Tonal pieces of music are in a particular key, that is, their most important sections (especially the beginning and the ending) are composed in that key. By means of modulation, the key changes within a piece, but usually, at some point, the main key is returned to. This key therefore dominates the piece, helping to determine its character. In classical music since about 1700 (and until about 1900), the key is often explicitly specified and mentioned in the name of the piece. Longer pieces have sections in contrasting keys - they usually establish the main key, then modulate to other keys, but finally return to the original key. In Classical sonata form, the second key was typically marked with a contrasting theme.
Theoretical works of the eighteenth century explicitly assign certain affectations or emotional characteristics to different keys - in other words, each of the 12 major and 12 minor keys was thought to have its own emotional quality. This is of course very personal, and different schemes contradict each other, but it is fun to listen to pieces in the same key and try to discover what they have in common because of that.
Here we will first look at music in C Major. This is the easiest key to read on the piano as it uses only the white keys, without flats or sharps, but it is not the easiest to play due to the position of the fingers. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel minor is C minor. C Major is not surprisingly the key of simplicity, lack of complexity. It stands with both feet firmly planted on the earth. It also can mean innocence and naïvety, and it can also be brilliant and hopeful.
One of the works which best characterizes C major is Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, BWV 564, by Johann Sebastian Bach. This piece, written in Bach's Weimar period, is one of the most impressive organ works I know. The work begins with a Toccata in C major, 4/4 time. An extended manual passaggio is followed by a pedal solo which is unique in organ literature: it is the longest pedal solo ever written. The full-voiced section that follows is reminiscent of an ensemble (as if this were a concerto), and ends with a grand finale. Then follows an Adagio in A minor, 4/4 time, with a sweet and melancholy melody played by the right hand over an octave accompaniment of the left hand. Near the end, it becomes a grave and modulates to C major. The final four-voice Fugue is again in C major (6/8 time) and has a cheerful and bright atmosphere. This is truly music in C!
Here it is a stunning performance by Reitze Smits at the organ of the St Jacobs Church, Leeuwarden (Netherlands Bach Society).
It is not surprising that almost one fifth of all symphonies by Haydn were in C major - after all, he often wrote (but not always - Haydn was also influenced by the "Sturm und Drang" movement) bright and joyful music. When writing in C, Haydn also often used trumpets - these symphonies are really in a festive mood. The same is true for his Cello Concerto No.1 in C major from 1861-65. This concerto was considered lost and only discovered in 1961 - it is now one of the most played and best loved of all cello concertos. It was composed for Haydn's friend, Joseph Weigl, who at the time was the principal cellist of the Esterházy Orchestra.
Although the work was composed during the Classical period, it still bears strong signs of the late Baroque (as do other concertos by Haydn, which were mostly written early in his life). From the thematic material presented in the exposition by the
orchestra in the first movement, the solo cello picks out a few elements. Striking is the alternation of solo and tutti blocks, a characteristic normally expected in Baroque concerti. The Moderato 1st movement is in C major, 4/4 time, and employs concerto sonata form. The Adagio 2nd movement is in F major, 2/4 time (in this movement, oboe and horns are suspended). It is monothematic and cantabile - the cellist takes over and continues the melody of the violins at the beginning of the movement. The relatively high register in large stretches of the solo part presents a particular challenge. The third movement Allegro molto, is again in C major, 4/4 time, sonata form. It is full of musical verve and is similar in structure to the first movement.
The cellist is Steven Isserlis, with the hr-Sinfonieorchester directed by Richard Egarr.
Mozart also wrote many works in C - 4 piano concertos (the most famous of which is No. 21, KV 467), four piano sonatas, the Concerto for Flute and Harp - and six symphonies. The best example is of course his famous last symphony, named "Jupiter" by Mozart's London impresario after the Roman supreme god and obviously referring to the powerful and Olympic character of the piece.
The 1st movement Allegro vivace is in C major, 4/4 time, sonata form. Without an introduction, it opens with the first theme, which is a combination of a powerful C motive with a rising scale of sixteenth-note triplets and an extended, gentle melodic motive.
The 2nd movement Andante Cantabile is in F major, 3/4 time. The strings are played con sordino, and the timpani and trumpet are rested in this quiet slow movement.
The 3rd movement Menuetto: Allegretto is again in C major, 3/4 time. This graceful minuet begins with a gently descending theme.
