Level 3 Music Studies analyse a substantial music work

A. Features of the 'Classical' Era that are found in this movement.

The melodies of Symphony 40's first movement are distinct and balanced phrases with
most being balanced over 8 bars and the bridge melody being based around a 6 bar
phrase. The first 8 bar melody is heard from bars 2-9 where the first subject is
introduced and has a clear and distinct cadence as it rounds off into a g minor
chord, the tonic. The melody of the second subject is also based around an 8 bar
phrase. It starts in bar 44 and ends in bar 52. It also has a distinct cadence
which is characteristic of a Classical era piece of music as it rounds off
perfectly to a B flat major chord which is the tonic of the key the piece has
modulated to which is B flat major. The 8 bar phrases are characteristic of
Classical music because it makes the music feel balanced and elegant while also
being slightly predictable with where the music may take you in terms of phrasing
meaning it feels, and is, more stable.
Generally speaking, the orchestration of the piece very similar to most other works
in the Classical era. Mozart did however do a little bit of tweaking to the
orchestration of this piece compared to the general classical work. Mozart had a
relatively 'light' orchestra as it only had 1 flute, no trumpets and no timpani
comapred to the generic 2 of each of these instruments. He also used 2 different
horns, a horn in B flat and a horn in G. This allowed him to cover a wider variety
of notes in the piece and allowed the horns to easily support the piece as the main
keys in the piece are g minor and it's relative major b flat minor. A last point on
instrumentation is that when the piece was initially written, clarinets were a
recently invented instrument so the piece was initially scored without them. A
later version was scored with them, and that is the version which is generally
preffered today. That has no bearing compared to the normal Classical era
orchestra, but jsut means that it wouldn't be out of the ordinary if there were no
written parts for the clarinet.
Classical music is mainly homophonic in texture, and Mozart's 40th symphony is no
exception for the most part. For instance, in bars 1-9, the violin 1 and 2 have the
melody and are playing an octave a part for the entirety of the phrase. Meanwhile,
underneath the cello and contrabass are playing the root of each chord as it passes
and the violas are double stopping on each quaver beat providing a stable backing
for the melody on top. While it remains homophonic for almost all of the piece, it
isn't as simple as one instrument having the melody and certain instruments having
backings. This is because Mozart liked playing around with the different timbres of
the instruments therefore trading off the melody between different instruments and
different groups of instruments in order to boost the interest levels in the piece.
The piece diverges into a polyphonic texture after the exposition and during the
development from about bar 115-140. The principal subject constantly runs
throughout this section and jumps between instrument to instrument, first in the
bassoons and cellos, then the violins then the bassoons and cellos again etc, but
overlaying that principal subject is a new idea in the flutes, oboes and clarinets
with the anicrussis in bar 114 and ending on the downbeat of 116. It is then
repeated in sequence, as the principal subject was in the exposition, but a tone
down each time. This idea is balanced in a 4 bar phrase. There are also some other
places where the texture is polyphonic, but for the most part, it is homophonic.
A simple mechanic which Mozart used in the composition of this piece which was more
often used in the classical era was dynamics. In contrast to the terraced dynamics
of baroque music, this piece had dynamics. In bar 16 a subito forte, sforzandos in
bar 34-37 and drawn out cresecendos in bar 62-63 while also having the added effect
of loudness based on how many instruments are playing at once, as Mozart didn't
always have every instrument playing. The full orchestra only begins playing at the
same time at bar 16.
In terms of keys, Mozart kept pretty within the Classical style. The basis of the
piece was nice and simple with generally obvious chords and tonality, with a
minimal use, but still uses, of sevenths, diminished or augmented chords. For
instances in the principal subject and the link between the phrases, he uses a
diminished 7th in bar 16 which adds an interest factor while also giving the music
a nice place to resolve to as the seventh chord pulls the music towards the fifth
of that chord. The main keys of the piece, g minor and b flat major are the
relative minor and major of each other, which is nothing too 'fancy'. Even when the
keys get 'fancier' in the development from bars 101 to around 146, they are still
predictable shifts which follow the circle of 5ths. So while it's physical
appearance is a 'crazy' manner, it shifts based off of the obvious cadences, 5 to
1. These clear distinct cadences are a staple in Classical music.
A final point on a feature of the Classical era is the form of the piece. The
overall form of the piece is Sonata form without the optional introduction. It
follows the main sections of an exposition which is repeated, development,
recapitulation and finishes with a coda section. Sonato form was developed and
became popularised in the Classical era and was often used to build up the first
movement of most large scale symphonic works and Mozart's 40th symphony was no
exception.

