Assignment for Wednesday, Sept. 5

Please read Chapter 1 of Caplin's Classical Form; I've scanned it for you here. Please also analyze the entire first movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op. 2 No. 1, which you should have in your Dover score. Caplin discusses the exposition, so that should help you as you analyze the development and recapitulation. As with the Haydn sonata, please analyze with Roman numerals as well as formal labels.

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Sonata for Piano No.50 in D major Hob.XVI:37, 1st movement; Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano). We might not study this piece, but I wanted to include the video as an excellent example of score following.

Assignment for Friday, August 31

Please analyze the exposition of Haydn's Piano Sonata No. 42 in G major, Hob. XVI:27, 1st movement; you can download the pdf here. Use Roman numerals; if a chord looks to you like it is a passing or neighboring chord, you don't need to write a R.N. below it. Also try to label the main parts of the exposition: the main theme, transition, subordinate theme, and closing section.

Remember on Friday, we meet in 1201. And also - if you haven't already introduced yourself to the rest of the class in the earlier post Course introductions, please do so!

Haydn Sonata No. 42 in G major Hob. XVI:27, I.

Haydn, Piano Sonata No. 42 in G Major, Hob. XVI:27, 1st movement. Yi Chih Lu, piano.

Hi! My name is April, I am a DMA in Accompanying.  I did my MM / BM in Piano Performance in Colorado (my home state) where I was adjunct faculty for several years. I moved to the beautiful state of Montana (lots of snow, mountains, cold air, wolves!) 8 years ago where I teach and play as pianist for the Glacier Symphony Orchestra. I am studying accompanying because I want to have a better understanding of the vocal literature, as I am fortunate to play with many great singers back home (yes, they do come all the way up to Montana!). I have a secret desire to learn to play the cello, but not enough at this moment in time. I am co-founder with a dear friend of a Siberian Husky / Alaskan Malamute rescue in Montana. I am also an emergency veterinary technician (my side interest). I am so excited and very honored to share this class and Professor Taylor's instruction with all of you, and look forward to learning something from everyone!

Assignment for Wednesday, August 29

Please find an 8-bar sentence, preferably from Haydn, although you can also look in Mozart and Beethoven. Bring this phrase group with you to class Wednesday, either in a score or photocopy; write a Roman numeral analysis underneath and identify the parts of the sentence. Remember that some phrases are not really sentences or periods, but hybrids of both - steer clear of these for now, and make sure your phrase is really a sentence.

The parts of a sentence are as follows:

1. Presentation (consisting of a basic idea which is repeated; the b.i. can have one or more motives); 
2. Continuation (consisting of fragmentation of the basic idea, followed by a cadential idea).

Update: I don't want this assignment to be too difficult - if you find a period instead of a sentence, that's fine too. And it doesn't have to be exactly 8 bars. If you are having trouble with the assignment, please let me know! I don't want to overwhelm you on the first day of the class.

Beethoven String Quartet Op. 135, 3rd movement

The 3rd movement of Beethoven's string quartet in F major op. 135, performed by the Kodály Quartet, 1999.

Mozart, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, movement II

Yasuto Kimura conducts the New Tokyo Chamber Philharmonic at Mitaka Arts Center Concert Hall on Feb.11,2007.

Course introductions

Hello! By Wednesday, August 29, I would like each of you to comment on this post, with a brief introduction of yourself: what instrument(s) you play, what voice type you are, what year in school, where you are from, etc. I would also like you to say what you are hoping to gain from this course - this will help me plan out the repertoire we're studying.

For myself, these days I mainly compose, play piano and conduct,  but I started out as a horn player with a little bit of jazz bass; I also sing tenor (strictly for chorus, no solos). I've been teaching at the U of I since 2001, and I actually grew up not far from here, in Taylorville, Illinois (which has no relation to my family). I went to Northwestern for undergrad, starting out as a horn major, then switching to composition; I went to Cornell for masters and doctorate degrees. My goal for this class is for you to learn some new repertoire, and to learn to focus on the repertoire you already know in a new way: really understanding how it works, and how a composer makes decisions on motives, themes, rhythms, and large-scale form. My own goal for myself is to finally play through all the Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven piano sonatas - I'm probably about 1/3 of the way there.

Course schedule

Week 

1 8/27 - Haydn (1732-1809) - piano sonatas (starting though with Beethoven Op. 2 No. 1)

2 9/3 - [Labor Day, Monday 9/3] - sonatas (W) and The Creation (F)

3 9/10 - The Creation  (M/W) [Friday - no class]

4 9/17 - Haydn: student presentations (W/F)

5 9/24 - Mozart (1756-1791) - piano sonatas

6 10/1 - Piano Concerto, K. 488

7 10/8 - Die Zauberflote, Act I

8 10/15 - Die Zauberflote, Act II

9 10/22 - Mozart: student presentations & midterm

10 10/29 - Beethoven (1770-1827) - Piano Sonata Op. 26 + midterm

11 11/5  - Beethoven, Piano Sonata Op. 28

12 11/12 - Symphony 9, I. and II.

[11/19 - fall break]

13 11/26 - Symphony 9, III. and IV.

14 12/3 - Beethoven: student presentations

15 12/10 - last day of classes, 12/12

Beethoven Sonata Op. 2 No. 1 in F minor

Sviatoslav Richter, 1976.

