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A Stylistic Synthesis

a harmonic shift toward G minor (ii) with the introduc- place her music in conversation with that of her con-
tion of an E« and ending with an upward dotted fl our- temporaries. In so doing, we gain a more nuanced un-
ish. This descending idea is repeated, but this time the derstanding both of this compelling Dixit Dominus and
dotted ending is replaced by a longer extension leading of Martines’s entire musical world.
to a half cadence in G minor.
This musical phrase is still highly responsive to its
text: its contours and rhythms consistently reinforce NOTES
word stresses, and its stately affect and unbalanced

structure combine to evoke the dynamic majesty of 1 Charles Burney, quoted in Irving Godt, Marianna Martines: A
God “striking through kings in the day of his wrath.” Woman Composer in the Vienna of Mozart and Haydn, edited
However, Martines’s approach to text-setting here is with contributions by John A. Rice (Rochester, NY:
notably galant: instead of creating a series of musi- University of Rochester Press, 2010), 58.
co-textual figures to be repeated and varied, she fash- 2 Burney, quoted in Godt, Marianna Martines, 2.

ions a melody whose structure and style are appropri- 3 Metastasio, quoted in Godt, Marianna Martines, 86.
ate to her text. Like other aspects of her composition, 4 For other citations of Burney and Metastasio, see Daniel
Martines’s text-setting reveals a versatile approach that Heartz, Haydn, Mozart, and the Viennese School, 1740-1780
pays homage to Baroque methods while wielding the (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1995), 475;
full potential of the melodically driven galant style. and L. Poundie Burstein, “‘Zierlichkeit und Genie’:
Grace and Genius in Marianna Martines’s Sonata in
A Major.” In Laura Parsons and Brenda Ravenscroft,
Conclusions eds., Analytical Essays on Music by Women Composers: Secular
Martines was a master of stylistic synthesis, using and Sacred Music to 1900 (Oxford University Press, 2018),
galant tonal structures, orchestration, and schemata 130.
alongside Baroque techniques within a Baroque-style, 5 Irving Godt, “Marianna in Vienna: A Martines
multi-movement work. When we consider Martines’s Chronology.” The Journal of Musicology, Vol. 16, no. 1
social position in Vienna, and her conscious emulation (Winter, 1998), 137-141.
of older masters, such a mixture seems almost inevi- 6 Anton Schmid, “Zwei musikalische Berühmtheiten
table. When we consider the vast musical vocabulary Wien’s aus dem schönen Geschlechte in der zweiten
of eighteenth-century Europe, in which Baroque and Hälfte des verfl ossenen Jahrhunderts.” Wiener allgemeine
galant traits often coexisted peacefully either in a single Musik-Zeitung, Saturday 24 October 1846, no. 128,
piece or in a single composer’s output, such a mixture 513-514, and Tuesday 27 October 1846, no. 129, 517-
seems so natural that it would hardly warrant discus- 518. In the 27 October installment, Schmid writes:
sion. “Maria Theresia… ließ sie [i.e. Martines] sehr oft zu
However, a detailed investigation of Martines’s spe- sich rufen, um sich an den Kunsttalenten derselben
cifi c “Mescolanza” is important precisely because it is so aus mannigfache Weise zu ergößen; und Joseph
foundational: only by understanding her skillful inter- der II., bekanntlich ein nicht minderer Freund der
weaving of these stylistic markers can we understand Tonkunst, pflegte bei dieser Unterhaltung der Martines

the musical and cultural significance of the structures gewöhnlich die Noten umzublättern.” (517). Irving

and procedures she employs in the Dixit. Any listener Godt notes that the specifics of this story originate in

from Martines’s cultural milieu would have recognized Joseph Sonnleithner’s earlier biographical sketch (which
these markers; Martines’s fluent use of them—and this author did not have access to). While questioning

ability to adapt them to her own musical purposes— Sonnleithner’s accuracy, Godt calls the claim of close
were likely key reasons why her music was held in such connection between the Martines family and royal
high esteem during her lifetime. Additionally, to ex- family “credible.” See Godt, “Marianna in Vienna,”

amine the specifics of Martines’s stylistic mixture is to 142.

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