22 - Eighteenth-century symphonies: an unfinished dialogue

Summary

No genre worked harder in the eighteenth century than the symphony, which opened and closed concerts, punctuated the Catholic mass and introduced plays, operas and oratorios, whose overtures were classified by contemporary writers as ‘theatre symphonies’ and ‘church symphonies’. Meeting all these needs resulted in a vast and varied repertory. ‘Chamber symphonies’ alone, the focus of this chapter, number several thousand and, as anyone familiar with Haydn’s or Mozart’s symphonies knows, they draw on every conceivable resource of form, style and mood.

Studies of eighteenth-century symphonies are equally diverse and, after two centuries, almost as numerous as the works themselves. Pedagogues of the time dissected examples by Haydn and others for the benefit of would-be imitators. Critics sought to capture expressive implications by drawing comparisons to odes, choruses, character representations, dialogues and comedies. Some nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century scholars, reflecting the nationalist preoccupations of their age, argued whether the most important predecessors of Haydn came from Italy, Austria, or Germany, while others analysed form, phrasing, harmony and thematic development in an investigation that continues today. Still others have examined how descriptive annotations, conditions of performance, or evocative melodies and rhythms influenced the meanings that symphonies communicated to listeners.