Description
Book SynopsisMusic in the Galant Style is an authoritative and readily understandable study of the core compositional style of the eighteenth century. Gjerdingen adopts a unique approach, based on a massive but little-known corpus of pedagogical workbooks used by the most influential teachers of the century, the Italian partimenti. He has brought this vital repository of compositional methods into confrontation with a set of schemata distilled from an enormous body of eighteenth-century music, much of it known only to specialists, formative of the galant style.
Trade ReviewA path-breaking work in musical analysis. Professor Gjerdingen opens the doors into the compositional studios of the 18th century, showing us how characteristic idioms within the galant style that formed a lingua franca among musicians across Europe can be modeled-and easily replicated * by a small number of recurring voice-leading 'schema.' Richly illustrated with diverse musical examples and eye-catching graphics, this remarkable and original study will prove invaluable to all analysts and historians of 18th century music."-Thomas Christensen, Professor of Music, University of Chicago *
Gjerdingen's study promises to reframe nearly all the work that scholars have lavished on compositional practice in the eighteenth century by answering a question that no one seems to have asked before now - how were eighteenth-century composers (Italian-born and Italian-trained composers above all) able to produce such massive quantities of music in such a broad spectrum of genres, and to do so with both facility and taste? * Thomas Bauman, Professor of Musicology, Northwestern University *
After reading this text, I came away believing that I had learned much that was new, that I had significantly refined my hearing of galant style, and that I had developed a greater appreciation of music that is generally unfamiliar but deserving of greater performance. One can hardly ask more from any book! * William E. Caplin, Professor of Music Theory, McGill University *
A path-breaking work in musical analysis. Professor Gjerdingen opens the doors into the compositional studios of the 18th century, showing us how characteristic idioms within the galant style that formed a lingua franca among musicians across Europe can be modeled-and easily replicated * by a small number of recurring voice-leading 'schema.' Richly illustrated with diverse musical examples and eye-catching graphics, this remarkable and original study will prove invaluable to all analysts and historians of 18th century music."-Thomas Christensen, Professor of Music, University of Chicago *
Gjerdingen's study promises to reframe nearly all the work that scholars have lavished on compositional practice in the eighteenth century by answering a question that no one seems to have asked before now - how were eighteenth-century composers (Italian-born and Italian-trained composers above all) able to produce such massive quantities of music in such a broad spectrum of genres, and to do so with both facility and taste? * Thomas Bauman, Professor of Musicology, Northwestern University *
After reading this text, I came away believing that I had learned much that was new, that I had significantly refined my hearing of galant style, and that I had developed a greater appreciation of music that is generally unfamiliar but deserving of greater performance. One can hardly ask more from any book! * William E. Caplin, Professor of Music Theory, McGill University *
Music in the galant style must count, both in 18th-century music studies and in music theory, as one of the most significant publications of recent decades. * Early Music *
Table of Contents1: Introduction 2: The Romanesca 3: The Prinner 4: The Fonte 5: A Minuet by Giovanni Battista Somis 6: The Do-Re-Mi 7: The Monte 8: A Theme and Variations by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf 9: The Meyer 10: A Theme and Variations by Joseph Haydn 11: Clausulae 12: An Andante by Christoph Willibald Gluck 13: The Quiescenza 14: The Ponte 15: A Grave Sostenuto by Baldassare Galuppi 16: The Fenaroli 17: An Allegro by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf 18: The Sol-Fa-Mi 19: An Andante by Johann Christian Bach 20: The Indugio 21: A Cantabile by Simon Leduc 22: A Larghetto by Leonardo Leo 23: An Andantino by Baldassare Galuppi 24: An Andantino Affettuoso by Niccolo Jommelli 25: The Child Mozart 26: An Allegro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 27: II Filo: A Poco Adagio by Joseph Haydn 28: A Model Adagio by Johann Joachim Quantz 29: A Model Allegro by Francesco Galeazzi 30: Summary and Cadenza Appendix A: Schema Prototypes Appendix B: Partimenti Notes Index of Music Sources General Index
