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Gaetano Pugnani – The Periodical Overture in 8 Parts XIX

With this, the nineteenth instalment of the Periodical Overtures in 8 Parts, we begin the third set of six overtures published monthly between 1763 and 1783. The next six overtures are dedicated to 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.

The earliest known advertisement for Periodical Overture No. 19 is dated 20 August 1767, and it contains the standard phrase “This Day is published” that Bremner used when each issue was newly released. He did repeat the identical verbiage in another advertisement two days later, so it is possible that the symphony had made its actual debut a few days before 20 August, with no earlier newspaper issues surviving today to document the fact. Still, it is certain that the work appeared during August 1767, and thus Bremner once again honored his pledge to publish only music that had not yet appeared in the British Isles.  …

Curiously, the version of the symphony published by Bremner differs in numerous respects from its Parisian predecessors (as well as from the subsequent Welcker edition, since that is a duplicate of the Oger/Maillet print). Some of the changes reflect Bremner’s customary practices: he added figured bass to the Basso part, which is not present in either French publication. As was often the case, Bremner eliminated the “Minuetto” movement that appeared in the Oger/Maillet edition; that movement is also absent from Bailleux’s Sinfonia Periodique. Indeed, it seems probable that Bremner used the Bailleux version as his source, since his Basso part matches the many pitch register differences that distinguish the two French parts, as well as the duration of the multi-measure rest in the first movement that starts at measure 43; Bailleux and Bremner give the basses ten measures of rest, while it is only nine bars in Oger/Maillet.

In other ways, however, Bremner differs fairly significantly from both of the French prints. The viola part is divisi in all three movements of Periodical Overture No. 19, whereas the Oger/Maillet version divides the violas solely in the Andante movement (which Bremner labels as “Adagio”). Moreover, the viola parts in that French edition are completely different than the parts in Bremner’s issue. Instead, Bremner’s Viola I melody is derived from the Bailleux print (which contains only a single, undivided part), and Bremner has crafted his own Viola II part, harmonizing it primarily in thirds with Viola I, along with occasional polyphonic interweavings.

An even more surprising change is Bremner’s simplification of the syncopated pulsation that Violin I plays at the opening of the work in both French editions. Instead of off-beat quarter notes (reinforced by Violin II starting in measure 6), Bremner has his violins play steady eighth notes. It is not clear why he made this change; was it intended to make it easier for less-skilled ensembles to perform? A need for simplification does not seem fully warranted, since there had been many other symphonies already published as Periodical Overtures that presented greater rhythmic challenges. The modification seems even stranger in light of the fact that Bremner retains the French off-beat notation during the recapitulation of the opening material (m. 114). The purpose for these alterations remains a mystery, but perhaps it was a justifiable decision, given the subsequent longevity of the work. Although Bremner published only this one symphony by Pugnani in the Periodical Overture series, it remained in the repertory for a long time. Scholar Jenny Burchell has documented at least five performances of Periodical Overture No. 19 at concerts of the Edinburgh Musical Society, starting in 1769 and persisting for twenty years after it was published.[1]

Even with Bremner’s modifications, Pugnani’s ingenuity as a composer remains apparent. Rather than the bold coup d’archet openings of so many Mannheim composers, the start of Pugnani’s “Allegro assai” is a mysterious pianissimo. Only in the second bar, still at pianissimo, do the low strings present the simple rising-and-falling motif that comprises the first “melody” of this sonata form. Finally, in measure 19, a subito forte, reiterated triplets against “drum 8ths,” and the tutti ensemble combine to jolt the listeners. Three homorhythmic chords—played by the full ensemble—mark the end of the bridge (m. 42) and the start of the second theme (m. 43), which again starts quietly. This time, the first violins play little fragmentary motifs above the harmonic “carpeting” provided by the horns and lower strings. The theme ends with a striking series of whole-note chords (m. 62), drawing attention to the end of the exposition and the start of the development, which is filled with measured tremolos (m. 71). Three strong chords (m. 113) again articulate the structure, with the recapitulation beginning in the subsequent bar. This time, however, the low strings start their melody during the first measure of Violin I’s pulsations. Again, three emphatic chords (m. 135) herald the return of the second theme (m. 136), and the delicious whole-note chordal passage recurs in bar 155.

