Instrumental Music in an Age of Sociability
Haydn, Mozart and Friends

Interprets an eighteenth-century musical repertoire in sociable terms, both technically (specific musical patterns) and affectively (predominant emotional registers of the music).

W. Dean Sutcliffe (Author)

9781009364027, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 16 February 2023

612 pages, 2 tables 80 music examples
24.4 x 17 x 3.2 cm, 1.043 kg

Sociability may be a key term of reference for eighteenth-century studies as a whole, but it has not yet developed an especially strong profile in music scholarship. Many of the associations that it brings do not fit comfortably with a later imperative of individual expression. W. Dean Sutcliffe invites us to face up to the challenge of re-evaluating the communicative rationales that lie behind later eighteenth-century instrumental style. Taking a behavioural perspective, he divides sociability into 'technical' and 'affective' realms, involving close attention both to particular recurring musical patterns as well as to some of the style's most salient expressive attributes. The book addresses a broad span of the instrumental production of the era, with Haydn as the pivotal figure. Close readings of a variety of works are embedded in an encompassing consideration of the reception of this music.

1. The sociable muse
2. Reciprocity
3. Formula
4. Tone
5. Final focus.

Subject Areas: Musical instruments & instrumental ensembles [AVR], Individual composers & musicians, specific bands & groups [AVH], Classical music [c 1750 to c 1830 AVGC4], Music reviews & criticism [AVC]