Prelims Analysis 2014
Lecture 3
Ritornello Forms I: The Concerto Style
Ritornello
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Italian: little return. In late 17th and 18th centuries the recurring tutti section of a
concerto movement or da capo aria.
Ritornello Form
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The characteristic form of the first and often last movement of a late Baroque or
Classical concerto, based on an alternation of tutti (ritornello) and solo sections.
(NHDM 710).
Case Study 1.
Antonio Vivaldi (c. 1675– 1741)
Concerto in A minor for Two Violins RV 522 Movt 1
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Most of Vivaldi’s movements in Ritornello form go beyond the necessities of the
form in unifying the diverse parts, though never as systematically and ingeniously
as in Bach’s concerto movements. Episodes are often punctuated by brief
Ritornello fragments, and the melodic substance of many episodes can be traced
back to the Ritornello. 1
Transcribed for Organ by J.S.Bach (BWV 593) c.1716
1
2
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Vivaldi’s way of organising long abstract instrumental pieces by means of
judicious repetition, inventive note-spinning and simple harmony handled with
great rhythmic vitality, was such as to excite any listener in a new way.2
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Distinction between tutti and soli realised between Oberwerk (Great) and
Rückpositiv (Chair, or Choir organ)
Michael Talbot, Vivaldi (London: J.M.Dent Master Musicians, 1978) 143
Peter Williams, J.S.Bach, A Life in Music (Cambridge: CUP, 2007)
1
Case Study 2.
J.S.Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G (First Movement) BWV 1048
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Concerto Grosso for nine solo strings and continuo bass.
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The Ritornello both defines the structure and generates the musical invention.
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‘The generally operative principle of Bach’s concertos is that the ritornello played
by the orchestral tutti ‘returns’ throughout the movement in different keys and
alternates with episodes dominated by the soloists’.3 First and last ritornelli
always in the tonic key.
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Wilhelm Fischer, Vordersatz (Initial Statement), Fortspinnung (Spinning
Out), Epilogue (ending).4
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‘Fischer’s terms remain useful if one thinks of them not so much as static
empirical melodic objects but as functional parts of a complex mechanism which
produce the central inventions of a complete movement.’
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Each ritornello segment has a distinct role to play and that the identity of each one
complements the other two. What is truly striking about a Vordersatz segment is
how, on any degree of the scale, it will provide a secure point of harmonic
articulation, a sense of both beginning and of a fresh start. The Epilogue will
furnish a strong sense of ending, not only at the close and the end of the
movement, but also where Bach decides to round off a particular section during
the course of the movement. 5
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The truly striking feature about the Bachian ritornello is its ability to distill,
rationalise and contain the essential properties of the harmonic system in a vivid
microcosm, a miniature tonal world that reflects a consciously ordered language
rich in semantic values.6
See also the Italian Concerto BWV 971 and the Organ Prelude in c minor BWV 546 as
examples of Concerto style Ritornello form in an extended solo keyboard work.
3
Laurence Dreyfus, Bach and the Patterns of Invention (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press,
1996) 59.
4
“Zur Entwicklung des Wiener klassichen Stils,” Studien zur Musikwissenschaft, III (1915), 24-84. (See
Dreyfus 60 and note.)
5
Dreyfus, 63.
6
Ibid.
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3