Mozart / Beethoven Comparison
During the Classic period, composers developed instrumental music dissociating it from the world of ideas characteristic of the word painting techniques of the Renaissance and Baroque. The result was absolute or pure music where the story is the music itself. Form became the fundamental basis on which the musical story was told, and the pattern used for most multi-movement pieces of the Classical period was the sonata cycle.
Based on your listening of:
Mozart’s serenade Eine Kleine Natchmusik First Movement
AND
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 First Movement
and your reading about the multimovement cycle, please address the following ideas in this topic’s forum:
How are the movements balanced in terms of tempo and form? Explain.
Explain the form of each movement in detail, describing exactly what is happening in terms of melody, harmony, timbre, and texture.
What is similar/different about the different themes and treatment of the themes in the development section?
***Compare and contrast the two movements. How is the treatment of the form similar? How is the treatment of the form different?
What do you think were the reasons for the Classical composers to define an order of movements with the particular use of tempo and character displayed in the multimovement cycle?
In your opinion, which is the most dramatic of the two movements? Why? Which is the least dramatic? Why?
Do you think most people are comfortable with the notion of pure instrumental music? Or is it too abstract? Feel free to elaborate on your own ideas about this issue.
Support your discussion pointing to particular instances in both pieces that offer concrete examples for some of the ideas presented. Feel free to refer to other aspects such as the role of the cultural-historical context in which the work was created, and/or the role of the cultural-historical context in which you have grown up and that has influenced your sensitivity as a listener.
Discuss your findings in a 3-4 page RESEARCH PAPER, double spaced, Times font (size 11).
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