Course syllabus

Music 408B
Form and Analysis, 18th century: Music of Haydn, Mozart & Beethoven
University of Illinois School of Music, Fall 2012
MWF, 12:00-12:50 pm
(MW, MB 5047; F, MB 1201)
Instructor: Stephen Taylor, MB 5042
staylor7@illinois.edu


The composer and conductor Pierre Boulez says that form is all of music: everything has a form, from a chord, to a three-note motive, all the way up to opera. So when we study form, we're really studying all music - that is a lot! I often think about form in terms of trees and forests. If a single note or chord is a tree, then the forest is the whole piece. A composer needs to be successful at creating both trees and forests: the moment-to-moment surface of the music has to work (it has to sound good, whatever that means), and the big picture also needs to be compelling - structurally sound. Analogies to architecture are almost unavoidable. To ensure that we understand music at both levels, we'll spend time on basics such as chord ID and orchestral transposition, as well as sentence, period, binary and ternary forms, sonata, rondo, variation, and concerto forms.

Repertoire: We will focus on the big three classical composers: Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. (The chronology is weird and interesting: although Haydn is the oldest of the three, he lived long enough that he became one of Beethoven's teachers, living almost 20 years after Mozart's early death.) I've chosen three big pieces: Haydn's The Creation, Mozart's The Magic Flute, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. We'll balance these three masterworks with smaller solo, chamber and orchestral pieces.

Texts: We'll be using the following texts, available at the campus bookstore.

• Haydn, The Creation, vocal score (Novello) ISBN 978-0711984615 ($17.95)
• Mozart, The Magic Flute, vocal score (Dover) ISBN 978-0486413853 ($17.95)
• Beethoven, Complete Piano Sonatas Volume 1 (Dover) ISBN 978-0486231341 ($11.29)
• Beethoven, Symphonies Nos. 8 and 9 in full score (Dover) ISBN 978-0486260358 ($11.53)
• We will also be referencing William Caplin's excellent book Classical Form (Oxford University Press, 1998) ISBN 978-0195143997 ($45.00) You don't need to buy this book; it's pretty heavy reading, but it's fascinating, and I will be using it a lot as we work through the repertoire.

Goals: My goal is for each of you to learn some new repertoire, and also to focus on the repertoire you already know in a new way: besides performing music, I want you to understand how it works. My own goals for myself (in case you're interested) are to finally play through all the Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven piano sonatas - I hope I make it!

Grading: I will ask you to do small assignments, usually at least one per week. Some of these will be graded, and others we will go over together in class. Assignments are due at the beginning of class; I'll have to lower your grade for late assignments. You will also complete the following larger projects:

1. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata: Each non-pianist in the class, sometime before the end of the semester, will play the opening of the Moonlight Sonata, Op. 27 No. 2, bars 1-15. (If you're already a pianist, you can perform part of this or another piece for the class; see below.) I'm making this a requirement because it's one of the best piano pieces ever composed, and it's not too difficult. Also,  musicians need to feel the music in their bodies, not just listen to it. And finally, I think you'll really like it!
2. Beethoven 9 chorus: The Sinfonia da Camera is performing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on November 2 (I think). Our choral director, Prof. Fred Stoltzfus, has graciously allowed to join in the chorus if we're interested; if at all possible I'm going to do it since I've never sung Beethoven 9 before. Rehearsals start September 4; if you're interested, I'm sure we can work out some kind of extra-credit thing (e.g. not having to do an assignment or two).
3. In-class lecture-performances: Besides the Moonlight Sonata, I'm asking each of you to either perform part of a Classical work, speak about a work, or both (these can be arias or other excerpts from the big works on the syllabus). I'm devoting about three weeks of class, spread throughout the semester, for these performances; ideally each of you will do two. We'll set up a schedule together during the first week of class. These will be brief; I'm thinking 15 minutes. Aim for a poised, professional presentation, like you're giving a pre-concert lecture or performance - but say something important and specific about your musical work, not just a glorified program note.
4. Midterm: I'll ask you to analyze a piece of music, probably a sonata-form movement, in class. It might be an orchestral movement, so be sure you know how to read transposing instruments! We'll cover how in class - the most basic thing to remember is this: "If it sees a C, it plays its key." In other words, if a Horn in Eb has a written C in her part, the resulting note will be Eb.
5. Final paper: Instead of a final exam, each person will write an analysis paper, possibly of one of the works you have performed/discussed earlier in the term.
6. Awesome YouTube projects: in lieu of a final paper, you can make what I'm informally calling "awesome YouTube projects" - for instance, a recording of a piece that plays while the visuals clarify the form. You've probably seen YouTube videos of a score that follows along with the recording. What if there were an annotated score, with colors and animation, showing how the form of a movement works? That would be awesome, and more than enough to get an excellent grade in the class. If I have unexpected extra time in the semester I'll try one of these myself, just because it would be so cool.

Miscellaneous: Please no computers, cell phones or food in class (even though it's lunchtime); in 1201 on Fridays, drinks are OK, but we can't have drinks in MB 5047. If you have to miss class, please contact me ahead of time; I may ask for a pass from a dean or an ensemble director's note, depending on circumstances.