'Incomplete or Unified? Vormärz Violin Concerti and Techniques of Formal Compression, (In-)Completeness, and (Dis-)Unity'

Mitterer, Dominik

Abstract

Prevailing approaches towards theory of concerto form identify inter-movement transitions as an essential credential of Felix Mendelssohn’s musical identity in his concertante works (op. 25 [1831]; op. 40 [1837]; op. 64 [1844]). Indeed, Mendelssohn regarded the abolishment of ‘short breaks between the movements’ as a musical preference in order to let the ‘[…] parts themselves sound one after another like a unified mass of music […]’ . Yet, based on a corpus study that reconstructs Leipzig’s performance context of 1815-49, I will show that issues of movement elisions were by no means a Mendelssohnian novelty or singularity, but part of homogenous approaches to violin concerto form at that time. These issues evolved out of a dominant tradition that dealt with different techniques of formal (in-)completeness and compression in the opening movements of Vormärz violin concerti. Furthermore, I will show that questions around the work’s overarching ‘unity’ also culminated in the aesthetic discourse of instrumental music in the 1830s and 1840s, which shaped both musical practices of formal (dis-)unity and critical responses to specific violin concerti in Leipzig of that period.

This paper offers a twofold approach: firstly, it investigates how ideas of ‘unity’ shaped both the musical discourse around, and a variety of performance practices of, the violin concerto in Leipzig. Secondly, it takes the violin concerti of Spohr, David, and Kalliwoda as case studies to scrutinise their individual formal strategies to compensate formal (in-)completeness and compression in the opening movement to preserve unity on the inter-movement level.

Citation

Mitterer, D. (2023, July). 'Incomplete or Unified? Vormärz Violin Concerti and Techniques of Formal Compression, (In-)Completeness, and (Dis-)Unity'. Paper presented at Society for Music Analysis Annual Conference (OxMAC23), Oxford University

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Society for Music Analysis Annual Conference (OxMAC23)
• Conference Location: Oxford University
• Start Date: Jul 6, 2023
• End Date: Dec 8, 2023
• Deposit Date: Dec 4, 2023
• Keywords: Ferdinand David, Charles de Bériot, Formenlehre, Concerto Form
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1981328