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EdExcel Set Work Analyses

A2 Instrumental Music 2014-2015 (Grouped by features)

Name:

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Compositional Context (Useful for Introductions/Conclusions)

Corelli

These Op.1 and Op.3 Trio Sonatas are known as Sonata da Chiesa (or Church Sonatas) and were

designed to be played either in church or for sacred concerts. Typically there are four movements in the

order slow – fast – slow – fast and the style is broadly contrapuntal in character. Op. 2 and Op.4 Trio

Sonatas were called Sonata da Camera and are more secular in style, usually also in four movements with

an opening Prelude followed by three dances (Sarabanda, Corrente, Gavotta etc.) and are generally more

homophonic in texture. Op.3 consists of 12 such Sonata da Chiesa (six in major keys and six in minor

keys).

The keys use no more than two sharps or flats except for one which is in F minor. No.2 is in D major and

all four movements Grave – Allegro – Adagio – Allegro are in that key. There is no melodic link between

the movements although they are clearly designed to be played as a whole (the third movement, for

instance, finishes with an inconclusive Phrygian cadence).

Haydn • Haydn’s string quartets span his creative life and it has been argued that one of his greatest

achievements is as the “Father of the String Quartet”. • Given this nickname, it may come as a surprise that Alessandro Scarlatti had the innovative concept of a

“Sonata for four instruments: two violins, viola, and cello without harpsichord” some half a century

previously. • Haydn’s contribution to the development of the string Quartet was, however, unparalleled; he

transformed the medium from the lightweight “background” music found in his Opus 1 quartets to the

high art form it became in his final works. • With the set of six Op. 33 Quartets, we are almost at the midway point in Haydn’s string quartet output.

Opus 33 has attracted its fair share of nicknames - the unusual use of scherzo movements instead of

minuets resulted in “Gli Scherzi” and a picture of the front cover of the score generated the name

“Jungfernquartette” ("maiden" quartets) but the dedicatee, Grand Duke Paul of Russia, whose wife heard

the first performance in her Viennese apartments on Christmas Day 1781, brought about the most

commonly heard title, the “Russian” quartets. • The movement with which we are concerning ourselves here has caused the second quartet of the set to

be labelled, “The Joke”. The “joke” here is most obviously played on the audience in this witty movement,

with the surprising twists, disconcerting silences and concluding “false start”, making applause a risky

activity for contemporary audience! • Or is the “joke” also on those amateur “beat driven” performers who were a source of frustration to the

composer and who would find the carefully planned ensemble challenges of the final page quite daunting? • Robbins Landon came up with the theory that Haydn’s commencement o an affair with the young

mezzo-soprano Luigia Polzelli is the real reason behind the sheer optimism and cheerfulness of the music

• Whether you accept this or any of the other theories, Mozart’s comment that Haydn could “amuse and

shock, arouse laughter and deep emotion as no one else” is a comment no one listening to this wonderful

movement could possibly disagree with.

Beethoven

At first Beethoven was known principally as a virtuoso pianist, but eventually devoted himself to

composition and became the crucial figure in the transition from the Classical to the Romantic era.

Schumann

The Romantic Period, to which Schumann and these pieces belong, was a period of fundamental change

in music – change that sometimes led in apparently contradictory directions. As well as being a time of

innovation and daring in compositional techniques, there was a shift to music with extra-musical

influences – perhaps a programmatic purpose, a poetic connection, a literary theme or a representation of

national identity. At the same time, the romantic emphasis on people as individuals rather than as

members of society could lead to introspection and a sense of isolation. Both these developments are

reflected in the titles and content of some of Schumann’s piano miniatures. • Kinderscenen reflects yet another strand in Romanticism: a new way of looking at childhood. Far from

being considered as trainee adults given to tiresome bursts of misbehaviour, children could be seen as

having access to insights and experiences lost in adulthood.

The first half of the nineteenth century was a period of great change in piano construction. In the time

between Schumann’s birth and the composition of Kinderscenen some major developments had taken

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place. Two are very relevant to us here: the invention of the iron frame, and the use of felt rather than

leather to cover hammers. The former would allow for greater resonance and sustaining power and the

latter altered the tone to give a mellower and less strident quality. Some aspects of these pieces reflect

the changes – for instance, the gentle melodic lyricism of No. 1 and, to a lesser extent, No. 11. The

vibrant sustained bass open fifths in No. 3 (bars 13 & 14) would not have had the same effect on an

earlier instrument. It is also worth remembering that the modern-day instrument on which we now hear

these pieces is different again. The sheer power and volume of today’s grand pianos would probably have

seemed quite shocking (or thrilling!) to Schumann – something worth bearing in mind in any

performance.

The technical improvements to the piano were closely associated with two divergent tendencies – one

public and one domestic – in the way keyboard music was performed.

Armstrong

While analysing West End Blues it is important to remember that we are dealing with notation which has

been made on the basis of the recorded performance. Indeed, among early jazz players, the ability to

read music was often considered a handicap. Set portions of the music were played from memory, and

improvised sections depended on the musician’s ear, sensitivity and skill in the physical act of playing.

Quality of sound was a key priority for the players. Armstrong’s mentor ‘King’ Oliver claimed to have

spent ten years refining his tone. Inflections of pitch, rhythm and dynamics, aiming to reproduce the

nuances of the human voice, are an essential part of the expressive quality of the jazz of this period. Pitch

and rhythm used in this way can only be captured approximately by conventional notation, and dynamic

shading – essential to the expression – is not shown in the transcript. However, for the purposes of the

examination, students should refer to the anthology version when commenting on aspects of the music.

Tippett

Michael Tippett was born in London in 1905 and studied composition, conducting and piano at the Royal

College of Music in London. Some years later, he studied with R. O. Morris, an expert on sixteenth-

century music. This proved formative, and he developed a fascination and flair for counterpoint which

gave rise to the first significant works of his maturity, the String Quartet No.1 (1935, revised 1944) and

Piano Sonata No.1 (1936-7).

Cage

John Cage (1912-92) is now recognised as one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century music,

although in his own time he was widely maligned and misunderstood, almost inevitably as he questioned

so many of the fundamentals of western music.

His principal achievements were to:

● develop the use of percussion

● exploit elements of chance and indeterminacy in performance

● explore new sound sources (including the prepared piano)

● use new forms of graphic notation

● be open to the influence of eastern philosophy on western art, both in his music and in his extensive

writings.

During the late 1930s, Cage moved towards composing music for percussion instruments. He considered

rhythmic duration to be the most significant of the musical elements. Consequently, the system that Cage

developed for giving rhythmic structure to music depended on using mathematical proportions to govern

both the large-scale and small-scale dimensions of a work. Cage described his technique of rhythmic

structure as ‘micro-macrocosmic’; it was first used significantly in the First Construction (in Metal), and

then it dominated his compositions up to and beyond the Sonatas and Interludes.

