Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/99

MUSIC 91 concerned; they are all distinct, and there might as well be one movement, or 40, if so many could be compassed; but symphonies and quartets were composed according to this method as though under an irrefragable law. Their structure is: a theme or melody in a given key, say major ; a passage leading to another key, G major, the most closely related to the first, with a strong assertion of the chord of the seventh or the fifth of G, which is D, be- fore the second theme or melody is taken ; then follows some accessory and climacteric matter, and we arrive at the end of the exposition of the primary ideas. The second part is taken up, generally after the first is repeated, but without stopping; and now begins what is called the development of ideas, in which the primary ones are set off in various ways, by new harmonies or accessories of n^ody, by double counterpoints (that is to say, placing phrases indifferently as the bass or treble), by modulations, by instrumentation, &c. ; and this runs into a repetition of the original mel- ody, to which the second melody is added, but this time in the same key with the original, and the whole is crowned with a musical pero- ration in which appear the most ambitious flights and climaxes. The second movement of the symphony is a clear melody, with acces- sory and developed matter, ancl the melody re- peated with a short peroration. The third is a minuet, measured and somewhat developed. In Beethoven's symphonies the minuet is set aside for the scherzo, or playful movement, in which piquancy is aimed at. The last move- ment of the symphony is a melody or theme with accessories, its repetition, and a perora- tion. Sometimes the last movement is the most important. In the choral symphony of Beethoven the voices are added. The quartets and sonatas of Haydn, as well as those of later composers, are on the same plan as sympho- nies, but generally briefer, as the variety of instrumental coloring in an orchestra warrants greater length. In the course of 50 years Haydn produced more than 500 instrumental compositions. A remarkable trait of the com- poser was his unerring sense of orchestral color, and of the precise instrument or combi- nation of instruments that best produced the effects he had in mind. While Haydn was de- veloping the instrumentation of his time, Gluck was working with equal zeal and success in the domain of opera. He was a great reformer, and was the first to announce in clear and un- mistakable language the true principles upon which opera should be composed. Much that he then said has since been reiterated by Rich- ard Wagner. Even now the world is slow to accept the theories then advanced ; what won- der then that Gluck in his day excited the live- liest antagonism, and that a contention arose between his adherents and those of Piccini (the Gluckists and the Piccinists) which enlisted on one side or the other all the literary and fash- ionable people of Paris ? In the preface to an edition of three of his operas (Paris, 1769) Gluck expounded his theories of operatic com- position, the pith of which is that the legiti- mate purpose of music is to second poetry in order to strengthen the expression of the senti- ments and the interest of the drama, without interrupting the action or weakening it by superfluous embellishments. (See GLUCK, vol. viii., p. 43.) These maxims the composer ex- emplified by his works. The subjects were mostly from Greek classical literature, as the names of his principal operas indicate, such as "Orpheus," "Alcestis," "Iphigenia in Aulis," "Paris and Helen," and "Iphigenia in Tauris." In spite of the fierce opposition of the Piccini faction, France gave its adherence with enthu- siasm to Gluck and his works, and from that day the false and artificial methods of the ear- lier composers were laid aside, and a new era began for the opera. The dramatic and poetic element found its true position by the side of melody and harmony. The next great com- poser to exert a wide influence upon operatic and other forms of composition was Mozart. He was a man of universal musical genius, and was distinguished as a writer of chamber music and symphonies and as an operatic composer. His pianoforte compositions were also nu- merous ; but his influence was not marked in that direction, since he adhered to the forms given him by his predecessors, without effect- ing in them any great change or improvement. To this generation he is best known through his operas. He was a thorough master of the Italian art of singing, and brought to the sup- port of the voice and the enriching of his scores his profound knowledge of treatment. What Gluck had begun in the way of sweeping aside the formalism and artificiality of the earlier Italian operatic composers, Mozart com- pleted. Their works together gave a new direc- tion to art, which has had its effect on all sub- sequent composers for the lyric stage. While the "Orpheus," "Alcestis," and "Iphigenia" of Gluck, and the Don Giovanni, "Marriage of Figaro," and " Magic Flute " of Mozart still keep the stage, the works of their contemporaries have mostly passed into oblivion. Cimarosa's Matrimonio segreto is still occasionally heard, but we look in vain in the modern operatic repertoire for the works of Paisiello, Salieri, Sarti, Paer, Zingarelli, Hasse, or Righini, all prominent composers in Mozart's time. But the 18th century was distinguished also by many illustrious performers. The more extended knowledge of harmony and the constantly in- creasing technical ability of instrumental play- ers pushed on the musical instrument makers to improvements and new inventions. The violins, violas, violoncellos, and double basses, as we have seen, had already attained their perfection at the hands of the Amati, Stradi- varius, the Guarneri, Stainer, and other great makers. Yet much remained to be done for keyed instruments, and the efforts for improve- ment made in this direction resulted in the