For the slightly melancholy “Adagio,” Pugnani shifts to the relative minor and eliminates the horns. Not only does this movement again open quietly, but it sustains the piano dynamic throughout, and all the string instruments are continuously muted. The movement is structured in three parts, each of which has a very similar rhythmic profile: a melodic line that emphasizes off-beat eighth notes against an on-the-beat accompaniment, often in a steady eighth-note/eighth-rest pattern. The second of the three sections, B, at measure 10, shifts to the mediant key, and a variant of the B material recurs at bar 29. The third section, C (m. 41), restores the movement to its opening C minor tonality, but does not reprise the melodic material heard at the start.

The strong emphasis on the downbeats and the bouncy contour of the melody during the closing “Allegro assai” reflect the gigue’s influence on this finale. The opening key of E-flat major is restored, and Pugnani 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.[2] A crescendo for the full ensemble (m. 37) points to the arrival of the second theme (m. 45) This melody is presented by the oboes, initially unaccompanied, but then joined by the tutti in bar 49. The first theme reappears in measure 66, and in the process of transitioning back from the dominant to the tonic, the oboes are given another solo feature (m. 84). They return to the spotlight a third time in bar 123, when the second theme is now played in E-flat major. Overall, the finale creates a strong contrast to the distinctive first and second movements, giving the audience a wide variety of musical experiences within a single work.

Alyson McLamore

[1] Jenny Burchell, Polite or Commercial Concerts?: Concert Management and Orchestral Repertoire in Edinburgh, Bath, Oxford, Manchester, and Newcastle, 1730–1799, Outstanding Dissertations in Music from British Universities, ed. by John Caldwell (New York: Garland Publishing, 1996), 312, 319, 337, 344, 347.

[2] 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.

Johann Stamitz: The Periodical Overture in 8 Parts – No. XI

This is the eleventh installment  of the Periodical Overtures in 8 Parts which are being published in conjunction with Musikproduktion Höflich.

Listen here before heading over to musikproduktion höflich to obtain the score and parts.

 

In 1826, a correspondent … wrote to The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review in response to a previous issue’s article “The Great Symphonists.” He listed a number of mid-eighteenth-century symphonists whom he felt had been unjustly ignored. He credited (Johann) Stamitz with introducing the crescendo and diminuendo, and pointed to Periodical Overture No. 11 as possessing “beautiful specimens” of the crescendo in its first and last movements.[1] Then, in 1980—two centuries after the symphony’s heyday—Claude V. Palisca published Stamitz’s first movement in the inaugural edition of the Norton Anthology of Western Music.[2] He based his score on the venerable Denkmäler Deutscher Tonkunst edition from 1902.[3] That selection has therefore given generations of collegiate music students an introduction to characteristic “Mannheim” features in this vigorous opening; it also make the first movement of Bremner’s edition seem like a familiar friend.

One of the memorable gestures of Periodical Overture No. 11 is the use of three sharp “hammer-blow” strokes, or premier coups d’archet, that immediately grab listeners’ attention.[4] This “Allegro assai” is structured as a quadruple-meter sonata form without repetitions (characteristic of Stamitz’s later symphonies), and the first theme is underpinned by measured tremolos in the second violins and violas and by “drum 8ths” in the “Basso” part.[5] Distinctive horn calls resound in the second half of the theme (m. 11), and one of the transition’s most exciting elements is the use of Mannheim crescendos, which begin building in measure 18 and again in measure 27. The oboes are showcased in the more lyrical second theme (m. 47), which also plays with antiphonal effects between sections of the orchestra. After the modulatory development (m. 75), the recapitulation reverses the order of the themes, with the lyrical oboes reappearing in measure 108, the horn calls in measure 132, and the hammer-blows in measure 139 for a resounding conclusion.

The “Andantino” shifts to the dominant key of B-flat major, and it employs a binary-sonata pattern that James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy call a “Type 2 Sonata,” diagrammed as an ||: a/I b/V :||: a/V b/I :|| structure.[6] This simple-duple movement is scored for strings only, and its first theme has a lovely lilting quality above softly pulsing drum 8ths. The second theme (m. 30) features both the bass and viola parts in rising and falling scalar patterns, followed by the violins in a more disjunct and syncopated line (m. 40). Like many Mannheim works, sudden dynamic contrasts are often separated by only a single measure, and the latter half of the movement is peppered with rinforzandi accentuations.