Composition for percussion and for modern dance led to the invention of the prepared piano. From the

late 1930s, Cage was the musical director for a number of dance companies, eventually leading him to

work for Merce Cunningham, who required him to write music to a predetermined number of beats, not

necessarily organised or regular in terms of metrical schemes.

In 1940, he was asked to compose music for a new dance, Bacchanale, evocative of African culture, by

Syvilla Fort. Finding that there was no room for a percussion ensemble, Cage turned to the piano as his

sound source. He had encountered plucked and strummed sounds in the music of Henry Cowell, but here

he extended the idea by placing bolts, screws and fibrous weather stripping between the strings. Cage

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subsequently wrote many works for prepared piano, exploring the effects of different materials, different

placements, use of pedals, changing of pitch and timbre and the combination of effects.

Circumstances of (First) Performance

Corelli

Corelli was born into a prosperous landowning family in Fusignano in Northern Italy,although sadly his

father died before Arcangelo was born. He studied for four years anearby Bologna at a time when Italians

reigned as the best instrument makers, teachers and performers of string music in the whole of Europe.

In 1675 he moved to Rome where he remained for the rest of his life earning his living as a violinist an

composer. Queen Christine of Sweden was an early patron of Corelli (he dedicated his Op.1 Trio Sonatas

to her) but the Op.3 Trio Sonatas were dedicated in 1689 to Duk Francesco II of Modena. The

circumstances of first performance are unknoiwn. At the time, Corelli was employed by Cardinal Pamphili

as his music master, living in the Cardinal’s palace and organising and directing the regular academies

(Sunday concerts) there. Corelli was notable for being a strict disciplinarian with his orchestra, being one

of the first directors to insist that violinists within a section achieve unanimity in their bowing.

Haydn • These quartets were not, as is commonly believed, composed for the Esterhazy Court but were a

commission for the Viennese publishing firm Artaria, who issued them in 1782. An inventive 18th Century

marketing ploy to boost sales may account for the boast that the pieces were of “a new and entirely

special kind”. • As chamber music, they were intended for private or semi-private performance by four accomplished

players.

Beethoven

The Septet was written in 1799 and first performed with great success a year later at concert in the

Court Theatre in Vienna, together with the First Symphony. It was published in 1802 and dedicated to the

Empress Maria Theresa. The septet grouping is rare and this piece is one of the few important examples

by any composer. There is incidentally no standard instrumentation for a septet.

Schumann

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) wrote Kinderscenen in 1838 at the age of 28. It was one of a number of

imaginatively titled and unusually constructed sets of piano miniatures which he composed around that

time. Kinderscenen (commonly translated as “Scenes from Childhood” although more accurately as

“Children’s Scenes”) is a collection of 13 short pieces of which we study three in Anthology No. 23 (Nos.

1, 3, and 11).

Armstrong

Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five was a studio-only group, first brought together in 1925 to make records for

the Okeh label. The original players were from ‘King’ Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, but the brand was to

prove more important than the individual players: Armstrong was the only member of the original Hot

Five to play in the 1928 session that created West End Blues. The new group included Jimmy Strong

(clarinet), Fred Robinson (trombone), Earl Hines (piano), Mancy Carr (banjo) and – actually making it a

sextet – Zutty Singleton (percussion).

West End Blues was a 12-bar blues composition by Joe ‘King’ Oliver with words subsequently added by

Clarence Williams. It was played by Oliver’s Dixie Syncopators and recorded by them on 11 June 1928.

Students might like to listen to this recording (it is easy to find online) and compare it with Armstrong’s

version, recorded just over a fortnight later, on 28 June. Armstrong set new standards, which other bands

were soon to imitate. Striking evidence of the impact he made comes from ‘King’ Oliver himself: on 16

January 1929, Oliver recorded the piece again, reproducing as closely as possible the trumpet and piano

solos of Armstrong and Hines, played in this instance by Louis Metcalfe and Luis Russell, respectively.

Tippett

During the 1930s, Tippett worked as a conductor at Morley College in London, and this gave him the

opportunity to conduct the first performance of the Concerto for Double String Orchestra in a benefit

concert there on 21 April 1940 with The South London Orchestra, otherwise known as ‘Morley College

Professional Orchestra’. This was an orchestra of unemployed musicians, many of them thrown out of

work by the arrival of sound films, operating under the auspices of Morley College between 1932 and

1940.

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The Concerto also received an important second performance at the Wigmore Hall on 17 July 1943,

conducted by Tippett’s Morley College colleague, Walter Goehr. The reviewer from The Times described it

as ‘a well-knit, skillfully contrived composition, in which intricacy of detail in rhythm and texture was

made to serve the ends of a larger design’.

Cage

The Sonatas and Interludes (1946-48) were the culmination of Cage’s early work and brought together

many aspects of music and philosophy that were preoccupying him up to the end of the 1940s. The

ordered conception and the variety of technique, mood and colour that it presents are reminiscent in

some ways of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier or Chopin’s 24 Preludes, and it is certainly as important to

Cage’s output as these other works are to their composers. As such, it seems to owe a significant debt to

tradition, but at the same time it is a masterpiece of the unconventional in the twentieth century.

Work was interrupted in 1947 by the composition of the ballet The Seasons, but finally completed early in

1948. Cage referred to the Sonatas and Interludes as ‘intentionally expressive compositions’, because

they have an extra-musical inspiration, depicting the spiritual and emotional states described in Ananda

Coomaraswamy’s work The Transformation of Nature in Art: The Dance of Shiva. The content refers to

the permanent emotions of Indian aesthetics: heroic, erotic, wonder, rejoicing, anxiety, fear, anger,

loathing and the tendency of all of these emotions to resolve towards one other emotion, a state of

tranquillity. Cage did not specify how he had represented these emotions, but it has been suggested that

each movement represents a single emotion and that towards the end of the cycle the movements

become increasingly calm and tranquil.

When Cage first developed the prepared piano he expected the sounds he was devising to be able to be

repeated in successive performances. As time went by, he came to realise that not only pianists, but

pianos as well, are unique and that every performance would have its own characteristics; he appreciated

that he would be unable to ‘possess’ the sounds he had created. This acceptance fell in line with his

interest in Zen philosophy and his later view that life is not intended to consist of repetitive actions and

experiences and that things are to be enjoyed as they happen. This attitude led to the adoption of

indeterminacy in his compositions.

Instrumental Forces

Corelli

Although called Trio Sonatas this work requires four performers:

Violin 1

Violin 2

Violone

Organ

The first violin part (probably designed to be played by Corelli himself) and the second violin part

(possibly played by Matteo Fornari, one of Corelli’s pupils) are broadly equal partners in that they share a

similar tessitura (range of pitch), with Violin I covering two octaves and a semitone and Violin II a 14th.

They frequently imitate each other at the unison and are constantly crossing parts and exchanging ideas.

Although the first violin always states the material first in this (and other) movements, the second violin

finishes the whole sonata on top. The parts are not difficult to play, only twice (in bars 11 – 13 and again

in bar 34) requiring either player to venture beyond first position, and not using the bottom G string

except for the penultimate note in the first violin part. It is possible that performers would embellish the

repeated sections with some ornamentation (although this is not heard on the CD).

