titan, a hero who rose from humble
origins and conquered extreme adversity with his genius, he lifted music from its role as sheer entertainment and made it the
object of hushed reverence—music written for its own sake as an elevating power; His music ranges over the gamut of
human emotions, each of them portrayed with unprecedented intensity, and it also exhibits an extraordinary command over
the basic elements—chords, rests, motifs, registers, keys, and instrumental timbres; many composers followed specific
innovations of his, by introducing a chorus into a symphony, basing a symphony on a programme, linking movements
thematically, opening a concerto without an orchestral ritornello, expanding the possibilities of key structure within a
movement or a work, introducing new instruments into the symphony orchestra, and so on
11. Luigi Cherubini—1760-1842, Italian; from 1728 he was organist of Bath Abbey, and he was an important figure in the
secular life of the city; the elder Thomas Linley was one of his pupils; his surviving works are a set of 12 songs, six keyboard
suites, and two sets of six keyboard concertos that show the influence of Domenico Scarlatti's harpsichord style
12. Michael Haydn—1737=1806, Austrian; the younger brother of Joseph Haydn; During his lifetime, Michael Haydn was
considered a better composer of church music than his famous brother; a master of the stile antico he wrote some 400 sacred
works; the best known of his masses (over three dozen of them) is the Requiem in C minor composed for the death of
Archbishop Sigismund in 1771 and performed at the funeral of Joseph
13. Samuel Wesley—1766-1837, English; at first outshone by the musical precocity of his elder brother, Charles, he late proved
the more talented and became one of the most important English composers of his generation; he was powerfully attracted to
the Roman liturgy, composing many works for it including the motets Dixit Dominus (1800), In exitu Israel (1810), and Tu
es sacerdos (1827), and the Missa de Spiritu Sanctu (1784) dedicated and presented to Pope Pius VI; his best works are
arguably the large-scale Confitebor tibi Domine (1791), the Symphony in B♭ (1802), and the Concert Overture in E (c.1834);
his 12 Voluntaries (1805–17) are also among the most important organ music of their time.\
14. William Billings—1746-1800, American; Billings's publications, intended for church performance, were all for four-part
choir; he developed an expanded musical language in America: homophonic metrical psalm and hymn tunes with the melody
in the tenor, a few fuging tuns, and anthems of similar form to the verse anthem; he also composed canons; of his anthems,
Peace contains instrumental ‘symphonies’ for gallery instruments, and the lost I was glad when they said unto me was
provided with organ accompaniment, at a time when there was still considerable hostility to its use
15. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart—1756-1791, Austrian; he mastered the universal technical difficulties of musical composition,
such as counterpoint, harmony, fugue, variation, instrumentation, and formal planning (of arias, ensembles, sonatas, and
rondos); yet all this learning never suppressed the element of fantasy; Mozart excelled in virtually every genre and style;
expert in the composition of entertainment music, he also produced searching works that suggest a sombre, introspective,
even fatalistic nature; a supreme exponent of ostensibly ‘abstract’ instrumental design, including such tours de force as the
combination of fugue and sonata form, he was also a consummate dramatist; his output is not of equal quality in all forms
and in all periods of his short life; but the absence, for instance, of any performed opera between 1775 and 1781, and the
virtual absence of sacred music from 1781 to 1790, are explicable by circumstances, rather than by any change in
compositional orientation

Listening:

Haydn

1. H. 21/2 Die Schöpfung (The Creation)

a. Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes (The Heavens are Telling)
i. SATB, orchestra, solo
ii. Homophonic
iii. Full orchestra sound, cleaner sound than the Baroque oratorio
iv. I enjoyed the polyphonic section when “the wonder of his work” is dispersed among the parts
2. H. 22/10 Missa Sancti bernadi von Offida (Heligmessa)
a. Gloria
i. SATB, orchestra, solo
ii. Homophonic
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iii. Full orchestra sound, clean sound, exaggerated dynamics

iv. Mass would be performed in a concert setting, not necessarily at a church service
3. H. 22/9 Missa in tempore bellie (Paukenmesse)
a. Gloria
i. SATB, orchestra, solo
ii. Homphonic
iii. Full orchestra sound, exaggerated dynamics, clean sound
iv. Features lots of timpani
4. H. 22/11 Missa in Augustüs
a. Kyrie
i. SATB, orchestra, solo
ii. Homphonic
iii. Full orchestra, exaggerated dynamics, clean sound
iv. Melismas in soprano solo line reminiscent of the Baroque era

Mozart

1. K. 629 Requiem
a. Kyrie
i. SATB, orchestra
ii. Polyphonic
iii. Full orchestra sound, symmetrical music
iv. Dramatic fugues
b. Dies Irae
i. SATB, orchestra
ii. Homophonic
iii. Full orchestra, dramatic setting of the text
iv. Contrasting dynamics between bass and other parts
c. Confutatis
i. SATB, orchestra
ii. Homophonic
iii. Full orchestra, exaggerated dynamics
iv. Contrasting dynamics between men and women
d. Lacrimosa
i. SATB, orchestra
ii. Homophonic
iii. Full orchestra, exaggerated dynamics, clean sound
iv. Nice contrast to the rest of the Requiem
e. Sanctus
i. SATB, orchestra
ii. Homophonic
iii. Full orchestra, symmetric writing
iv. Hosanna section has polyphonic moments before ending homophonic
f. Agnus Dei
i. SATB, orchestra
ii. Homophonic
iii. Full orchestra, clean sound, exaggerated dynamics
iv. Very lyrically driven
2. K. 276 Regina Ceoli
a. SATB, orchestra, solo
b. Homphonic
c. Full orchestra, clean sound, exaggerated dynamics
d. Enjoyed the final Alleluia section
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3. K. 618 Ave Verum Corpus

a. SATB, orchestra
b. Homophonic
c. Full orchestra, clean sound
d. Lyrically driven
4. K. 321 Vesperae solennes de Domnica
a. Laudate Pueri
i. SATB, orchestra
ii. Polyphonic
iii. Full orchestra, clean sound, fugue
iv. Thematic lines
b. Dixit dominus
i. SATB, orchestra
ii. Homophonic
iii. Full orchestra, clean sound, exaggerated dynamics

Beethoven

1. Opus 123 Missa Solemnes

a. Kyrie
i. SATB, orchestra, solo
ii. Homophonic
iii. Full orchestra, clean sound, exaggerated dynamics
iv. Large vocal range
2. Opus 125 9th Symphony
a. Allegro molto assai
i. SATB, orchestra, solo
ii. Homophonic
iii. Full orchestra, exaggerated dynamics
iv. Themes from previous movements stated again
3. Opus 80 Choral Fantasy
a. SATB, orchestra, solo, piano
b. Homophonic
c. Full orchestra, exaggerated dynamics, clean sound
d. Written to be the finale of a benefit concert; Beethoven wanted all the performers to be in the finale, hence the
unusual orchestration
4. Opus 86 Mass in C Major
a. Credo
i. SATB, orchestra, solo
ii. Homophonic
iii. Full orchestra, exaggerated dynamics
iv. Would be performed on the concert stage rather than church service