Nowhere is
the epoch-making
transformation of
musical taste
around the middle
of the 18th
century more
clearly shown than
in the
German-Austrian
chamber music of
the period between
1760 and 1750, and
nowhere is the
significance of
the Mannheim
School more
evident in the
development of the
new musical idiom
than in the
chamber music of
that time. The
virtuosity of the
world-fomous
Mannheim Court
Orchestra enabled
the composers who
played in it -
most of whom had
come from Bohemia
- to experiment
without restraint
with forms,
techniques of
composition ond
instrumentations;
furthermore, the
understanding and
the
open-mindedness of
their courtly and
professional
musical audiences
made consideration
for musical
conventions
superfluous to
such a degree that
the new style was
able to attain a
full flowering
within the very
shortest time.
Thus there arose a
repertoire of
chamber music
almost too large
to survey and
exceedingly rich
in forms, which to
a very great
extent prepared
the way to the
chamber music of
the Viennese
classics. Indeed,
in the best works
Particularly of
the three greatest
"Mannheimers",
Stamitz Richter
and Holzbauer, the
contemporary works
of Haydn were at
least equalled
and, in
originality of
structure and
intensity of
expression, not
infrequently even
surpassed.
The writing of
Johann Christian
Bach, the youngest
son of the great
Leipzig cantor,
stood apart from
this mainstream of
development,
although not
uninfluenced by
it. The six
Harpsichord
Quintets, the main
chamber music work
of the "English
Bach", who worked
in London as Music
Master to the
Queen from 1762
onward and enjoyed
world fame mainly
as an operatic
composer and
symphonist, is
dedicated to the
Elector Karl
Theodor of the
Palatinate in
Mannheim. It is,
however, far
removed from the
typical "Mannheim
taste". Bach, the
man of the world
and the court,
quite lacks the
freshness and
vitality and also
the carefree joy
in experimenting
of the Bohemian
Mannheimers;
instead he arrives
in these mature
quintets in
particular at a
synthesis of
delicate feeling
and refined taste,
the highest
craftsmanlilse
precision and
effortless
invention,
aristocratic
restraint and
inspired
expression, which
is unique for its
age and, not
least, made a
powerful and
permanent
impression on
Mozart. The D
major Quintet,
with its “singing”
Allegro, its
tender,
Siciliano-like
Andantino and its
gay, playful
Rondeau is a
perfect example of
this exceedingly
fine, occasionally
overfine, art.
In spite of the
very similar
instrumental
combination,
Holzbauers
Quintet, probably
written between
1760 and 1770, is
fundamentally
different in style
to J. C. Bach's.
Just as his
harpsichord style
still preserves
features of
continuo practice,
the extremely
dense part
writing, rich in
imitation, also
clearly displays
elements of the
baroque tradition.
Entirely
"Mannheim",
however, are the
wealth of musical
contrasts within
the smallest
possible space,
the chromatic
'sighing' melody -
already almost a
mannerism - and
the powerful tone
of the first
movement and the
tender elegiac
character of the
second, while the
peculiarly broken
tone to the Minuet
with its skillful
variations already
sounds almost
“Mozartian".
What Holzbauer's
work lacks in
vitality is
displayed in the
Trio by Stamitz -
the true leader of
the Mannheim
School - in
overwhelming
abundance.
Stamitz’s Op. 1 is
an epoch-making
worls such as is
rarely found in
the history of
music. For the
first time there
appears in it
three-part writing
liberated from all
the fetters of the
continuo style.
For the first time
the living melody
rules unchallenged
in spite of all
the well-worked
part-writing. For
the first time the
new style, with
its broad,
symphonic forms,
its heaping up of
contrasts in the
smallest possible
space and its
overwhelming
vitality, is
presented in its
finished state to
a public which -
only too
understandably -
was almost
bewitched by the
new tone, by the
"melodia
germanica", which
here broke forth
like a great
phenomenon of
nature. The Trio
in A major, with
its impetuous and
yet 'cantabile'
first movement, is
Andante full of
feeling and its
turbulent Finale,
gives expression
to this tone in
its purest state.
Richter's Op. 5
adheres far more
strongly to
tradition, and is
less direct in its
impact, yet it is
more elaborate,
more
differentiated and
more profound. The
four-part writing
for strings, freed
from the continuo,
is given greater
cohesion and
profundity by rich
contrapuntal work.
Independently of
Haydn's roughly
simultaneous
development, it
attains an
approximately
equal sharing of
the thematic
material between
all the
instruments and
also the solo
style of writing
of the genuine
classical quartet
movement, which
can no longer be
played
alternatively by
an orchestra. In
this Quartet in B
flat major, the
serious, elegiac
mood that
basically pervades
all Richter’s
works can be heard
clearly. Its
extremely
rich-textured and
finely organized
first movement,
its wonderfully
intense Andante
full of harmonic
movement and
sorrowful
melodiousness and
its fugal Finale,
that combines
“learned”
part-writing and
“popular” motifs
in an already
quite Mozartian
manner, make it
one of the most
outstanding
chamber music
works of the whole
epoch.
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