The violone is a low pitched bowed string instrument similar to the bass viol, often with five or six strings.

However, the term is used loosely and may simply refer to any bass string instrument such as the

violoncello. Certainly, Corelli often performed with the Spanish ‘cellist G.B. Lulier who was referred to as

Giovannino del violone. The pitch range is two octaves, and fits comfortably within the range of the

modern ‘cello. The continuo part is provided by the organ which would probably have been a single

manual pipe organ without pedals. The player would have been expected to improvise the inner

harmonies by providing suitable chords above the bass line according to the figured bass. Corelli’s original

figuring is likely to have been somewhat sparser than

Haydn

The ‘Joke’, like all string quartets, is for • Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello.

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The first violinist regularly plays higher than the second (although both players have instruments of the

same specification and range).

Only one player is required for each part: • No doubling is expected as with string parts in symphonies…

• …not even doubling of cello by double bass an octave lower.

No keyboard continuo instrument is required as in one precursor of the Classical string quartet, the

Baroque trio sonata for two (constantly-crossing) violins and cello.

String-playing techniques • All instruments play with the bow (arco) throughout – there’s no pizzicato, but frequent staccato helps

create the light playful effect • Double stopping (where an instrument plays two notes at once) is used in two passages – notably in the

brief Adagio near the end for greater weight and mock solemnity

Dynamics • The two episodes (bars 36 and 107) are forte (f). Sforzando (sf) emphasises some strong beats in the

first. Each phrase of the Adagio starts imposingly at f • Many other passages are p, with some use of crescendo and diminuendo…

• …but the ‘joke’ ending is at a very subtle pp – as is the last continuous hearing of the first part of the

rondo refrain (bars 141–148)

Beethoven

A septet is an unusual chamber music combination. This piece has four string instruments (including a

double bass to add textural weight and depth of pitch), a clarinet, bassoon and horn.

• The piece includes a clarinet; an instrument that was hardly used before the Classical era. Indeed

Mozart was the first composer to make large-scale use of the instrument. A transposing instrument, the

clarinet in B flat sounds a tone lower than written.

• The violin and clarinet generally carry the main melodic interest. The bassoon and horn usually work

together to provide wind sonority harmony, although occasionally the bassoon works in a solo capacity in

conjunction with the clarinet, bar 69-73. The viola generally accompanies with arpeggio figures, bar 61.

The cello and double bass provide a strong harmonic foundation.

• The horn in E flat is a transposing instrument sounding a major 6th lower than written. It is sometimes

used to play some very low notes, e.g. the written Gs in bar 9 which sound at B flat a 9th below Middle C.

• The violin and viola use multiple stopping for emphasis and to increase the textural density. There is

double stopping in the first bar for example and elsewhere throughout. In the penultimate bar of the piece

there is quadruple stopping in the violin and triple stopping in the viola, making for an emphatic close.

• The violin writing is not extensively high in tessitura, except for bars 217-8. There are some wide leaps

in bars 216 and 218.

• Articulation is detailed in all instruments. There is no pizzicato writing in the strings but frequent

staccato to give lightness.

• Dynamic contrast was very important for Beethoven, and this can be heard immediately with the forte –

piano contrasts in the first two bars. Use of fp (bar 12) and sf (bar 18) provide attack to convey the con

brio mood.

Schumann

In terms of general piano writing, there are features that place these pieces stylistically in the Romantic

period:

• In No. 1 the two hands generate three clearly identifiable textural layers. The middle layer is divided

between the hands.

• Note the importance of the sustaining pedal. ‘Pedal’ is specified in general at the start of the pieces;

unlike Chopin – another pianist-composer who was almost his exact contemporary Schumann rarely gives

very precise directions on the use of the sustaining pedal. It is possible to play all the notes of

Kinderscenen no. 1 unpedalled, but the effect is thin without the halo of resonance that the pedal

provides. The unusual effect in bar 16 of no. 3, on the other hand, is impossible without pedal, as four

notes spanning nearly two octaves have to be sounded in the left hand part.

• In the accompaniment of no. 3 the left hand leaps in dramatic fashion between bass notes and chords

rather in the manner of the later jazz “stride bass” style. This type of layout, divided between groups of

instruments, had been used for orchestral accompaniments in the eighteenth century. Transferred to a

harpsichord it sounds very jolting, but on a piano, with its greater resonance and dynamic variety, the

right balance between the parts can be achieved.

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• Eighteenth-century music, whether baroque or classical, typically (though not invariably) has a ‘bass

line’ that is not the principal melody, and is played in the bass or tenor register. Romantic music was

scored with much greater freedom – the bass could have the melody, or the whole musical texture could

move into the treble register. So we see left hand melodies in Kinderscenen no. 1 and no. 11, and a

wholly treble texture at the beginning of no. 11.

• Kinderscenen , while far from ‘childish’, is intended to present somewhat naïve pictures, and a highly

challenging pianistic style would not be appropriate; it is not a work representative of full-blown romantic

pianism. Of all the movements, no. 10 shows the most advanced pianistic style. Its title, ‘Fast zu ernst‘

(‘Almost too serious’), can be applied in two ways: to a child taking life with unusual gravity; or to the

musical style, almost too intense for this group of pieces.

Armstrong

● West End Blues uses a typical New Orleans front line of trumpet, clarinet and trombone with a rhythm

section of piano, banjo and percussion.

● Armstrong was a leader in the move away from the early New Orleans style of jazz counterpoint, with

its interweaving lines for clarinet, trumpet and trombone, towards a style dominated by soloists.

● A live dance band would typically include a string bass or tuba to reinforce the rhythm (as in Oliver’s

original recording). Studio conditions allowed Armstrong to dispense with this, throwing even more

emphasis onto the solo instruments.

● During the clarinet solo Armstrong introduces scat singing – vocalisation with no words. Armstrong is

often credited with originating this in his influential 1926 recording of ‘Heebie Jeebies’, but there were

earlier examples.

The table below shows the deployment of instruments in the various sections.

Tippett The instrumentation of the Concerto for two antiphonally opposed yet equally balanced string orchestras

had few precedents. Similar string orchestra works from the early years of the twentieth century by Elgar

and by Vaughan Williams, and subsequent works by Warlock, Bliss and Britten, had established an English

tradition of string orchestral writing. (In 1932, a further impetus to the English string orchestra was given

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by the formation of the Boyd Neel Orchestra whose aim was to revive the early string repertoire.)

However, few had explored the medium of a double string orchestra. Despite the title there is no solo

writing at all in the Concerto and it would seem that the term refers to the Baroque principle of

contrasting groups of instruments in order to achieve textural and dynamic variety. The opposition of

equal groups is also reminiscent of the early Baroque ‘concertato’ style of writing, in which composers

such as Monteverdi and Gabrieli composed ‘sacred concertos’ (for example, Gabrieli’s Symphoniae

Sacrae). These works were written for contrasted antiphonal groups of choral voices, solo voices, strings,

brass and continuo.