The “Prestissimo,” an exhilarating finale in 3/8, is again loaded with strategies that the Mannheim orchestra made famous. Its first theme comprises an upward sequence that employs the quick rising-and-falling motif known as the Bebung, while the bass strings accompany with steady drum 8ths.[7] The sequence gradually crescendos to bell-like chords played fortissimo by the whole ensemble (m. 17) while the upper strings now play measured tremolos. The chords are quickly followed by lively hunting-style fanfares for the winds and upper strings. The sonata form’s second theme (m. 47) again starts quietly; the second violins and violas play oscillating, conjunct lines underneath measured tremolos, with the oboes joining in on the second half of each phrase. The extremely brief development (m. 95) plays with a modulatory Bebung before stabilizing in E-flat at measure 103 for the recapitulation of the first theme. The second theme makes its own return in measure 149. A series of seven hammer-blow E-flat chords in the last three bars bring the movement (and symphony) to a satisfying, table-thumping close.

Alyson McLamore

[1] Senex, “To the Editor,” The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review 8, no. 31 (July 1826): 304–5.

[2] Johann Anton Wenzel Stamitz, “Sinfonia a 8 in E-flat Major (La Melodia Germanica No. 3), in Classic • Romantic • Modern, 42–50, Vol. II of Norton Anthology of Western Music, ed. Claude V. Palisca (New York: W. W. Norton, 1980); it continues to appear in the 2019 eighth edition.

[3] Hugo Riemann, ed., Sinfonien der pfalzbayerischen Schule (Mannheimer Symphoniker), Jahrgang III, vol. 1 of Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Bayern (Denkmäler deutscher Tonkunst, Zweite Folge), ed. Adam Sandbergern (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1902), 1–28.

[4] 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.

[5] Wolf, The Symphonies of Johann Stamitz, 340.

[6] 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.

[7] Hugo Riemann, ed., Sinfonien der pfalzbayerischen Schule (Mannheimer Symphoniker), in Year 7, Vol. II, of Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Bayern, in Series 2 of Denkmäler deutscher Tonkunst (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1906), xvii.

Christian Cannabich: The Periodical Overture in 8 Parts – No. X

This is the tenth installment  of the Periodical Overtures in 8 Parts which are being published in conjunction with Musikproduktion Höflich.

Listen here before heading over to musikproduktion höflich to obtain the score and parts.

The original four-movement structure of The Periodical Overture in 8 Parts by Christian Cannabich indicate that it is an early, composed while he was still under the influence of the late Johann Stamitz and before he took his excursions to Paris. All three of the movements retained by Bremner use the same binary-sonata format 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.[1] The brisk unison premier coup d’archet chords at the start of the “Allegro ma non troppo” are, unusually, in triple meter, and the rest of the movement is filled with features that are associated with the Mannheim school: “drum 8ths” (especially in measure 17 and onward), dramatic crescendos (mm. 2, 32, 43, etc.), measured tremolos (m. 44), and the quick rising-and-falling motif known as the Bebung (m. 2).[2] Of course, commentators have been noting since 1778 that these characteristics can also be found in Jommelli’s music, so Cannabich would have been influenced from two directions to adopt these gestures.[3] For the second theme (m. 36), Cannabich presents a disjunct call-and-response dialogue between the violins and flutes, introducing a nice timbral variety to the movement.

The “Andante Grazioso” reduces the scoring to strings alone and shifts, unsurprisingly, to the subdominant A-flat major. The violins initially engage in a hocket-like sequential dialogue, but they join forces for longer stretches of parallel harmonies (m. 9). The violins again harmonize in the second theme (m. 22), keeping listeners a bit off-balance with variable phrase lengths.

Cannabich uses a host of devices to enhance a sense of irresistible drive in the “Presto assai.” Steady drum 8ths maintain the propulsion against a quiet, syncopated, rising string melody, with occasional fanfare interjections from the French horns. An upward sequence of Bebung motifs (m. 22) yields to measured tremolos (m. 25), all during an exciting crescendo passage. A series of brief climbing motifs launches the second theme (m. 49), but the flutes are quickly given a more extended solo showcase (m. 53). A robust closing theme (m. 73) plays with sudden dynamic contrasts, helping to make the entire movement seem breathless and exhilarating.

Alyson McLamore

[1] 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.

[2] Hugo Riemann, ed., Sinfonien der pfalzbayerischen Schule (Mannheimer Symphoniker), in Year 7, Vol. II, of Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Bayern, in Series 2 of Denkmäler deutscher Tonkunst (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1906), xvii.

[3] Wolf, “Christian Cannabich,” 389, note 8.