On 13 Mar 2006 at 16:01, Kim Patrick Clow wrote: > David Fenton wrote: > > "These weren't symphonies. They were opera overtures. While those were > also often given the designation "sinfonia," the genre conventions > were completely different than the ones Beethoven was operating within > when he wrote the Ninth." > > All I think Mr. Zaslaw was saying that there was some indications of > choral music being used in Sinfonias/Overtures before Beethoven. I > don't think he was making some huge, big assertion that what Mozart > did in K. 111a, was akin to what Beethoven did with the 9th Symphony.
There was no choral finale in K111a -- that's the version with the first two movements from the opera and the added instrumental finale in place of the opera's opening chorus. There is no evidence to suggest that this so-called "choral symphony" was ever performed outside the opera. In that context, it was not functioning as a symphony at all. And, contrary to what you say, I think that what's wrong with Zaslaw's comment is that he is doing precisely what you say he is not, i.e., making a "big assertion that What Mozart did. . . was akin to what Beethoven did with the 9th Symphony." And he's simply wrong, because he's crossing genres, comparing opera overtures (many of which existed with choral finales) and an instrumental symphony. When Mozart used the overture to Ascanio as an instrumental symphony he wrote an instrumental finale for it. Had he instead brought in a chorus and performed it by itself with the chorus singing in the finale, then *that* would have been an innovation worthy of mention as a minor precursor of the Ninth. But there is absolutely no evidence that Mozart ever did any such thing. And it seems to me that making the comparison rather makes a hash of what the Ninth is about (it seems no accident to me that the final choral movement is preceded by a number of "mute recitatives") -- it's going in precisely the opposite direction, from purely instrumental music to a mix of instrumental and vocal, whereas Mozart's imaginary "choral symphony" is moving in the other direction, starting in a vocal context. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
