Abel’s symphonies tended to be somewhat less substantial than those of his colleague Johann Christian Bach (periodical overtures 1 & 15), but they showed a similarity in the structures that were becoming the rage in England: an opening movement showpiece, a simpler and lyrical slow movement, and a light-hearted finale.[1] In fact, the observer William Jackson, writing in 1791, felt that Abel had “very successfully” followed the model of Franz Xaver Richter (Periodical Overture 18), the earliest of the Mannheim composers to have symphonies performed in England.[2] Periodical Overture No. 16 is, overall, an excellent illustration of Abel’s compositional traits. It features the standard (but not inevitable) “eight parts” of the Bremner series, and its contrasting middle movement shifts to the subdominant key of G major. Lacking repeated sections altogether, it is also one of the shortest of all the Periodical Overtures.
The Allegro is the most elaborate of the three movements. After an emphatic tutti opening chord, the upper strings proceed through delicate upward and downward scalar passages in common time, supported by steady “drum 8ths” in the violas. The accompaniment soon shifts to even more animated measured tremolos. The sonata form’s refined second theme features a “learned” passage of contrapuntal interplay between the strings, while the closing theme returns to an embellished scalar ascent in the oboes and first violins above vigorous measured tremolos and drum 8ths. The development relies on motifs from the first theme to return the movement to D major. The closing theme makes two reappearances during the recapitulation, framing the return of the contrapuntal second theme.
In contrast to the largely conjunct melodies of the first movement, the Andante relies on considerably more disjunct motion. It opens at a quiet piano dynamic, but jumps to a subito forte in the fourth bar. The second theme, like the first, contains numerous leaps, but also plays with the contrast between sixteenths in simple subdivision and triplets. The sonata form ushers in the tiniest whiff of a development, while both of the themes are shortened during their recapitulation.
Abel employs a sonata form for a third time in the jaunty finale. This Presto puts the whole orchestra to work in a unison tonic-chord ascending arpeggiation for the first six bars. Abel also displays the era’s increasing interest in greater orchestral color by giving the oboes the conjunct second theme in harmonized thirds; drum 8ths in the second violin and viola provide steady support. The development plays with ostinato-like repeated rhythms before driving to a robust recapitulation of the first theme. The transition between themes is even more expansive than it had been in the exposition, and one of its highlights is an orchestral crescendo which reflects Abel’s awareness of the orchestral devices that were being popularized by the Mannheim composers. The second theme, again in the oboes, reenters at last, while another full-ensemble tonic-chord arpeggiation, this time moving in a downward direction, pulls the movement (and symphony) to an emphatic close.
Alyson McLamore (adapted)
[1] Franklin B. Zimmerman, ed., “Introduction: Carl Friedrich Abel,” in Carl Friedrich Abel, 1723–1787: Six Symphonies, Opus 1 / Johann Christian Bach, 1735–1782: Six Symphonic Works, Series E, vol. II of The Symphony (New York: Garland Publishing, 1988), xiii; Sanford Helm, ed., “Preface,” in Carl Friedrich Abel: Six Selected Symphonies, vol III of Recent Researches in the Music of the Classical Era (Madison: A-R Editions, 1977), viii.
[2] William Jackson, Observations on the Present State of Music in London (Dublin: A. Grueber, J. Moore, J. Rice, W. Jones, R. M’Allister, and R. White, 1791), 16.