(Ger.: ‘entrance’).
A short improvisatory passage that leads into a statement of thematic material. While Eingänge have been used by composers from J.S. Bach to Shostakovich, they are most frequently found in the works of Classical composers. Theorists such as Quantz (1752), J.A. Hiller (1780), H.C. Koch (1782–93), Türk (1789), Czerny (1829) and Baillot (1834) described and provided examples of the Eingang, but used different labels to identify it. Some 20th-century scholars use the terms ‘lead-in’, ‘introduction’ and ‘entry’, among others. Eingänge are found in virtually all genres, instrumental and vocal, of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Mozart
used the term ‘Eingang’ in two letters to his father (22 January 1783, 15
February 1783) and in some of his manuscripts. In the manuscript of the Piano
Concerto in B
k595 he labelled one passage ‘Eingang im Rondo’ and another
‘Cadenza per il Rondo’, thus drawing a distinction between an Eingang,
which initiates and provides an improvisatory introduction to a phrase, and a
cadenza, which embellishes a phrase's final harmonic progression. Mozart's
written-out Eingänge (e.g. bar 173 of the finale of his Piano Sonata in
D k311) may serve as a guide to his improvisatory style.
Eingänge are usually shorter than
cadenzas, may consist of only a few notes, and typically begin on the dominant
triad or seventh chord, in contrast to the tonic 6-4 chord from which a cadenza
is usually launched. While cadenzas often include preceding thematic material, Eingänge
tend to be non-thematic (exceptions include the Eingang at bar 80 of the
third movement of Haydn's Oboe Concerto in C h VIIg:C1,
and the one Mozart wrote for the third movement of his Piano Concerto in B k450,
both of which are thematically related to their respective movements). Some
begin at the final chord or note of the previous phrase, thus forming an
elision with the new phrase, as in the third movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata
in B k333,
where an Eingang begins as an extension of the dominant at the end of
bar 198; the improvisatory passage prepares and leads into the returning rondo theme
at bar 199. Other Eingänge begin independently of the previous phrase,
as at bar 287 of the third movement of Haydn's Sinfonia Concertante in B h
I:105; in either case, the Eingang momentarily delays and emphasizes the
melodic content of the new phrase.
An Eingang
may be either written into the score by the composer or left to the invention
of the performer. In addition to the compositions cited above, examples of
written-out Eingänge include those at bar 131 of the first movement of
Haydn's Piano Sonata in E h XVI:49; at bar 75 of the
third movement of Beethoven's Quintet in E for piano and wind op.16; and in the third movement
of Johann Baptist Vanhal’s Piano Concerto in D op.14, bars 153–9.
Eingänge that the composer has left to
the invention of the performer are usually signalled in the score by a fermata.
They are found in the rondo movements of most Classical concertos in which,
following a contrasting episode, the performer is cued to add an improvisatory
passage that leads into and highlights the returning rondo theme. Examples are
found in bar 124 of the third movement of Haydn's Trumpet Concerto in E h
VIIe:l; at bar 164 of the finale of Mozart’s Flute Concerto in G; and at bar 32
of the finale of Carl Friedrich Zelter’s Viola Concerto in E. An example of a signaled Eingang
in the vocal repertory occurs in Despina's aria ‘In uomini, in soldati’ in
Mozart’s Così fan tutte, where Mozart placed an oversized fermata over
each part at bar 20. During the Classical era, composers occasionally placed an
oversized or wide fermata in the score clearly to indicate the addition of
improvised ornamentation. In the passage just cited, Despina supplies an Eingang
that prolongs the dominant harmony of bar 20 while providing an ornamental
introduction to the following phrase.
The practice of improvising an Eingang before the statement of thematic material probably developed during the early 17th century and, as with other performing practices, then became a compositional technique. Early occurrences of written-out Eingänge are seen, for example, before the ritornello theme in the third movement of Bach’s Violin Concerto in E bwv1042, at bars 94 and 143. In Handel’s Organ Concerto in D minor hwv 309 the composer marked six places for improvisatory passages to be added by the soloist prior to the statement of thematic material. For example, following the cadence at bar 29 of the second movement, Handel wrote the words ‘ad libitum’ in the score, directing the soloist to provide an improvised passage prior to the entrance of the fixed thematic material. Later in the same movement, at bar 62, the circumstances are repeated: following the cadence, the soloist is cued to add a passage of his or her own design that leads into the returning theme. Having flourished in the streamlined phrases and clear rhetoric of the Classical style, the Eingang became absorbed by the overlapping phrase structures of 19th-century music. Nevertheless, composers continued to use it as a means of emphasizing thematic material; later examples include the written-out Eingänge at bars 132–43 of the third movement of Brahms’s Piano Concerto no.1 in D minor; at bars 143–8 of the first movement of Richard Strauss’s Oboe Concerto; and at the beginning of the fourth movement of Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto no.1, op.99.
See also Cadenza, §3 and Improvisation, §II.
P.M.F. Baillot: L’art du violon (Paris, 1834; Eng trans., 1991)
O. Jonas: ‘Improvisation in Mozarts Klavierwerken’, MJb 1965–6, 176–81
J.E. Smiles: Improvised Ornamentation in Late Eighteenth-Century Music: an Examination of Contemporary Evidence (diss., Stanford U., 1969)
P. Badura-Skoda: ‘Ein authentischer Eingang zum Klavierkonzert in B-Dur, KV 595?’, MJb 1971–2, 76–80
R. Levin: ‘Improvisation and Embellishment in Mozart Piano Concertos’, Musical Newsletter, iv (1974), 3–14
F.K. Grave: ‘On Punctuation and Continuity in Mozart’s Piano Concertos’, Piano Quarterly, xxiv (1976), 20–25
P. Badura-Skoda: Kadenzen, Eingänge, und Auszierungen zu Klavierkonzerten von Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Kassel, 1986)
W. Rehm: ‘Der Eingang zum 3. Satz des B-Dur-Klavierkonzerts KV 595 ist authentisch! Mozarts Kadenzen-Autograph bringt Klarheit’, MISM, xxxiv (1986), 35–40
W. Fetsch: ‘Cadenzas in the Mozart Concertos’, Clavier, xxx (1991), 13–17
D. Franklin: ‘The Fermata as Notational Convention in the Music of J.S. Bach’, Convention in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Music: Essays in Honor of Leonard G. Ratner, ed. W.J. Allanbrook, J.M. Levy and W.P. Mahrt (New York, 1992), 345–81
R. Levin: ‘Improvised Embellishments in Mozart’s Keyboard Music’, EMc, xx ( 1992), 221–33
A. Greenan: The Instrumental Eingang in the Classical Era (diss., U. of Maryland, 1997)
For further bibliography see Cadenza and Improvisation, § II.
APRIL NASH GREENAN