Tag Archives: PeriodicalOvertures

Francesco Pasquale Ricci: The Periodical Overture in 8 Parts – XXIV

With Periodical Overture No. 24, Robert Bremner returned to Francesco Pasquale Ricci (1732–1817) after a five-year gap — the longest between appearances by a single composer in the series to that point. The choice was probably deliberate: Ricci’s earlier overture (No. 2) had shown staying power, and his familiar name made him an apt choice to close “Opera Quarta,” Bremner’s only all-Italian set. The connection between composer and publisher may well have been personal: Ricci spent time in London in the spring of 1767, and it is possible that the introduction came through Johann Christian Bach, with whom Ricci had shared the patronage of Count Agostino Litta in Milan. The B♭ major symphony may even have originated in the musical academy that Ricci directed there, bringing amateurs and professionals together in performance.

 

Francesco Pasquale Ricci (1732–1817) The Periodical Overture in 8 Parts – No. XXIV Key: B♭ | Movements: 3 – (1) Con spirito (2) Maestoso (3) Allegro Duration: 14:31 Scoring: 2 violins, viola, basso, 2 oboes, 2 horns Originally published by Robert Bremner, London, c.1768 RISM R.127

Purchase the score and performance materials:

https://repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de/product/ricci-francesco-pasquale-2/

From the Preface to the printed edition: The first movement of the B♭ major symphony lives up to its “Con spirito” designation from the start, opening with a bold coup d’archet of an ascending dotted-rhythm pattern for the entire ensemble. “Drum 8ths” sustain the excitement when the dynamic level drops to piano in the eighth bar. Although the meter is a less-common , the structure is an uncomplicated sonata form. The animated first theme is followed by a more delicate second subject at measure 25 in the expected key of F major. Like the quieter second phrase of the first theme, it, too, is supported by steady drum 8ths, and the violins add measured tremolos as they approach the development (m. 41). The sudden transition in measure 41 to a one-on-a-part string ensemble supporting a fairly elaborate Violin I solo gives the passage a concerto-like intensity. The development’s harmonic wanderings are compounded by constant subito shifts between piano and forte, and the passage ends with an exhilarating downward scale into the recapitulation at measure 65, when the full ensemble rejoins at last. The first theme is virtually unchanged during its reappearance, and after yielding to the second theme in measure 96, the first theme’s opening coup d’archet wraps up the movement in measure 115.

The string-only slow movement of Periodical Overture No 24 is unusual in its true “Maestoso” qualities. The unison violins present the stately opening F-major arpeggiated melody for two measures before being echoed by the lower strings in the dominant harmony of C (again in octave unison). This imitative polyphony acknowledges the “learned” approach, which differs markedly from the “grazioso” style of the middle movements in many of Bremner’s symphonies. Like the first movement, the meter is again triple, and the structure is again sonata form, although without repeats. Similar to the development in the “Con spirito,” Ricci reduces the scoring to solo strings repeatedly during the course of the movement, with the first instance occurring in measure five. The second theme (m. 17) is much more conjunct, including a brief chromatic ascent (m. 20), and the exposition concludes with another short but regal passage of dotted rhythms (m. 26) that arpeggiate the C major harmony. The development (m. 29) immediately shifts to the dominant minor, but it is not long until the unison first theme re-enters (m. 41). Another passage in c minor (m. 52) serves as the bridge to the reappearance of the second theme, now in the tonic F major, and—after a fermata (m. 65), which suggests Ricci may have envisioned an opportunity for a brief first-violin cadenza—the dotted rhythms return in measure 66 to conclude the movement.

Ricci changes the mood entirely in the bouncy finale. The lively “Allegro,” back in B-flat major, is yet another sonata form. Its lilting first theme features the rising-and-falling Bebung gesture that was named by scholars who observed its use by composers of the Mannheim school, but which is also widely found in Italian orchestral music of the time. Drum 8ths and measured tremolos add to the zeal of the energetic melody, and their support continues on into the second theme (m. 23). This contrasting melody plays with frequent dynamic contrasts and is somewhat more disjunct than the first theme. Just as in the first movement, the development showcases another extended passage of one-on-a-part string scoring (m. 35). Again, one player propels the whole passage; after two unadorned dotted-half notes, the first violinist embarks on a nearly continuous string of sixteenth notes to drive back to the recapitulation and the return of the tutti (m. 51). The bridge between the first and second themes (m. 71) is underpinned by a six-measure F pedal tone in the basso and horn parts. The second theme’s dynamic contrasts resume in measure 81, while four measures of sustained B♭ major harmony are an emphatic conclusion to the movement as well as to the overall symphony.

