Klarinet Archive - Posting 000649.txt from 2001/01

From: "Dan the Rubber Band Man" <saxman105@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Stamitz
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 22:51:01 -0500

Oh by all means I didn't want anyone to do my homework. I was searching on
the internet and most of the pages I found couldn't be found after the
search engine. and I have no access to music books like the ones you all
have. you must remember. I'm in highschool and do not take big music history
classes... unfortunately. :-(

Danny Ehrhart

e-mail: saxman105@-----.net
web page: http://saxman105.home.att.net
aol IM: DannyClarinet
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----- Original Message -----
From: "William Wright" <Bilwright@-----.net>
Subject: Re: [kl] Stamitz

> I am somewhat reluctant to do your homework for you.... but since
> you claim to have looked in the library already, and since I learned
> some interesting stuff by consulting my own books, and since other
> people on this list have helped me when perhaps I could've helped myself
> if I had been willing to spend more money or to ignore my family a
> little bit, I'll pass some information on to you:
>
>
>
> Full name: Johan Wenzel Anton Stamitz
> (Karl and Anton Stamitz were his sons)
>
> Born in Bohemia June 19, 1717
> Died in Mannheim March 30, 1757
> Composer and violinist
>
> Chamber music director and violinist at the Mannheim electoral court (I
> don't know exactly what this 'court' was), beginning 1745
>
> Composed 50 symphonies and other works (at least 100 of them, my
> encyclopedia is not specific) including: orchestral trios, harpsichord
> and violin and oboe concertos, violin sonatas, and other chamber music.
>
> My encyclopedia (New College Encyclopedia of Music, W.W. Norton, 1960)
> asserts that he was the most important of the composers attached to the
> Mannheim orchestra at that time, and that he contributed to the
> orchestra's development of "some of the chief traits in the style of the
> symphony, such as marked contrast between forte and piano, the crescendo
> for full orchestra, contrast of style between themes, the dropping of
> the continuo, and the fuller use of wind instruments."
>
> Another book (What Music Is, Herbert Weinstock, Dolphin, 1968) agrees
> with the preceeding paragraph and says of the Mannheim orchestra under
> Stamitz and others: "The first modern orchestra [....] essentially
> noncontrapuntal in emphasis [....] Homophony was increasingly the
> favored texture, a group of violins being entrusted wit most of the
> leading melodies while other instruments suppled harmonic chordal
> support [....] true orchestral prestos resulted [because a single
> melodic strand eased the demands for coordination within the orchestra]
> [....] silences of the entire ensemble [....] string tremolo
> [....] very rapid broken chords. [....] The Mannheim orchestra was
> of enduring historic importance chiefly for its development of effects
> [mentioned above] and for its conclusive demonstrations of the values of
> rehearsal and precision."
>
> The quote that tickles me, however, is this one from Weinstock's book:
> "The compositions of the Mannheim conductors, like the works of many
> stylistic innovators, generally fail to satisfy as artistic wholes,
> whatever their eighteenth-century charm of manners."
>
>
>
> Cheers,
> Bill
>
>
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