Gurn's Classical Corner

[SonicMan46]

Well Guys - went on a Jadin buying spree (although a rather exaggerated statement w/ the limited number of his recordings available) - re-listening to the 3 newest additions to my collection from the 'flower child' - wish he had lived longer - 

   

[Gurn Blanston]

Well Guys - went on a Jadin buying spree (although a rather exaggerated statement w/ the limited number of his recordings available) - re-listening to the 3 newest additions to my collection from the 'flower child' - wish he had lived longer - 

   

Excellent, Dave. I have the first 2 and know you'll like them, I really need to get the 4tets though. My loss, at the moment.

[chasmaniac]

Me want salient fortepiano! Me like salient fortepiano! Me want that disk! 

Go for it! 

[Gurn Blanston]

I am very excited as my fiancee bought me this book for my birthday! 

Well, Leo, I just took the plunge on volume 3;



Expect it will be here by Wednesday, really looking forward to it, and hoping that it talks about other contemporaries a bit too.

Curious if you have had a go at volume 2 yet...

[Leo K.]

Well, Leo, I just took the plunge on volume 3;



Expect it will be here by Wednesday, really looking forward to it, and hoping that it talks about other contemporaries a bit too.

Curious if you have had a go at volume 2 yet...

Gurn, congrats! I am sure you will love that book! I'm currently on chapter 2 of Volume 2, and it is a gripping read for those who are fascinated by galant, classical and high classical music, i.e., everybody here on this thread!

My fiancee also recently surprised me with a second birthday present, which floored me, because this was another book I always wanted but was too expensive to buy:

From Library Journal:

Salieri's place in music history may have been permanently influenced by the film Amadeus, in which he is one-dimensionally portrayed as Mozart's less-talented nemesis. Now musicologist Rice, author of numerous articles on 18th-century music, has contributed a magnificent study of the complex musical and social circles that flourished at the court of Emperor Joseph II. Richly detailed and copiously footnoted, Rice's book masterfully interweaves three strands of scholarship: biographical information, an overview of the traditions and conventions of Viennese opera during the latter half of the century, and a close examination of several of Salieri's own operas. This last thread is perhaps the most valuable, as much for its use of previously unpublished sources as for Rice's perceptive and illuminating comments. The chapter "Mozart and Salieri" is a triumph of reasoned, careful research over unsupported Hollywood hype. This important book fills a conspicuous gap in musical scholarship and is enthusiastically recommended for all public and academic libraries.?Larry A. Lipkis, Moravian Coll., Bethlehem, PA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

My jaw dropped to the floor upon opening my gift!

I've read John A. Rice articles, and love his scholarship and style. Like Daniel Heartz, he is very articulate and highly readable, with interesting insights for reflection.

[Gurn Blanston]

Gurn, congrats! I am sure you will love that book! I'm currently on chapter 2 of Volume 2, and it is a gripping read for those who are fascinated by galant, classical and high classical music, i.e., everybody here on this thread!

My fiancee also recently surprised me with a second birthday present, which floored me, because this was another book I always wanted but was too expensive to buy:



My jaw dropped to the floor upon opening my gift!

I've read John A. Rice articles, and love his scholarship and style. Like Daniel Heartz, he is very articulate and highly readable, with interesting insights for reflection.

Wow, that's a beauty! I've never heard of that one, so I was sitting here being pleased with myself! Umm thanks for that 

[SonicMan46]

Well, Leo, I just took the plunge on volume 3;



Expect it will be here by Wednesday, really looking forward to it, and hoping that it talks about other contemporaries a bit too.

Curious if you have had a go at volume 2 yet...

Guys - I've been looking at those Daniel Heartz books for a while, but my hesitations are first the prices and second whether the musical discussion is more detailed than I need (or can understand, i.e. a bunch of musical scores, discussion of key changes, etc.) - if written for the 'informed layman' then I would consider a purchase - any advice would be appreciated; thanks - Dave

[Gurn Blanston]

Guys - I've been looking at those Daniel Heartz books for a while, but my hesitations are first the prices and second whether the musical discussion is more detailed than I need (or can understand, i.e. a bunch of musical scores, discussion of key changes, etc.) - if written for the 'informed layman' then I would consider a purchase - any advice would be appreciated; thanks - Dave

Dave,
Well, that's always a huge concern for me, too since $50 can buy a lot of music as opposed to a book I only understand 20% of.   I had 2 things that got me moving in that direction. First, and most importantly, I bought another book by Heartz, it is on Mozart's operas and since it is in paper instead of hardcover, it only cost $12. I've now nearly finished with it and I found the few musical examples to be relatively easy to understand, well-explained, and they were few enough to be skippable without feeling like I had missed the point. Secondly, in the lone review of the book that I bought today, the reviewer mentions specifically that the music examples aren't overwhelming. My feeling from reading Mozart's Operas is that Heartz is an historian who really has a grip on music rather than a music theoretician who is interested in history.

