Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is known as a wunderkind of music as he showed his talents from his childhood. He was a keyboard and string virtuoso. He composed many symphonies, concertos and operas which are famous and he was an influential composer in the Classical Period. ‘Great Violin Concertos: Benjamin Schmid Plays Mozart’ was performed by the Hong Kong Sinfonietta and the violin soloist Benjamin Schmid. This programme included two violin concertos composed by Mozart and two twenty centuries folk suites from Eastern Europe. In the following, I would like to compare and contrast the two Mozart’s violin concertos, Violin Concerto No 2 in D and Violin Concerto No 5 in A, in terms of instrumentation, tempo and rhythm, key.
Both the Violin Concerto
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However, the tempo is not identical in both works. Violin Concerto No 2 in D has the tempo headings Allegro moderato, Andante and Rondeau: Allegro while the tempo headings of Violin Concerto No 5 in A are Allegro aperto, Adagio and Rondeau: Tempo di Menuetto. In the first movement, both work provide a light and relax feeling to audience. In the second movement, the tempo of Violin Concerto No 5 is slower than that of the Violin Concerto No 2. Violin Concerto No 5 gives a clam, softer and smoother impression compared with the other movements. Violin Concerto No 2 continued the lively rhythm in the first movement with a gentler atmosphere. Both works used the Rondo form for the third movement. While both works returned to a faster tempo, Violin Concerto No 5 has a dance-like rhythm in movement III which is different from the Violin Concerto No 2. As Mozart composed these two concertos in the same year, the style of tempo and rhythm of these two works is quite similar. This can be easily seen by comparing the two …show more content…
According to the programme notes, Mozart seldom used the major key with many sharps. However, he used A major in the first movement of the Violin Concerto No 5. This key gives audience a joyful atmosphere. And this also matches the tempo handing of this movement, Allegro aperto, which means ‘openhearted’. In both works, Mozart changed the key in the second movement. For the Violin Concerto No 2, the key changed from D major to E minor. This key contributed to the lyrical music in this movement. And for the Violin Concerto No 5, the key changed to E major, which is one more sharp than Movement I. In the final movement of both works, the parallel minors of the major keys in Movement I are included. Violin Concerto No 2 adopted D minor in the cadenza while Violin Concerto No 5 introduced the A minor Hungarian Country Dance in Movement III. Eventually, both works returned to the original
Mozart is one of the few composers who wrote music for the clarinet during the classical period. His clarinet concerto, is extremely popular which is still widely performed nowadays. Yet, there is much confusion about the interpretation of the music. Therefore, in this essay, the issue of tempo and ornamentations are going to be discussed.
Before actually going into the analysis of the actual piece itself, background information would be helpful. The composition was written by Bach, and it is part of the sonatas and partitas for solo violin. For this example, Partita II in d minor, movement I, Allemanda, will be discussed. Allemanda, sometimes spelled allemande, derives from German and simply means “dance.” While there are various tempos used, this movement is usually fast, around 120 beats per minute.
In the second movement have a brief violin solo songs with the latter half of the elements (Schwartz, 2015). Faster featuring piano part as follows, gradually building, until near the end, in a piece of this point seems to pull back to the original melody, now given to the flute. In a peaceful, introspective rhythmic movement ended.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was undoubtedly one of the greatest composers of not only the classical era, but of all time. On January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria, Mozart was born into an already musically talented family. His father Leopold, a composer and musician, and sister Nannerl toured parts of Europe giving many successful performances, including some before royalty. At the young age of 17, Mozart was appointed Konzertmeister at the Salzburg Court. It was there that young Mozart composed two successful operas: “Mitridate” and “Lucio Silla”. In 1981 he was dismissed from his position at the Salzburg Court. He went on to compose over 600 works including 27 piano Concertos, 18 Masses (including his most famous, the Requiem), and 17 piano sonatas. Mozart was not often known for having radical form or harmonic innovation but rather, most of his music had a natural flow, repetition and simple harmonic structure.
