Mozart and Topic
Created | Updated May 11, 2003
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~sjoh1661/
The first chapter of Leonard Ratner’s Classic Music: Expression, Form and Style begins, “Expression was an ever-present concern in 18th-century musical thought and practice.” In the second chapter, he goes on to describe the topics he sees as being used in the classical period, and some reasoning behind them.
He defines topic thus:
“From its contacts with worship, poetry, drama, entertainment, dance, ceremony, the military, the hunt, and the life of the lower classes, music in the early 18th century developed a thesaurus of characteristic figures, which formed rich legacy for classic composers. Some of these figures were associated with various feelings and affections; others had a picturesque flavour. They are designated here as topics – subjects for musical discourse. Topics appear as fully worked-out pieces, i.e., types, or as figures and progressions within a piece, i.e., styles. The distinction between types and styles is flexible; minuets and marches represent complete types of composition, but they also furnish styles for other pieces.”
Ratner's topics (which, in addition to Ratner’s suggestions above, have also been described as compositional techniques) are organized into types and styles, with some additional comments on pictorialism, word painting, and use of topics.
Ratner describes dances as an important source for types. The dance forms all share a similar superficial structure (and in many topical analyses the phrase “dance topic” may be used without mention of which topic is present), but the dances of the 18th century embody feeling. The dances of the 18th century are thought to be derived from the popular culture. They were developed quite elaborately in the high Baroque era; take for example, the Sarabande from Bach’s fifth Partita, which is full of spread chords and grace note appogiature.
In Baroque dance suites such as these, it was considered important to have a unified structure through the unity of the gestures contained within any given movement. However, by the middle of the 18th century, this unity was replaced by contrast, and dance forms and the spirit of their content were used in instrumental settings such as sinfonia. Because the dance forms throughout the 18th century were self-contained and short, they were perfect as compact models of composition: It is known that Mozart used dance movements to teach composition.
The minuet, one of the dances listed by Ratner, is by far the most common dance used by composers of the 18th century. As the symphony developed (although without the title “symphony”), the minuet became a standard movement which was expected to be present in, for example, a divertimento. As a result, examples of minuets are far too numerous to pick a single example.
Also under dances was the polonaise, another triple metre dance which was somewhat serious and deliberate in style. The dance features a pause on syncopation or on the last beat of the measure. According to Ratner's sources the polonaise fell out of favour towards the end of the Baroque period but begins to be used again in the classical period as a quick dance.
Ratner also lists a number of duple metre dances: the bourée is a lively dance, to be performed “lightly”; the contredanse was a standard in the ballet of classical times, which was brilliant and simple (with little ornamentation); and the gavotte, with a caesura appearing on the second quarter note of the measure with this rhythmic pattern retained throughout. The gavotte was unique amongst the styles of dance topic in that it was used both for slow passages and for lively ones. The march also used the duple metre, dotted rhythms, and a sense of bravado which developed the association with parades, the battlefield and authority in general; it was used both as a dance and ceremonially.
In the compound metre, styles of dance topic included dances such as the gigue, a lively dance in 6/8 metre and the siciliano which was performed in a slow, languishing tempo. The gigue itself disappeared during the classical era, but its style was retained in the finales of classical compositions.
Dances and dance styles find their way into classical practice through social dances, theatrical dances, and what Ratner describes as "...speculative treatment of dance material." Composers appropriated these styles into their concert music in sonatas, symphonies, concertos and music for the church and theatre.
Ratner states that learning how to compose in particular styles were part of the technical training of every 18th century composer. Included in these styles are the following: military and hunt music, using fanfares and hunting signals which had emerged as part of the ceremony of the hunt and the military occasions, including parades played by the town bands (semi-amateur groups used for ceremonies in Germany and Austria in the 18th century and previously); singing style - a lyrical, melodic style in a moderate tempo with generally slow rhythmic durations and a narrow range, often associated with the Italian bel canto, hence the name; the brilliant style, which featured rapid passages to display virtuoso skills or powerful feeling; The French overture, which consisted of an arrangement of sections ABA’ with A slow and B fast, and dotted rhythms in the slow tempo, which are sometimes performed as double-dotted according to modern performance practice; musette and pastorale with a sustained base drone and pastoral-like tune above the drone; Turkish music, which brings the colourful use of triangles, drums, cymbals, and wind instruments to the classical texture; Stürm und Drang (Storm and Stress), a term borrowed from the play of the same name, is used to refer to music expressing intense, subjective feelings; Empfindsamkeit, which is a personal, intimate and often sentimental style; the strict/learned style, which was fugal in character and was associated with the church; the Fantasia characterized by sudden contrasts, chromaticism, elaborate figures, shifting tonalities, all conveying a somewhat improvisational style.
