Paper details:
LISTEN (Watch) the video of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor, 1st Movement via the link:
Follow along with this listening guide that is provided. You will want to write down the timing cues so that you have them in front of you as you listen. Listening guide for SONATA FORM:
EXPOSITION – 2 themes: 1st in tonic key (in this case, minor); 2nd theme moves to major.
0:00 – 1st (Primary) theme, minor key (sad, impassioned, tragic)
0: 26.5 Transition (marked by sudden, loud burst. Lots of quick scales, repeated short phrases)
0:42 2nd (secondary) theme. Major key, smooth, legato. Alternates between woodwinds and strings, as opposed to 1sttheme which was played almost exclusively by the strings.
1:01 Closing material: end the first major portion of the work, and you’ll notice that Mozart uses pieces of his 1st theme material in this area.
1:39 REPEAT OF EXPOSITION (The musicians just start over at the beginning again, the idea being that the audience has a chance to get the themes in their head so that they can grasp how the composer manipulates them in the DEVELOPMENT section).
1:39 1st theme repeat
2:05 Transition repeat
2:21 2nd theme repeat
2:40 Closing repeat
DEVELOPMENT
3:18 Beginning of development – Short, loud bursts that push us away from the home key. Then uses the first half of the 1st theme three times, each time is lower then the one before.
3:31 Suddenly loud, still using first half of 1st theme, now alternating between low strings, then in the high strings.
3:53 Suddenly soft. Uses the only HALF OF THE FIRST HALF of 1st theme in strings, echoed by the woodwinds (clarinet and flutes)
4:08 Suddenly Loud. Uses only HALF OF THE HALF OF THE FIRST HALF of the first theme – just 3 notes!! (get it? He keeps whittling down the 1st theme into smaller and smaller bits as we move through the development). This is alternatedrapidly between high and low strings.
4:15. Suddenly soft. Uses the small bit of 1st theme (three-notes), repeated lower each time to bring us back to the home (beginning) key for the:
RECAPITUALTION – Like the exposition except that the 2nd theme is not in a different key.
4:31.5 1st theme (exactly like it was in the beginning)
4:45 Transition (but this trasition doesn’t move from minor to major key, so its different, longer)
5:20 2nd theme (now in the home, minor key….this time it feels tragic. It adds variety to a familiar section, so instead of hearing the expositon for a third time verbatim, you get a bit of change, but not so much change that it’s unrecognizable)
5:40 Closing material (brings the work ((almost)) to a close)
6:16 Coda (tail) an extra bit that really brings the piece to an end…you’ll notice thart there’s STILL a lot of 1st theme stuff floating around in this section!
END OF LISTENING GUIDE
WATCH the following YouTube clip with Leonard Bernstein explaining some of the same work in greater detail. There is a bit of terminology here that may not be familiar, but don’t sweat it, just push through and you’ll see what he means. Be SURE to do your listening first before this or you’ll be TOTALLY lost! Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0ZE38BQmvQ
POST your thoughts on the following (at least 150 original words):
This SONTATA FORM was popular (among those who could afford the time and money for this kind of music) in the 18thand 19th centuries, and audiences would have expected this music to unfold in a certain, predictable manner. Are there “forms” that we as audiences expect when we hear new music (popular or otherwise)? If so, what are those forms (I don’t need official names, but just an explanation of what they are)? In what ways can these expectations be thwarted by musicians so that we’re surprised by the forms? Can you name one popular song that you know where the form differs from the norm?