B. Structure

This piece follows Sonata form and therefore has the main sections,in order, being
an exposition (which is repeated), development, recapitulation and ending with a
coda.
The exposition ranges from bars 1-100. It presents two contrasting themes, the
principal subject based off of a semitone motif from bars 2-9 with an anicrussis,
and the second subject from bars 44 to 52. While contrasting in the fact that the
principal theme is built around an unstable semitone motif and the second subject
is built on stable crotchet chord by chord movements, they also contrast in that
the principal subject is in G minor while the second subject is in it's relative
major, B flat major. There is a bridge section in between the two subjects which
links them and also transitions the key from G minor to B flat major. This is from
bar 28-44. It introduces small motifs that are minimalistically expanded on, but
create interest and something different between the repeated and augmented strands
of the main motifs. These sub-motifs are for example a staccato crotchet idea in
bar 30 in the high strings and also a quaver scale run in in bar 34 in the high
strings. The exposition ends with a small codetta in bars 95-100 which raise the
intensity of the piece through the thick texture and forte dynamics and has a
cadence which allows the release of tension via the domininant as it repeats back
to the beginning or allows for the creation of more tension as the piece follows
the path into a brief modulation of F sharp minor as the pieces follows through for
the second time.
The development goes from bar 101-165 and expands the piece through a variety of
different means. The main way that Mozart developed the piece which stood out to me
was through his key modulations. The thing which stood out to me was that it looks
chaotic. From bars 101-114, the piece modulates from F sharp minor to B minor then
E minor. 114-134, E minor to A minor to D minor to G minor. 134-146 B flat major to
C minor and finally settling back to G minor in bar 146. While all these shifts
look chaotic on paper, they are just following the circle of 5ths, which makes
sense when thinking about the strong cadences that are common in the classical era.
The circle of 5ths creates a strong cadence leading into each modulation, but while
that solid footing is given to us, it is also taken away by the mimial number of
bars that the piece stays in each key for. In a strange way, it gives us a stable
footing but also keeps pushing us ahead. The development is further kept
interesting through the application of polyphonic textures. There is still the
principal theme built off of the semitone motif, but there are also new over
arching and interesting ideas generally in the winds, such themes were talked about
in section A of this analysis.
The recapitulation starts at bar 164 and ends at bar 299 and brings the piece back
into a more stable orientation after the more 'chaotic' development section. It
reduces the orchestra once again to a string dominated timbre with an added one
bassoon playing minimums and semibreves for the first few bars. For the first
restating of the principal theme it is almost exactly the same aside from the
bassoon lying over top with their semibreves and mimums. This was assumedly a
choice by Mozart to make the recapitulation seem exactly the same as the initial
bars 1-20, while also adding a tiniest of flourishes to keep it from being exactly
the same. After the intial restatement though, the recapitulation gets very
different from the initial statement of the principal theme. The linking passage
between the principal theme and augmentation of that theme in bar 177-183 is
exactly the same as the linking passage serving the same purpose initially in bar
14-20. After bar 183 is where the recapitulation changes the principal theme
drastically. Where the piece initially modulated from G minor to B flat minor in
bar 20-27 for the varied repeat, it now modulates from G minor to E flat minor, a
third down. It is notable that although there has been this difference in key
change, the structure of the bars have remained the same. The principal subject
initially runs from bars 1-27 with its varied repeat and now runs from 164-190 with
its varied repeat. Both times for 27 full bars. The piece then transitions into the
bridge passage with variations of the bridge passage played with the use of
sequence as it transitions from key to key. Throughout the whole of this bridge
passage the texture is homophonic with the role of each instrument constantly
changing, but with each motif still existing in the music. Eg the staccato crotchet
motif starts in the ciolins at bar 191-197 and shifts to the bassoons, cellos and
basses in 198-216. Meanwhile, a quaver run motif begins in the bassoons, cellos,
violas and contrabasses in bar 191-197 and moves into the violins at bar 198 and
stays with the violins 2s till bar 211 while the violin 1s shift back onto the
staccato crotchet motif at bar 203. The winds, other than the bassoons, initially
give grounding to the chord over top with mostly sustained notes from bars 191-202,
at which point the change to crotchet stabs on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th beats, ignoring
the downbeat. This gives an unequal feeling pulse as they ignore the downbeat which
would generally be an important beat in classical music.
When the bridge passage ends and the second subject is restated in bar 227, the key
is g minor. This is different to the initial statement of the second theme which
was intially in b flat major. This is offset and still allowed to give us the sense
of de ja vu through the instrumentation being exactly the same and the aniphony
remaining in the same instruments as the first time (strings creating dialogue with
the winds remains the same). The closing theme of the recapitulation starts at bar
260 begins in a similar fashion to the initial closing section, but the key is
different and the texture is thicker through means of instrumentation for instance
at 263, the flute part is now doubling the bassoon part creating a thicker texture.
In the following bar, 264, the bassoon even doubles itself with octaves compared to
the first time where it was on the same note. The varied repeat of this closing
section goes from 268-276 and 'spices it up' in the same way as it initially did by
shifting the instrumentation and imitation into different instruments, this time
starting with the clarinet instead of the bassoon. Once again, it is different from
the intial though in that the texture is thicker with the flute yet again doubling
the bassoon in 272 and the bassoon doubling itself in bar 271. After a small
linking section, the coda begins at bar 285 and goes till the end at bar 299. It
takes the principal motif and repeats it through imitation starting in the violins,
then viola, then the flutes and clarinets and bassoons. The piece ends in a codetta
at bar 293 which is reminiscent of the codetta at bar 95-100 with the same
instrumentation, instrument purposes (violas playing quavers), dynamics, rythm,
etc. The only differences, yet also monumental differences are the key, and the
cadence that follows it. THe key is now g minor instead of b flat major and the
cadence is a perfect cadence ending on the tonic which resolves the piece nicely.