Alyson McLamore

Niccolò Piccinni (Piccini): The Periodical Overture in 8 Parts – XXIII

With The Periodical Overture No. XXIII, Robert Bremner issued the last of four works by Niccolò Piccinni (1728–1800) that he included in the long-running Periodical Overture series. Until this issue, Bremner had never featured the same composer four times in a row. However, all four of the Piccinni overtures were published within “Opera Quarta,” Bremner’s only all-Italian set during the twenty years of his enterprise. As Piccinni was one of the most performed opera composers in 1760s London, it explains why Bremner published four of his overtures in quick succession.

Periodical Overture No. XXIII shares many basic characteristics with the other three symphonies by Piccinni that Bremner published. All of them conform to an (unmodified) three-movement, fast-slow-fast structure, and they all employ solely the advertised eight-part ensemble of two violins, viola, basso, two oboes, and two horns. In addition, Piccinni uses the same tempo indication—“Allegro spiritoso”—for the first movements in all four symphonies. Nevertheless, the opening movement of Periodical Overture No. 23 offers some uncommon features as well. It is set in  3/4 metre, a time signature found in only eight of The Periodical Overtures’ first movements. Curiously, some manuscript copies of the oratorio version—La morte di Abele—employed  6/8 metre instead, presenting the same melodies but grouping their eighth notes differently.[1]

The form of the first movement was much more typical of the overall Periodical Overtures. It is a straightforward sonata form (without repeats), comprised of two distinct melodies. The first of its themes employs six-bar phrases that gradually ascend through arpeggiations of the tonic F major harmony for four bars before cascading downward rapidly for two measures. The lower strings provide a steady “drum 8ths” support throughout. Alternating bars of measured tremolos in the violins coincide with the long transition (m. 15) to the dominant. The second theme (m. 30) moves primarily downward, and it showcases rapid on-the-beat turns that create a “Scotch snap” effect.

Four emphatic chords—followed by a beat of silence for the full ensemble (m. 44–45)—signal the arrival at the development, which introduces several striking contrasts. It drops instantly to a piano dynamic level and it also omits the wind instruments for its entire duration of twenty-two measures. It also begins in the dominant’s parallel minor, creating quite a bit of drama on multiple fronts. The recapitulation (m. 68) shakes off all those features and returns to F major and the first theme in a robust forte for the full ensemble. A tonic version of the second theme is ushered in at measure 89, although the first theme will seize the spotlight a final time at measure 100. Piccinni then blends motifs from both of the themes in alternation as he approaches the cadence and the concluding set of four strong chords.

The central “Andantino” creates a very different atmosphere. Like the first movement’s development passage, the winds are tacet. The rondo structure alternates between two tonal centers—B-flat major (the first movement’s subdominant) and its own dominant (F major). The A refrain is filled with thirty-second notes and Scotch snaps with numerous short silences; its dynamic changes between piano and forte are abrupt and frequent. The first episode (m. 11) initially resembles the refrain, but B then moves on to some brief scales. The refrain reappears, largely unaltered, at m. 16, again in B-flat major. The C episode modulates back to F major once more (m. 22). Although C is also rhythmically dense with frequent rests, it is much more disjunct in character, and it remains at piano for a much longer stretch. Measure 27 then pulls us back to where we began, reestablishing B-flat major and reiterating the A refrain once again.

The closing “Allegro” movement’s form is a pattern that James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy label a “Type 1 Sonata.”[2] This pattern is sometimes called a sonatina; it is, essentially, a sonata form without development. It has much in common with the finales of the other Piccini works in Bremner’s series: it is full of bouncy energy in  meter that evokes a gigue. (Periodical Overture No. 22 employed  instead, but to similar effect.) The modulation from the tonic F major to the dominant C major is straightforward, but Piccinni keeps us guessing in many places with his use of irregular phrase lengths. Although the first theme (m. 1) and the second theme (m. 17) have much in common rhythmically, many of their phrases move in opposite directions. The recapitulation reestablishes F major at measure 39, and it reconciles the second theme to that harmony at measure 56. Heads are likely to nod along during the rollicking ending, and the appealing qualities of this sinfonia make it understandable why Piccinni chose to deploy it multiple times.

Alyson McLamore

Purchase the score and performance materials: https://repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de/product/piccinni-piccini-niccolo-4/

All audio previews for this series (Nos. I–XXII on Bandcamp; XXIII onwards on YouTube): https://www.barnabypriest.com/editing-arranging/1169742-the-periodical-overtures-in-8-parts/ https://barnabypriest.bandcamp.com/music

Notes:

[1] https://rism.online/sources/400012152.

[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), 345–6.