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The Classical Concerto

  • For a recent radio series on Marianna Martines, click here.

  • For revision questions, click here.

Tutorial 1

Histories and historiographies

Write a brief history of the concerto in the eighteenth century, and the benefits/limitations of different historiographies for doing so. Ensure that you illustrate your points with reference to at least one concerto.

  1. Recommended

    • ​Tovey, Donald Francis, ‘The Classical Concerto’, in Essays in Musical Analysis volume 3 (London: Oxford University Press, 1936), pp.3–27. To find, click here.

  2. General

    • Landon, H. C. Robbins, ‘The Pre-Classical Concerto and the Concerto Parallel to Mozart’, in A Guide to the Concerto, ed. Robert Layton, pp.57-74. To find, click here [limited access].

  3. Historiography

    • Keefe, Simon P., ‘Theories of the Concerto from the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day’, in The Cambridge Companion to the Concerto, ed. by Simon P. Keefe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 192–226. For access, click here.

  4. Possible repertoire

    • Lawson, Colin, Mozart: Clarinet Concerto (Cambridge, 1996). To find, click here.

    • Roeder, Michael Thomas, A History of the Concerto (Portland: Amadeus Press, 1994), esp. chapters 9 and 11. To find, click here.

Tutorial 2

Historically informed approaches to analysis

Provide your own analysis of the first movement of a Mozart piano concerto, paying particular attention to matters of musical form and topic. Ensure that you compare the piece to concerti by other composers too.​

  1. Musical Form

    • Berger, Karol, ‘The First Movement Punctuation Form in Mozart’s Piano Concertos’, in Mozart’s Piano Concertos: Text, Context, Interpretation, ed. by Neal Zaslaw (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996), pp. 239–60—physical access.

    • Burstein, L. Poundie, Journeys Through Galant Expositions (Oxford: Oxford University Press USA, 2020), esp. chapters 2 and 7—for access, click here.

    • Horton, Julian, ‘John Field and the Alternative History of Concerto First- Movement Form’, Music & Letters, 92.1 (2011), 43–83—for access, click here

  2. Topic Theory

    • Agawu, Kofi, Playing with Signs: A Semiotic Interpretation of Classic Music (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1991)—for access, click here.

    • Ratner, Leonard G., Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style (New York: Schirmer Books, 1980)—for access, click here.

    • Rosen, Charles, The Classical Style (New York: W. W. Norton, 1997)—physical access​.

Tutorial 3

Concert Life

Discuss the role of the concerto in eighteenth-century concert life, ensuring that you compare at least two different national contexts and/or composers’ music.

  • DeNora, Tia, Beethoven and the Construction of Genius (Berkeley and London: University of California Press, 1995), especially chapters 2 and 3—for access, click here.

  • Godt, Irving, and John A. Rice, Marianna Martines: A Woman Composer in the Vienna of Mozart and Haydn (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2010), especially chapter 7—for access, click here.

  • McVeigh, Simon, Concert Life in London from Mozart to Haydn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993)—physical access only, but potentially useful. To find, click here.

  • Milligan, Thomas B., The Concerto and London’s Musical Culture in the Late Eighteenth Century (Epping: Bowker, 1983)—physical access only. To find, click here.

  • Morrow, Mary Sue, Concert Life in Haydn’s Vienna: Aspects of a Developing Musical and Social Institution (Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1989), especially chapters 1 and 2—for access, click here.

Tutorial 4

Performance and Context

Prepare a presentation lasting 6-7 minutes on one of the following topics, choosing a different topic each.

  1. Discuss the role of improvisation in the performance of classical concerti.

    • Levin, Robert, ‘Improvising Mozart’, in Musical Improvisation: Art, Education, and Society, ed. by Gabriel Solis and Bruno Nettl (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009). To find, click here.

    • Stowell, Robin, ‘Performance Practice in the Eighteenth-Century Concerto’, in The Cambridge Companion to the Concerto, ed. by Simon P. Keefe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 192–226. For access, click here.

  2. Discuss the importance of ornamentation and embellishments to improvisation in the classical concerto.

    • Levin, Robert D., ‘Improvised Embellishments in Mozart’s Keyboard Music’, Early Music, 20.2 (1992), 221–33. For access, click here.

    • Levin, Robert D., ‘Improvisation’, Grove Music Online, 2001, esp. section 4 (‘The Classical Period’). For access, click here.

  3. Discuss how the cadenza’s role changed throughout the ‘Classical’ period, and what effect cadenza revisions in the nineteenth century may have had on our understanding of the cadenza today.

    • Mace, Angela R., ‘Improvisation, Elaboration, Composition: The Mendelssohns and the Classical Cadenza’, in Mendelssohn Perspectives, ed. by Angela Mace and Nicole Grimes (London: Routledge, 2012), pp. 223–47. For access, click here.

    • Swain, Joseph P., ‘Form and Function of the Classical Cadenza’, The Journal of Musicology, 6.1 (1988), 27–59. For access, click here.

  4. Discuss the importance of galant style to the composition of classical concerti, and what implications it may have for understanding the concerto's social context(s).

    • Gjerdingen, Robert, Music in the Galant Style (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), esp. pp.3-24. For access, click here.

    • Heartz, Daniel, Music in European Capitals: The Galant Style, 1720-1780 (New York and London: W.W. Norton, 2003). To find, click here.

© Dylan Price 2023. All rights reserved.

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