Fourth movement, molto allegro, in C major, 2/2 time. Sonata form with a five-part fugue at the end. The main theme consists of four notes "do-re-fa-mi" that are gradually applied in a complex movement - it is a theme which is one of Mozart's favorite motifs:
Mozart seems to have put all his knowledge, strength and talent in his last symphony, resulting in a true masterpiece.
Orchestra of the 18th Century conducted by Frans Brüggen - a matchless performance on authentic instruments.
The young Beethoven typically also liked to write in C: both his first symphony and first piano concerto are in that key, as are two piano sonatas and the Triple Concerto (but none of his late works).
Beethoven's Symphony No 1 in C starts with a slow introduction (adagio molto). Because of the first sound (a dominant seventh chord on C, the composer seems to want to look for another key before the piece has even begun. However, this turns out to be no more than a tease, because 12 bars later the exposition of the first theme neatly begins in the main tempo (allegro con brio). This is followed by the second theme, the development, the reprise and the coda. This coda also contains a surprise: because of a few modulations, it seems as if a second development begins. But the coda has only a quarter of the length of the real development and does what it is supposed to do: conclude the movement.
In those days it was not so common to write the second movement of a symphony in the sonata form. However, the atmosphere is quite different from the 1st movement because of the 3/8 measure and the indication Andante cantabile con molto. Again, the coda contains a few modulations and is something more than just closure.
Formally the third movement is a minuet but the tempo is so high that no one could dance a minuet on this. In all of Beethoven's subsequent symphonies - except the eighth - one finds a scherzo. Many composers followed him in this.
The fourth movement, too, is in the sonata form. In the introductory adagio a ladder is built up step by step; when the octave is reached (so the ladder has eight rungs) the tempo changes to allegro molto e vivace and the ladder motive remains prominent, both rising and falling. The coda here is a kind of super-closer; for 67 measures (2/4) one hears cheerful sounds in changing instrumentation in the main key of C.
hr-Sinfonieorchester conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada.
Also Franz Schubert wrote some of his best works in C major. Famous are his Symphony No. 9, D. 944 ("Great") and Wanderer Fantasy, Op. 15 D. 760. Here I'd like to listen to his String Quintet in C major, D. 956, written in the summer of 1828, only two months before Schubert's death. It was Schubert's last instrumental work and had its premiere posthumously on 17 November 1850 at the Musikverein in Vienna.
The four movement work is the only full-fledged string quintet in Schubert's oeuvre. When he began composing his string quintet, Schubert had already written an impressive body of chamber music for strings, including at least fifteen string quartets, most of which were composed for domestic performance by members of his family. Schubert selected the key of C major in a possible gesture to two composers he greatly admired, Mozart and Beethoven, both of whom wrote string quintets in that key, Mozart's String Quintet No. 3 K. 515, and Beethoven's String Quintet, Op. 29. But whereas the string quintets of Mozart and Beethoven are composed for a string quartet augmented by a second viola, Schubert adopts a somewhat unconventional instrumentation, employing two cellos instead of two violas, creating richness in the lower register. Before Schubert, Luigi Boccherini had replaced the second viola with a second cello; however, Schubert's use of the second cello is very different from Boccherini's, who uses the additional cello to create an additional viola line. Schubert's use of a second cello to enhance the lower strings may have been suggested by the quintets of George Onslow, who used a double bass in some of his quintets.
In keeping with other late works by Schubert (such as the 9th Symphony and the late Piano Sonata in B-flat D 960), the C Major opening movement, Allegro ma non troppo, written in the sonata form, is the most voluminous: it takes up more than a third of the total composition in terms of duration. The second movement is written in three-part form (ABA), with the corner movements in E major and written at a very leisurely pace. The contrasting middle section, however, is in the unrelated key of f-minor. The scherzo is symphonic and grand in scope: the low instruments are used innovatively in a way that generates a very large volume. The middle movement (Trio) is a slow march, which seems to call up the much later sound world of Gustav Mahler. The final movement, again in C, is an exuberant Rondo, with obvious Hungarian influences.
MARYLLIS QUARTETT: Gustav Frielinghaus, violin; Lena Sandoz, violin; Mareike Hefti, viola; Yves Sandoz, cello - and with Jens Peter Maintz, cello.
