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The Resource Haydn's "ingenious jesting with art" : contexts of musical wit and humor, Gretchen A. Wheelock

Haydn's "ingenious jesting with art" : contexts of musical wit and humor, Gretchen A. Wheelock

Creator
Summary
Wit, humor, and comic effects have been commonly noted in accounts of Joseph Haydn's instrumental music from his own day to ours. Haydn's Ingenious Jesting with Art is a unique critical and historical study of this celebrated aspect of the composer's music and the key role of listeners in its success. "Artful jesting" indicates a strategy that involves the listener as an active interpreter of compositional alternatives in a musical work. Wheelock discusses how Haydn, utilizing the subversive potential of wit in a variety of classical forms, genres, and venues, both challenged and affirmed the musical conventions of his day. The book is divided into three sections, each providing a different perspective on the wit and humor of Haydn's music. Part I, "Coming to Terms," takes a multidisciplinary approach to issues of compositional intent and reception history, focusing on changing values of wit and humor in late eighteenth-century literary sources and reviews of Haydn's music. Chapter 1, "The Musical Joke: A Laughing Matter?" details the productive role of humor in heightening consciousness of play with the most basic classical conventions. Dependent on often subtle ambiguities, these musical jokes challenged listeners' understanding of how convention and invention should interact, engaging them as participants themselves in a process of completing the jest. Chapter 2 traces important distinctions between wit and humor in a broad range of eighteenth-century sources, both German and English. Chapter 3 examines the critical understanding of the composer as humorist. Such views - both favorable and unfavorable - are inextricably linked with changing attitudes toward the proper role of instrumental music, popular taste, and the role of the composer in fulfilling expectations of increasingly mixed audiences. Part II, "Frames of Reference," establishes several models for investigating the process of jesting in Haydn's instrumental works. Chapter 4 explores incongruous manners in the composer's symphonic minuets. Wheelock argues that Haydn's fusing of strictly academic and more popular dance styles subverted the measured dignity and refinement of a "proper" minuet, and that such disturbances of the "humors" actually helped to activate the discovery of wit. Chapter 5, "Engaging Wit in the Chamber," examines the metaphor of conversation in connection with Haydn's Opus 33 string quartets, presenting a convincing case that as the voices of the quartet listen and respond to each other the audience is simultaneously engaged in actively mediating this complex dialogue. Chapter 6 explores the deceptions involved in the symphonic finales, where eccentric motives and procedures focus listeners' attention on predicting their progress. Chapter 7, "The Paradox of Distraction," takes theatrical comedy as a point of departure in locating numerous comic devices akin to fixation, memory lapses, digressions, and incongruous juxtapositions of melody and rhythm. Part III, "The Implicated Listener," examines how Haydn transformed humorous rhetoric into a new aesthetic, and considers the broader implications of comic procedures in instrumental music of the Classic era. Haydn's Ingenious Jesting with Art combines a historical and social perspective with strong critical analysis, appealing not only to students of Haydn's music but also to those interested in the Classic style in general
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
xii, 269 pages
Contents
  • Preface
  • The musical joke : a laughing matter?. Two musical jokes : jesting with intent? ; On surprise and jokes twice-told
  • The decorum of wit and the nature of humor in eighteenth-century essays. The ambivalence of wit ; Wit : true and false ; Humor and the humorist ; The German connection
  • "A question of taste?" : early views of Haydn as humorist. The decorum of style and genre ; Incompatible manners : the musical evidence examined ; The bias of temperament ; Changing views of the musical humorist
  • Humorous manners and the "really new minuet". The danced minuet ; The novelty of artful display ; Courtly and rustic airs ; Interruptions, disorders, and delays ; Theatrical gestures and the display of humor
  • Engaging wit in the chamber : opus 33 revisited. "Models" of conversation ; New prospects and strategies ; (De)parting gestures ; "Gli scherzi"
  • Extended play in eccentric finales. Overture/finale : a distinguishing connection ; Symphonic scherzandi ; Deceptively familiar finales
  • The paradox of distraction. "Il distratto" ; The attraction of distraction ; Characterizing the humorous
  • "The great art of seeming familiar". Early essays on musical wit and humor ; The playful art of combinations ; Artful play and the role of the listener
Isbn
9780028728551
Instance
Label
Haydn's "ingenious jesting with art" : contexts of musical wit and humor
Title
Haydn's "ingenious jesting with art"
Title remainder
contexts of musical wit and humor
Statement of responsibility
Gretchen A. Wheelock
Creator
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
