Neoclassicism

What it means

Neoclassicism designates a direction in music after the First World War that draws on the forms and textures of earlier periods — on the suite, the concerto grosso, the fugue, on the clear periodicity and transparent writing of the eighteenth century. This drawing on the past is no mere imitation: the old models are filled with the means of the composer's own time, with expanded harmony, sharp rhythm, and often with ironic distance.

Musical use

The movement understands itself as a counter-design to late Romanticism with its large apparatus and its claim to expression. In its place come smaller scorings, clear part-writing, objectivity, and a priority of construction over personal confession. Characteristic is the tension between familiar form and foreign content: a gavotte whose harmony does not resolve, a fugue with displaced accents. The term brings together very different composers and is, like all period terms, a retrospective ordering; the boundaries to other directions of the same period are fluid.

Neoclassicism arose after the First World War as a reaction to late Romanticism and Expressionism. Composers drew on forms, compositional techniques, and scorings of the eighteenth century but combined them with modern harmony and rhythm. Main representatives were Stravinsky with Pulcinella and the Octet, Prokofiev with his Classical Symphony, Hindemith, and the French Groupe des Six. Hallmarks are clear forms, transparent texture, motoric rhythms, and a detached, often ironic tone.

Performance practice

Play the old forms with their own means: dance characters, articulation, and periodicity apply here too, otherwise the reference back loses its point. At the same time the deviations must be hit precisely — displaced accents and foreign harmonies work only if the frame is clear. Keep the sound lean and avoid Romantic fullness. Watch for rhythmic precision, since it is the load-bearing element in this music. Use rubato sparingly.

Bear in mind that the designation brings together very different composers and describes only part of their work: use it as an aid to ordering and check whether it holds for a particular work.

Check, with arrangements of older music, what comes from the model and what was added, because the appeal lies precisely in this difference.