The piano concerto through time

Hello and welcome to today's music lesson. I'm Ms. Matsell and I'm gonna be your teacher today. Let's get started. Today's lesson outcome is, "I can identify similarities and differences between the piano concertos of the Classical and Romantic periods." Let's look at some keywords for today's lesson. Diatonic, harmony which uses only notes from within the key. Chromatic, notes from outside the key. Chromatic movement often involves moving by semitones. Scalic, a melody using segments of a scale. Arpeggio, a broken chord in which the notes of a chord are played in order, ascending or descending. Tutti, a section in a concerto where the orchestra play together, including the main melody. Today's lesson on the piano concerto through time is in two parts. The first part is the Classical piano concerto, and the second part is the Romantic piano concerto. So let's get started with the first part, the Classical piano concerto. Throughout the Classical and Romantic periods, the piano was one of the most important instruments in concertos. It was invented as a successor to the harpsichord near the start of the Classical period. And the piano's versatility and expressiveness meant that the harpsichord fell in popularity. The name piano is short for pianoforte, meaning soft-loud in Italian. It was named after its most striking innovation, the ability to vary the dynamics. The piano uses the keys to press hammers, which hit the string, unlike the harpsichord, where the keys activate a lever to pluck the strings. This allows the player to play louder by pressing more firmly on the keys. There are a few features of the piano that make it particularly well suited to the concerto. Can you think of any? You might have said, "It can play very soft and also very loud, so it can be heard over large orchestras." "It can play both melodies and complex accompaniment. For example, chords and arpeggios." It can play many notes at once and has a huge range, so it gives composers many options for texture. Hope you said something similar to those. Classical composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn composed some of the first piano concertos. These used many of the typical features of the Classical concerto. Can you remember any of those? You might have thought of an orchestra using mostly strings with a few woodwind, brass, and sometimes percussion instruments. Solo and tutti sections with the soloist not playing. First violins playing most of the orchestral melodies. Three movements, so fast, slow, and fast. Use of sonata form in the first movement. Virtuosic cadenzas. Diatonic harmony. Melody and accompaniment texture. Balanced phrasing. So hopefully you thought of some of those. Let's do a check for understanding. Why were there no Baroque piano concertos? Is the answer A: Baroque music didn't suit the piano. B: The piano wasn't invented until later. Or C: Baroque composers preferred to use harpsichord. Which of those is it? Well done if you got B. The piano wasn't invented until later than the Baroque period. Let's analyze the first movement of Mozart's famous "Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major," it's in sonata form. The exposition typically begins with a tutti introduction that introduces the main themes in A major. Which instruments play the melody in this tutti section? Have a listen. You should have heard the violins, clarinets, and flutes play the melody. The piano enters, playing the same melodic ideas. How does the texture change during this section? Pause and have a listen. You might have said, "It begins with a piano solo, playing both melody and accompaniment, and then it thickens with a cello countermelody, then more of the strings join in, accompanying the piano melody with chords." The piano then develops the melody with scalic runs and complex patterns based on arpeggios. Have a listen to that. If you want to be able to play a Mozart piano concerto, it's a really good idea to practice your scales and your arpeggios, as they feature a lot. Throughout this, the left hand provides accompaniment for the right hand melody. This isn't possible on most other solo instruments in the concertos. The piano plays the second melodic theme. How would you describe the typical Classical phrasing here? Pause and have a listen to the clip. Should have realized this is typical balanced phrasing. So equal length two or four bar phrases with question and answer phrases. The development section then provides contrast. How do the texture and tonality contrast with the exposition? Pause and listen to the clip. You might have said, "The texture is more broken, with the melody alternating between piano and orchestra, and some polyphonic sections. The tonality is minor, then moves between different keys." The orchestra and soloist interact in various ways. What word describes how the violins and piano interact here? Pause and listen to the clip. "The violins are doubling the piano melody, so they're playing it in unison with the piano." In the recapitulation, the original material returns, back in the original key of A major. Which instrument or instruments doubles the piano melody here? Have a listen to the clip. It was the flutes doubling the piano melody. What typical features do you then hear in the cadenza section? Pause and have a listen. It's virtuosic, with lots of arpeggios, scalic runs, and fast rhythms, and it's in free time with lots of speeding up and slowing down. The movement ends with a tutti section, finishing with a satisfying perfect cadence in A major. So pause and have a listen to that. This piece demonstrates typical features of the Classical piano concerto, and those are typical structure, diatonic harmony, melodic features, and texture of Classical concertos. Use of both hands on the piano to play both melody and accompaniment together. Use of scalic runs and arpeggios on the piano to develop ideas and other virtuosic techniques. Varied interaction between the piano and orchestra, including doubling of melodic lines. What can a piano soloist do in a concerto that most other instruments can't? What do you think? Well done if you said they can play both melody and accompaniment at the same time. When an orchestral instrument plays a melody together with a soloist, what is this called? Is it A: copying, B: imitating, C: doubling, or D: backing? Which do you think? Well done if you've got doubling. So let's do Task A. We want you to listen to the examples and answer the questions. So for Example 1, we want to know which melodic device is used between the woodwind instruments at the beginning. Which harmonic device do the double basses use in the first part of the clip? And which melodic device is heard later in the clip? And then for Example 2, we want to know how do the piano