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==Mannheim's Influence on the Classical Style==

==Mannheim's Influence on the Classical Style==

Before the early 20th century, music historians were unable to explain the temporal and stylistic gap between the Baroque and Classical periods. In other words, with early historians' focus on a succession of great composers, there was a gap between the death of [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] in 1750 and the creative activity of [[Haydn]] and [[Mozart]], which did not begin in earnest until the late 1760's. Moreover, their styles of composition were so different from Bach's (whose music was likely not well known to them until much later), it was obvious that some intermediary figure had to have influenced them..<ref>Larsen, 303: ''Als in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts die Evolutionslehre Darwins einen weitgehenden Einfluß auch auf historische Wissenschaftszweige gewann, enstand der Gedanke, es sei notwendig, sozusagen eine Entwicklungsreihe von Komponisten aufzustellen, die den Werdegang der klassischen Musik darstellen könnte. Die drei Namen Haydn - Mozart - Beethoven ließen sich schon in einer aufstiegenden Linie bequem unterbringen, aber vor Haydn fehlt etwas, eine Vermittlung zwischen Spätbarock (Bach) und Frühklassik (Haydn).'' <br />"In the late 19th century, as Darwin's Theory of Evolution also began to exert its influence on other academic disciplines, arose the idea, regarded as necessary, to line up an evolutionary order (so to speak) of composers which would be capable of dramatizing classical music's progression. The three names Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven comfortably accomodated a rising line, but something was lacking before Haydn, an intermediary between late Baroque (Bach) and early classical (Haydn)."</ref>

Before the early 20th century, music historians were unable to explain the temporal and stylistic gap between the Baroque and Classical periods. In other words, with early historians' focus on a succession of great composers, there was a gap between the death of [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] in 1750 and the creative activity of [[Haydn]] and [[Mozart]], which did not begin in earnest until the late 1760's. Moreover, their styles of composition were so different from Bach's (whose music was likely not well known to them until much later), it was obvious that some intermediary figure had to have influenced them.<ref>Larsen, 303: ''Als in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts die Evolutionslehre Darwins einen weitgehenden Einfluß auch auf historische Wissenschaftszweige gewann, enstand der Gedanke, es sei notwendig, sozusagen eine Entwicklungsreihe von Komponisten aufzustellen, die den Werdegang der klassischen Musik darstellen könnte. Die drei Namen Haydn - Mozart - Beethoven ließen sich schon in einer aufstiegenden Linie bequem unterbringen, aber vor Haydn fehlt etwas, eine Vermittlung zwischen Spätbarock (Bach) und Frühklassik (Haydn).'' <br />"In the late 19th century, as Darwin's Theory of Evolution also began to exert its influence on other academic disciplines, arose the idea, regarded as necessary, to line up an evolutionary order (so to speak) of composers which would be capable of dramatizing classical music's progression. The three names Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven comfortably accomodated a rising line, but something was lacking before Haydn, an intermediary between late Baroque (Bach) and early classical (Haydn)."</ref>

Hugo Riemann, a German musicologist and music theorist who is credited with the invention of roman-numeral analysis (still taught in music schools internationally), published a series of articles in the first decade of the 20th century claiming to have found "Haydn's long-sought precedent" in Johann Stamitz.<ref>Riemann 1902, IX: ''Johann Stamitz ist der so lange gesuchte Vorgänger Haydns.''</ref> In the course of several publications of Mannheim orchestral music, Riemann was tireless in proclaiming the Mannheim school the ultimate source of the classical style.

Hugo Riemann, a German musicologist and music theorist who is credited with the invention of roman-numeral analysis (still taught in music schools internationally), published a series of articles in the first decade of the 20th century claiming to have found "Haydn's long-sought precedent" in Johann Stamitz.<ref>Riemann 1902, IX: ''Johann Stamitz ist der so lange gesuchte Vorgänger Haydns.''</ref> In the course of several publications of Mannheim orchestral music, Riemann was tireless in proclaiming the Mannheim school the ultimate source of the classical style.

In truth, the relationship was more complicated. Mannheim's success was at the time mostly local, and music from Mannheim was not published and circulated. It is therefore not likely that Haydn, who did not travel far from [[Vienna]] or Eisenstadt until his old age, had ever heard their music.<ref>Larsen, 306.</ref> Mozart, on the other hand, visited Mannheim several times beginning in 1777, and wrote the opera ''Idomeneo'' in 1781 with this orchestra in mind (though they had relocated to [[Munich]] by this time). He also obviously integrated many of the Mannheim mannerisms into his music.

In truth, the relationship was more complicated. Mannheim's success was at the time mostly local, and music from Mannheim was not published and circulated. It is therefore not likely that Haydn, who did not travel far from [[Vienna]] or Eisenstadt until his old age, had ever heard their music.<ref>Larsen, 306.</ref> Mozart, on the other hand, visited Mannheim several times beginning in 1777, and wrote the opera ''Idomeneo'' in 1781 with this orchestra in mind (though they had relocated to [[Munich]] by this time). He also obviously integrated many of the Mannheim mannerisms into his music.

Still, it is true that the classical style ''seemed'' a logical outgrowth from the Mannheim style. How could this be possible if their influence was not very wide? It is perhaps possible that because of the orchestra's pan-European makeup, they were simply ahead of the curve on the musical trends which were slowly emerging in the rest of Europe: namely, formal clarity, uncomplicated textures, and dramatic rhetorical flourishes. Recent research has shown that many of the "innovations" that Riemann trumpeted were already in evidence in Italian (and especially Neapolitan) [[opera]] of the early 18th century.<ref>See Wolf pp. 197-239 and Würtz.</ref> Mozart himself travelled widely in his youth, and learned from Italian composers as well as Austrian, French, and German ones. So, rather than saying that Mozart learned the classical style from Mannheim, it is probably more accurate that his cosmopolitan musical education mirrored that of the Mannheim orchestra's makeup. In the sense that the classical style was a pan-European style, the Mannheim orchestra and its composers were bellwethers, and Mozart and Haydn its first great practitioners.

Still, it is true that the classical style ''seemed'' a logical outgrowth from the Mannheim style. How could this be possible if their influence was not very wide? It is perhaps possible that because of the orchestra's pan-European makeup, they were simply ahead of the curve on the musical trends which were slowly emerging in the rest of Europe: namely, formal clarity, uncomplicated textures, and dramatic rhetorical flourishes. Recent research has shown that many of the "innovations" that Riemann trumpeted were already in evidence in Italian (and especially Neapolitan) [[opera]] of the early 18th century.<ref>See Wolf pp. 197-239 and Würtz.</ref> Mozart himself travelled widely in his youth, and learned from Italian composers as well as Austrian, French, and German ones. So, rather than saying that Mozart learned the classical style from Mannheim, it is probably more accurate that his cosmopolitan musical education mirrored that of the Mannheim orchestra's makeup. In the sense that the classical style was a pan-European style, the Mannheim orchestra and its composers were its bellwethers, and Mozart and Haydn its first great practitioners.

==References==

==References==