C Thematic Material

The first subject/principal subject is introduced in bar 1-9. The 1st and 2nd
violins both carry this subject at an octave interval. It is based off of a
semitone motif which occurs in the first two notes, E flat and D. The underlying
chord is a G minor, so when the E flat initially is played, it clashes with the D
in the chord, but is quickly resolved as the melody shifts to a D in the next
quaver. This unbalanced and unresolved characteristic of the motif, where it hits
the note above what it actually wants to resolve to, drives the piece and creates
and disperses tension over each beat it appears in. The first subject, which as a
part of the sonata form, lasts 27 bars. But it can be simplified down to bars 1-9
which then is followed by a linking passage and is repeated and varied again in bar
21 with the anicrussis. That bar 1-9 passage can be simplified even further as bars
5-9 are merely sequence of bars 1-4. It is the same intervals of notes, but starts
on a D instead of an E flat, one semitone lower.
The second subject starts at bar 44-51. While the principal subject introduced us
to the idea of the semitone motif, the main point of interest, and the idea
portrayed, in this subject is the antiphone used in the building of the phrase. The
melody starts in bar 44 in the violin 1 and 2, shifts to the 1st clarinet and 1st
bassoon in bar 45, moves back into the violins for bars 46-50 and finishes in the
quaver run in the 1st clarinet and 1st bassoon in bar 51. Each instrument rests
whilst the other has the melody further solidifying the conversation. The beautiful
thing, I find, about this subject is the varied repeat in bar 80-88. Mozart uses
the fact that the dialogue has been started and swaps the roles of the instrument
pairs, this time starting with the clarinet and now flute, then shifting to the
violins. The imitation he started also extends to the accompanying instruments.
Instead of the viola, cello and basses building the chords around the violin
melody, now the flute has been introduced to the melody and the first and second
bassoons are accompanying with the chord with the second clarinet being added to
the accompaniment at bar 54.

As stated in the first part of the question, the semitone motif in the principal
statement has an unbalanced and unresolved characteristic. This creates interest
and moves the piece along whenever it is played, which is good, because it is a
motif which is played a lot throughout the piece. Out of the context of the
principal theme section of the exposition , this semitone motif occurs in bars 72-
76, 80-85 while still being in the exposition. In these instances, it uses the idea
of imitation, which was introduced in the second subject, throughout different
instruments to further increase the interest. In bar 72-76 it is juggled between
the 1st clarinet and 1st bassoon and it eventually handed off to the 1st violin at
bar 77. After experiencing the almost completely different movement type feel of
the second subject, hearing this motif, and not the whole theme, reminds us and
grounds us in the fact that we are still experiencing the same piece while moving
us in the direction of a developing piece at the same time because it is not the
only thing of interest occuring in the bars following the second subject. At this
point in the score, bar 72-76, the musical idea of the semitone motif from the
principal subject is being used, and the technical idea of imitation from the
second subject, are being used in conjunction.
The next notable use of the semitone motif, and the principal subject is in the
development at bar 104 with the anicrussis. He repeats the four bar theme, and (in
less formal terms) pumps the sequence full of steroids. Every single time he
repeats the theme, he modulates key. He has 16 bars where the theme is repeated 4
times with modulations in the violins and then swaps into the low end intruments,
bassoon, viola, cello, and contrabasses for 4 bars which helps keep the interest by
swapping timbres and octaves whilst also allowing the violins to introduce a new
quaver run idea which is carried on in the low end instruments once the violins
take over the principal subject at bar 118.
Much like the semitone motif, the idea of antiphony, which stemmed from the second
subject, is used multiple times throughout the piece also. Bar 72 imitation occurs
between the clarinets and bassoons, but if you ignore the different instruments and
look at just the notes, you'll see that the phrase is just a repeated strand of two
notes given interest through the imitation of the instruments. That dialogue
contiunues into the violin section at bar 77 and changes pitch to allow for more
variance. A prime example of antiphony is shown in bar 115-130. The principal
subject is present throughout the all of the bars, but never stays in the same
instrument for more than 4 bars. First in the violins, then the low end
instruments, then the violins again then the low end and then once again to the
violins for a longer period of time as the phrase rounds off. While each instrument
is playing the melody, the other is playing a staccato quaver rythym. Mozart could
have left the principal subject in the violins throughout this whole passage and
given the low end instruments the quaver staccato runs throughout this entire
passage, but he didn't. He didn't because not only is this an expansion on the
musical ideas presented in the second subject, but also because it is a beneficial
place to use such an idea. It keeps the music pulsing through the shift in
instruments and timbres whilst the notes stay relatively the same. It allows
interest to be generated in a different way.

D Musical Elements

Instrumentation:
The instrumentation is that of a normal orchestra of the Classical era with a few
alterations. For instance, only one flute, no trumpets and no timpani. Also, it is
scored for 2 different horns, which is done in order to increase the playable
notes. Mozart expertly utilised the instrumentation and had an extreme diversity in
the way he paired different timbres. For example, in a broad aspect, he often
creates dialogue between the winds and the strings and keeps their dialogue
seperate allowing even more of a contrast to be created through their broad
timbres. In the beginning it is just strings from bar 1-13. At 14 the woodwinds are
introduced and get a psuedo melody for till bar 20 with the strings underlying and
acting as a backing but also a percussive, pushing factor in bar 16-20 as they
pedal on a d with a pulsing rythym. It is also important to note that the horns
come in at bar 16 meaning that bar 16 is the first time the whole orchestra is
playing at once. The horns play the same rythym and chords as the woodwinds meaning
that the broad instrumentation groups at bar 16-20 are strings against the winds.
At bar 28, Mozart changes up the timbres yet again to a grouping he uses relatively
often throughout the piece, low end and high end instruments. This means, the
bassoon, viola and cello are grouped together. When he does this, he generally puts
them in unison and does so to emphasises a driving low end sound. Another example
of this low end grouping, but with a different purpose is the anicrussis of bar 115
to 118. The grouping actually starts before these bar numbers and ends after, but
in this section, it serves a different purpose. Here the low end have the melody,
the principal subject. It is used to contranst the grouping of the first and second
violins who have the principal subject before them and the trade off creates
interest for the listener.
More specific groupings of instruments can be seen all throughout the piece as
well. Many instruments have 'duets' with different instruments where the two of
them play the same line at the same time. This creates an overlay of timbres and
can keep the same line which has already been played throughout the piece fresh
through the new sound and new blend of sound created each iteration. The most
obvious, prevalent, and expected 'duet' is between the violin 1 and 2. Right from
bar 1 they are playing together with an octave between them and this occurs many
times in the piece. Bar 38 is the first time that the 1st and 2nd violins are
completely independent of one another. Another more cliche pairing is the clarinet
and bassoon at bar 45. They are both reed instruments made of wood and make a
beautiful warm wound which compliment one another. This pairing is more used when
the two instruments have a solo together and not in the tutti parts with the rest
of the orchestra. Another example of this paring is at bar 234. Bar 65 has an
intersting pairing of instruments, the flute, oboe and first violin whom all share
a trill with one another. This pairing only lasts a bar and a beat and is a prime
example of the way that Mozart will pair instruments in different ways to even more
emphasise an already interesting idea, in this case, the trill. At bar 70 Mozart
pairs the flute, bassoon and 1st and 2nd violins for a two bar quaver run which
ends as soon as it starts. They are all in unison and are the only instruments
playing aside from
a crotchet beat f being played one time by the violas and cellos to keep the key. A
final example of one of the groupings that Mozart uses is in the devolpment at and
around bar 130. At this point the texture of the piece is polyphonic, therefore
there are the highest number of broad groups here in the entire piece. 4 groups of
instruments are working together and around each other to create the polyphonic
texture. From top to bottom in the score, there are the high end woodwinds working
together and forming a group, then there are the horns forming a second group, the
violins making a third and the low end making the fourth group. Each group serves a
drastically different function in this passage. The violins uphold the principle
subject and therefore the first melody. They are grouped together for the fact that
they support each other perfectly timbre wise since they are the same instrument.
The high winds; flute, oboe and clarinet, are paired for their gentle ethereal
common tone and play the second melody creating the polyphonic texture. The horns
bring in majestic stab notes where the key allows and fufill this role
exceptionally due to them being brass instruments and being a completely different
timbre to anything in the orchestra which makes them stand out in their role and
also fills the cliche of a brass bugle call sort of cry in the midst of the
polyphonic texture. The last group is the low end which is made up of the bassoon,
viola, cello and conratbasses. Although I have called them the low end, they aren't
playing particularily bassy of low notes in this section. They are more paired for
their darker tone and in the basoons case, they don't really fit with the other
groups very well. Their staccato quavers drive each beat and keeps the piece moving
while also being a less 'stabby' timbre so don't stick out as much as a flute would
for instance with staccato quavers.