Noting that Mendelssohn's famous wedding march is also in C, here we move on to the 17-year old Georges Bizet and his only symphony - in C - which he never had performed and which was discovered among his papers, only leading to a performance in 1937, more than 60 years after the composer's death.
1st movement Allegro vivo. Sonata form in C major. The first theme is based on dispersed chords. The second theme in G major is presented by the oboe. After concluding the presentation section with the first theme, it is repeated before entering the development section.
2nd movement Adagio. A slow movement in A minor. After a short introduction, the piece proceeds with the theme played by the oboe. Next, a new theme is presented by the violin, followed by a fugato based on the rhythm of the introduction. The theme from the beginning returns and the piece comes to a close.
3rd movement Scherzo. Allegro vivace. Scherzo movement in G major. The middle part is in C major. The main part consists of a simple theme based on dispersed chords.
4th movement Allegro vivace. Sonata form in C major. The first theme with fine movements by the violin proceeds as if in dialogue with the woodwinds. After that, the second theme in G major is again presented by the violin, but this time it is graceful in contrast. A very bright and sunny work, typical C!
Netherlands Chamber Orchestra with Gordan Nikolić, violin / musical director.
Two of Sibelius's seven symphonies are in C, the 3rd and the 7th. In line with the key of C major, Sibelius Symphony No 3 it is a good natured, triumphal, and deceptively simple-sounding piece. In this work, the magnificent, late-Romantic style of Sibelius' early works has faded away, and the style is shifting to a simpler, denser style that is similar to that of his later works. However, the stifling tension of Sibelius' later works is still absent, and this is a light and lively piece of music.
The symphony consists of three movements, but the last movement is composed of a scherzo-like section and a finale-like section.
1st movement Allegro moderato. C major, sonata form. The first theme presented by the low strings at the beginning is a simple and rhythmical theme. It is said that Sibelius was inspired by the misty English scenery he saw from the coast when he visited England in the past. The second theme is a dark and melodious theme presented by the cello.
2nd movement Andante con moto, quasi allegretto. Free variation in G-sharp minor. At the beginning, a pizzicato motive and a flute motive develop to form the central theme. This theme is transformed four times, and a transitional section is placed between the four variations.
3rd movement Moderato - Allegro (ma non tanto) - Meno allegro. C major. After a moderato introduction, the first half is a combative allegro, and the second half is a free form with a chorale-like theme. After a short moderato introduction, the main part of the allegro is played in 6/8 time, and various motifs appear and are alternated to form a scherzo-like music. When the music reaches its climax, the viola plays a chorale-like theme. This also forms the basis of the final section, gradually expanding in scale. When the music reaches its climax, it quickly descends and ends gracefully and simply.
Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam, conductor - this Finnish Orchestra is wonderful and manages to bring out the mystery in Sibelius's music.
Maurice Ravel's Boléro was also written in C, a ballet composed in 1928 for the Ukrainian dancer Ida Rubinstein. The piece was an immediate success at its premiere on November 22, 1928 at the Paris Opéra, with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska and a set by Alexandre Benois.
The Bolero consists of two themes played each time by different instruments. After two introductory measures by the small drum, the first theme is started by a single flute, then gradually the entire orchestra joins in, crescendoing with each successive fragment. Besides its intriguing orchestration, with orchestral instruments taking turns playing the theme, the Bolero also became known for its rhythmic drone. This sustained rhythm throughout the work is:
Here is an electrifying performance by the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Alondra de la Parra, conductor.
One of the most famous contemporary pieces, the first truly minimal music, is also in C - and that is even true for its name: Terry Riley's in C.
In C is a semi-aleatoric piece of music composed in 1964. It was written for 35 musicians, but can be played with smaller or larger groups. It is said to be the first minimalist composition ever. In C consists of 53 short, numbered musical rows, lasting from a half beat to 32 beats, which can be repeated as many times as the musician wishes. Each musician has control over which row he or she plays: Musicians are encouraged to start the phrases at different times, even if they are playing the same phrase. For proper tone, the ensemble should not "break up" more than 2 to 3 sentences. The phrases should be played in order, although some rows may be skipped. The piece has no set duration; performances average between 45 and 90 minutes.
Here it is wonderfully played by a group of African musicians on traditional African instruments at the Tate Modern.
[With thanks to relevant public domain articles in either the German, Japanese, Dutch or English Wikipedia]