Tippett said that in calling the piece Concerto he was harking back to the concerti grossi of Handel,

although the writing in the Concerto avoids concertino and ripieno oppositions. The style of writing in the

first movement is traditional and there are few exceptional demands on the players, other than the

accurate interpretation of rhythmic complexities and the stamina required to maintain momentum.

A summary of general features of the instrumental writing in the first movement follows.

● All instruments have active lines, with only the double basses having a lighter load.

● Textures are very varied, ranging between octaves, homophony, counterpoint and antiphony (see the

section below on texture), with many different forms of the last three of these.

● Counterpoint is often intricate, with lines being passed between instrumental parts and orchestras.

● Individual lines can be angular and rhythmically intricate, with syncopation, anticipatory rhythms,

unpredictable emphasis and unusual note groupings.

● Few idiomatic techniques are used, and involve only a few instruments in each case: for example,

double-stopping (almost exclusively in the coda, e.g. bb.209-212), pizzicato (rare, e.g. b.51), sul tasto

(one section, from b.107).

● Performance instructions are very specific; dynamics or articulation marks are detailed in every bar,

‘character’ indications are frequent (e.g. scherzando, dolce cantabile) and bowing is given on occasion.

Cage With the development of the prepared piano, Cage had created a percussion ensemble capable of being

performed by one player. It had the potential for sounding like an orchestra of highly original sounds, but

with an extraordinarily subtle range of dynamic and timbral nuances. What was particularly fascinating

was the possibility of combining new and old sounds, and that the instrument was capable of a richly

colourful spectrum of sounds which could be melodic as well as percussive. In a 1949 interview, Cage outlined four ways in which preparing the piano affects the sound.

● It quietens it.

● It changes its timbre.

● It splits it into two or three sounds.

● It shortens its duration.

He also emphasised that the alteration to the sound must be complete, otherwise, ‘like a well-known

person appearing in costume, there's something clownish about it’. Despite such detailed instructions,

Cage also suggested that there is no absolutely strict plan to adhere to: ‘if you enjoy playing the Sonatas

and Interludes then do it so that it seems right to you’.

Structure Corelli This movement is in binary form: A (repeated) B (repeated). As the movement is broadly monothematic

the structure is defined by the repeat marks and the tonality.

The A section (bars 1 – 19) starts in D major and modulates to the dominant (A major).

The B section (bars 20 – 43) begins on the dominant with the same melodic material (inverted) and

modulates through various related keys before returning to the tonic at the end. Bars 41 – 43 could be

regarded as a Codetta.

Phrase structure and keys:

Bars 1 – 2 Subject in D major (tonic).

Bars 3 – 4 Answer in A major (dominant).

Bars 5 – 11 Inversion of main theme, with third entry of subject starting in bar 6 in

the tonic and modulating to the dominant.

Bars 11 – 19 Further entries in A major.

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Bars 20 - 22 Entries on the dominant.

Bars 23 – 28 Entries on the tonic modulating to the relative minor (B minor).

Bars 28 – 32 A 4 bar contrasting section in E minor (subdominant of the relative minor).

Bars 32 – 41 Imitative entries of a modified subject passing through A, D and G majors before

returning to the tonic.

Bars 41 – 43 A short codetta phrase emphasising the tonic key.

Haydn When considering structure, it is worth remembering that Haydn was a composer of astounding

imaginative genius and not a music analyst! That is why this Rondo Form movement is open to more than

one interpretation. The most commonly agreed and persuasive analysis can be found in the table below:-

Bars 0-36 A Refrain(with repeats)

Bars 36-70 B Episode

Bars 71-107 A Refrain

Bars 107-140 C Episode

Bars 140-172 A1 Refrain (substantially altered)

Also worthy of note is the internal structure of the A section as Rounded Binary Form, clearly delineated

by the repeat marks on its first appearance at Bars 0-36

It wouldn’t be Haydn if there were not some anomalies thrown in for good measure. Particularly

problematic is the final A1 section which includes an incongruous Adagio and much unsettling

fragmentation of the main theme.

Analytical consideration should also be given to the following points:

• Although the two episodes are labelled B and C they do begin with almost identical melodic

phrases in 1st Violin (2nd Violin is identical) • Each episode seems to have a rather transitory feel; in the case of B it I because of harmonic

instability (a lack of resolution during the Pedal Note passages) and C remains in E Flat Major

with little feeling of novelty • The end of the C section (Bars 139-140) bears too close a resemblance to Bars 27-28 in the

centre of A for it to be anything other than a direct reference • Each Episode ends with an inconclusive Dominant 7th Chord creating both a lack of finality and

emphasising the musical identity and completeness of the Refrains – all part of a subtle plan

which eventually adds to the dramatic impact of the bizarre, fragmented final Refrain.

The movement also shows evidence of Haydn’s monothematicism. As we shall see when considering

melody, most of the thematic material can be derived from a few small motivic units with the result that

structural contrasts are significantly diluted.

Beethoven This extract is the first movement of a six movement piece in the style of a Serenade.

• The movement is in Sonata form preceded by a slow introduction.

• The coda is much longer than earlier composers of the Classical era would have written.

• The structure is defined by tonality and conforms to the conventions dictated by sonata form.

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Schumann • Balanced phrasing, as these are ‘songs without words’ (the title under which Mendelssohn chose to

publish his own short piano pieces) that could accompany lines of lyric poetry. There is a nostalgic

simplicity in the rounded binary form that Schumann chose for many of the movements of Kinderscenen.

This was the typical form for baroque dance movements; it survived through the classical period in the

minuets of symphonies. In his other collections of miniatures Schumann often favours unitary form (with

a single span), ternary form (ABA) or a freer structure of contrasting sections.

No. 1 – Von fremden Ländern und Menschen (‘Of foreign lands and people’)

• Rounded Binary Form: (A:BA) with each part repeated.

No. 3 – Hasche-Mann (‘Catch-me-if-you-can’)

• Rounded Binary Form (A: BA) with written out repeat of opening four bars but conventional notated

repeat of the ensuing BA section.

No. 11 – Fürchtenmachen (‘Frightening’)

• Symmetrical Rondo Form (A B A C A B A). Each section is 8 bars long but the B section consists of 4

bars repeated.

Armstrong 12-bar blues, five choruses long, with two contrasting strains, introduction and coda. See the table below

for bar numbers of different sections.

● In the vocal version (listen, for example, to Ethel Waters, 1928) the two strains clearly alternate, but in

Armstrong’s version Hines’s piano solo makes no reference to the melody of strain 2 as presented by the

trombone in bars 18-30.

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● The final trumpet solo breaks off in mid-stream, but the blues pattern continues, with solo piano and

coda creating an extension of the 12-bar shape.

Tippett Having studied Beethoven’s works exhaustively as a student and realising that here there was an

essential fundamental archetype, it was only natural that in writing a concerto Tippett’s structures would

relate to classical ideals of form. The work is reminiscent of a three-movement concerto grosso, but in the

choice of sonata, ternary (modelled on Beethoven’s String Quartet in F minor, op.95) and sonata-rondo

forms it also clearly belongs to the late classical tradition.

Its seamless flow, however, is hardly interrupted by thematic contrast, and conventional articulation of

the journey through tonal relationships is not strongly evident. However, the standard divisions of sonata

structure are clear, indicated by the return of the opening music which acts both as a first subject, and a

ritornello theme.

Cage The term ‘sonata’ refers back to Baroque sonatas such as those composed by Scarlatti, consisting of a

single movement in binary form. Most, but not all, of the Sonatas are in binary form (including Sonatas I-

III), with some having ternary or four-part structures or else being through-composed.

The micro-macrocosmic rhythmic structure depends on relationships between numbers which then govern

every aspect of the duration of the music. It produced a perfect symmetry which related the large-scale

to the small and the small-scale to the large, in the same way as fractals do in mathematics, nature and

art; fractals occur when a large shape can be broken down into fragments that have exactly the same

shape (as in snow crystals and ferns) as the large shape. Cage found this a particularly satisfying way of

structuring his music because in doing so his art was reflecting nature – a key feature of

Coomaraswamy’s teaching.

In practice, this meant that for each movement Cage would select a different number as a basic unit and

divide it into several varied proportions (for example, in Sonata III the basic unit is 8½ and this is divided

into 1, 1, 3¼, 3¼). These figures would then govern the length of the whole movement, its sections and

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phrases, and therefore each level of duration related to all the others. Such a system was first used in

First Construction (in Metal) in 1939, and subsequently became an essential ingredient of many of Cage’s

compositions. In Sonatas and Interludes he used fractions and irregular proportions for the first time,

giving rise to some complex durations.

Sonata I

● The length of each of the component parts relates to the number 7.

● The Sonata uses seven-crotchet units in multiples of 4 1 3; 4 1 3; 4 2; 4 2.

● The internal structure is as follows: o Bars 1-7 4 x 7 crotchets

o Bar 8 1 x 7 crotchets

o Bars 9-12 3 x 7 crotchets [Repeated]

o Bars 13-18 4 x 7 crotchets

o Bars 20-26 2 x 7 crotchets [Repeated].

● So, overall, the binary structure is composed of 2 sections of 56 and 42 beats.

● Note that there is a missing quaver because of the 9/8 in bar 11. There is, however, a

compensating ritardando.

Sonata II

● The length of each of the component parts relates to the number 31.

● The Sonata uses 31-crotchet units in multiples of 4,2; 4,2; 9½; 9½.

● The internal structure is as follows: o Bars 1-9 1 x 31 crotchets

o Bars 10-14 ½ x 31 crotchets [Repeated]

o Bars 15-23 1 X 31 crotchets

o Bars 24-32 1 x 31 crotchets

o Bars 33-37 1 x 11½ crotchets [Repeated].

● So, overall, the binary structure is composed of two sections of 46½ and 73½ beats.

● Note the frequent presence of 3/8 bars, many of them silent, which punctuate the phrases, and

the departure from the underlying pattern at the close.

Sonata III

● The length of each of the component parts relates to the number 34.

● The Sonata uses 34-crotchet units in multiples of 1; 1; 3¼; 3¼.

● The internal structure is as follows: o Bars 1-8 1 x 34 crotchets [Repeated]

o Bars 9-32 3¼ x 34 crotchets [Repeated].

● So, overall, the binary structure is composed of two sections of 34 and 110½ beats.

Melody Corelli As already stated, this movement is monothematic with all the melodic invention deriving from the

opening three-note motif based on a rising 3rd. Corelli develops this apparently simple motif in the

following ways:

As a rising sequence with added passing notes (second half of bar 1).

A further sequence of this embellished version (first half of bar 2).

In inversion (bar 5).

As a falling one-bar sequence with the embellishments removed (2nd violin and

violone bars 8 – 10).

Juxtaposition of the opening motif and its inversion in rising sequence (bar 11 and subsequent entries).

Extended falling sequence in violone (bars 15 – 17).

Addition of an anacrucis to the motif for the entries starting in bar 32.

13

As a consequence of this development of the motif, almost all of the melody is based on the interval of a

3rd and stepwise movement. Occasionally an octave leap (eg 1st violin in bar 7) will break the chains of

characteristic descending sequences.

Haydn Haydn’s melodic style in this piece is as typical of the Classical Style as one could ever hope to find.

Features worthy of comment are:- • Periodic phrasing – look no further than the opening 8 bars to find a perfect (2 + 2 + 4) Classical phrase

structure • Much use of scale and arpeggio patterns – Bars 17- 21 is a good example of alternation

between them • Some chromaticism within a mainly diatonic melody – the phrase at Bars 9-12 exemplifies this

• Melodic dissonance – for example, what would have been a rather bland arpeggio in Bars 18 and 20 is

transformed by the inspired inclusion of a surprising strong beat A natural • Passing notes – these vary from diatonic, unaccented (e.g., the D in Bar 3) to chromatic, accented (

e.g., the B natural in Bar 13) • Auxiliary notes – the A natural in Bar 4 is a chromatic lower auxiliary note

• Échappée – the G in Bar 3 qualifies as one of these unusual notes

• Ornamentation – quite limited in this movement although acciaccaturas do make a number of

appearances, the first one being in Bar 7

• Articulation – the crisp and buoyant nature of Haydn’s melody is brought alive by short slurs and much

use of staccato.

As mentioned above, Haydn is particularly renowned for adopting a monothematic approach. The opening

phrase can be analysed as comprising three thematic units; X, Y & Z:-

It does not take too much imagination to relate every other melodic unit in the piece to one of these

initial motives. Here are clear examples of how Haydn utilises and transforms each motive:-

Beethoven • Melodies are mainly diatonic, although they do often contain brief chromaticism. There is, for example,

a chromatic scale in bars 25-6 of the 1st subject.

• Chromatic scales are sometimes used to form a lead into a melody, e.g. bar 69.

• The 1st subject theme begins with a rising sequence based on a four note motif derived from bar 8 of

the introduction which utilises a chromatic lower auxiliary note. It moves sequentially up a 3rd each time

with the longer note forming an E flat major arpeggio (Eb- G – Bb). It revolves around the E flat major

arpeggio in a similar way to that of the 3rd (“Eroica”) Symphony, which appeared five years later. After

14

scalic passages, the theme comes to a close with a characteristic turn (bar 28), preceding the perfect

cadence.

• Melodies are often repeated, so the 1st subject theme is immediately repeated with fuller

instrumentation.

• The second subject theme at bar 53 is based upon intervals of a 4th played semistaccato before

adopting conjunct movement.

• It continues at bar 61 with descending quavers, spanning an octave and slurred in pairs.

• The final motif of the second subject group, bar 86, has a staccato march-like melody which uses a

descending sequence.

• The codetta is based upon a combination of two motifs, the anacrusis to the first subject which uses the

chromatic lower auxiliary note and conjunct descending figures from the second subject. It is presented

as a descending sequence.

• Typical of the Classical period, phrasing is usually periodic and balanced.

• Ornamentation is used widely throughout. As noted above, there is a characteristically classical turn at

bar 28. Dramatic appoggiaturas decorate the three stately crotchets at the start of the introduction, bars

2, 4, 6. Grace notes embellish the monophonic violin scalic solos in bars 40, 42, 44. Acciaccaturasenliven

the high violin melody in bars 217.

Schumann Rudolf Reti, in The Thematic Process in Music, has demonstrated how many of the melodies of

Kinderscenen are derived from the first piece in the set. The rising 6th followed by a group of four

descending conjunct notes (page 9 example 1) can be traced through the various pieces, often at their

original pitches. In no. 3, the crotchet B natural has been detached from the four descending notes, and

the space filled with a similarly-shaped phrase one note higher. (Example 2) No. 11 also begins on B. The

four note descent is immediately heard in the alto on the principal beats, filled in with chromatic passing

notes. It reappears conspicuously at its original pitch in the second phrase of the melody. (See example

3, which also makes Schumann’s consecutive octaves very apparent!)

In the second episode, bar 21 is an obvious diminution of the upper notes of bars 9-11 of no. 1.

No. 1 – Von fremden Ländern und Menschen

• Thematic feature of rising minor 6th leap followed by stepwise descent in bars 1-2 and elsewhere.

• Bass melody in bars 9-12 borrows features of the opening bars.

• Melodic sequence in bars 9-12.

No. 3 – Hasche-Mann

• Melody is almost entirely conjunct, with leaps onto accented notes such as the appoggiaturas in bar 2

and the sforzando dominant seventh in bar 15.

• Thematic use of the figure of four conjunct semiquavers, ascending or descending. Appears as a

sequence in bar 2.

• Unusual descent of a minor 7th in bar 9. This is generated by the octave transposition of the

semiquaver phrase in the second half of the bar. The high position of the G major chord at the start of bar

9 is close to the hand position of the previous bar. The overall shape of the melody from bar 9 is a

descent, emphasised by accents at bars 9 and 11, and culminating with the Neapolitan chord at bar 13

(the lowest melody note in the piece).

No. 11 – Fürchtenmachen

• Mostly diatonic apart from chromaticism in the 2nd bar of the A section.

• Modified version of opening melody appears in the bass in bars 5-8, below a new phrase in the topmost

melody.

15

• B section (bar 9) has a very disjunct bass melody with octave leaps which is treated in sequence.

• The second half of the C section (bars 25-28) has a 2-bar phrase with semitone movement which spans

a diminished 4th and is then treated in sequence.

Armstrong Melodic lines in West End Blues vary in character from player to player. The sweeping, aerobatic trumpet

and piano lines of Armstrong and Hines have differing characters, and both are in marked contrast to the

much gentler contours of the solos for trombone and clarinet by Robinson and Strong.

Sung blues melodies are often characterised by notes or phrases that are ‘out of step’ with the changes in

background harmony, either persisting as dissonances against a new chord or anticipating a resolution.

(For example, see the fall from the dominant through the blue third to the tonic, which pervades Howlin

Wolf’s ‘I’m Leavin’ You’ – NAM 51.) This effect is heard in West End Blues, e.g. bars 104–14, with the

trumpet’s insistence on C and B flat; in the repeated G of bar 40 (dominant 13th, anticipating the tonic

chord); in the persistent E flat, against the dominant harmony, in bar 453 (piano RH); and spectacularly

in bar 59, where the high B flat persists across the change of chord, as the repeated jumping-off point for

Armstrong’s improvisation.

Armstrong’s style of improvisation

Joshua Berrett (in Musical Quarterly, Spring 1992) argues that Armstrong’s improvisation blends

techniques learned from jazz players (both trumpeters and clarinettists) with influences from opera.

Armstrong included opera arias in his early record collection, and frequently quoted from popular arias

and other well-known songs in his solo breaks: Berrett quotes examples from Verdi’s Rigoletto and

Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci, among others.

Armstrong might also have heard the opera-inspired Italianate flourishes of romantic piano music, evident

in the music of Thalberg (a leading nineteenth-century piano virtuoso) and Chopin. These various

influences can be seen in:

● the use of leaps of an octave or more

● the balancing on very high notes before a descent

● the mix of diatonic and chromatic decoration

● the irregularly curving ascents and descents

● the prevalence of appoggiaturas

● the free subdivision of the beat into irregular rhythmic groups

● the incorporation of mordent-like figures.

Armstrong’s introduction

These are six of the most famous bars in the history of jazz recording. Gunther Schuller wrote that ‘The

clarion call of West End Blues served notice that jazz had the potential capacity to compete with the

highest order of previously known expression.’ (Early Jazz, 1968).

● The opening phrase sweeps down then up again across a range of a 13th, based around the chord of E

flat added 6th, plus F and the F# that will be such a characteristic part of the West End Blues melody.

● The second phrase covers an even wider range (two octaves and a tone), swooping down in swung

rhythm through blue G flats and D flats and zig-zagging through little chromatic triplet figures that

Armstrong had already developed in earlier recordings (especially in a solo break in Margaret Johnson’s

‘Changeable Daddy of Mine’).

● The diminuendo on the last few notes, with a hushed vibrato on the final Ab, anticipates the melancholy

tone of the blues melody.

Blues strain 1

● Only a few phrases are needed to establish the identity of the melody before Armstrong starts to

embellish it, gradually moving from added blue notes through diatonic figuration (bars 13-14) to

increasing chromaticism (bars 15-17) and a return to the rising triplet arpeggio of his introduction.

● The improvised phrases, from bar 13 onwards, typically start on, or leap to, a dissonance against the

prevailing chord.

● In bars 14-16, note the rapid mordent-like figure (demisemiquavers), leaps onto dissonant notes, and

the tension between the melody and supporting harmony in bars 15-16.

Trombone solo

Fred Robinson’s solo has a strongly vocal quality.

16

● There is emphasis on ‘blue’ notes throughout, e.g. G flat/G natural in bars 18-21, and D flat/D natural

in bars 26-28.

● Note the glissando between major and ‘blue’ third at the start.

● Phrases droop expressively through small intervals, most typically a second followed by a third.

● Note the contrast between the longer, expressively ‘bent’ notes and the much cleaner pitching of the

figures in shorter notes.

● Compare this treatment of the melody with vocal recordings of West End Blues such as Ethel Waters

(August 1928) and Eva Taylor (July 1929).

Clarinet and scat duet

Jimmy Strong simplifies the theme to a series of brief, simple phrases, allowing room for Armstrong’s

vocal answers. These become increasingly elaborate, in the style of his trumpet improvisations – compare

bar 14 with bar 37 (descent from D to G) and with bar 40 (rapid alternation between G and B flat).

Piano solo

Earl Hines’s solo includes a wide variety of melodic effects, including echoes of earlier solo phrases, which

serve to integrate this solo into the whole performance:

● virtuoso show-piece arabesques spanning between two and three octaves, based on chord shapes: E

flat added 6th (bars 43, 45), F minor (bar 51)

● short expressive phrases recalling Armstrong’s scat phrases (bar 44, compare bar 40)

● chromatic figurations (bar 46 – possibly an echo of bar 5 of Armstrong’s introduction).

● ‘trumpet-style’ rhythmic phrases in octaves, again based on added 6th chord shapes (bars 47-50)

● right-hand tremolo (bar 50), which adds colour to a surprising harmonic twist

● bars 51-54 picking up ideas from the end of Armstrong’s solo in bars 15-18

● little reference to ‘blue’ notes except the chromatic D flat/D natural in bars 46 and 52.

Second trumpet solo

High notes were a speciality of jazz clarinettists and trumpeters, with long high notes creating particular

excitement because of the sustained tension in the sound and the demands on the player. Armstrong’s

dramatic 12-second top B flat, with its gradually intensifying tone and vibrato, is at the same time a

variation on the ‘West End’ melody and an extreme melodic gesture. The ensuing run discharges the

tension after winding it up even further with five short descents from the same top B flat. The piano

chords (bars 63-65) provide a transition between the extrovert solo and the final trumpet phrase that

recaptures the blues character in a descending pentatonic scale.

Tippett Features of Tippett’s melodic style include:

● use of motifs, leading to

o phrase structures of varying lengths and

o phrase extension, e.g. b. 39, arising from opening motif

● sequence, e.g. bars 18-20, violin I, orchestra II

● inversion, e.g. b.8

● interval extension, e.g. lower instruments from b.13

● ostinato, e.g. b.21

● varied intervallic shapes, comprising both conjunct and disjunct patterns

● modality pervasive, involving Aeolian, Lydian (see F# in b.56) and Mixolydian)

● ornamentation.

Cage Melody is one of the most significant features of Cage’s style in Sonatas and Interludes. General features

of melody include:

● some immediate repetition of patterns, but these are not usually recapitulated later

● short statements with defined shapes and phrases separated by rests

● arch-shaped melodies are common: see Sonata I, bars 15-16; Sonata II, bars 1-2

17

● limited number of pitches, sometimes suggesting pentatonicism: see Sonata II, bars 1-8

● a tendency to use conjunct movement: see Sonata III

● Ddecorative use of grace notes and rhythmic embellishment

● in Sonata III in particular motifs are treated with familiar melodic devices: such as repetition, sequence,

inversion, augmentation.

Texture Corelli The movement is typically contrapuntal. It is in a three–part texture with the violone part joining in the

counterpoint for most of the movement. The opening section is fugal in style. The first violin states the

subject (monophonic texture) and the second violin provides the answer a 4th lower (called a real answer

as it is exactly the same). In bar 5 the two violins start an inverted version of the subject in parallel 3rds

before the violone completes the entries of the original subject starting midway through bar 6. Stretto

entries (where the parts come in more closely) in bars 11 – 13 are followed by a closing passage where

the violins sustain an inverted pedal point (briefly doubled in bars 16 – 17) above the moving bass line.

Corelli achieves much variety within this three-part texture. Often the parts are polarised with the two

violins close together above a bass much lower in pitch (eg bars 18 – 19), but they are more evenly

spaced at the start of bar 27. Violin 2 and Violone sometimes work together in parallel 10ths (bars 8 – 9)

although in the later part of the movement the imitation is largely confined to the violins with the violone

providing a more distinct bass line (bars 28 – end). The texture is more obviously homophonic at cadence

points (bars 26 – 27, 42 – 43). An interesting effect occurs in bars 32 – 34 where the two violins leapfrog

over each other with successive entries of imitation a 4th higher. It is worth noting also how Corelli draws

the movement (and the whole sonata) to a close by dropping all three parts down an octave for the final

three bars.

Haydn The texture is

• Largely four-part:

o Usually each instrument is independent – doubling at unison and octave is not a feature

o However, violins have some parallel 3rds, 6ths and 10ths (as in the middle of the opening

section or ‘refrain’, from bar 9)

o There are three parts in the second phrase of the refrain, first heard in bars 3–4).

• Homophonic:

o Very occasional chordal or homorhythmic movement (all parts haring the same rhythm, as at

the two pause chords in bars 139–

140)

o Usually Violin I melody dominates, other parts accompanying with the same rhythm (e.g. at

the beginning) – this is melody dominated homophony.

• Textural exceptions and noteworthy points are as follows:

o In bars 112–116 (from the second episode) other parts take up the melody just heard in Violin

I. This is not strict imitation, however, because successive entries do not genuinely overlap

o In the bars of three-part texture Viola functions as the bass instrument in lieu of Cello (e.g.,

Bars 3-4)

o The aforementioned double-stopping automatically creates a denser texture – five parts in Bar

151 and six parts in Bar 149

o Pedals are common, either as a sustained note (Bars 87-92) or as reiterated notes (Bars 128-

131)

o Unusually, in Bars 128-131 the textural division seems to pair off inner (2nd Violin & Viola) and

outer (1st Violin & Cello) parts

o What then ensues in Bars 132-135 is the three upper parts working in partnership whilst Cello

is isolated.

Beethoven • Beethoven uses a wide variety of textures.

• The slow introduction begins with tutti homophonic chords, e.g. bar 1.

18

• There is monophony in bar 2 (solo violin).

• Typical of the Classical period, the texture for much of the piece is melody-dominated homophony, e.g.

beginning of the Exposition, where the string trio texture consists of a broken chord accompaniment in

the viola and a strong harmonic foundation in the cello to support the melody in the violin. At bar 28 this

melody is repeated but in a full tutti format with the melody in the clarinet, sustained harmony in the

bassoon and French horn, double stopped syncopated accompaniment in the upper strings and arpeggio

walking bass in the lower strings.

• There are antiphonal exchanges with dialogue between the clarinet/bassoon and the violin, bars 47–50.

• Homophonic/homorhythmic writing occurs at bars 50-53 and 86-97.

• There is octave writing between the clarinet and bassoon (bar 128), or 6ths (bar 140). Octaves between

five instruments at the start of the Development, bar 113.

• Pedal notes add stability to the texture, bars 140-153. Schumann • Melody dominated homophony.

No. 1 – Von fremden Ländern und Menschen

• Three textural layers in A section consisting of upper melody, inner quaver triplets and an independent

bass line.

• In B section (bars 9-14) the sound of the three layers continues, but the treatment and notation are

different: the upper melody is thickened with thirds whilst triplets are associated with the bass line as it

adapts the melody of bars 1-8.