His compositions are considered to have led to the development of the sonata form. This was still evident late in his career. Piano Sonata No. 62 in E-flat major (Hob. XVI:52) consists of short, balanced melodic phrases of two, four or sometimes six bars. Each melody in the exposition is evenly divided into an antecedent phrase and a consequent phrase; question and answer. This is a typical characteristic of the Classical Period which obsessed over clarity of structure. Similarly, Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor Op. 2, No.1 is clearly divided into an exposition, development and recapitulation. Its lucid exposition of melodic material occurs in balanced melodic phrases. Both of these works contain short codas to each section. The fact that Beethoven’s sonata was written one year after Haydn’s, whilst he was still a student of Haydn’s, highlights the influence of Haydn over Beethoven during the early stage of his
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, composed by the legendary Ludwig van Beethoven, is one of the most famous orchestral musical compositions done by the German-born composer. The symphony is broken down into four movements. The symphony has such a profound effect on so many people because of its use drama by introducing sudden and powerful chords which quickly grabs the audience’s attention as well as creating a variety of musical ideas through his use of excitement by way of fast and slow tempos. The first movement, Allegro con brio, which utilizes the Sonata form, contains an opening sequence or Exposition, which initially compels my attention during its first 6 seconds due to its powerful entry and introduction of the basic four-note motive (short-short-short-long) of the piece. The quick repetition in a lower step using strings in unison keeps me engaged due to its energy, as it sort of
This piano concerto adheres to the tradition way of composing a piece in this genre as it consists of three movements:
One main difference that can be noticed when listening to both of the symphonies is the different instruments being used. For example, in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, there are numerous instruments being used. These include: a piccolo, flutes, clarinets, bassoons, contrabassoon, horns, trumpets, trombones, timpani, and strings. Although the symphonies may share some of the same instruments, Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 does not include as many instruments. While Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 has ten various instruments in it, Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 only has seven different instruments. These instruments used in Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 are: flutes, oboes, bassoons, horns, trumpets, timpani, and also strings. Because they share some different instruments, the music sounds different and gives each symphony its own individual style. These symphonies may include some of the same instruments, however, they both have a unique sound. In Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, the opening note has a very loud tone. This opening note has a suspense or intimidating tone. Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 has a more relaxing
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, also known as W.A. Mozart, was a very well-known composer of the Classical Period as well as still to this day. Wolfgang Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria. He was known for his sonatas, symphonies, masses, chamber music, concertos, and operas. He set the standards high for all composers following in his footsteps.
Sadie, Stanley. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Essays on his Life and his Music. United States: Oxford University Press. 1996, Print.
The parts of this piece written by Mozart are the Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass and Cello/Organ parts. Sussmayr wrote the Corni di Basseto, Fagotti, Trombone (alto, tenor, and bass), Violin 1 and 2 and Viola. The part of this piece I was given is written in the key signature of Bb major and G minor, however it modulates to C minor at measure 9, Ab major at measur...
Symphony No. 6 is one of Beethoven's few programmatic works and describes a county scene. It is titled "Recollections of country life". It has 5 movements, unusual for a classical symphony. The first movement is in sonata form and is titled "Awakening of cheerful feelings upon arrival in the country". It has two beautiful rustic themes. The second movement is titled "Scene at the brook" and depicts a bubbling stream on a calm day. It is also in sonata form with two flowing themes. The third movement is a scherzo and depicts a country dance being titled "Happy gathering of country folk". It is an unusual scherzo with the scherzo section played only once before continuing to the trio. After the trio, instead of returning to the scherzo, a short section in 2/4 time interrupts. Then the scherzo is played followed by the trio again. The 2/4 section appears a second time, followed by the scherzo one last time. The dancing in the third movement is interrupted by raindrops ushering in the fourth movement, titled "Thunderstorm".
The fourth and final movement of a symphony is like the first movement in its form. The form conventionally followed is sonata form, with an exposition, development and recapitulation, but of course with less new material than the first movement, more a combination of the material already heard.
A sinfonia (Italian for symphony) broadly refers to a number of instrumental works from the Baroque period, including symphonies, sonatas, canzonas, concerti, and Italian opera overtures. Even J.S. Bach titles his “three-part” inventions for harpsichord “Sinfonia”. Torelli’s Sinfonia in D (G.8) is a four-movement “concerto” for trumpet, strings and harpsichord continuo. Unlike a concerto grosso, where a main theme is presented and then reappears in fragments, the main themes of Sinfonia in D are developed rather freely. The second movement (Adagio) is a very short, slow, interlude without trumpet that introduces the third movement (Allegro). Hence, the program shows these two movements as “adagio-allegro” joined together.
This movement was also in complete sonata form, like the first, but started out with a fugue, containing timpani solos and then later concluded with an abrupt