Symphony

A symphony is an extended piece of music usually for orchestra and comprising several movements.

Related Topics:
Music - Orchestra - Movement

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The main characteristics of the classical symphony, as it existed by the end of the 18th century in the German-speaking world were:

Related Topics:
Classical - 18th century - German

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• 4 movements, of which the first would usually be a fast movement in sonata form, the second a slow movement, the third a ternary dance-like (or scherzo) movement in "simple triple" metre, finishing with a fourth fast movement in rondo and/or sonata form.
• Instrumental, to be played by an orchestra of the relatively moderate size customary at the time.

After Beethoven started experimenting with the movement structure and with programmatic features in his Sixth Symphony, and later added singers to the last movement of his Ninth Symphony, the possibilities for moulding the symphony format appeared unlimited, starting from the early Romantic era, for example:

Related Topics:
Beethoven - Programmatic - Sixth Symphony - Singer - Ninth Symphony - Format - Romantic era

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• More variation in the movement structure: More movements and/or multi-layered movement structure (Berlioz, Roméo et Juliette; Mahler, Third Symphony); Single-movement structure and/or movements succeeding without interruption (Sibelius, Seventh Symphony; Richard Strauss, Eine Alpensinfonie)
• More variation in the instrumentation: Large full-blown romantic orchestras (Berlioz, Mahler, Bruckner); Solo and/or choral singing extended to several movements of a symphony (Mendelssohn, Second Symphony; Berlioz, Roméo et Julliette; Shostakovich, 14th Symphony); Unusual or new instruments (cowbells in Mahler's Sixth Symphony; Ondes Martenot in the Turangalîla-Symphonie by Olivier Messiaen); Symphonies not for a symphony orchestra (Widor's symphonies to be played on a single organ)
• Extend the programmatic layer: even after the tone poem had split from the symphony genre as such, symphonies were published with extended programs, explicit (as in Berlioz' Roméo et Juliette, after Shakespeare, as well as in his Symphonie Fantastique) or more implicit, like a succession of sentiments (as in Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony), Carl Nielsen's The Four Temperaments
 
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