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In this video I'll discuss the
intentionally terrible counterpoint in
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Mozart's K. 522 divertimento entitled "Ein Musikalischer Spass," traditionally
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translated as "A Musical Joke," but perhaps
more accurately translated as "Some
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Musical Fun." I'm publishing this on my
favorite holiday, April Fool's Day, so I
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thought this topic would be appropriate.
Although the real Mozart probably bore
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little resemblance to the shrieking
caricature portrayed by the movie
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"Amadeus," we know from his letters that he had a robust sense of humor and we know
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from his compositions that he had an
equally robust musical sense of humor.
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This piece is a parody of what an inept
composer might have produced and it's
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riddled with hilariously awkward
passages.
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I will first share a highlight from each
of the first three movements and then
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the majority of the video will be a
detailed analysis of the presto finale,
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famous among other things for its
amateurish fugal passages. The piece is
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scored for four string parts and two
horns, a combination that was common for
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divertimenti at the time -- for example,
three of Mozart's earlier divertimenti
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have this same instrumentation. The first
movement opens with this purposefully
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trite, overconfident theme. Notice when
the theme repeats that its first and
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last measures are identical, allowing
them to overlap, creating an amusingly
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unbalanced seven-measure phrase.
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In a musical era known for its
symmetrical phrasing, Haydn and Mozart
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often use this kind of asymmetrical
phrasing for comedic purposes.
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For another example, listen to the opening
theme of Haydn's Op. 20 No. 3
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quartet that also consists of 7
measures.
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Now returning to Mozart, my favorite
passage from this first movement is the
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end of the recapitulation section when
the second theme returns. Notice the
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clumsiness of this final measure, partly
due to these parallel fifths between the
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first violins and violas that of course
also exist between the first violins
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and the bass. This introduces an
entertaining passage with no real melody
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other than this obviously accompanimental Alberti Bass configuration
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played by the first violins, a prolonged trill that also
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seems out of place played by the violas,
and this clunky repetitive descending
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bass line that becomes even more awkward in this portion that has a doubled
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leading tone that doesn't resolve and
combines with this new ridiculous viola
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passage and the Alberti Bass figure.
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Shortly after this, the horns play this
silly outburst of rapid-fire notes
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followed by the closing theme of the
movement accompanied by this absurdly
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nonsensical bass line.
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The most noteworthy gag from the minuet
and trio second movement is this
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slapstick horn passage containing these
obviously wrong notes. In Mozart's time
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the horn had no valves and besides stopped notes was limited to notes of the
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harmonic series. To partially solve this
problem they used different lengths of
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interchangeable tubing called "crooks" to
play more easily in different keys.
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This is why orchestral scores from this era
notate the horn parts without a key
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signature as a transposing instrument in
the key of the composition.
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This slapstick horn passage is thought to
simulate what would happen if an
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ill-prepared horn player mistakenly
attached the wrong crook.
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The most famous joke from the slow third
movement is the ending of the violin
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cadenza when the upward major scales
suddenly become a whole-tone scale at
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the very end, followed by this unexpected
pizzicato note and this strange trill
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between two non-adjacent notes.
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The real musical fun in this piece
occurs in the presto finale that opens
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with this theme. Part of what makes the
theme so amusing and catchy is again the
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irregular phrasing with the overall
theme lasting 10 measures, divided into
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phrases of 4, 4, and 2. Compare this with
another quirky 10 measure theme from the
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finale of Haydn's 66th symphony in B-flat,
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in this case divided into equal five
measure phrases.
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The Mozart finale now continues with a
capricious immediate modulation to a
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statement of the theme in the flat
mediant key of A-flat major before
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abruptly jumping back to F major, as if
to say "never mind!" Immediate modulations
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to the flat mediant are not common in
Mozart's music but one other instance
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that comes to mind is the non-satirical
version of this same modulation
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occurring at the beginning of his A
major, K. 464 quartet. It starts with the
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first theme in A major, immediately
modulates to a false second theme in the
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flat mediant key of C major, and then
modulates to the actual second theme in
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the expected dominant key of E major.
Notice the perfection of the four-part
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imitation in the first modulation and
more importantly, just notice the overall
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compositional skill that Mozart displays
at the height of his non-satirical
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compositional ability (remember this is
one of the six quartets he dedicated to
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Haydn, all of which he said were the
"fruit of a long and laborious endeavor."
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Now comes the much-anticipated fugato
based on this sophomoric subject. This
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section reminds me of a funny comparison
of Handel and J. S. Bach attributed to Carl
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Philipp Emanuel Bach that says "Handel's
fugues are good but he often abandons a
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voice. Bach's clavier fugues can be set out
for as many instruments as they have
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voices; no voice fails to receive its
proper share and every one is carried
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through properly ... I doubt whether Handel's fugues will ever bear comparison with Bach's."
