Module 4: What do you hear?

Listening Practice

This guide is to help you recognize the audio examples and prepare for the Module 4 Listening Quiz.

Style features of Classical Period music: Classical Period musical style can be summed up in three words: simplicity, variety, and clarity.

Classical Period Melody is characterized by simplicity. Melodies should sound natural and “tuneful,” making them easy to remember.

 

 

Classical Period Rhythm is frequently varied throughout a composition, though the meter and the tempo remain constant. In the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata, K. 332 the foreground rhythms change every few measures.

 

 

In a piece of music in Sonata Form, the rhythmic profile of the first theme often contrasts substantially with the rhythm of the second theme. In the first movement of Mozart’s Symphony no. 40, the first theme features an urgent rhythm of clipped notes:

 

 

while the second theme features longer notes which sounds more lyrical and song-like:

 

 

Both Dynamics and Tone color are frequently changed during a piece of Classical Period music to create a sense of pleasing variety.

The opening of Mozart’s Symphony no. 41 features a striking contrast of dynamics and tone color right away. Notice the dialogue between the forceful and loud full orchestra in military rhythms abruptly contrasting with the soft singing melody in the violins.

 

 

Classical Period Form: Classical Period composers strived to make their music easy for the listener to follow along. Formal features of Classical Period music include clearly-defined sections, built-in repetition, and standardized formal structures. Sonata Form is arguably the most significant of these standardized formal structures because it provided a way for composers to present two or more contrasting emotions within one movement. This resulted in a more emotionally dynamic and dramatic piece of music.

The exposition section in a Sonata Form presents the main thematic material of the whole piece. In the examples below, notice again the sharp emotional contrast between the first and second themes from the exposition of the first movement of Mozart’s Symphony no. 40.

 

 

 

  

The development section does not present any new material, but rather “develops” the themes from the exposition. You will recognize the basic shapes of the original themes, but they will sound different because a composer will break them apart, put the themes in different instruments, combine themes with another melody in polyphonic texture, which creates a sense of conflict and drama. 

In this example, Mozart develops the first theme in two ways. In the first section, the theme is repeated, but each time at a lower pitch. In the second section, we hear the theme combined with another melody in churning fast notes in non-imitative polyphony. Notice that the low strings (cello and bass) trade the themes off with the violins.

 

 

The recapitulation is very similar to the exposition, though the second theme is presented in the piece’s “home” tonality.

In his Symphony no. 5, Beethoven takes the idea of thematic development to a whole new level, by taking an incredibly simple idea, the famous short-short-short-long motive:

 

 

and presenting a version of this motive across all four movements of the symphony. This creates an impressive sense of musical unity across the thirty-plus minutes of the piece and contributes to the feeling that this piece traces a kind of heroic psychological narrative from dark (the stormy first movement) to light (the triumphant march of the fourth movement).

These examples will help you recall the versions of the SSSL motive throughout the symphony.

The SSSL motive in the 2nd movement:

 

 

The SSSL motive in the 3rd movement:

 

 

The SSSL motive in the 4th movement: