The Age of Musical Arrangements in Europe, 1780–1830
1780–1830

This Element considers the art and culture of arranging music in Europe in the period 1750-1850, focusing on Vienna.

Nancy November (Author)

9781108931601, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 28 September 2023

88 pages
22.9 x 15.3 x 0.6 cm, 0.15 kg

This Element considers the art and culture of arranging music in Europe in the period 1780–1830, using Haydn's London symphonies and Mozart's operas as its principal examples. The degree to which musical arrangements shaped the social, musical, and ideological landscape in this era deserves further attention. This Element focuses on Vienna, and an important era in the culture of arrangements in which they were widely and variously cultivated, and in which canon formation and the conception of musical works underwent crucial development. Piano transcriptions (for two hands, four hands, and two pianos) became ever more prominent, completely taking over the field after 1850. For various reasons, principal composers of the era under consideration, including Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, participated directly in the practice of arrangement. Motivations to produce arrangements included learning the art of composition, getting one's name known more widely, financial gain, and pedagogical aims.

1. The idea of arrangement
2. From stage to salon in Vienna c.1800
3. Repackaging the classical symphony
4. Rearranging Mozart's operas
5. Arrangement history around 1850: losing touch.

Subject Areas: Baroque music [c 1600 to c 1750 AVGC3]