The concept of topic has been subject to a number of psychological investigations: in the journal “Current Directions in Psychological Science”, Volume 11 Number 2 (April 2002), Carol Krumhansl writes:
“A tradition of musical analysis identifies topics in classical music, each with distinctive rhythmic, melodic, dynamic, and affective qualities. Agawu (1991) identified the topics in movements from Mozart’s String Quintet in C major, K515… Listeners (Krumhansl, 1998) made real-time judgments of memorability, degree of openness (whether there is a sense that the music must continue or whether the section has ended), and amount of emotion. All three judgments could be accounted for in the musical analysis.”
Krumhansl later puts forward the idea that the topics in the Mozart quintet coincide with the sections of the piece in order to establish the musical form. A good example of this is in the first movement, which begins (from bar 1 until approximately bar 46) with virtually no stepwise motion and in a homophonic style, then by bar 50 has become contrapuntal (albeit with areas of almost homophonic unity, e.g. the rhythm and parallels in bars 53-54) and is in a learned topic.
Ratner describes the allegro of the first movement of the “Prague” symphony of Mozart (K504 in D major), as a “panorama of topics, old and new, in which a change of subject occurs every few measures”. He extols Mozart’s method of not allowing the listener to sense the divisions between two topic areas.
Bars 37-40 are in the singing style, alla breve, with the interest melodically and rhythmically in the lower three string parts (counting violoncello and double bass as one part). In bars 40-41, still in the same sentence, the music is in the brilliant style, and is learned – but it only takes the introduction of the wind (double woodwind and double brass) and the timpani to create a two-bar fanfare seamlessly running out of the foregoing brilliance.
The first violins’ syncopated motif from bars 37-41 returns in bars 45-48, in the singing style. Ratner states that this passage is also learned where he had previously described what is the same passage (excepting the introduction of oboes and horns) as alla breve. Bars 49-50 are, as were 40-41, brilliant and learned. Ratner’s topical analysis suggests that bars 51-54 are also brilliant and learned, bars 55-62 are brilliant and a modified stile legato, and that 63-65 are a fanfare, 66-68 being in the brilliant style and 69-70 being a cadential flourish. However, it seems probable that whilst Ratner’s suggestions are true, the fanfare actually continues until bar 70.
The combination of a number of topics simultaneously is certainly a factor in the seemingly seamless connection between topics: also, the subject material or motives may overlap between the two topics (bars 37-41), or, where more than one topic or style is present simultaneously, one may overlap, e.g. Ratner gives bars 49-50 as being in alla breve and brilliant style, then 51-54 as being in brilliant style (carried over) and learned.
The first chapter of Leonard Ratner’s Classic Music: Expression, Form and Style begins, “Expression was an ever-present concern in 18th-century musical thought and practice.” In the second chapter, he goes on to describe the topics he sees as being used in the classical period, and some reasoning behind them.
He defines topic thus:
“From its contacts with worship, poetry, drama, entertainment, dance, ceremony, the military, the hunt, and the life of the lower classes, music in the early 18th century developed a thesaurus of characteristic figures, which formed rich legacy for classic composers. Some of these figures were associated with various feelings and affections; others had a picturesque flavour. They are designated here as topics – subjects for musical discourse. Topics appear as fully worked-out pieces, i.e., types, or as figures and progressions within a piece, i.e., styles. The distinction between types and styles is flexible; minuets and marches represent complete types of composition, but they also furnish styles for other pieces.”
Ratner's topics (which, in addition to Ratner’s suggestions above, have also been described as compositional techniques) are organized into types and styles, with some additional comments on pictorialism, word painting, and use of topics.
Ratner describes dances as an important source for types. The dance forms all share a similar superficial structure (and in many topical analyses the phrase “dance topic” may be used without mention of which topic is present), but the dances of the 18th century embody feeling. The dances of the 18th century are thought to be derived from the popular culture. They were developed quite elaborately in the high Baroque era; take for example, the Sarabande from Bach’s fifth Partita, which is full of spread chords and grace note appogiature.
In Baroque dance suites such as these, it was considered important to have a unified structure through the unity of the gestures contained within any given movement. However, by the middle of the 18th century, this unity was replaced by contrast, and dance forms and the spirit of their content were used in instrumental settings such as sinfonia. Because the dance forms throughout the 18th century were self-contained and short, they were perfect as compact models of composition: It is known that Mozart used dance movements to teach composition.
The minuet, one of the dances listed by Ratner, is by far the most common dance used by composers of the 18th century. As the symphony developed (although without the title “symphony”), the minuet became a standard movement which was expected to be present in, for example, a divertimento. As a result, examples of minuets are far too numerous to pick a single example.
Also under dances was the polonaise, another triple metre dance which was somewhat serious and deliberate in style. The dance features a pause on syncopation or on the last beat of the measure. According to Ratner's sources the polonaise fell out of favour towards the end of the Baroque period but begins to be used again in the classical period as a quick dance.
