Rise of the Classical Repertoire in 19th Cen (Erica's notes)

The Rise of the Classical Repertoire In 19th Century Orchestral concerts
By William Weber (From Peyser's The Orchestra)
Presented by Erica Rumbley (October 30, 2007)

*The Overarching Significance of 19th century orchestras is their building of a museumlike classical repertoire
Classical referring to “the performance of music of any previous period that forms part of a canon of great works”
Canon—“A body of works that are defined as the summit of achievement in an artistic field; studied and emulated by practitioners and honored in ritual and iconography
--Their concerts establish the importance of a pantheon of certain composers—Especially “Big Three”

*18th century beginnings
--Lots of operatic and sacred music included on concerts—different from today
--Older composers begin to form an early canon—connected with similar movements in literature
--This movement affects especially Paris; Berlin and Leipzig; Vienna; and England, which supported older music first with London’s Academy of Ancient Music and helped establish important social precedents for the 19th century through its annual subscription concert series and revival of some baroque music

*Early 19th Century
--Now all countries begin to focus on the same common body of ‘great composers’ (The ‘Big Three’—Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven—Core is Austrian/German, but spreads to various countries, international standardization
--Music and music aesthetics become an important intellectual topic in their own right as music rises in cultural status, with “richer intellectual trappings”
--These changes are accompanied by changes in program format; in the 18th century, different genres of music, as well as instrumental and vocal music, were always alternated, keeping the audience entertained, and usually an overture opened the program.
As the 19th century approaches, however, the focus begins to move to single long works, usually symphonies, with less variety in overall programming. At the beginning of the century, most programs included 8 or 10 pieces of short or moderate lenth, with the only long compositions (oratorios or sacred) often presented in segments. Composers were not the focal point, and often their names were not included on the program.
Beethoven breaks this with his symphonies(The first example of this is the performance of Beethoven’s Eroica in 1807—opens 2nd half of concert, followed by only one aria) Many other compositions follow, by him and others
--More focus is placed on the composers themselves, with the romantic idea of genius of the individual leading to this focus
--Vocal music is still important, and programs are still intended to please a crowd, but changes have been made; many in the audience are still skeptical of the new canon idea and long instrumental works

*Evolution of the Repertoire—Three Periods
I) Mozart’s death (1791) to Beethoven’s death (1827)
--The ‘Big Three’ emerge as the greatest masters, with Beethoven as most important (He bridges different genres, while Mozart is known most for vocal and opera and Haydn for Symphonies
--Many other composers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries are included, especially Handel, Gluck and Carl Maria von Weber
II) After Beethoven’s death (next 20 years)
--Only a vague sense of a canon surrounding big three, changes in this period, develop a self-conscious sense of the repertoire as a canon
--Classical Music becomes a “cause” defended militantly—a reaction against the commercialism of musical life at the time, with publishing and mass concerts giving rise to simplified editions of recent opera and virtuoso pieces. Now the orchestras stand outside the mainstream of public taste; more serious musicians use “classics” to combat salon music, which they thought degraded popular taste
--The term Classical is standardized across Europe to designate this specific canon of works
--Orchestral taste is conservative, rather than reactionary, with some new music still included.
--Up to 1850, the standard repertoire of today is being built, but some other works are still included; even now some see it leading in the wrong direction by rejecting new pieces
III) 1848 – 1870
--Orchestras and their classical repertoire become the center of musical life
--When musical life started again after the revolutions of 48-49, a major trend in public taste favored the Classical repertoire. The public is tired of the “razzle-dazzle” of merely virtuosic display, so the new generation of virtuosos begins to play concertos by Mozart and Beethoven
--Orchestras grow from private concert societies into national cultural institutions—probably spurred by revolutions, since the performance of oratorios served as a powerful ritual of social unity, leading to the national institutions. Urban growth also helped, with the establishment of large concert halls in major cities
--Many important changes; one was the growing promence of overtures, arias, and full scenes from operas of the 1820-1840s.
--Music from the Renaissance and Baroque eras is revived
--Bach was the main figure—Mendelssohn, St. Matthew’s Passion
--Sets off a revival of other early music
--Partly a return to the 18th century origins of the Classical repertoire, such as Handel
--Not played real frequently at concerts, but yet important because of its unusual nature and its part in fostering the growth of the study of music history
--The overall repertoire becomes mostly standardized (despite the variety from opera excerpts and Baroque revival). The enshrining of master composers throughout Europe leads to homogenization. During the 1830s, most orchestras honor many local composers, but by the 1870s, they are mostly playing music by the same core of dead masters.
--A crisis from the lack of acceptance for new music begins. At the beginning of the century, it was unusual for works by dead composer to occur more than occasionally on programs, by the 1870s none of the major orchestras gave more than a third of their annual repertoire to music of living composers, and the percentage was often smaller; this situation has led to today
--Wagnerians lead a bitter ideological attack against the orchestras of the 1850s for their focus on established masters and resistance to forward-looking works. (Yet Wagner owed a lot to orchestras for the diffusion of his music)
--Some dissemination of new music is made possible by newly organized concert series offered to a less affluent audience
--Euterpe in Leipzig since the early 1830s
--London’s Crystal Palace after it reopened in 1854
--Popular Concerts and Colonne Concerts in Paris (1860s-70s)
--These concerts give more attention to new music than elite orchestras, don’t exaggerate how far they went, but they did welcomd young composers and some avant-garde works by followers of Liszt and Wagner. Performing controversial pieces put the orchestras in the spotlight and helped them draw a public that was not intolerant of new music. They didn’t have a mass audience, with many middle-class listeners who were well educated in music. (Clerk with well-worn pocket score of Beethoven Symphonies)
*Four Important Cities
I) Leipzig
--The Gewandhaus Orchestra, which is largely dominated by the classical canon—its concerts in the 1780s were only 13 % works by dead composers, by 1870, they are 76% works by the deceased
--The competing Euterpe series is organized rather early, and features some newer composers, notably Liszt, Wagner, and their followers
--It is one of the most interesting musical cities in Europe, with much variety and richness of musical styles
II) London
--The Philharmonic Society of London is similar to the Gewandhaus in program makeup, but quicker to focus on a strict canon of works,
--The Society’s social base is not as affluent as in the other cities
--The New Philharmonic Society (1850s) is not too different in its programs, although oratorios by British composers are included here
III) Vienna
--The Vienna Philharmonic is not founded until 1842, much later than other cities began offering professional concert series
--It includes more new works (Brahms, Bruckner, etc)
--The lack of a cheaper series hinders further dissemination of new music, and this perhaps influences radical Viennese composers in the 20th century
IV) Paris
--The Conservatoire Orchestra (1828) is the most resistant of all to new music
--Rival popular concert series are very nationalistic

*Conclusion
--In the 19th century, great symphonic works were enshrined in the orchestras—the operas houses of Europe were slower to establish a canon of works. with instrumental music acquiring a central place in music taste
--The programs still differ from today in their inclusion of many diverse vocal works
--Diverse—operatic, oratorios, songs, and chamber works. The public was equally diverse
--Concerts would still seem a bit strange to us today