# Dissonance



## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

What are some of the greatest examples of dissonance used in classical music between c1700-1900, say? Even if it is just one chord. Which composer pulls the most daring harmonic stunts in this period, also?

I have just been listening to the beginning of Vivaldi's Winter concerto which is a fine example I think. 

But others? I know there are probably hundreds. 

Beethoven's 1st piano sonata 1st mov has a couple of minor 2nds dotted about that are very effective.

Bach wrote many.


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## quietfire (Mar 13, 2017)

I believe Mozart wrote a string quartet called Dissonance.


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## cimirro (Sep 6, 2016)

beetzart said:


> What are some of the greatest examples of dissonance used in classical music between c1700-1900, say? Even if it is just one chord. Which composer pulls the most daring harmonic stunts in this period, also?
> 
> I have just been listening to the beginning of Vivaldi's Winter concerto which is a fine example I think.
> 
> ...


Do you mean something like Mozart Quartet K.465?

Edit: I was late... 
How about Jean-Féry Rebel "Les Elements"?


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I was going to suggest Biber's Battalia - then I saw that it was composed in 1673. 

But yesterday we were listening to Handel's Violin Sonatas (composed in the 1720s & 1730s) in the car and I noticed one which had striking dissonance - but I didn't look at the sleeve to see which one it was.

However, after a bit of googling, it does seem as if it may have been his Violin Sonata in D major:
http://www.laphil.com/philpedia/music/violin-sonata-hwv-371-george-frideric-handel

I found the use of dissonance very effective.


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## quietfire (Mar 13, 2017)

cimirro said:


> Do you mean something like Mozart Quartet K.465?


Yes...................


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## cimirro (Sep 6, 2016)

Sorry quietfire I started to write answer and take to long to "reply"
Do you know Jean-Féry Rebel "Les Elements"? i think it is a quite interesting dissonant example!


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

There's that real doozie in the first movement of the "Eroica". It's only a brief passage of repeated discords which resolves after a few seconds, but I'll bet it startled audiences in Beethoven's day.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

The first movement of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony contains shattering dissonances that we take for granted now but must have drawn blank faces or worse from first audiences. Some folks of the time probably considered Beethoven to be insane.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

I think for me, the problem isn't the presence of dissonance, but its degree relative to the work in question. A little dissonance is like a little salt, perhaps usefully helping to accentuate other flavors. Too much salt can make something inedible (as well as unhealthy).


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

I was playing Beethoven's 9th piano sonata in E major earlier and he certainly fills many sections with dissonance. Sadly though, a very underappreciated piece.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

beetzart said:


> I was playing Beethoven's 9th piano sonata in E major earlier and he certainly fills many sections with dissonance. Sadly though, a very underappreciated piece.


"9th piano sonata" doesn't mean much to many of us. Please use a key and opus number. Thanks!


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

It's Op. 14 No. 1, composed in 1798. It is a lovely sonata and definitely underrated. I also enjoy the string quartet version of this sonata, transcribed by Beethoven himself in 1801. Here it is, performed by the Gewandhaus Quartett.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

MarkW said:


> "9th piano sonata" doesn't mean much to many of us. Please use a key and opus number. Thanks!


Beetzart did say it was in E Major and it was the ninth piano sonata Beethoven wrote. I'd just google it for the opus number which btw is Op.14 No. 1.

Oops, I see Bettina beat me to it.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Beethoven - Grosse fuge
Smetana - Macbeth and the witches


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

beetzart said:


> What are some of the greatest examples of dissonance used in classical music between c1700-1900, say? Even if it is just one chord. Which composer pulls the most daring harmonic stunts in this period, also?
> 
> I have just been listening to the beginning of Vivaldi's Winter concerto which is a fine example I think.
> 
> ...


If you're more interested in classical style than early baroque, then try Haydn - symphonies 45,75, 83 the trio of 88. And best of all the Sauschneider capriccio.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Interesting how Beethoven's name keeps on coming up. As someone pointed out, we can only imagine what contemporary audiences must have made of those crashing discords in the third symphony. And of course all that thundering chaos at the start of the final movement of the ninth symphony.

But they should have seen it coming - he starts his very first symphony with a discord.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

My favourite example is in some later parts of Reveries in Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. It never resolves "correctly" in the traditional sense, but in my mind is no doubt intentional, and with great effect.


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