With this, the twentieth instalment of the Periodical Overtures in 8 Parts, we continue Bremner’s publication of overtures written by Italian composers whose music was all the rage in London towards the end of the 1760s. All 61 overtures, actually symphonies, in the complete series are being published monthly by Musikproduktion Höflich. Listen here before heading over to musikproduktion höflich to obtain your copy of the score and parts.
Announcement of the publication of Overture XX.
[The popularity of the publication of Piccinni’s overture to La buona figliuola as Periodical Overture in 8 Parts XX] is evident in the numerous keyboard arrangements published until the end of the century. A circa 1800 print by T. Williamson seems to be based directly on Bremner’s score for the full opera, since it is set in three movements with almost identical notation.[1] Others, such as the prints sold by James Aird (1785) or G. Walker (1800), were newly engraved.[2] The same is true for a 1785 arrangement made by Thomas Carter and published by John Preston, which was designed “for Two Performers on One Harpsichord or Piano Forte.”[3] A copy of Carter’s four-hand arrangement was in Jane Austen’s personal library, suggesting the ongoing appeal of the work on into the nineteenth century.[4]
It is interesting that Senex, [an anonymous] nineteenth-century magazine correspondent, had singled out Piccinni’s overture as the exemplar for the model mid-century symphony, since its second and third movements were usually performed without a break (contrary to Bremner’s three-movement structure in the keyboard reduction for his opera print). Still, Senex is correct about the overture’s other large-scale characteristics. The work is scored for the ubiquitous eight-part ensemble of two violins, viola, basso, two oboes, and two horns, and it conforms to a typical fast-slow-fast tempo plan.
The first movement, “Allegro spiritoso,” reflects Piccinni’s independence from the sonata-form domination that characterized the Mannheim compositions of the day. Its architecture is an energetic but overall rather simple ternary structure. The arpeggiated opening theme is succeeded by a second motif (m. 10) that features downbeat thirty-second-note flourishes, which is then followed by a variant of the opening arpeggiation (m. 20) in the dominant key of A major. Measured tremolos (m. 28) and a murky bass (m. 44) drive the movement toward its B section (m. 53). The dynamic level drops to piano while the violins play a lyrical theme that shares some resemblance to the measure 10 motif. Again, the build-up of tremolos and murky bass herald the shortened return (A’) of the first motif and the tonic D major (m. 84).
Piccinni uses several similar strategies for the “Andante” movement, including a ternary form. The movement opens in the parallel key of D minor, scored only for strings, and after a disjunct opening measure, the A melody descends an octave by means of staccato eighth notes. The central B section (m. 9) initially repeats the first theme—now in the relative key of F major—but when the key shifts to g minor (m. 17), a new motif appears. It is characterized by sudden piano—forte juxtapositions, and thus it contrasts with a third motif containing frequent eighth rests, coinciding with a modulation to A major (m. 29). This is, of course, the dominant of D minor, and thus prepares listeners for the return of the opening A material in measure 39. The dynamic level then increases, retreats, and increases again as the movement pushes—without pause—toward the “Presto” finale, where the overture’s initial D major tonality is restored and the winds rejoin the ensemble.
The finale retains the same meter of the slow movement, and it again unfolds as a ternary form. This time, however, there is a clearer distinction between the themes for the A and B sections, although both are bouncy and gigue-like. The first motif moves initially in an ascending direction above “drum 8ths,” and it is set in a slightly higher register than the second theme (m. 49). The B material, in the dominant key of A major, has a primarily descending contour. The A theme and the home key of D major return in measure 63, and the lively movement concludes with a series of emphatic triple-stop chords.
[1] The British Library, g.443.p.(13).
[2] The British Library, g.1126.c.(3) and g.354.o.(2).
[3] The British Library, h.3290.aa.(4).
[4] Patrick Piggott, The Innocent Diversion: A Study of Music in the Life and Writings of Jane Austen, The Clover Hill Editions (London: D. Cleverdon, 1979), 143.
Alyson McLamore