Haydn’s Sunrise, Beethoven’s Shadow: Audiovisual Culture and the Emergence of Musical Romanticism

302 Pages·2016·13.53 MB·English

by  Deirdre Loughridge

HAYDN’S
SUNRISE,
BEETHOVEN’S
SHADOW

H AY D N ’ S
S U N R I S E ,
B E E T H OV E N ’ S
S H A D OW
'"
Audiovisual Culture and the Emergence
of Musical Romanticism
DeirDre LoughriDge
The universiTy of ChiCago Press
Chicago and London
Deirdre Loughridge is a lecturer in the Department
of Music at the University of California, Berkeley.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2016 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2016.
Printed in the United States of America
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16  1 2 3 4 5
isBn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 33709- 8 (cloth)
isBn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 33712- 8 (e- book)
Doi: 10.7208/chicago/9780226337128.001.0001
This book has been supported by the AMS 75 PAYS Endowment of the
American Musicological Society, funded in part by the National Endowment
for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Loughridge, Deirdre, author.
Title: Haydn’s sunrise, Beethoven’s shadow : audiovisual culture and
the emergence of musical Romanticism / Deirdre Loughridge.
Description: Chicago ; London : The Unviersity of Chicago Press, 2016. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCn 2015046824| isBn 9780226337098 (cloth : alk. paper) |
isBn 9780226337128 (e-book)
Subjects: LCsh: Music—18th century—History and criticism. | Music—19th century—
History and criticism. | Mixed media (Music)—18th century—History and criticism. | Mixed
media (Music)—19th century—History and criticism. | Music and technology—History—
18th century. | Music and technology—History—19th century.
Classification: LC ML195 .L68 2016 | DDC 780.9/033—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015046824
♾ This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso Z39.48–1992
(Permanence of Paper).
ConTenTs
inTroDuCTion
Audiovisual Histories
1
one
From Mimesis to Prosthesis
25
Two
Opera as Peepshow
62
Three
Shadow Media
123
four
Haydn’s Creation as Moving Image
163
five
Beethoven’s Phantasmagoria
200
ConCLusion
Audiovisual Returns
232
Acknowledgments 237
Notes 239
Select Bibliography 267
Index 281

inTroDuCTion
Audiovisual Histories
H
ayDn’s syMPhony no. 6 Begins sofTLy. The firsT vioLins
play alone, pianissimo. Soon, they climb a few steps and are joined
by the second violins a third below, also pianissimo. In the third measure,
the remaining instruments enter in turn: first the low-r egister basses, celli,
horns, and bassoon, then the middle-r egister violas and oboes, and finally
a high flute. As the number of instruments increases, the orchestra begins
a crescendo, each member playing gradually louder while the registral ex-
pansion continues. By the fifth measure, the sound has grown from the first
violins’ lone, pianissimo D to a tutti A-m ajor chord spread over four octaves,
fortissimo (example 0.1).
With the aid of the symphony’s title—Le matin [The morning]—the
orchestral crescendo becomes a vivid representation of sunrise. The rep-
resentation works not only by tracing the ascent of the sun with its rising
melodic trajectory, but also by means of the increasing registral spread and
loudness: growing light becomes growing sound. For Haydn’s employer,
Prince Paul Anton Esterházy, the musical representation of sunrise likely
activated a network of associations, the sun being a symbol of royal power
and enlightenment.1 More concretely, the slow orchestral crescendo might
have called to mind ceiling paintings of a type found in the Great Hall at
Esterházy’s Eisenstadt palace, wherein the sun’s splendor emanates from
Apollo driving his sun chariot across the sky (figure 0.1).2
Compare this orchestral crescendo to another, composed half a century
later: the transition from the third movement to the finale of Beethoven’s
Fifth Symphony. The accumulation is more protracted, less steady, the dif-
ference between its start and climax more extreme. After twelve measures
of sustained ppp strings over the pianissimo thuds of a timpani, the second
violins join the firsts and the dynamic notches up to pianissimo. The en-
semble remains at this dynamic level for another twenty- nine measures
as the first violins unfold a halting melody then gradually climb and slide
exaMPLe 0.1. Haydn, Symphony no. 6 in D major/1, mm. 1–6
Adagio
  
Flauto     
pcresc.
  
2 Oboi       
p cresc.
Fagotto        
pp cresc.
2 Corni in D     

p cresc.
Adagio
Violino I pp              cresc.
 
Violino II              
pp cresc.
Viola      
cresc.
pp
Violeo nBcaeslsloo        
pp cresc.
!4 " ' ( ( ( ( ( (# (# '# $)
Fl. "
!
f
Ob. !"" ''# ( "(( (( (( (( ((# ((# (( (( ((# ((# (( ( ((# (# $))
f # # # #
Bsn. "%""$$' $$( ($$ '$$ '$$ '$$ $'
f
$
D Hn. )
! ) )
)
) )
f
Vln. I !!""$$' $$( "$$( ( ( ( (# (# ( ( (# (# ( ( (# (# (# ( (# ( (# ($'
ff
Vln. II !""$$' $$( $$( $$' ( ( (# (# ( ( ( ( (# ( (# ( (# ($'
ff # #
Vla. &""$$' $$( $$( $$' '$$ '$$ $'
ff
Vc. "%""$$' $$( ($$ '$$ '$$ '$$ $'
ff
auDiovisuaL hisTories 3
exaMPLe 0.2. Beethoven, Symphony no. 5 in C minor/3, m. 324– iv, m. 4
324
 
2 Flutes         

2 Oboes         
2 Bassoons          

2 Horns in Eb        
2 Trumpets in C        

Timpani                      

pp
arco
 
Violin I  
      
ppp

Violin II         
Viola 
      
ppp
arco
Violoncello  
and Contrabass          
ppp
from minor into major. As the violins reach their peak, the remaining in-
struments enter: first bassoons, then clarinets, and finally flutes, horns, and
trumpets join timpani and strings to fill out a chord spread over nearly five
octaves. Still, the dynamic marking increases only to piano until the last
four measures, when with a final rush the full orchestra crescendos to the
fortissimo, C- major theme of the finale (example 0.2).
Beethoven’s crescendo is not only of a different magnitude than Haydn’s,
but also of a different order. The Fifth Symphony, of course, has no pro-
grammatic title, and for generations of listeners it has represented the pin-