[Gabriel]

Well Guys - went on a Jadin buying spree (although a rather exaggerated statement w/ the limited number of his recordings available) - re-listening to the 3 newest additions to my collection from the 'flower child' - wish he had lived longer - 

Dave, that string quartets CD is new to me. I presume it contains excellent music; the quartets I have listened to are marvelous.

Gurn, those are splendid books. Have you already purchased Abert's Mozart in the new English translation?

[Gurn Blanston]

Dave, that string quartets CD is new to me. I presume it contains excellent music; the quartets I have listened to are marvelous.

Gurn, those are splendid books. Have you already purchased Abert's Mozart in the new English translation?

Gabriel! Such a pleasure to have you drop in!

Well, I have been looking at them for quite some time, wondering if I could ever get the entire set without selling off grandchildren. Seems not, and they've hidden the little rascals from me, so I guess it will be Vol. 3 for now...

Well, I haven't done, despite knowing about it, and its quality for quite some time. My ability to multitask seems to have diminished with time, so now that I am concentrating on Haydn, only the high points of Mozart come to the fore. Well, lots of those, aren't there?

Hope you are well, and will be more conspicuous soon!

Cheers,

[SonicMan46]

Dave, that string quartets CD is new to me. I presume it contains excellent music; the quartets I have listened to are marvelous.

Gurn, those are splendid books. Have you already purchased Abert's Mozart in the new English translation?

Hi Gabriel - nice to see you back & hope all is going well -

Concerning the Jadin, I like all of those 3 discs shown before; the string writing is particularly well accomplished for such a young composer and the performances are excellent.

Your comment on the Abert book on Mozart interests me, too - both a reinterpretation, a translation, and an update from a multi-volume book published back in the mid-19th century at Wolfie's centennial - a little of a longer quote below from Amazon; the book is $40 there at the moment - appears that extensive 'updated' notes are made throughout; 1500+ pages!  Dave

Hermann Abert's classic biography, first published in German more than eighty years ago and itself based on the definitive mid-nineteenth century study by Otto Jahn, remains the most informed and substantial biography of Mozart in any language.....

[Leon]

appears that extensive 'updated' notes are made throughout

No doubt including the recent and very important work done by Dr. Rob Newman.

[Gurn Blanston]

No doubt including the recent and very important work done by Dr. Rob Newman.

No, no, it's OK to doubt that.

[chasmaniac]

Stunning disk!

+1

[karlhenning]

No doubt including the recent and very important work done by Dr. Rob Newman.

No, no, it's OK to doubt that.

(* chortle *)

[Leo K.]

+1

Glad you agree! 

[chasmaniac]

So, tell me about the Mannheim School. Composers, performers, pieces to look out for, pro or con. How does it compare to mature classicism? Whatever else...

[Leo K.]

So, tell me about the Mannheim School. Composers, performers, pieces to look out for, pro or con. How does it compare to mature classicism? Whatever else...

Right off the bat, I 'd have to recommend Johann Stamitz! Scholar Daniel Heartz says that Stamitz's symphonies have no parallel in the 1750s. He was a true innovator and helped make Manheim's orchestra famous.




The Wiki:

Jan Václav Antonín Stamic (later, during his life in Mannheim, germanized as Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz; June 18, 1717, Deutschbrod, Bohemia – March 27, 1757, Mannheim, Electoral Palatinate) was a Czech composer and violinist. Johann was the father of Carl Stamitz and Anton Stamitz, also composers. His music reflects the transition of the baroque period to the classical.

Stamitz spent the academic year 1734–1735 at the University of Prague. After only one year, he left the university to pursue a career as a violin virtuoso. Stamitz' activities during the six-year period between his departure from the university in 1735 and his appointment in Mannheim around 1741 are not precisely known.

