Page 129 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

continuo of the Baroque era have disappeared entirely. The bass still generates the harmony, but it does not always move in the regular, constant fashion typified by the Baroque walking bass. Rather, the bass might sit on the bottom of one chord for several beats, even several measures, then move rapidly, and then stop again. Thus, the rate at which chords change—the “harmonic rhythm,” as it is called—is much more fluid and flexible with Classical composers.
To avoid a feeling of inactivity when the harmony is static, Classical compos- ers invented new “filler” patterns for accompaniment. Sometimes, as in Exam- ple 7.1, they simply repeat the accompanying chord in a uniform triplet rhythm (groups of three). More common is the pattern called the Alberti bass, named after the minor Italian keyboard composer Domenico Alberti (1710–1740), who popularized this figure. Instead of playing the pitches of a chord all together, the performer spreads them out to provide a continual stream of sound. Mozart used an Alberti bass (Example 7.2) at the beginning of his famous C major piano sonata (1788).
Example 7.2 > alberti bass ˙ œ Ÿ &4˙œœœ.œœœŒ œœœœœœŒ
&4œœœœœœœœœœ œœ œœœœ œœœœœœœœ
The Alberti bass serves essentially the same function as both the modern “boogie-woogie” bass and the process of “tapping” on a guitar (made famous by Eddie Van Halen). It provides an illusion of harmonic activity for those moments when, in fact, the harmony is not changing.
Rhythm
Rhythm, too, is more flexible in the hands of Haydn and Mozart than it was in the music of Bach and Handel, animating the stop-and-go character of Clas- sical music. Rapid motion may be followed by repose and then further quick movement, but there is little of the driving, perpetual motion of Baroque musi- cal rhythm. It is as if Mozart has replaced Bach’s regularly chugging train with a flexible Slinky toy.
Texture
Musical texture was also transformed in the latter half of the eighteenth century, mainly because composers began to concentrate less on writing dense coun- terpoint and more on creating charming melodies. No longer are independent polyphonic lines superimposed, layer upon layer, as in a fugue of Bach or a poly- phonic chorus of Handel. This lessening of counterpoint made for a lighter, more transparent sound, especially in the middle range of the texture (see Example 7.1,
LiSTeN TO . . . Example 7.2 online.
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