Page:Pratt - The history of music (1907).djvu/356

 '''148. The Early Symphonists.'''—The largest forms of orchestral writing in this period were the symphony and the concerto, the latter being distinguished by the prominence given to a solo instrument. No precise date can be named for the invention of the symphony, since it was gradually evolved from the operatic overture (taking its name from the old term 'sinfonia'), the suite and the solo sonata. The scheme of movements and the use of two subjects in at least one of them, with some details of handling, are traceable before 1750, though not systematically maintained. It has been common to call Gossec and Haydn the pioneers, with Emanuel Bach or his father foreshadowing both. It now appears that special emphasis should also be placed upon the improvements in technical style made by the Mannheim group of composers, under the lead of Stamitz and others. It was at Mannheim that the refinements of orchestral expression were first brought fully into view and that a series of composers was stimulated to produce ambitious works employing these new resources. Few works of this class can be exactly dated, so that the historic sequence cannot be satisfactorily worked out. We simply know that, from about 1750, symphonies more or less upon modern lines began to multiply, that soon the number of composers engaged upon this form decidedly increased, and that from 1780, especially under the touch of Mozart's genius, the quality of the style became permanently significant. It is true that among the hundreds of symphonies written during the half-century many are devoid of interest except as tokens of a general movement that we now know had a grand destiny. As in other cases, the first efforts were largely directed toward the perfecting of tools and methods. In only a few examples was the content of the form rich enough to compete with the finer works of the next period.

Among the composers in this field before 1750, the Venetian opera-writer Galuppi (d. 1785) deserves mention for his overtures (from about 1740). More important was K. P. E. Bach (d. 1788), the Berlin and Hamburg composer, with almost 20 symphonies (from 1741), besides many works in related forms, all prefiguring later developments (see sec. 140).

The Mannheim violinists Johann Stamitz (d. 1757) and Franz Xaver Richter (d. 1789) exerted a wide influence through their attention to contrasts and nuances in performance, as well as to the improvements in structure that these made effective. Stamitz himself, though dying when only 40 years old, wrote nearly 50 symphonies, besides other works, in a style that supplies the