The technique has a complex history, having fallen into disuse in the Baroque and Classical eras, but steadily increasing in use during the nineteenth century.[1]
The Renaissancecyclic mass, which incorporates a usually well-known portion of plainsong as a cantus firmus in each of its sections, is an early use of this principle of unity in a multiple-section form.[2] Examples can also be found in late-sixteenth- and seventeenth-century instrumental music, for instance in the canzonas, sonatas, and suites by composers such as Samuel Scheidt, in which a ground bass may recur in each movement[3][1] When the movements are short enough and begin to be heard as a single entity rather than many, the boundaries begin to blur between cyclic form and variation form.[clarification needed]
Cyclic technique is not typically found in the instrumental music of the most famous composers from the Baroque and "high classical" eras, though it may still be found in the music of such figures as Luigi Boccherini and Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf.[3][4]
Although other composers were already using this technique, it is Beethoven's example that really popularised cyclic form for subsequent Romantic composers.[4] In Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, a large part of the scherzo movement is recalled to end the finale's development section and lead into the recapitulation; the Ninth Symphony's finale rapidly presents explicit reminiscences of the three preceding movements before discovering the idea that is to be its own principal theme; while both the Piano Sonata Op. 101 and Cello Sonata Op. 102 No. 2 similarly recall earlier movements before their finales.
Mid-century, Franz Liszt in works such as the B minor Piano Sonata (1853) did a lot to popularize the cyclic techniques of thematic transformation and double-function form established by Schubert and Berlioz. Liszt's sonata begins with a clear statement of several thematic units and each unit is extensively used and developed throughout the piece. By late in the century, cyclic form had become an extremely common principle of construction, most likely because the increasing length and complexity of multiple-movement works demanded a unifying method stronger than mere key relation.[citation needed] At the beginning of the twentieth century, Vincent d'Indy, a pupil of Franck, promoted the use of the term "cyclic" to describe the technique.[8]
The term is more debatable in cases where the resemblance is less clear, such as in the works of Beethoven, who used very basic fragments. Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is an example of cyclic form in which a theme is used throughout the symphony, but with different orchestration. The "short-short-short-long" four-note motive is embedded in each movement.[citation needed]
Examples
Examples of cyclic works from the classical era and afterwards are:
Symphony No.41 in C major K.551: similarities in the principal rising dotted-rhythmic motifs of the first movement and the second movement; the dotted-rhythmic motif of the second movement develops into a theme that resembles one of the five themes of the finale; the minuet foreshadows the "C-D-F-E" motif of the finale
String Quartet No.18 in A major K. 464: different rhythmic motifs of the concept "long-short-short-short" of the first movement and second movement combined in the finale.
Vesperae solennes de Dominica K. 321: A setting of the Minor Doxology (Gloria Patri et Filio) concludes all movements, with a rhythmic similarity in "Gloria"
Vesperae solennes de confessore K. 339: A setting of the Minor Doxology (Gloria Patri et Filio) concludes all movements, with a rhythmic similarity in "Gloria"
Mass in C minor K.427: The soprano melody of Quoniam tu solus in measure 96 (F-E-D-C#-C-...) resembles that of Cum sanctu spiritu in measure 98 (G-F#-E-D#-D-...)
Piano Sextet: material from scherzo movement recalled in the finale
Octet: material from scherzo movement recalled in the finale, plus allusions to first and second movements
Piano Sonata in E, Op. 6: opening of first movement recalled at end of finale
String Quartet in A minor, Op. 13: introduction to first movement recalled at end of finale, first movement and second movement recalled during finale.
Symphony No. 3: The melody opening the first subject in the first movement is recalled in the codas of the first & fourth movements.
Clarinet Quintet: The melody opening the first movement is recalled just after the 5th variation in the fourth movement, but in the subdominant. The codas in the first & fourth movements are almost the same, except for how it finally closes (first movement closes with quiet B minor chords while fourth movement closes with a loud one and then a quiet one).
Má vlast, cycle of 6 symphonic poems: The opening from the first work Vyšehrad recalled in the second Vltava and the sixth works Blaník, shortly before the latter two end.
Symphony No. 4: "motto" of first movement recalled in the finale
Manfred Symphony: Material from the beginning of the first movement recalled halfway in the third movement. Material from the ending of the first movement used in the middle section of the second movement, and just before the organ sounds in the fourth movement.
Symphony No. 5: "motto" of first movement recalled in all later movements; first movement's first subject recalled in the finale
Piano Trio No. 1: Material opening the first movement recalled shortly before the finale ends. Material in the middle section from the third movement recalled halfway in the finale.
1 2 3 Taylor, Benedict (2011). "The Idea of Cyclic Form". Mendelssohn, Time and Memory: The Romantic Conception of Cyclic Form. Cambridge University Press. pp.6–51. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511794384.002. ISBN9780511794384.
