Monthly Archives: September 2024

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

This is the seventh 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.

As had been true in the preceding overture  (No. 6) in Bremner’s series, Stamitz used the key of E-flat major throughout Periodical Overture No. 7, and all of the movements—apart from the minuet-and-trio—are in what James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy have called a “Type 2 Sonata” form (||: a/I b/V :||: a/V b/I :||).[1] However, the opening “Allegro” differs from the others by omitting the repetitions that clarify the binary structure. Its opening theme in quadruple-meter is actually dependent on both the violins and the winds; the former play short bursts of eighth notes, separated by rests and emphasized with dynamic contrasts, while the winds play more sustained notes in a syncopated rhythm. The partnership of the first measure is repeated a third higher in the second bar, and this sequential motif becomes a cyclic element throughout the symphony: every movement opens with an upward sequence, most often featuring a rising third. Sudden dynamic contrasts—a Mannheim characteristic—also pervade the entire work.

In the rather brief first movement (only seventy-six measures), Stamitz makes use of many other recognizable “Mannheim” devices, such as “drum 8ths” (i.e., m. 1), measured tremolos (m. 7), and the quick rising-and-falling motif known as the Bebung (m. 41).[2] His own propensity to give special attention to the wind instruments is apparent in the second theme (m. 13), which is presented by the oboes playing in parallel thirds.

The leisurely “Andante,” in cut-time, opens with an upward leap and a descending cascade, along with the sequential repetition that characterizes Periodical Overture No. 7. It also features two uses of a rinzforzando indication in its first two full measures, reflecting Stamitz’s increasing interest in dynamic levels beyond piano and forte, and thereby leading historian Eugene K. Wolf to classify this work as belonging to the middle of Stamitz’s output, probably dating from the early 1750s.[3]

Even though Bremner retained Stamitz’s minuet movement in Periodical Overture 7, he diverged from his possible continental sources in two ways. First, he labeled the second of the rounded-binary structures as a “2d Minuet,” rather than using the “Trio” designation found in both Huberty’s and Hummel’s prints. Second, at the end of that second, quieter minuet, he failed to include any indication to take the customary “da capo al Men[uetto]” (as shown in the Hummel score) or “Al 1o [Primo]” (as indicated by Huberty). Perhaps Bremner assumed that ensembles would be familiar with the expected repetition scheme from their knowledge of the dance itself, even though it had not yet figured very frequently as a movement in British symphonies.

Bremner diverged again from Huberty and Hummel in the tempo designation for the finale: the two continental publishers both called it “Presto,” while Bremner labels it “Allegro.” Probably unwittingly, he thereby reinforced Wolf’s view that this compound-duple finale differed from many of Stamitz’s middle-period works by being “somewhat slower and more dance-like,” and its opening triadic melody certainly has a folk-dance quality.[4] Stamitz continues to showcase the oboes in multiple soli passages, starting in measure 13 when they present the second theme. This toe-tapping finale brings the symphony to a very satisfying conclusion and underscores why Stamitz enjoyed such long-standing popularity in the eighteenth century.

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] Eugene K. Wolf, The Symphonies of Johann Stamitz: A Study in the Formation of the Classic Style (Utrecht: Bohn, Scheltema & Holkema, 1981), 239.

[4] Wolf, The Symphonies of Johann Stamitz, 226.

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

This is the sixth 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.

Records show that The Periodical Overture No. 6 was performed in concerts of the Edinburgh Musical Society twice a year during 1768 and 1769, and it was then played three times in 1770. It was heard sporadically in the Scottish concerts over the next decade and a half: once a year in 1771, 1778, 1779, and 1780; then twice in 1781, once in 1782, three times in 1783, and once again in 1785.[1] Four years later, “The 6th Periodical Overture of J. Stamitz” opened the second half of the final concert in a three-performance 1789 subscription series offered in New York by pianist Alexander Reinagle (1756–1809) and cellist Henri Capron (fl. 1785–95).[2] Reinagle had emigrated from London three years earlier; perhaps he carried the Periodical Overture in his luggage.[3] As had been true for the previous Periodical Overture by Stamitz, the British Library’s copy of No. 6 had been sold by a rival of Bremner: Welcker’s Musick Shop on Gerrard Street, St. Ann’s, in Soho.[4]

Stamitz used the key of E-flat major for all the movements of Periodical Overture No. 6, but the opening “Allegro” in common-time differs from the others by employing a sonata-form structure without repeats. The first half of the opening polyphonic theme sustains its pianissimo dynamic over “drum 4ths” for a surprisingly extended twenty-one measures, then pauses for a fermata. The second half of Theme 1 is a robust forte with sequential upward rockets in the first violins. The transition (m. 38) employs the Mannheim school’s beloved measured tremolos, and the second theme in B-flat major—at measure 62—is closely related to the first theme, similar to the monothematic sonata-form approach that Joseph Haydn would use in a number of his works. The main contrast in this passage is Stamitz’s increased emphasis on the oboes, who play a much more active line; another measured tremolo leads to the start of the development (m. 113). The development’s sudden drop to pianissimo launches another favorite Mannheim device: a full-ensemble crescendo to fortissimo over the next nine bars. Moreover, the horns are given an extensive “vibrato” indication by means of a long, wavy line. The recapitulation’s return to the tonic (m. 174) also returns to the pianissimo dynamic, but the winds are given an even more prominent role, including some distinctive triplets.

Both the second and third movements employ the same form, diagrammed as ||: a/I b/V :||: a/V b/I :||. James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy have labeled this pattern as a “Type 2 Sonata.”[5] The duple-meter “Andante” reduces the scoring to strings only, playing a fairly disjunct “a” theme and a more conjunct, triplet-filled “b” melody (m. 29). The finale employs the full ensemble, again in duple meter, but now at a lively “Presto.” The first theme is syncopated with quick upward arpeggiations (and vibrato passages in the winds), while the more lyrical second theme (m. 57) showcases the oboes above “drum 8ths.” The lengthy second half of the Type 2 binary sonata form features some lovely harmonic progressions and employs another Mannheim crescendo that starts in measure 205. The movement represents one of Stamitz’s most extended structures, leading Eugene K. Wolf to classify it as a very late work, as well as “probably also [Stamitz’s] most dramatic.”[6]

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), 310–345 passim.

[2] O. G. Sonneck, Early Concert-Life in America (1731–1800) (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1907), 187–8.

[3] Robert Hopkins, “Reinagle: (2) Alexander Reinagle,” in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., ed. Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan, 2001), Vol. 21: 153.

[4] British Library, g.474.n.(4).

[5] 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.

[6] Wolf, The Symphonies of Johann Stamitz, 338.