Texture:
Most of the piece is a homphonic texture which makes sense considering the
Classical era the piece was written in. The exception to the homophonic texture in
this piece occurs in the development at bar 115-140. In this part, 4 different
musical ideas/lines are occuring at the same time. There is the principal subject
being played, an overlying melody, staccato quaver runs and stab notes being played
all at once. The texture is also extremely thick with every single instrument in
the orchestra playing at once with minimal rests in each of the instrument parts.
This thick polyphonic texture is used intentionally as this is the point where all
the musical ideas come together and build for the first climax in the piece after
the listener has been subject to the exposition for the past 200 bars because of
the repeat. Mozart doesn't keep the piece in this polyphonic state for too long
though, because it is too busy and distracting for the listener. It works this one
time, because 3 of the 4 lines being played are not new content and have already
appeared in the piece, the overlying woodwing second melody is the new content and
for this short time increases the interest in a way previously undiscovered in the
piece. But keeping it in a state of polyphonic texture while also adding something
new for a prolonged period of time has an overexposure effect and destroys the
intended effect while also destroying the interest curve of the listerner. Mozart
was aware of this and utilised the polyphonic texture extremely well utilising it
to create a climax in the piece while also retaining and sending the momentum
through to the next part of the piece. The rest of the piece is homophonic in
texture. This is intentional as there are many other things that Mozart uses to
create interest in the piece, therefore polyphonic texture is not needed as there
are other, less busy, methods. Keeping it homophonic allows Mozart to keep interest
on the key changes by not blurring them out with an overarching countermelody or
other method. Also, homophonic rather than monophonic allows us to be constantly
immersed and subjected to the key and to be able to feel the key change on the beat
where it occurs through a full-on chord cadence. An example of this is right at the
beggining where it is simply the cello and the contrabass playing the root of each
chord on the downbeat and the viola double stopping on notes within the chord of g
minor while the violin is allowed to play the melody over top. A monophonic texture
would be lacking in effect as it wouldn't have the support of the chord underneath
for the semiton motif to work off of, and a polyphonic texture would be too much
and is not needed to create interest, especially in the opening bars of the piece.
The other descriptive factor of texture is thick or thin. In obvious and simple
terms, Mozart thickens textures when coming to a climax and thins them for more
gentle melodic parts. An example of thickening for a climax is in the devolpment,
as talked about already, and another is at bar 95-100 where every instrument is
playing at once, and every wind instrument is playing an independent note. On the
third beat of 95, there are 13 independent notes being played at once. The same
effect of a thick texure occurs at the end of the piece, the final climax, at bar
293-299. On bar 98, the texture is the thickest it has ever been in the piece in
terms of independent notes as 17 independent notes are being played at once which
makes sense given the fact that this is the final climax of the piece and the
texture thinning out in the next bar makes sense also because that is the
resolution of the climax. Music follows a stystem of building tension and releasing
it, and bar 299 with the simplified, but not dramatically simplified, texture
follows that.
An example of a thin texture throughout the piece creating an effect is the
introduction of the second subject at bar 44. There is an extremely light
orchestration and this is very purposeful. After the general pause at 43, the
orchestra comes in at a bare minimum number of instruments at a piano dynamic. This
gives the piece plenty of room to build on. While the dynamics remain the same, the
texture thickens with the addition of new lines at 58 and all the instruments begin
playing at once. While the dynamic has remained the same, the texture, and
effective volume, has increased and sparked more interest and started a build in
the music which is eventually continued and shown through the crescendos.