MUSC 1200: Music AppreciationThe Symphony

Dr. Matthew C. Saunders

Lakeland Community College

C-1078

The Symphony• Multi-movement composition for orchestra

• Roots are in opera overtures and concerto grosso

• First symphonies (sinfonias) ca. 1720

• Going “to the symphony” usually means that someone is going to attend a concert of a “symphony orchestra,” a group of musicians designed to play symphonies and similar works.

How is a Symphony Put Together?

• Four movement form standard by 1770

1. Fast opening movement: sonata form

2. Slow movement: form varies

3. Minuet & Trio: minuet form (later scherzo)

4. Fast closing movement: rondo form

Sonata Form

Exposition Development Recapitulation

Frequently includes a slow introduction and/or a coda, not shown in this diagram.

Variations

• Some symphonies use a variations form in the second movement.

• Classical variations emphasize the theme

• Form is kept the same throughout the variation

Minuet (Classical Dance Form)

• Minuet: Social dance from the late-Baroque

• Stylized as an instrumental movement

• Later pieces have “scherzos” instead of minuets

• Haydn, Symphony No. 94, third movement

A ABa b a’ c d c’ a b a’

Minuet Trio Minuet (repeated)

Rondo Form– Repeated “refrain” (A), with “episodes” (B and C)

in between

– Added to the symphony ca. 1770

– Haydn: Symphony No. 94, fourth movement

AAAA B B’C

A Complete Symphony

• See page 176 in your textbook

• Franz Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 95 in C minor (1792)

1. Allegro moderato (sonata form)

2. Andante (variations)

3. Menuetto (minuet and trio)

4. Finale. Vivace (rondo form)

After the Classical Era

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)– Symphony as ultimate musical expression

– Beethoven: Symphony No. 5, first movement

– See analysis in Course Packet

• Franz Schubert (1797-1828)– Pioneering the Romantic symphony

– Schubert: Symphony No. 8, “Unfinished,” 1st movement

Symphony: The Nineteenth Century

• Classical Revival:– Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann– Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4, “Italian,”

1st movement (1833)

• Fully Romantic Symphonists– Johannes Brahms and Peter Tchaikovsky– Brahms: Symphony No. 1, first movement

(1873)

• The Symphony as a World in Music– Gustav Mahler– Mahler: Symphony No. 5, first movement

(1905)

The Twentieth Century Symphony

• Continuing the Romantic tradition– Jean Sibelius and Ralph Vaughan

Williams– Sibelius, Symphony No.7 (1926-8)

• The Modern Symphony– Aaron Copland and Dmitri

Shostakovich– Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5, 4th

movement (1936)

• The Symphony Today– Philip Glass, Symphony No. 9 (2011)