The musicologist Eugene Wolf, regards No. 12 as a middle-period work by Stamitz, dating from approximately 1748–1752.[1] Perhaps for that reason, the opening movement’s sonata-form is somewhat vestigial. After three crisp “hammer-blow” strokes, or premier coups d’archet, followed by a series of arpeggiated chords, the first theme proceeds into a measured-tremolo passage (a characteristic “Mannheim” gesture) that is repeated via a descending sequence.[2] Stamitz’s orchestration skill is evident in a delicious passage occurring first in measures 31–34, in which an upward-leap motif is quickly tossed between various families of the ensemble. The second theme (m. 47) is more lyrical; after ten piano measures, it ascends through a forte sequence above “drum 8ths.” It, too, is followed by a repetition of the upward-leap interplay, and the exposition concludes with arpeggiation that resembles the opening. The development (m. 79) begins with the hammer blows, now in C major, but the recapitulation (m. 141) starts with the second theme, and only a small fragment of the first theme’s arpeggiated material returns to wrap up the movement (m. 195).

As is the case with many early-Classic symphonies, the second movement shifts to the subdominant key of B-flat major and employs a binary-sonata pattern that James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy call a “Type 2 Sonata”; it can be diagrammed as an ||: a/I b/V :||: a/V b/I :|| structure.[3] The first theme is filled with energetic sixteenth-note triplets that are often performed homorhythmically by the strings-only ensemble; rapid dynamic changes occur every one or two measures. The second theme (m. 32) is conjunct and more lyrical, but it, too, features multiple dynamic contrasts. The first theme is presented in the dominant F major at measure 44, while it is only the second theme that returns to the tonic in measure 86.

In several ways, the “Presto” finale meets the expectations of its era: it is in a gigue-like 3/8 meter and conforms to a standard sonata-form structure. The bouncy first theme arpeggiates the home key of F major and the melody is soon underpinned by Mannheim-esque measured tremolos and drum 8ths. Stamitz’s surprise arrives with the second theme, however, which is in the dominant minor mode (m. 44). Only with the closing theme (m. 63), with its forceful quadruple-stop chords, do we arrive at a full-fledged C major. The themes are presented in the same order during the recapitulation (m. 134), but the second theme retains its minor mode (m. 180). Again, however, the multi-stop closing theme (m. 198) steers the movement back into major mode, leading to an extended and robust coda.

Alyson McLamore

[1] Wolf E., The Symphonies of Johann Stamitz, 391.

[2] David D. Boyden and Peter Walls, “Coup d’archet,” in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., ed. Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan, 2001), Vol. 6: 579.

[3] James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy, Elements of Sonata Theory: Norms, Types, and Deformations in the Late-Eighteenth-Century Sonata (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 353–4.