Stamitz was appointed by the Mannheim court either in 1741 or 1742. Most likely, his engagement at Mannheim resulted from contacts made during the Bohemian campaign and coronation of Carl Albert (Karl VII), a close ally of the Elector Palatine. In January 1742 Stamitz performed at Mannheim as part of the festivities surrounding the marriage of Karl Theodor, who succeeded his uncle Karl Philipp as Elector Palatine less than a year later; Karl Albert of Bavaria was a guest at the wedding.

Stamitz was married on July 1, 1744 to Maria Antonia Luneborn. They had five children together, Carl Philipp, Maria Francisco, Anton Thadäus Nepomuk, and two children who died in infancy.

Probably around the late summer of 1754, Stamitz took a year-long journey to Paris, perhaps at the invitation of the musical patron Alexandre Le Riche de La Poupelinière, with whom he stayed; Stamitz appeared in public in Paris for the first time at a Concert Spirituel of September 8 1754. Stamitz' success in Paris induced him to publish his Orchestral Trios, Op. 1, and possibly other publications with various Parisian publishers.

Stamitz probably returned to Mannheim around the autumn of 1755, dying there in spring 1757, less than two years later, at the age of 39. The entry of his death reads:

"March 30, 1757. Buried, Jo'es Stainmiz, director of court music, so expert in his art that his equal will hardly be found. Rite provided"

Stamitz expanded the orchestral score, making the winds essential for the composition. His symphonies of the 1750s are scored for eight parts; four strings, two horns, two oboes, although flutes and clarinets may substitute. Horns not only provided a harmonic backdrop for strings, but solo lines as well, and he was also one of the first composers to write independent lines for oboes.

The chief innovation in Stamitz's symphonic works is their adoption of the cycle of four movements, with a fast/slow pair followed by a minuet and trio in the third movement, ending with a Presto or Prestissimo movement. While isolated examples of this structure exist previously, Stamitz was the first composer to use it consistently: well over half of his symphonies and nine of his ten orchestral trios are in four movements. He also contributed to the development of sonata form, most often used in the first movements of symphonies.

Stamitz also adapted and extended traits originally developed in the Italian opera in his compositions. He added features in his pieces such as extended crescendo passages and other dynamic effects. Stamitz also incorporated simplified tutti chordal textures, sectionally specialized scores, and slow harmonic motion. Like Italian operas, Stamitz's compositions have a strong sense of rhythmic drive and distinctive thematic material within the exposition.

Stamitz's most important compositions are his 58 symphonies and his 10 orchestral trios. The orchestral trios, although frequently classified as symphonies, are actually somewhere between the symphony and the chamber trio, and may be played with or without doubling of parts. Stamitz was also a composer of concertos. These include, in addition to his numerous violin concertos, two for harpsichord, 12 for flute, one for oboe, and one for clarinet - among the earliest concertos for the instrument (Johann Melchior Molter's six from the 1740s seem to have been the first[citation needed]). He also composed a large amount of chamber music for various instrumental combinations, as well as eight vocal works including his widely circulated concert Mass in D.

Due to at least five other musicians of the 18th century bearing the surname Stamitz, including four from Johann's immediate family, any attempt to catalog Stamitz's works is risky at best, principally in view of the many variations in spelling. Actually, few difficulties arise in distinguishing between works by Johann Stamitz and those of his sons Carl and Anton. By contrast, the relationship of the names 'Steinmetz' and 'Stamitz' has caused substantial confusion, as at least two other musicians called 'Steinmetz' lived in the 18th century.

[SonicMan46]

Right off the bat, I 'd have to recommend Johann Stamitz! Scholar Daniel Heartz says that Stamitz's symphonies have no parallel in the 1750s. He was a true innovator and helped make Manheim's orchestra famous.

 

Leo - ya know, I thought that my collection had some J. Stamitz, but just checking I own 6 discs of his son Carl's music, so later into the classical era and excellent!  So, I probably need to explore the father -   Dave

[chasmaniac]

Right off the bat, I 'd have to recommend Johann Stamitz! Scholar Daniel Heartz says that Stamitz's symphonies have no parallel in the 1750s. He was a true innovator and helped make Manheim's orchestra famous.

Solid! Thanks, Leo.

I love, no, genuflect before son Carl's duos, but there's nothing transitional about those.

Do the Bach sons fit in with the Mannheim trend? What I've heard of CPE is angular and energetic. How does Mannheim compare to what is called gallant? An angry and muscular version of same? A parallel development toward sophisticated monophony? Enlighten me!