Italian Symphony Research Paper

As the art of music has developed into a nearly infinite universal means of creative output, one aspect of musical development that we owe so much to is the creation, development, and refinement of the Symphony. The symphony as we know it today is considered as one of the crowning achievements of the development of musical form and employs the fundamental principles of orchestration that we are accustomed to today. Early composers such as Sammartini, Stamitz, and Haydn were among the first innovators to explore and create a foundation for the development of the symphony. They did this by exploring the potential of previous forms in a larger context such as the Trio Sonata, Concerto, and the “Italian” Overture, although, the term “symphony”

This form included a fast opening movement, a slow middle movement, and an additional third movement with plenty of motion. Haydn and Mozart, whose early symphonies made use of this form, eventually replaced it with a four-movement composition through the addition of a second middle movement, using varying stylistic dance idioms as the medium (Prout 1895, 249). This adaptation of the three movement form became widely popular and was the most recognizable form in classical music at the end of the eighteenth century and well into the nineteenth century. This symphonic form was influenced by Germanic practice, and would come to be associated with their particular style of composition. According to Timothy Jackson, “Normative macro-symphonic form may be defined as the four-movement form, in general, employed in the later symphonies of Haydn and Mozart, and in those of Beethoven” (Jackson 1999,

40, like many classical symphonies, was composed in sonata form. However, Mozart takes a different approach to the beginning of the symphony. His use of motion in the lower strings coupled with an obscure, clouded melody in the violins takes the listener immediately into the work with only a vague idea of the premise. The second theme in the same movement was composed in contrast to the first, with chromatic cascades alternating between the winds and the strings. The development modulates often, and hints at the first theme occasionally, fooling the listener into anticipating the recapitulation. The recapitulation presents the violins taking charge of the theme on their own, without the accompaniment of the lower strings. Mozart presents two very characteristic themes in this first movement: The first being a disconcerted character which is slightly unsettled to the listener, while the second theme is forlorn and filled with chromatic flourishes. A rounded binary (ABA) form brings us to the second movement, in which the strings bring back the controlled and graceful chromatic idioms heard in the second theme of the first movement. The third movement is a classical minuet and trio, with the minuet being presented in a darkly colored minor key, the pastoral trio emphasizing the presence of the french horns, and finally returning to the minuet as expected. The fourth movement is in rondo form though is presented as a modified sonata