Time vastly increased its
importance. Two subjects, a melody in the tonic, another usually in the
dominant, came to set forth the exposition of the opening movement,
leading to a free development, with various episodes, and an assured
return to the original statement. The prevailing character being thus
defined, the story readily unfolds, aided by related keys, in a slow
movement and perhaps a minuet or scherzo, and gains its denouement in a
stirring finale, written in the original key. Each movement has its own
subjects, its individual development, with harmony of plan and idea for
a bond of union.
The name symphony, from sinfonia, a consonance of sounds, applied
originally to any selection played by a full band and later to
instrumental overtures, was given by Joseph Haydn to the orchestral
sonata form inaugurated by him. His thirty years of musical service to
the house of Esterhazy, with an orchestra increasing from 16 to 24
pieces to experiment on, as the solo virtuoso experiments on piano or
violin, brought him wholly under the spell of the instruments.
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