Mozart “Symphony no. 40 in G minor” (A Guide to the GCSE Music Set Works)

Analysis

Form

Since Classical style is all about balance, it is best to begin by looking at the form of this movement, which is the first movement in a four-movement work. Like most first movements in multi-movement works of the Classical period, this Allegro is in sonata form, which is a slightly more complex type of ABA (or ternary) form, governed particularly by the use of keys to structure the music.

Here is a clear, simple explanation of sonata form at work in this piece:

1. The “A‟ section is known as the exposition, because the main themes are “exposed‟ for the first time. In this movement, like in most sonata form pieces, there are two main themes, which we call subjects.

The first subject is in the tonic key, G minor, and begins in bar 1, without any introduction.

In bar 20 this same first subject starts to modulate, which means we are in a transition passage – a passage of music which links the first subject to the second. Some people call this a bridge passage.

In bar 44 we hear the other main theme – the second subject. This is in the relative major (B flat major), and contrasts in lots of ways with the first subject.

The exposition ends with a “winding up‟ section called a codetta – a mini version of the coda we will hear at the end of the music. Then the whole exposition is repeated.

2. The “B‟ section of the movement is called the development, because Mozart takes some time to develop (or play around with) some of the material we heard in the exposition. In this case, he concentrates entirely on the first subject and has some fun presenting it on different instruments, sometimes overlapping it with itself, and going through a lot of different, related keys. More on the keys later! The development lasts from bars 101 to 164.

3. Once Mozart has had enough playing about with the material, he “recaps‟ by giving us both subjects, and the transition, again, in a section known as the recapitulation (the returning “A‟ section if you like). However there are some big differences. 

The first subject starts the recapitulation in bar 164, as we would expect, in the tonic key of G minor.

The transition comes in again, but this time Mozart does not modulate to the dominant. Instead he moves through a number of keys (very quickly) and returns to the tonic.

In bar 227 we hear the second subject in the tonic key, which makes it sound very different as it is now a minor-key melody.

4. Finally we hear the closing section, or coda, from bar 260 to the end. One of the strengths of sonata form is that though we feel we have been on a very interesting journey, we arrive home in a very obvious and satisfying way. 

Melody

Classical music focuses heavily on melody, and Mozart himself is responsible for some of the simplest and most poignant melodies ever written.

•   The first subject begins with a three-note rhythm repeated three times, followed by a rising sixth. These two ideas are later broken up into mini „cells‟ and developed incessantly, particularly in the development section.
•   Both the first and second subjects have equal four-bar question and answer phrases, which in turn can be broken into equal two-bar phrases. This is called periodic phrasing, and is a feature of all the melodic writing in this movement.
•   Furthermore, the answering phrase, which begins in bar 5, is the same as the questioning phrase, but a tone lower. This is a sequence, and there are many examples.
•   If that is not enough, the rhythm of the melody of each two-bar phrase of this first subject is identical. How more balanced could Mozart be?
•   The second subject (bar 44) has a more laid-back feel to it, and uses a falling chromatic idea. It also has few instruments (better expressed as „reduced texture‟).
•   There is another mini-theme, a little like a second part to the second subject, which rises chromatically at bar 66.
•   The codetta focuses on just the first three notes of the first subject, and the development on these and the rising sixth idea.

  Harmony and tonality
  I mentioned in the section on form that it is the keys that structure this movement.

•   The exposition starts in the tonic (G minor) and ends in the relative major (Bb major). The modulation between these two keys happens in the transition. This is very normal for sonata form structure.
•   The recapitulation also starts in the tonic, but this time any modulations are short lived and it ends in the tonic as well. This is also normal practice.

•   The development shows Mozart‟s creative genius at work! He modulates every few bars, often by way of chromatic sequences, visiting a whole host of extremely distant keys.
•   The end of the development gives us a huge clue that the „modulation madness‟ is coming to an end and the recapitulation is around the corner – we hear a very long dominant pedal (the note D) in the closing bars of this section. This is known as dominant preparation.
•   The movement is littered with perfect cadences that give us clear signposts in this otherwise quite complex trip through tonality.
•   A lot of the harmony is chromatic, but relies on circles of fifths to underpin it. A good example of this is the answering phrase in the second subject, bars 47-50, where you can clearly see the chromaticism in the violin parts, and the circle of fifths in the „cello and bass parts.
•   It is worth noting that the harmonic rhythm – the rate at which the actual chords change underneath the melodic parts – is often quite slow, so that the melody is given room. The first subject, for instance, is set over an unchanging G minor chord for its first four bars, and then moves to a two-bar or one-bar rate of harmonic change.

  Texture and instrumentation

•   The overriding texture in this movement is melody-dominated homophony, or „melody with accompaniment‟. There are very few examples of polyphonic texture (but see „other points‟ below).
•   This does not mean that the music is textually one-dimensional. On the contrary, Mozart contrasts the instrumental texture constantly, using different combinations of instruments.
•   The woodwind gets a more prominent role than that seen in the Handel, often having melodies or sharing them with the violins, though the music is still quite string-dominated. The horns‟ role is largely textural, adding weight to the harmony.

  Other points

 Mozart includes a lot more performance instructions than Handel, such as dynamics and articulation.

 There are a number of „special effects‟ such as diminished sevenths, syncopation and short passages of counterpoint.

Section A questions

Again, pick a short extract and adapt some of the suggested questions to suit it!

1. What is the key of the extract?
2. Name the cadence heard at the end of the extract.
3. Complete the following melody/rhythm (don’t give more than five or six missing notes).
4. From which part of the sonata form structure does this extract come?
5. (For a chromatic phrase) How would you describe the melody in bar x?
6. Name two instruments which play the melody in this section.
7. How is the phrase at bar x contrasted when it is repeated in bar y?
8. What melodic/rhythmic/harmonic device can you hear in bar x?
9. How would you best describe the texture of this extract?

Section B questions

The short-answer questions in this section may ask you to identify the century or period in which the symphony was composed, or ask a question about the type of work from which this movement comes (such as how many movements the symphony has). For the longer question, focus the thinking on how Mozart uses the various elements shown above to create both balance and contrast in this movement.