Mozart fact sheet

W.A Mozart

1st movement from Symphony No.40 in G minor (1788)

FACT SHEET

GCSE Music: AoS1

Classical Period

Symphony

A period of music from 1750 – 1830 where the focus was on clarity, order and balance.

A large scale musical work written for a large orchestra containing strings, woodwind, brass and percussion instruments.

Classical features -

Instrumentation

Graceful melodies written in regular phrases of 8 bars (4 question, 4 answer).

Mostly homophonic texture with some use of polyphonic texture.

Pieces had a sense of balance with clear structures, for e.g sonata form.

Use of major and minor keys with regular cadences.

Lots of use of chords I, IV, V, II, VI. More varied dynamics than baroque.

Typical classical orchestral instruments.

The piece is written for classical orchestra and the instruments Mozart as written for are as follows, String Family Violins (1st and 2nd) Violas Cellos Double Basses

Woodwind Flute x 1 Oboes x 2 Clarinet x 2 Bassoon x 2

Brass French Horn x 2

Common instruments that also feature in a Classical orchestra but DO NOT feature in this piece are trumpet (brass) and timpani (percussion).

Sonata Form Can you recognise and describe these sections in detail?

Exposition (1-100) Opening section where all musical material is heard for the first time.

First Subject (1-20) Presented in the tonic key (G minor) Bridge (20-44) Music modulates to a relative key Second subject (44-72) A contrasting theme in a relative key (Bb major) Codetta (73-100) Short section to bring the exposition to the end.

Whole exposition section repeats.

Development (101-164)

Recapitulation (164-299)

A section for the composer to ‘develop’ Included to balance with the opening one or both ideas from the exposition. exposition.

It explores the themes in many different ways and explores many keys steering clear of the keys heard in the exposition.

In the set work, Mozart bases it on the opening 3 notes of the 1st subject.

It becomes more chromatic and quickly passes through E minor, A minor, D minor, G minor, C major, F major and Bb major.

(Notice each key goes up 4 notes)

First subject Presented in the tonic key (G minor).

Exact copy of 1st 20 bars.

Bridge (184-227) Changed slightly as its purpose is no longer to modulate the music to another key. This time keeps the music in the tonic key of G minor.

Second subject (227-260) Now stated in the tonic key (G minor) Coda (260-299) Similar to codetta but extended to end the piece. The last 6 bars are the same as the last 6 bars of the exposition.

Information and key words There are examples of the following words in the piece. Make sure you know what they mean and know where they appear.

Tempo – Fast molto Allegro Time signature – 4/4 time. 4 crotchet beats in a bar.

Transposed instruments – French horns are in Bb and G to make sure they can play the notes of the main keys. Clarinets are also in B flat.

Tonality – Piece is in the key of G minor however it modulates into Bb major (relative major) for the second subject in the exposition. The development section explores many different keys and the subjects are both in the tonic key of G minor in the recapitulation.

Dynamics – Lots of variety used p – piano – quiet

mp – mezzo piano – quite quiet

mf – mezzo forte – quite loud

f – forte – loud

sf – sforzando – strong sudden loud accent

- crescendo – gradually getting louder - dimunendo – gradually getting quieter Articulation - How a note is played. There are different examples in the piece.

Dot over a note = staccato meaning to play the notes short A curve over notes = legato meaning to play all the notes smoothly Octaves – Lots of examples of different instruments playing the same thing in octaves for example the first and second violins at the beginning.

Dominant pedal – Repetition of the dominant note or a sustained long note to prepare for a key change (38-42).

Pathetique - Meaning a melancholy mood. Using descending semitones to help create the mood in bars 43-44.

Augmentation - Lengthening the original note values in bar 81-82 in violin 1.

Diminished 7th chord – Chromatic chord made up of minor 3rds .

Dominant 7th chord – Chord V with a 7th added at the top.

Sequence – A melody repeated up or down in pitch.

Counter-melody - A second melody that plays at the same time as another melody.

Modulate – Moving to another key.

Chromatically – an idea that moves up or down in semitones (playing every note, both black and white).

Hint – Listen to short sections and test yourself. Do you know which section it is? Would you be able to describe the texture/melody/dynamics/ instrumentation of the section?