Ratner also lists a number of duple metre dances: the bourée is a lively dance, to be performed “lightly”; the contredanse was a standard in the ballet of classical times, which was brilliant and simple (with little ornamentation); and the gavotte, with a caesura appearing on the second quarter note of the measure with this rhythmic pattern retained throughout. The gavotte was unique amongst the styles of dance topic in that it was used both for slow passages and for lively ones. The march also used the duple metre, dotted rhythms, and a sense of bravado which developed the association with parades, the battlefield and authority in general; it was used both as a dance and ceremonially.
In the compound metre, styles of dance topic included dances such as the gigue, a lively dance in 6/8 metre and the siciliano which was performed in a slow, languishing tempo. The gigue itself disappeared during the classical era, but its style was retained in the finales of classical compositions.
Dances and dance styles find their way into classical practice through social dances, theatrical dances, and what Ratner describes as "...speculative treatment of dance material." Composers appropriated these styles into their concert music in sonatas, symphonies, concertos and music for the church and theatre.
Ratner states that learning how to compose in particular styles were part of the technical training of every 18th century composer. Included in these styles are the following: military and hunt music, using fanfares and hunting signals which had emerged as part of the ceremony of the hunt and the military occasions, including parades played by the town bands (semi-amateur groups used for ceremonies in Germany and Austria in the 18th century and previously); singing style - a lyrical, melodic style in a moderate tempo with generally slow rhythmic durations and a narrow range, often associated with the Italian bel canto, hence the name; the brilliant style, which featured rapid passages to display virtuoso skills or powerful feeling; The French overture, which consisted of an arrangement of sections ABA’ with A slow and B fast, and dotted rhythms in the slow tempo, which are sometimes performed as double-dotted according to modern performance practice; musette and pastorale with a sustained base drone and pastoral-like tune above the drone; Turkish music, which brings the colourful use of triangles, drums, cymbals, and wind instruments to the classical texture; Stürm und Drang (Storm and Stress), a term borrowed from the play of the same name, is used to refer to music expressing intense, subjective feelings; Empfindsamkeit, which is a personal, intimate and often sentimental style; the strict/learned style, which was fugal in character and was associated with the church; the Fantasia characterized by sudden contrasts, chromaticism, elaborate figures, shifting tonalities, all conveying a somewhat improvisational style.
The concept of topic has been subject to a number of psychological investigations: in the journal “Current Directions in Psychological Science”, Volume 11 Number 2 (April 2002), Carol Krumhansl writes:
“A tradition of musical analysis identifies topics in classical music, each with distinctive rhythmic, melodic, dynamic, and affective qualities. Agawu (1991) identified the topics in movements from Mozart’s String Quintet in C major, K515… Listeners (Krumhansl, 1998) made real-time judgments of memorability, degree of openness (whether there is a sense that the music must continue or whether the section has ended), and amount of emotion. All three judgments could be accounted for in the musical analysis.”
Krumhansl later puts forward the idea that the topics in the Mozart quintet coincide with the sections of the piece in order to establish the musical form. A good example of this is in the first movement, which begins (from bar 1 until approximately bar 46) with virtually no stepwise motion and in a homophonic style, then by bar 50 has become contrapuntal (albeit with areas of almost homophonic unity, e.g. the rhythm and parallels in bars 53-54) and is in a learned topic.
Ratner describes the allegro of the first movement of the “Prague” symphony of Mozart (K504 in D major), as a “panorama of topics, old and new, in which a change of subject occurs every few measures”. He extols Mozart’s method of not allowing the listener to sense the divisions between two topic areas.
Bars 37-40 are in the singing style, alla breve, with the interest melodically and rhythmically in the lower three string parts (counting violoncello and double bass as one part). In bars 40-41, still in the same sentence, the music is in the brilliant style, and is learned – but it only takes the introduction of the wind (double woodwind and double brass) and the timpani to create a two-bar fanfare seamlessly running out of the foregoing brilliance.
The first violins’ syncopated motif from bars 37-41 returns in bars 45-48, in the singing style. Ratner states that this passage is also learned where he had previously described what is the same passage (excepting the introduction of oboes and horns) as alla breve. Bars 49-50 are, as were 40-41, brilliant and learned. Ratner’s topical analysis suggests that bars 51-54 are also brilliant and learned, bars 55-62 are brilliant and a modified stile legato, and that 63-65 are a fanfare, 66-68 being in the brilliant style and 69-70 being a cadential flourish. However, it seems probable that whilst Ratner’s suggestions are true, the fanfare actually continues until bar 70.
The combination of a number of topics simultaneously is certainly a factor in the seemingly seamless connection between topics: also, the subject material or motives may overlap between the two topics (bars 37-41), or, where more than one topic or style is present simultaneously, one may overlap, e.g. Ratner gives bars 49-50 as being in alla breve and brilliant style, then 51-54 as being in brilliant style (carried over) and learned.