Wit, humor, and comic effects have been commonly noted in accounts of Joseph Haydn's instrumental music from his own day to ours. Haydn's Ingenious Jesting with Art is a unique critical and historical study of this celebrated aspect of the composer's music and the key role of listeners in its success. "Artful jesting" indicates a strategy that involves the listener as an active interpreter of compositional alternatives in a musical work. Wheelock discusses how Haydn, utilizing the subversive potential of wit in a variety of classical forms, genres, and venues, both challenged and affirmed the musical conventions of his day. The book is divided into three sections, each providing a different perspective on the wit and humor of Haydn's music. Part I, "Coming to Terms," takes a multidisciplinary approach to issues of compositional intent and reception history, focusing on changing values of wit and humor in late eighteenth-century literary sources and reviews of Haydn's music. Chapter 1, "The Musical Joke: A Laughing Matter?" details the productive role of humor in heightening consciousness of play with the most basic classical conventions. Dependent on often subtle ambiguities, these musical jokes challenged listeners' understanding of how convention and invention should interact, engaging them as participants themselves in a process of completing the jest. Chapter 2 traces important distinctions between wit and humor in a broad range of eighteenth-century sources, both German and English. Chapter 3 examines the critical understanding of the composer as humorist. Such views - both favorable and unfavorable - are inextricably linked with changing attitudes toward the proper role of instrumental music, popular taste, and the role of the composer in fulfilling expectations of increasingly mixed audiences. Part II, "Frames of Reference," establishes several models for investigating the process of jesting in Haydn's instrumental works. Chapter 4 explores incongruous manners in the composer's symphonic minuets. Wheelock argues that Haydn's fusing of strictly academic and more popular dance styles subverted the measured dignity and refinement of a "proper" minuet, and that such disturbances of the "humors" actually helped to activate the discovery of wit. Chapter 5, "Engaging Wit in the Chamber," examines the metaphor of conversation in connection with Haydn's Opus 33 string quartets, presenting a convincing case that as the voices of the quartet listen and respond to each other the audience is simultaneously engaged in actively mediating this complex dialogue. Chapter 6 explores the deceptions involved in the symphonic finales, where eccentric motives and procedures focus listeners' attention on predicting their progress. Chapter 7, "The Paradox of Distraction," takes theatrical comedy as a point of departure in locating numerous comic devices akin to fixation, memory lapses, digressions, and incongruous juxtapositions of melody and rhythm. Part III, "The Implicated Listener," examines how Haydn transformed humorous rhetoric into a new aesthetic, and considers the broader implications of comic procedures in instrumental music of the Classic era. Haydn's Ingenious Jesting with Art combines a historical and social perspective with strong critical analysis, appealing not only to students of Haydn's music but also to those interested in the Classic style in general
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Wheelock, Gretchen A
Dewey number
784/.092
Illustrations
music
Index
index present
LC call number
ML410.H4
LC item number
W47 1992
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Haydn, Joseph
  • Haydn, Joseph
  • Instrumental music
  • Humor in music
  • Humor (grappigheden)
  • Instrumentale muziek
  • Instrumentalmusik
  • Humor
Label
Haydn's "ingenious jesting with art" : contexts of musical wit and humor, Gretchen A. Wheelock
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-257) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Preface -- The musical joke : a laughing matter?. Two musical jokes : jesting with intent? ; On surprise and jokes twice-told -- The decorum of wit and the nature of humor in eighteenth-century essays. The ambivalence of wit ; Wit : true and false ; Humor and the humorist ; The German connection -- "A question of taste?" : early views of Haydn as humorist. The decorum of style and genre ; Incompatible manners : the musical evidence examined ; The bias of temperament ; Changing views of the musical humorist -- Humorous manners and the "really new minuet". The danced minuet ; The novelty of artful display ; Courtly and rustic airs ; Interruptions, disorders, and delays ; Theatrical gestures and the display of humor -- Engaging wit in the chamber : opus 33 revisited. "Models" of conversation ; New prospects and strategies ; (De)parting gestures ; "Gli scherzi" -- Extended play in eccentric finales. Overture/finale : a distinguishing connection ; Symphonic scherzandi ; Deceptively familiar finales -- The paradox of distraction. "Il distratto" ; The attraction of distraction ; Characterizing the humorous -- "The great art of seeming familiar". Early essays on musical wit and humor ; The playful art of combinations ; Artful play and the role of the listener
Control code
25248145
Dimensions
25 cm
Extent
xii, 269 pages
Isbn
9780028728551
Lccn
91046730
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
music
System control number
(WaOLN)1481394
Label
Haydn's "ingenious jesting with art" : contexts of musical wit and humor, Gretchen A. Wheelock
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-257) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Preface -- The musical joke : a laughing matter?. Two musical jokes : jesting with intent? ; On surprise and jokes twice-told -- The decorum of wit and the nature of humor in eighteenth-century essays. The ambivalence of wit ; Wit : true and false ; Humor and the humorist ; The German connection -- "A question of taste?" : early views of Haydn as humorist. The decorum of style and genre ; Incompatible manners : the musical evidence examined ; The bias of temperament ; Changing views of the musical humorist -- Humorous manners and the "really new minuet". The danced minuet ; The novelty of artful display ; Courtly and rustic airs ; Interruptions, disorders, and delays ; Theatrical gestures and the display of humor -- Engaging wit in the chamber : opus 33 revisited. "Models" of conversation ; New prospects and strategies ; (De)parting gestures ; "Gli scherzi" -- Extended play in eccentric finales. Overture/finale : a distinguishing connection ; Symphonic scherzandi ; Deceptively familiar finales -- The paradox of distraction. "Il distratto" ; The attraction of distraction ; Characterizing the humorous -- "The great art of seeming familiar". Early essays on musical wit and humor ; The playful art of combinations ; Artful play and the role of the listener
Control code
25248145
Dimensions
25 cm
Extent
xii, 269 pages
Isbn
9780028728551
Lccn
91046730
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
music
System control number
(WaOLN)1481394

Subject

Genre

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