soloist and orchestra interact? What is the tonality of this clip? And which instruments play countermelodies? So pause the listen video now and have a go at Task A. How did you get on with Task A? Let's have a look at some of the answers. So the melodic device used between the woodwind instruments at the beginning was imitation. The double basses were playing a pedal. And the melodic device heard later in the clip was a sequence. And for Example 2, you could have said something like, "At first the piano plays a melody with the orchestra playing a simple accompaniment. Later, the woodwind join in with a new melody with some imitation. The piano plays parts of those melodies." For the tonality of the clip, it's major. And the orchestral instruments playing the melodies are bassoon and clarinet. I hope you've got a lot of those answers. Let's move on to part two of our lesson, the Romantic piano concerto. In the Romantic period, the piano became one of the most popular instruments for composers, many of whom were very skilled pianists. It was ideal for Romantic music in a few ways. It has a huge dynamic range, so can express extremes of emotion. It can play complex virtuosic music, including sweeping arpeggios, scalic runs, and complex chords. It can create varied textures with multiple parts at once. The Romantic piano concerto drew on these features and mirrored the main features of other Romantic concertos, including more complex textures, chromatic harmony, larger ensembles, and greater extremes of dynamics. A focus on expression and emotion. Longer and more technically demanding compositions. Romantic composers use the piano in many different ways. Some Romantic piano concertos begin with a piano solo rather than the typical orchestral tutti section used in Classical concertos. How would you describe the piano part in this introduction? Pause and have a listen. You could have said something like, "The piano plays solo chords, gradually increasing in intensity and volume. It then plays dramatic arpeggios once the orchestra join in." This example by Tchaikovsky begins with a short, dramatic orchestral introduction. What is the role of the piano here? Pause and have a listen. The piano accompanies the orchestra with dramatic chords. The piano then develops the melody with dramatic chords and more complex rhythms. Have a listen to that. This is a common technique, adding complexity to a simple orchestral melody on the piano. In the Classical period, the first violins played most of the main melodies in the tutti sections. Romantic concertos better exploit the range of colors and timbres in the orchestra with melodies spread around different instruments. Which section of the orchestra introduces the main melody of this piano concerto? Pause and have a listen. It was the woodwind section. In the slow second movement, often Romantic composers create thick chordal textures in the orchestra. How would you describe the relationship between the piano soloist and orchestra in these examples? Pause and have a listen to both. In both cases, the piano soloist is accompanying the orchestra using complex scalic runs and arpeggios. The cadenza is still an important feature in Romantic piano concertos. What differences can you identify between these two cadenzas? Pause and have a listen to both. What differences could you hear? You could have said something like, "The Romantic cadenza is much more intense, more extreme dynamics, dissonant chromatic harmony, and aggressive articulation. Both are virtuosic, but the Classical cadenza is based more on arpeggios and scalic runs, while the Romantic cadenza uses dramatic octaves and chords." Let's do a check for understanding, which of these is not a difference between Classical and Romantic piano concertos? Is it A: Romantic piano concertos have more varied textures. B: Romantic piano concertos are less virtuosic. Or C: Romantic piano concertos are generally longer. Well done if you said B: Romantic piano concertos are less virtuosic. That's not a difference between Classical and Romantic piano concertos. Which of these composers wrote Romantic piano concertos? So A: Tchaikovsky, B: Mozart, or C: Haydn? Well done if you said a Tchaikovsky. He's a Romantic composer. Both Mozart and Haydn are Classical composers. So let's have a go at Task B. We want you to complete the table using your knowledge of the genre to compare these Classical and Romantic piano concertos. So for the Classical concerto, we're going to be using the "Piano Concerto No. 17" by Mozart. And for the Romantic one, "Piano Concerto No. 3" by Tchaikovsky. We want you to describe one way that the piano and orchestra interact, and what typical features of the period and genre are heard. So pause the lesson video now and have a go at Task B. How did you get on? Let's have a look at some possible answers. So to describe one way that the piano and orchestra interact, for the Classical concerto, we could have said something like, "The piano plays both melody and accompaniment at the start. The orchestra join in with imitation and simple accompaniment. The orchestra then plays the melody with the piano decorating it with complex scalic runs and arpeggios." And for the Romantic concerto, we could have said, "The piano plays the melody with orchestral accompaniment. Woodwind play short melodic lines in rests. The piano and strings use question and answer phrases. The orchestra then play together with a string melody and piano playing decorative scalic runs. The clip ends with question and answer chords." And then for the second part, what typical features of the period and genre are heard? For the Classical concerto, you could have said something like, "Simple diatonic harmony, balanced phrasing with equal length phrases and question and answer phrases, prominent violins, a small orchestra with limited use of woodwind and brass, and virtuosic piano playing." And for the Romantic concerto, you could have said, "Chromatic harmony, varied use of all parts of the orchestra, a large orchestra with prominent woodwind and brass, mostly melody and accompaniment texture, but some more complex textures, virtuosic piano playing, varied length of melodic phrases, dramatic and expressive playing." I hope you got some of those points in your answer. Let's summarize today's lesson on the piano concerto through time. The piano became a very important instrument in Classical and Romantic concertos. Its dynamic range, pitch range, expressive abilities, and ability to play multiple layers attracted composers to it. The piano concerto mirrored most of the trends of those periods, although there are some specific ways the piano is used. These include accompanying orchestral melodies with chords and playing both melody and accompaniment together. I hope you've enjoyed today's lesson.