Symphonies

In terms of texture, eighteenth century music often will often incorporate a single melodic line that is accompanied by a more rhythmically simple harmony. This could be described as melody-dominated homophony. With this effect, the listener is drawn solely to the melodic line, with accompaniment only serving to enhance and support the melody. In this example, taken from the beginning of the third movement, “Vivace,” of Johan Helmich Roman’s Symphony No. 3 in B-flat Major,  the violin I section carries the active melody, while the rest of the strings and the harpsichord play very simple lines that are often in rhythmic unison with each other and only outline the harmony of the music. This texture helps bring attention to the melody of the violin I section while while emphasizing the harmony of the piece.

Bowed vibrato is a performance technique used by stringed instruments often in eighteenth century or earlier Baroque music. Its sound is achieved when the musician uses their bow to create an undulating and pulsating movement all while moving the bow in a single direction. Often each “pulse” is in tempo and usually would last as long as a small subdivision of the beat, such as a sixteenth note. Bowed vibrato is a means of ornamenting a long note that would otherwise likely sound stagnant to the listener. In this recording, taken from the second movement, “Lento,” of Johan Helmich Roman’s Symphony No. 3 in B-flat Major, bowed vibrato is played over long notes and pulsates at the time value of sixteenth notes in the tempo of the music. This recording was taken from a clip from a YouTube recording of the Drottningholms Barockensemble performing this piece.

Around mid-eighteenth Century, composers started using wind instruments in their symphonies (before only use strings instruments). The earliest wind instruments in the symphonies were oboe and horn and they usually appear in pairs (i.e. 2 oboes, 2 horns). Since it was still a try-and-error state, composers usually doubling the wind part with the strings. For example, they share the same melody so the oboe may plays exactly the same as the first violin. However, Symphony in E flat major (Them. Index 73) by Franz Xaver Richter (1709-1789) is a surprising one. It was written around 1760 and it was written for 2 oboes,  2 horns and a string orchestra. The composer used the wind instruments differently in this piece. He gave 'solo' moments to them. In the audio here, you could find that there is moments that the string orchestra rest when the wind instruments play. This writing gave a chance for the wind instruments to show their beauty instead of being covered by strings as usual. It also changed the tone color suddenly from loud strings repeated notes to elegant wind chords. In the later part of the movement, the wind instruments also create suspension in their parts, which increases the tension of the phrase. (Due to time limitation, the suspension passage cannot be shown in the audio) The audio presents the beginning of the first movement of the symphony, which is from the fast movement and it is the beginning of the whole symphony. Since the piece have not been recorded by anyone, the audio is produced by Sibelius 7 Sounds Chamber.