↑ Webster, James. 1991. Haydn's 'Farewell' Symphony and the Idea of Classical Style: Through-Composition and Cyclic Integration in his Instrumental Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Proksch, Bryan. 2006. "Cyclic Integration in the Instrumental Music of Haydn and Mozart." Ph.D. Diss. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Rosen, Charles. 1995. The Romantic Generation. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Saffle, Michael. "Liszt's Sonata in B minor: Another Look at the 'Double Function' Question." JALS: The Journal of the American Liszt Society 11 (June): 28–39.
Tucker, G. M., and Roger Parker. 2002. "Cyclic Form". The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Vande Moortele, Steven. 2009. Two-dimensional Sonata Form: Form and Cycle in Single-Movement Instrumental Works by Liszt, Strauss, Schoenberg, and Zemlinsky. Leuven: Leuven University Press.
Sonata form is a musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle of the 18th century.
The Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44, by Robert Schumann was composed in 1842 and received its first public performance the following year. Noted for its "extroverted, exuberant" character, Schumann's piano quintet is considered one of his finest compositions and a major work of nineteenth-century chamber music. Composed for piano and string quartet, the work revolutionized the instrumentation and musical character of the piano quintet and established it as a quintessentially Romantic genre.
The String Quartet No. 14 in C♯ minor, Op. 131, was completed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1826. It is the last-composed of a trio of string quartets, written in the order Opp. 132, 130, 131.
Sonata rondo form is a musical form often used during the Classical and Romantic music eras. As the name implies, it is a blend of sonata and rondo forms.
Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most influential figures in the history of classical music. Since his lifetime, when he was "universally accepted as the greatest living composer", Beethoven's music has remained among the most performed, discussed and reviewed in the Western world. Scholarly journals are devoted to analysis of his life and work. He has been the subject of numerous biographies and monographs, and his music was the driving force behind the development of Schenkerian analysis. He is widely considered among the most important composers, and along with Bach and Mozart, his music is the most frequently recorded.
E major is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F♯, G♯, A, B, C♯, and D♯. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, F-flat major, has six flats and the double-flat B, which makes that key less convenient to use.
G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B♭, C, D, E♭, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major.
D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B♭, and C. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative major is F major and its parallel major is D major.
The Symphony in C major by German composer Robert Schumann was published in 1847 as his Symphony No. 2, Op. 61, although it was the third symphony he had completed, counting the B-flat major symphony published as No. 1 in 1841, and the original version of his D minor symphony of 1841. It is dedicated to Oscar I, king of Sweden and Norway.
Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, Op. 74, was written in 1809 and is nicknamed the "Harp" quartet.
The compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven in the key of C minor carry special significance for many listeners. His works in this key have been said to be powerful and emotive, evoking dark and stormy sentiments.
The String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13, was composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1827. Written when he was 18 years old, it was, despite its official number, Mendelssohn's first mature string quartet. One of Mendelssohn's most passionate works, the A minor Quartet is one of the earliest and most significant examples of cyclic form in music.
Franz Schubert's last three piano sonatas, D 958, 959 and 960, are his last major compositions for solo piano. They were written during the last months of his life, between the spring and autumn of 1828, but were not published until about ten years after his death, in 1838–39. Like the rest of Schubert's piano sonatas, they were mostly neglected in the 19th century. By the late 20th century, however, public and critical opinion had changed, and these sonatas are now considered among the most important of the composer's mature masterpieces. They are part of the core piano repertoire, appearing regularly on concert programs and recordings.
Homotonal (same-tonality) is a technical musical term that describes the tonal structure of multi-movement compositions. It was introduced into musicology by Hans Keller. According to Keller's definition and usage, a multi-movement composition is 'homotonal' if all of its movements have the same tonic (keynote).
The Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60, completed by Johannes Brahms in 1875, is scored for piano, violin, viola and cello. It is sometimes called the Werther Quartet after Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther. The premiere took place in Vienna on November 18, 1875, to an anxious public. Richard Wagner and his wife Cosima were in attendance.
The Symphony No. 2 in F minor was written by Richard Strauss between 1883 and 1884. It is sometimes referred to as just Symphony in F minor. He gave it the Opus number 12, and it also appears in other catalogues as TrV 126 and Hanstein A.I.2. It is not listed in von Asow's catalog.
The Piano Sonata in B minor, Op.5, was written by Richard Strauss in 1880–81. The Sonata is in the Romantic style of his teenage years. The first recording of the piece was the last recording made by the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould.
The String Quartets, Op. 50, were composed by Joseph Haydn in 1787. The set of six quartets was dedicated to King Frederick William II of Prussia. For this reason the set is commonly known as the Prussian Quartets. Haydn sold the set to the Viennese firm Artaria and, without Artaria's knowledge, to the English publisher William Forster. Forster published it as Haydn's Opus 44. Haydn's autograph manuscripts for Nos. 3 to 6 of the set were discovered in Melbourne, Australia, in 1982.
The Piano Quartet in B♭ major, Op. 41, also known as the Piano Quartet No. 2, was written by Camille Saint-Saëns in February 1875. Dedicated to Jules Foucault, it was premiered on 6 March 1875 in Paris. It has been called one of Saint-Saëns' neglected masterpieces and is in the core repertoire of the piano quartet.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
