Written by ten leading scholars, this volume assembles studies of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century music under the broad rubric of communication. That such an impulse motivates musical composition and performance in this period of European musical history is often acknowledged but seldom examined in depth. The book explores a broad set of issues, ranging from the exigencies of the market for books and music in the eighteenth century through to the deployment of dance topoi in musical composition. A number of close readings of individual works by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven draw on a sophisticated body of historically appropriate technical resources to illuminate theories of form, metre, bass lines and dance topoi. Students and scholars of music history, theory and analysis will find in this volume a set of challenging, state-of-the-art essays that will stimulate debate about musical meaning and engender further study.

Content - Notes on contributors, Introduction, PART I COMMUNICATION AND THE MARKET, 1. Communication and verisimilitude in the eighteenth century, 2. Listening to listeners, 3. 'Mannichfaltige Abweichungen von der gewohnlichen Sonaten-Form':  Beethoven's 'Piano Solo' Op. 31 No. 1 and the challenge of communication, PART II MUSICAL GRAMMAR 4. Metre, phrase structure and manipulations of musical beginnings, 5. National metrical types in music of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, 6 Schoenberg's 'second melogy', or, 'Meyer-ed' in the bass PART III RHETORICAL FORM AND TOPICAL  DECORUM 7. A metaphoric model of sonata form: two expositions by Mozart, 8. Beethoven's Op. 18 No. 3, first movement: two readings, with a comment on analysis, 9. Mozart's k331, first movement: once more, with feeling, 10 Dance topoi, sonic analogues and musical grammar: communicating with music in the eighteenth century, Afterword, Bibliography, Index of concepts, Index of names and works