Ioannis Fulias, “Binary
and ternary sonata forms in Joseph Riepel’s theoretical work. An attempt of
reconstruction and appreciation”,
in: Ioannis Fulias –
Petros
Vouvaris –
Kostas Kardamis –
Kostas Chardas (ed.), 7th
Musicological Conference:
“Music, language and arts”
(Conference
proceedings,
under the auspices of the Hellenic Musicological Society, Corfu, 30
October
–
1 November
2015), Hellenic Musicological Society, Thessaloniki 2016, p. 11-34.
The contribution of Joseph Riepel as a music theorist in the substantial
comprehension of compositional techniques applied in the early classical
repertory of the mid-18th century remains rather underestimated in our days,
since many of its dimensions have not yet been sufficiently emerged. One of the
most crucial among them, in my opinion, consists in the approach of sonata forms
that is attempted in the first three “chapters” of Riepel’s great theoretical
essay, which under the general title Anfangsgründe zur musicalischen
Setzkunst (Foundations of musical composition) were published already
in 1750s. In the second of these “chapters”, in particular, Riepel examines
through several relevant examples a variety of sonata types of his time, which –
from a modern point of view – are classified as either binary or ternary sonata
forms. However, their presentation is given in such an unsystematic way, that
much important information passes almost unnoticed by the reader or remains
without the slightest comment even by the author himself! Thus, the present
study proposes a comprehensive reconstruction of sonata forms according to
Riepel and also provides a radical re-appreciation of his contribution on this
topic.
© Ioannis
Fulias