# Proksch, Bryan Jeffrey: Cyclic Integration in the Instrumental Music of Haydn& Mozart



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

*Proksch, Bryan Jeffrey: Cyclic Integration in the Instrumental Music of Haydn& Mozart*

The dissertation (PDF) can be downloaded from:
https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/dissertations/ft848q740

Creator: Proksch, Bryan Jeffrey
Abstract: Cyclic integration - the manner in which movements of a multi-movement cycle relate to one another - is a compositional device generally associated with music written from the nineteenth century onward, beginning with the works of Beethoven. It is most commonly perceived to be based primarily (if not exclusively) on thematic resemblances. The use of Beethoven's works as a standard for evaluating the practices of other composers, and the limited number of compositions by Haydn and Mozart including thematic resemblances, have combined to create the perception that Haydn and Mozart ignored cyclic integration in the majority of their works. This dissertation argues for a broader conception of cyclic integration in the music of Haydn and Mozart by viewing it as a compositional device that can extend beyond thematic ideas to incorporate a variety of possible elements. These include harmony, texture, form, phrase structure, musical topics, rhythm, articulation, and other musical elements. An analysis of Mozart's String Quartet in A major, K. 464, serves as a case study in demonstrating a methodology for eighteenth-century cyclic integration. A broad survey of their practices from c. 1770-c. 1800 evaluates the extent of their use of cyclic integration as a compositional device. The results of this survey indicate that Haydn and Mozart reserve their strongest connections for symphonies and string quartets, and that their practices changed over the course of time.

It's an interesting read that also addresses opposing viewpoints such as LaRue's;
"Jan LaRue takes a skeptical view of organic unity and cyclic integration in the music of Haydn and Mozart. He argues that many of the connections favored by Réti and Keller in their analyses are little more than coincidences." (P. 63)


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Also, one thing I had noticed about K.464:

K.464/i has [ dotted 1/4 note - 1/8 note - 1/8 note - 1/8 note ] as its principal motivic rhythm: 









K.464/ii has [ 1/2 note - 1/4 note - 1/4 note - 1/4 note ] as its principal motivic rhythm: 









K.464/iv has both:


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Looks interesting! 

Question: Whose "College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Music?" University of North Carolina? 

IMO, La Rue was correct that much of Reti's and Keller's connections were meaningless coincidences. LaRue was far from the only critic. Both Reti and Keller were dismissed by a consensus of musicologists and theorists. 

Proksch's work sounds much more promising. It's a good idea exploring connections other than thematic ones. Haydn, for example, sometimes unifies works by using common procedures in different movements. Like in Symphony 47, where it's the use of strong major-minor contrasts in the treatment of the principal themes of the first movement and finale.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

EdwardBast said:


> Both Reti and Keller were dismissed by a consensus of musicologists and theorists.


Whatabout Charles Hazlewood? 






EdwardBast said:


> IMO, La Rue was correct that much of Reti's and Keller's connections were meaningless coincidences. LaRue was far from the only critic.


Still, I strongly feel that K.421 and K.575 (K.575/i & K.575/iv ["D-F♯-A-G-E"]) contain movements stylistically bound to their respective works that they aren't "interchangeable" with those of K.464, for example.





But I think that the most "proto-Beethovenian" style of "cyclic technique" do not come from either J. Haydn or Mozart, but J.H. Knecht:


hammeredklavier said:


> notice the "continuity": 12:30 , 18:30 , 20:50
> and "recalling of themes" across movements in the Knecht symphony: 0:00 , 20:04 , 0:58 , 9:40


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

hammeredklavier said:


> Also, one thing I had noticed about K.464:
> 
> K.464/i has [ dotted 1/4 note - 1/8 note - 1/8 note - 1/8 note ] as its principal motivic rhythm:
> 
> ...


Well you certainly prompted me to listen to 464 with these ideas in mind. What a wonderful quartet! Thanks.

It also made me reflect on how much more there is to texted music than listening and performing. I'm not really sure if/how your close reading of the text bears on listening and performing. I'm sure this question has been considered before, but not by me.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

hammeredklavier said:


> Whatabout Charles Hazlewood?


