A glittering cultural tour of Europe's major capitals during a period of
intense musical change. This volume continues the study of the eighteenth
century begun in Haydn, Mozart, and the Viennese School 1740–1780 (1995) by
focusing on the capital cities other than Vienna that were most important in
the creation and diffusion of new music. It tells of events in Naples, where
Vinci and Pergolesi went beyond their pre-1720 models to cultivate opera in a
simpler, more direct manner, soon after christened the galant style. No less
central was Venice, where Vivaldi perfected the concerto, on which were
patterned the early symphonies and the newer kind of sonata. Dresden profited
first from all these achievements and became, under Hasse's direction, the
foremost center of Italian opera in Germany. Mannheim with its great orchestra
did much to shape the modern symphony. A few years later, Paris became
paramount, especially for its Opéra-Comique; during the 1770s the Opéra
provided Gluck with a stage on which to cap his long international career. The
book concludes with a description of Christian Bach in London, Paisiello in
Saint Petersburg, and Boccherini in Madrid. This long-awaited book offers a
view of eighteenth-century music that is broad and innovative while remaining
sensitive to the values of those times and places. One comes away from it with
an understanding of the European context behind the triumphs of Haydn and
Mozart. Lavishly illustrated with music examples and reproductions, both in
black-and-white and color, this master study will be of inestimable importance
to scholars, cultural historians, performers, and all music lovers. Read more