How should one listen to multi-movement works of concert music?

Question

I'm trying to figure out how to listen to classical music, and one of the things that is most confusing to me is why any work would have more than one movement. To my ear, it sounds like usually these movements could just be totally different pieces of music (and usually are on a different CD track), so why are they put together at all? I usually can't identify any sort of motivic consistency or anything, either. I would appreciate any help with this. I imagine that the answer differs depending on the work in question, but are there any broad, formal conventions that tie multi-movement works together?

Answer 1

Hello there,

You have asked an interesting and tricky question. The movements should make a coherent whole, but a lot of experimenting went on in the 18th Century to try to reach this, especially by Haydn. There is not space here, but Charles Rosen's book: "The Classical Style" is excellent and discusses the matters you raise. You find, in some works, that there is thematic link between movements, but in other four movement works, the overall balance is achieved by contrast. Good luck.

Answer 2

It is up to you!



This is the variation on should I clap between movement debate (when at a live performance).



I always try to listen to complete works, but at times I am keen on listening to a specific movement or do not have time to listen to the whole work so I just take in the movements I am keen on.



In fact, this is often how it works. One movement draws me to a work, I get the work, I skip the other movements to get to the candy-movement and eventually I come to love the work in its entirety. A good example of this is Bruch's Scottish Fantasy. It was a certain movement that inspired me to get the work and I skipped over the other ones, but now the candy-movement is no longer the sole draw.



As far musical unity in the movements of a work. As other here say, oft-times you need in-depth knowledge of music construction and techniques to discern the connection. The same can happen with variations on a theme. It can be hard to tell all the variations have a common theme.

Answer 3

Well, of course, that is your choice. You may listen in any manner that pleases you.



The works themselves were intended to be played as a unit, and were key-related, and followed a general tempo pattern (if we're talking symphonies here) of fast, slow, dance, and very fast. So from that standpoint, the work is not complete until you traveled through the keys and tempos. Now, as far as motivic unity between the movements -- that is a development that came rather later in the Classical period. An early example would be Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, in which a 4 note motive -- C-D-F-E -- is heard in all 4 movements. And it becomes the main theme in the finale.



In Beethoven's 5th Symphony the rhythmic "3 shorts and 1 long" idea is used in 3 of the 4 movements.



Of course there is the famous "Idee Fix" of Berlioz' "Synfonie Fantastique". A rather extended melodic idea is heard in all 5 movements.



Composers were subtle, and did not always wish to smack you in the face with what their unifying idea was -- so listening alone may not reveal it -- you might have to have a smattering of musical knowledge and maybe a guidebook at times -- but the curious thing is that although we don't know what the systematic unifying framework might be, we migh notice that the various movements SOUND related in a way that we can't quite identify, but it is there neverhteless.



Happy listening!!

Answer 4

This is a hard question to answer.



When I'm listening to a multi-movement piece for the first time, I'll always try to listen to it the whole way through, without stopping, and without repeating. Sometimes this isn't possible (if it's Mahler, you might need a sandwich at the end of the 1st movement), but that's what I try to do.



But then after I've heard the "big picture," I usually listen to the movements individually to get to know them better. Hearing them in isolation like this helps me to get more familiar with the details of each movement, and makes it easier to make inter-movement connections (if there are any to be made...).

Answer 5

It is technical.



It has to do with form. You start with an Allegro, then you move to a contrasting piece, and end with a rondo, or sonata allegro.



usually the themes minor themes in the first movement will be used as primary themes in the other movements. They will develop beyond recognition, and in the final versions it is normal that these themes may not even be in the first movement at all.



The most important reason why you should listen to a piece in its movements is becuase it was meant to be heard that way by the composer.



You can certainly only listen to one or 2 movements. But its good to listen to the entire thing first.

Answer 6

The movements are meant to be a unified work. I personally think that they need to be listened to together, I am always upset when a radio station plays a single movement as if it could stand alone - I consider this the worst kind of philistinism. I'm sure you will get many people with the opposite point of view so don't take me too seriously.

Answer 7

It's really up to you how you listen to music. the merits to different kinds of listening.



In the classical era it often is the case that there are little or no musical qualities that unify movements into the same work. sometimes things like dance suites are grouped together for their function rather than musical connection.

In Romantic music and afterwards we very often see themes and motives recurring in several different movements to unify the whole piece. there are of course exceptions.