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CHAPTER 34 Instrumental Music in Germany and Austria
9

Chapter 34 instrumental music in germany and austria

Jan 16, 2015

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Page 1: Chapter 34   instrumental music in germany and austria

CHAPTER 34

Instrumental Music

in Germany and Austria

Page 2: Chapter 34   instrumental music in germany and austria

Although Italy was the fountainhead of Western art music during the 17th century, other countries developed their own distinctive musical styles and practices.

In German-speaking lands these types of pieces were favored:- highly contrapuntal pieces - those built upon sacred melodies

Page 3: Chapter 34   instrumental music in germany and austria

Johann Froberger: German organist and composer

• Like many Northern musicians, he studied for several years in Italy– and later served as organist at the imperial

court in Vienna.

• He composed almost exclusively keyboard music and established the dance suite – as an important genre of music for

clavichord and harpsichord.

Page 4: Chapter 34   instrumental music in germany and austria

• Dance Suite - an ordered set of dances for solo instrument or ensemble

– all written in the same key – intended to be performed as a suite in a single sitting.

The core dances of the dance suite are the:

– Allemande – in common time at a moderate tempo.

– Courante – a lively dance characterized by intentional metrical ambiguity by means of hemiola (usually in ¾ meter).

– Sarabande – A slow, stately dance in ¾ with a strong accent on the second beat.

– Gigue – A fast dance in triple meter with a constant eighth-note pulse.

Page 5: Chapter 34   instrumental music in germany and austria

• Program music: music in which some external influence or non-musical event affects the general spirit and the specific details of an instrumental composition – music which tells a story or is associated

with one.

• In the late 17th century, both the suite and the sonata began to display programmatic elements.

• Through the compositions of Heinrich Biber and Johann Kuhnau among others, instrumental music was appropriating the expressivity of vocal music.

Page 6: Chapter 34   instrumental music in germany and austria

Johann Kuhnau: immediate predecessor of J.S. Bach as cantor at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, he is known today primarily for his set of six keyboard sonatas entitled Musical Representations of a Few Biblical Histories (1700). The first of these sonatas, The Battle between David and Goliath, constitutes a prime example of programmatic music.

Page 7: Chapter 34   instrumental music in germany and austria

The North German Organ Traditions

• Exemplified by Buxtehude's organ compositions, they are marked by – intense counterpoint– the use of choral tunes– virtuosic display showing vestiges of

improvisation.

• Dieterich Buxtehude: Considered the

greatest north German organ composer.

• Born in Denmark, he served as organist at the church of St. Mary in Lübeck for nearly forty years.

Page 8: Chapter 34   instrumental music in germany and austria

The South German Organ Tradition

• As evident in Pachelbel's organ pieces, it tempers the Nordic contrapuntal rigor with an increased fondness for lyricism.

• Johann Pachelbel: German composer, trained in the south German and Austrian organ tradition.

• Although he composed hundreds of vocal and instrumental pieces, his fame today chiefly resides in his Canon in D Major.

Page 9: Chapter 34   instrumental music in germany and austria

• Choral fantasia: a lengthy composition for organ that takes a choral tune as a point of departure - increasingly gives free reign to the

composer's imagination.

• Choral prelude: a work for organ that sets a Lutheran choral tune, – surrounding it with counterpoint and florid

embellishment.• Unlike the choral fantasia, in a choral

prelude the tune is sounded just once.