Sounds too short and trivial to me.



hammeredklavier said:


> But I think that the most "proto-Beethovenian" style of "cyclic technique" do not come from either J. Haydn or Mozart, but J.H. Knecht:


Really? There is a direct line from CPE Bach's Concerto in C minor W43#4 to Haydn's Symphony 46 to Beethoven's Fifth. In all three a scherzo theme is returned in the middle of the finale. Then there are the other obvious examples of cyclic structure in CPE's keyboard sonatas.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

EdwardBast said:


> There is a direct line from *CPE Bach's Concerto in C minor W43#4* to Haydn's Symphony 46 to Beethoven's Fifth. *In all three a scherzo theme is returned in the middle of the finale.*


I still can't agree with you about C.P.E. Bach though -we talked about this before. 10-minute long, 3-movement concerto, symphony, sonata, fantasy pieces where the movements are connected by transitions (or separated by "double bars") and/or recalling of themes across the movements (almost invariably the outer movements only) were quite commonplace in the early Classical period. (ex. Mozart's 23rd, 26th, 32nd symphonies, organ pieces, K.594, K.608). C.P.E. Bach did not write a scherzo in Wq.43/4 (or in any of his other works for that matter).
Try this (note that Mozart doesn't do this in his other piano sonatas):


hammeredklavier said:


> The fantasie and the outer movements of the associated sonata (K.457) -in each of their developments, there is a sigh-like expression, consisting of a 'diminished 7th chord on B' collapsing down to a 'dominant 6/5 chord' (by lowering the top A♭ to G). It strikes me somewhat as a "leitmotif":
> K.475 :
> 
> 
> ...


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

It's also interesting that, of his late symphonies, Mozart does these only in the C major, K.551 -"extended sequences" of ascending and descending slurred triplets and 16th notes (in groups of 4 or 5 notes ending on the strong beats), in the false recapitulations of the outer movements. So the connection is "gestural", rather than "thematic". If you look at each of the groups of notes by itself taken out of its context, it just looks like a typical cliché of his style, but what makes their use in this symphony relatively special is that Mozart does in "extended sequences" with chromaticism:



























I also know that this theme from the minuet ..













.. is different from the "C-D-F-E" theme from the final movement in scale degrees, but Mozart also twists the "C-D-F-E" theme (in scale degrees) even in the final movement:


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

hammeredklavier said:


> IC.P.E. Bach did not write a scherzo in Wq.43/4 (


The third movement. A minuet technically, but it's obvious as an inspiration for the Haydn and Beethoven.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

K.515/i: 







K.515/iv: 







^These are the only times in his string quintets Mozart writes a whole rest for a full measure in all voices. "The idea used in the first movement of an advancing momentum brought to a sudden
stop is again explored." -Elizabeth Dalton

It's hard to describe why, but I feel there are "stylistic continuities" (of impression), although there are no real "thematic similarities". 
In the C major, K.515 - these "chromatically dramatic" sections are followed up by (or ended with) upward chromatic scale gestures, which are then transferred to lower voices, accompanied by passages going downward step-wise in the upper voices:




 (4:46)












 (29:38)








^Mozart doesn't do this in his other string quintets.

Likewise:


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

No.29 in A, K.201: "The energetic last movement, another sonata-form movement in 6/8 time, connects back to the first movement with its octave drop in the main theme."
No.30 in D, K.202: "The finale starts off with a falling dotted fanfare motif similar to the one that starts the opening movement. The answering phrase and the movement's second theme have a contradanse character."


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

May not be great examples for this thread, but I still found them interesting;
K.203/i: 



K.203/vi: 












K.334/i: 



K.334/ii: 



K.334/i: 



K.334/vi:


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

It's difficult to say whether or not this has any significance regards to the discussion, but it's still interesting imv (don't take it too seriously)-
K.452/i: 



K.452/iii: 



(the downward bassline movement by thirds, and similarly arpeggiated passages in the keyboard, and answer from the winds; just the 'general impression')
K.452/i: 



K.452/iii: 



(similar grace note gestures)


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