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I haven't yet done a video about
Handel's music but I certainly consider
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him a great composer and I don't
completely agree with this assessment
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but it is definitely true that his
contrapuntal writing is generally more
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sparse. Returning to Mozart's fugato, the
quote about Handel is a perfect
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description of the counterpoint seen
here. In skillful fugal writing, the
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contrapuntal lines are as independent as
possible and static moments from one
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voice are complemented by motion from
another. The first countersubject of
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this fugato is not really much of
anything other than two notes that are
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completely subordinate and accompanimental to the subject (and the last of
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which even doubles the subject).Tthe
second countersubject is only slightly
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more substantial and seems more like a
standard bass line accompaniment. Suddenly,
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these two countersubjects drop out
completely and are replaced by this
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third pitiable countersubject,
consisting of just one repeated note and
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a trill. Notice also that Mozart
intentionally commits the harmonic faux pas
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of doubling the third of the triad,
adding to the clumsiness of this passage.
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Next comes an absurd passage featuring a
very long trill marked "piano," played by
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both horns. As I mentioned before, horns
in Mozart's era had no valves so trills
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could only be accomplished by moving the
jaw, lips, and tongue (not really the tongue) -- a difficult
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technique known as a "lip trill." Good horn
players were certainly capable of this
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which is why there are many trills for
example in Mozart's own horn concerti,
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but this particular trill imposes the
added difficulty of having to play
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quietly for nine straight measures,
almost guaranteeing a clumsy sound. Under
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the trill the violins give us the
semblance of imitative counterpoint but
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notice that the overlapping portions
have identical rhythm and melodic
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contour, meaning that one is basically
just the accompaniment of the other.
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Since the dark blue motif is just a
decorated version of the green motif
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it also doesn't really add any substance
to the counterpoint.
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This new yellow trill motif combined
with the dark blue motif from earlier
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now alternates with this new green motif
combined with a new pink countermotif
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that completely lacks any independence
or contrapuntal relevance.
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Despite this Mozart still subjects the
pink motif to contrapuntal manipulation
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with the pink and green motifs trading
places in invertible counterpoint. I'm
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labeling the green motif "Alleluja"
because it reminds me of the famous
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final movement of his K. 165 motet. Now
listen first to the Alleluia theme from
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the motet and then compare it with this
passage.
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One of my favorite platitudes now occurs
when this descending passage played by
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the violins is immediately repeated
verbatim but this time playing each note
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twice, in a perfect parody of an
unskilled composer's attempt to create
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variety. The section now ends with this
silly closing theme combined with a
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clunky and unimaginative accompaniment.
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The main theme now returns in the
dominant key of C major, leading to
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another juvenile passage in which the
ending portion of the theme enters
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imitatively, followed by imitative
entries of its inversion, followed by
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this red passage that gradually grinds
to an almost complete halt before a
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surprising forte outburst brings us
to the F major recap of the main theme.
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Mozart's musical humor was strongly
influenced by Haydn, who was the master
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of humorous musical devices. For example, the silly imitation and inverted
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imitation from the passage we just heard
is remarkably similar to this passage
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from the finale of Haydn's Op. 33 No. 3 quartet in C major.
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The red portion that humorously lulled
us into a false sense of security and
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then surprised us with a loud outburst
reminds me of a similar passage from the
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opening movement of Haydn's 60th
symphony in C, nicknamed "Il Distratto," or
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"The Absentminded Man" because it was
originally incidental music for a play
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with that title. The passage in question
is marked "perdendosi," meaning "losing
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oneself," and it dies away in a similar
manner before the surprising loud
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outburst.
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This Haydn symphony also has a
moment in its final 6th movement that
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resembles Mozart's wrong notes from the
horn that I discussed earlier. In this
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case the energetic presto finale
screeches to a halt and the violins
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suddenly start tuning their strings with
the score directing them to tune the
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G-string from F to G. Once everyone is in
tune the remainder of the presto finale
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continues as if nothing had occurred.
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Now listen to Mozart's recapitulation
section, noticing this hilarious moment
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when all the strings suddenly double
each other. Also pay attention to the
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return of the horn trill, this time even
more ridiculous because they play two
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octaves apart at opposite extremes of
register. Finally notice that the green
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"Alleluja" motif is combined with the pink
countermotif in invertible counterpoint
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but this time the pink motif itself is
inverted in addition to the inversion of
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its position in the score.
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The coda section now begins with the
main orange theme that Mozart now treats
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with a contrapuntal device of its own,
known as imitation "per arsin et thesin,"
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which means in this case that the
original entry is on the weak beat and
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the answering entry is on the strong
beat. I have an entire video dedicated to
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this topic in which I called the
technique, "irregularly metrically shifted
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counterpoint. The horns now play the main
theme accompanied only by sparse
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pizzicato notes from the bass, leading to
the final and possibly most famous gag
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of the entire piece: an early example of
polytonality during which the horns are
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the only instrument remaining in F major,
and each of the remaining parts plays a
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cadence in a different key. Now listen to
the entire coda section of Mozart's
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April Fool's Day masterpiece!
