Symphony
in music, a form of orchestral composition. The name was originally applied to the purely instrumental portions of works primarily vocal, under it being included overtures to operas and oratorios as well as ritornelli and the introduction to choruses and arias. It received its first restrictive meaning toward the end of the 17th century when, under Lulli and Alessandro Scarlatti, the various instrumental pieces in the operas began to grow in importance: it was then reserved for the opening section or overture which consisted of a series of contrasted movements without definite rule as to their number or arrangement. Subsequently a plan, attributed to Lulli and known as the "ouverthree movements, the first and third slow and the middle one quick and bright. Its place was eventually taken by the "Italian overture," in which the three movements were retained but in inverse order, the first and last being quick and the second slow.
This form was identical with that of the clavier sonata, to which, however, the overture long remained inferior in respect of the internal structure of its movements, few composers caring to show themselves at their best in pieces to which talkative audiences paid little heed. As a further result of such inattention it seemed to be forgotten that the overture should fitly foreshadow the work which it preceded: its material, consequently, became distinct and independent, so that it was only natural that the best examples should in course of time find their way into the concert room where they met with a more courteous reception.
It was not, however, till 1788, the year in which Mozart wrote his great examples, that the symphony attained the rank of an important work of art. In these three works, the E flat, G minor, and C major symphonies, an extraordinary advance is visible both in expression and in richness of instrumental effect.
Haydn, though born nearly 20 years before Mozart, wrote his most important symphonies during the 18 years he survived his younger contemporary. But the symphony was brought to its most perfect stage of development by Beethoven.
The Eroica, C minor, and A major stand as the most perfect examples of the classical symphony, and also mark the close of the classical period. For, as the perfection of the symphony was due to the increased value of the subject matter, it was natural when the emotional domain of music became still more extended that composers should find themselves somewhat circumscribed by the limitations of the old form. Beethoven himself is an instance of this, for the 9th Symphony he substitutes for the usual finale an elaborate choral setting of one of Schiller's odes. Succeeding writers have mostly aimed at a compromise between their poetical instincts and their regard for conventional rule.
Among such may be mentioned Schubert, Spohr, Berlioz, Raff, and Schumann, the work of the last being the most important. Mendelssohn was content with the true classical form, and the same in a general way might be said of Brahms.