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SYMPHONY
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SYMPHONY in See also:music. r. The See also:term vuµ¢wvia was used by the Greeks, firstly, to denote the See also:general conception of See also:concord, both between successive sounds and in the unison of simultaneous sounds; secondly, in the See also:special sense of concordant pairs of successive sounds (i.e. the " perfect intervals " of See also:modern music; the 4th, 5th and See also:octave); and thirdly as dealing with ro avric/swvov, the concord of the octave, thus meaning the See also:art of singing in octaves, or magadizing, as opposed to oµoc/wvia, or singing and playing in unison. In See also:Roman times the word appears in the general sense which still survives in See also:poetry, viz. as harmonious concourse of voices and See also:instruments. It also appears to mean a See also:concert. In St See also:Luke xv. 25, it is distinguished from Xopor, and the passage is appropriately translated in the See also:English See also:Bible as " music and dancing." See also:Polybius and others seem to use it as the name of a musical See also:instrument. 2. In the 17th See also:century the term is used, like " See also:concerto," for certain vocal compositions accompanied by instruments, e.g. the Kleine geistliche Concerte and Symphoniae sacrae of Schutz. Most of Schutz's See also:works of this class are for from one to three See also:solo voices in various combinations with instruments. The Geistliche Concerte are generally accompanied by figured See also:bass and are to See also:German texts; a>nd the voices may in many cases be choral. The Symphoniae sacrae are to Latin texts and are written for various combinations of instruments, while the See also:voice parts are evidently for solo singers. The word symphony is sometimes used for the instrumental ritornello of songs and vocal movements in See also:aria See also:form. In this sense it already appears in No. 28 of the second See also:book of Schiitz's Geistliche Concerte. 3. The See also:principal modern meaning of the word is a See also:sonata for See also:orchestra (see SONATA FORMS). The orchestral symphony originated in the operatic See also:overture (q.v.), which in the See also:middle of the 18th century began to assimilate the essentials of the sonata See also:style. At first such sonata-style overtures consisted of three movements, viz. a moderately See also:quick binary See also:movement, a See also:short slow movement, and a lively See also:finale. Thus See also:Mozart, at the See also:age of twelve, used his 7th symphony as the overture to La Finta semplice, and See also:Haydn's maturest symphonies are still called overtures in some See also:early See also:editions. La Finta giardiniera, written by Mozart in his eighteenth See also:year, marks the differentiation of the See also:opera overture from the See also:independent symphony, since it contains the usual first movement and slow movement, but the See also:curtain rises with what sounds like the beginning of the finale. The sonata style was not at first invariably associated with what we now See also:call sonata form, nor indeed was that form at first the most favourable to the dramatic expression desirable for operatic music. Hence the overtures of See also:Gluck are generally in forms based on the contrast of loosely knit passages of various textures; forms which he probably learned from See also:San See also:Martini, and which may be found in the concertos of Vivaldi, so many of which were freely transcribed by See also:Sebastian See also:Bach. These methods are no less evident in the symphonies of Philipp See also:Emmanuel Bach, which thus occupy an analogous See also:place, away from the normal See also:line of the sonata style. The differentiation between symphony and overture was of immense importance in raising the dignity of the symphony; but the style was more essential than the form; and in Mozart's and Haydn's mature works we find the sonata form as firmly established in the overture as in the symphony, while nevertheless the styles and See also:scope of the two forms are quite distinct. Mozart's most elaborate overture, that of See also:Die Zauberflote, could not possibly be the first movement of one of his later symphonies; nor could the finale of his " See also:Jupiter "symphony (which has often been compared with that overture because of its use of fugato) conceivably be used as the prelude to an opera. See also MUSIC; SONATA FORMS; See also:INSTRUMENTATION; OVERTURE; See also:SCHERZO; See also:VARIATIONS. (D. F. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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