THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

Chapter:

CHAPTER 11 The Composer’s Voice

Source:

MUSIC IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES

Author(s):

Richard Taruskin

ex. 11-6 W. A. Mozart, Concerto no. 17 in G major, K. 453, III, mm. 218–29

ex. 11-7a W. A. Mozart, Fantasia in D minor, K. 397, mm. 1–22

Mozart’s concertos, for all their superb originality, show him most clearly in a line of succession from the Bach sons—and, in particular, show him as the heir to C. P. E. Bach’s proto-Romantic empfindsamer Stil. Mozart’s keyboard fantasias are even better evidence of this important line of descent. There are only four of them, representing the tip of a huge iceberg of improvised music-making for which they are, along with the concerto cadenzas, our sole precious written remains. The one in D minor, K. 397, composed early in Mozart’s Vienna period, might almost have been conceived in emulation of C. P. E. Bach’s C-minor fantasia (Ex. 8-4). Like it, the work begins with inchoate exploratory strummings (Ex. 11-7a) reminiscent of the old lute “ricercars”, alternatively known, even in the sixteenth century, as “fantasias”—the remote but nevertheless direct ancestors of Mozart’s keyboard improvisations.

Citation (MLA):

Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 11 The Composer’s Voice." The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press. New York, USA. n.d. Web. 21 Sep. 2023. <https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume2/actrade-9780195384826-div1-11007.xml>.

Citation (APA):

Taruskin, R. (n.d.). Chapter 11 The Composer’s Voice. In Oxford University Press, Music In The Seventeenth And Eighteenth Centuries. New York, USA. Retrieved 21 Sep. 2023, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume2/actrade-9780195384826-div1-11007.xml

Citation (Chicago):

Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 11 The Composer’s Voice." In Music In The Seventeenth And Eighteenth Centuries, Oxford University Press. (New York, USA, n.d.). Retrieved 21 Sep. 2023, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume2/actrade-9780195384826-div1-11007.xml