18th Century

The name B-A-C-H corresponds to the notes B-flat, A, C, B-natural. This motif appears in a number of works of J.S. Bach (1685-1750), most notably as the final fugue subject of the unfinished Contrapunctus 14 in The Art of Fugue. The motif was also used by Johann Christian Bach, as well as by later composers writing in homage to J.S. Bach, including Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Arvo Pärt, and in the 21st century by Pamela Decker. In this recording, the BACH motif is played twice--first by itself, then as the beginning of a fugue by Johann Christian Bach.

An overture is an instrumental work played before the beginning of a dramatic work. It was used to prepare the audience for the rest of the show and often used themes from later in the piece. An Italian Overture is an introduction to an opera or vocal work and has three simple sections of fast-slow-fast. Popular overtures in the eighteenth century would often be played outside of their operatic contexts in public concerts. This recording is from the beginning of a popular overture in the eighteenth from Paisiello’s overture to Il barbiere di Siviglia. The example uses flutes, oboes, bassoons, violins, viola, cello, and double bass.

Fortepiano is a dynamic marking used to denote an accent or stress in the music by suddenly being loud (forte) and then immediately soft (piano). The marking is written as “fp” directly underneath the note where it occurs. This marking appeared frequently in the eighteenth century as a more flexible system of dynamics was forming. In this example from Paisiello’s overture to Il barbiere di Siviglia, the fortepiano is heard every few seconds from the whole orchestra. This concept should not to be confused with the fortepiano, a keyboard instrument from the eighteenth century.

Rhythm is a strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound. In this case, the rhythmic repetition is happening at the opening theme. It's built upon the first 4 measures and the rhythmic repeption happens between the instrumentation. In the first two measures, winds play a downbeat, while the strings play an emphasized downbeat and add the rest of the quarter notes. The next two measures, both instrumentations play a similar figure of quarter notes and 8th notes. Those same 4 measures are repeated with a slight variation on the last bar, which serves as a transition into the next part of the opening theme. Strings go into a unison line that starts with a quarter note on the downbeat of that first part, then straight 8th notes for 5 measures. At the end of that phrase, there's a measure of quarter notes played by the strings, which sets up the new section and a modulation in the key.

The definition of a melody is a sequence of single notes that is musically satisfying. Melody is built upon many concepts, such as rhythm, shapes, color, timbre, etc. In this case, the melody is passed around the diferent parts of the ensemble. First off, the background has the 8th note part on the Violoncello and the high voices take the melody with the quarter note motion. The shape of each part of the melody keeps moving upward, depending on the key. After that, the violins take the 16th note part and pass the emphasis on melody to the rest of the ensemble. Winds play strong downbeats, along with the lower voices of the strings.

Modulation is when the music changes from one key to another. For this example, the main attraction is the string section (Violin, Viola, Cello and Bass). This segment of the movement starts in D major and moves to D minor, with a slight movement into F Major. The key modulation can sometimes happen with changes in tempo, dynamics, melodic shapes, rhythm structure, etc. For this excerpt, the rhythm is very busy within the mid voices of the strings and some accent variatons on the high voices. Because it is the finale, it's common to end the piece strong with a statement and in this case, it also involves a subtle variation to create tension and release with the key modulation. With that in mind, the dynamic ceiling changes as well. When it's in the major key, the sound's very powerful and moving, while the minor key presentes a more subtle and quiet, yet moving section of the piece.