The Ricercar Qualities of the Fugue in C major (“For Constanze”) by Mozart
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Abstract
The evolutionary process of European music was reflected with special force in the fates of certain genres, including the ricercar fugue. In the 18th century the fugue became one of the most important points of interconnection of many tendencies, a polygon of struggle between the interests of the gallant style and the richest contrapuntal heritage of “learned” music. Complete freedom of choice in regards to the forms, means and possibilities of the “learned” music was revealed by J.S. Bach in “The Art of the Fugue,” leaving a field for contemplation. An understanding of the occurring processes was given to the great composers, among which was Mozart. For him the aspiration towards the juncture of characteristic (and the brightest and most perspective) principles of “learned” contrapuntal music and the tendencies of the most current music for his time became the meaning for many concrete artistic creations. The article examines Mozart’s Fugue “For Constanze” (KV. 394) as one of the epochal compositions. Seeming in its outward appearance to be a lightweight composition, rather accidental in the history of its appearance, the Fugue presented itself as a personification of a decisive and compositionally conscious turn along the path of search for new forms and unification of various styles. The stylistic features observed in it were defined in musicological literature (namely,
by Boris Asafiev) as “Mozartian counterpoint.”
Keywords: the evolution of the fugue, ricercar, ricercar qualities, the tonal plan of a fugue, contrapuntal style, galant style, Mozart’s counterpoint.
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