No. 3 – Hasche-Mann

• Again, the texture is essentially 3-part, with the most active part usually at the top, the bass line firmly

on the main beats and an accompaniment of off-beat chords – the bass and accompaniment both played

by a very active left hand in the ‘stride’ manner already mentioned.

• The exceptions to this are the open 5th double pedal in bars 132-151 (emphasised by the rest in the

bass line, bar 13) and the sustained chord with inner ascending scale in bars 152-16.

No. 11 – Fürchtenmachen

• Whilst the harmony and counterpoint training of the nineteenth century still involved strict part-writing,

pianist-composers were able to treat this with great freedom. In this piece, whilst there is obviously a

basic 3- and 4-part texture, Schumann adapts the part-writing to the needs of the moment. A particular

effect can be noted in bars 25-27, where the left hand thumb, at the top of the accompanying chords,

repeats the melody notes an octave lower. The variations in texture and dynamics, some gradual and

some sudden, are an expressive feature obviously related to the title of the piece.

• The opening is effectively a melody supported by the two lower parts descending in thirds.

• By bar 3 four-part harmony can be heard, involving some rhythmic independence between the

component lines.

• In bar 5, the texture of the opening is inverted with the tune in the lowest part, while the accompanying

material, now expanded to three-part chords, is in the right hand.

• The B section (bars 9-12) has a bass tune with short off beat chords accompanying above.

• At the start of the C section (bars 21-24) three contrasting textural elements alternate – rapid

semiquaver movement in 6ths, single bass notes and full 5 or 6-part chords.

• The melody dominated homophony texture at bars 25-28 uses a stride-like accompaniment pattern

reminiscent of no.3.

Armstrong ● Monophonic at start (bars 1-6).

● Thereafter, melody and accompaniment (melody-dominated homophony). Accompaniment typically in

repeated chords for banjo and piano; sometimes with slow-moving accompanying lines for clarinet and

trombone with occasional ‘fills’.

● Parallel thirds between trumpet and clarinet (bars 8-9), and parallel tritones between clarinet and voice

in the chromatic turnaround (bar 41).

● Antiphony between clarinet and scat voice (bars 31-42).

● Keyboard textures include LH parallel tenths (bars 43-44) and RH octaves (bars 47-50).

● Dominant pedal in bars 64-66.

19

Tippett Tippett described his Concerto for Double String Orchestra as a study in polyphony. The string orchestras

are presented as two antiphonal groups, but with much of the writing in a freely polyphonic style

reminiscent of the seventeenth-century English fantasy. Noting that he attached himself partly to the

special English tradition of Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro and Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme

of Thomas Tallis, he also commented that he did not regard the two orchestras as vehicles for

concertante writing but as antiphonal groups.

Summary of textures employed

Octaves

● Used only rarely, e.g. bb.40-41, bb.48-49.

Melody and accompaniment

● Rare, but significant in the transition second section where a melody is played against a simple ostinato

accompaniment (b.21-29).

Homophony

● Forceful block chords at important cadence points such as b.20-21, b.38 and b.164 (the ends of

sections of the transition) and for similar punctuating effect in the 2nd subject at b.59 and b.185.

● At b.99, there are detached accompanying chords against a sustained cello and bass line.

Counterpoint

Much of the movement is contrapuntal.

● b.1 Two rhythmically contrasted themes presented simultaneously.

● b.8 Close imitation of a simple motif, involving inversion.

● b.129 As the Recapitulation begins, the opening 2-part counterpoint is expanded to 3 parts with the

addition of a new line.

● b.213 This the most complex passage of counterpoint, involving all instrumental parts. Here the main

motifs of the movement return superimposed and in imitation.

Antiphony

The movement goes some way towards exploiting antiphonal textures between the two orchestras. Much

of the time Tippett combines the orchestras as a single force, doubling lines across the two groups or

introducing contrapuntal interplay between the two. Elsewhere they preserve their independent identity,

occasionally being heard as separate opposing entities.

● bb. 8-12 The orchestras are heard in alternation.

● b.68 This passage begins as the opening, then Tippett works with alternating orchestras from b.74,

until they come together again in b.87.

● b.107 This antiphonal exchange begins the exciting ascent to the recapitulation.

Cage The prepared piano is an intimate instrument which demands music that is introspective and sensitive. In

Sonatas and Interludes Cage explored a subtly coloured world in which space played a vital part in

allowing the timbres of his instrument to tell. Musical textures relate to the number of musical lines

sounding, but are affected by other elements of music including rhythm, tempo and timbre. Here, Cage

carefully manages his lightweight textures in order that the delicate colours of his instrument are heard to

their best. One of the most skilful features is his handling of silence. The result is a fragile world in which

the spaces between gestures are just as important as the gestures themselves.

The textures in these sonatas are often sparse. Some types of texture are as follows:

● chords (Sonata I, bar 1)

● monophony (Sonata II, bar 1)

● two-part homorhythm (Sonata II, bar 10)

● treble movement over static or ostinato accompaniment (Sonata II, bar 17; Sonata III, bar 1)

● layered textures (Sonata II, bar 30).

20

Tonality Corelli See Structure

Haydn Haydn’s functional tonality is reinforced by the aforementioned perfect cadences and pedals (both

dominant and tonic versions can be found). Each Rondo section is firmly centred on the tonic key of E flat

major and elsewhere Haydn restricts himself to modulations to related keys; here are some examples:-

Bars 37-47 A flat Major subdominant

Bars 48-53 F minor supertonic minor

Bars 64-68 B flat Major dominant

Interestingly, throughout the movement he avoids the “obvious” move to C minor, the sombre relative

minor, and focuses most attention on numerous references to the bright dominant key, Bb major. In this

way his tonal scheme underpins the joyful mood. Worthy of comment is the Pedal which occurs in Bars

16-28. At its conclusion it is unequivocally a Dominant Pedal preparing for the return of the main theme.

Its commencement is more ambiguous; from Bars 17-20 the harmony above consists of alternations of a

Diminished Seventh chord outline (with a root of A natural) and a B flat major arpeggio (with an added A

natural). One could therefore easily argue that these bars are centred on B flat, permitting it to be

described as a Tonic Pedal at that point; the contrary argument is that the whole passage can be thought

of as being in the key of E flat major, with some secondary dominant influences causing chromaticism.

Beethoven • The piece uses functional tonality, largely dictated by the conventions of sonata form, with modulations

to closely related keys.

• The slow introduction is in the tonic key of E flat major throughout with just a brief tonal excursion to

the tonic minor at bar 10.

• Typical of sonata form, the first subject is in the tonic key of E flat major. As

expected the music then modulates to the dominant key, B flat major, for the 2nd subject in bar 53.

The development starts dramatically with a sudden switch to C minor, leading

briefly to A flat major (bar 124) then F minor (relative of subdominant – bar 132), all established by

perfect cadences.

• A dominant pedal starts at bar 140, and continues to the beginning of the recapitulation.

• As expected, the second subject is heard in the tonic, E flat major, in the recapitulation.

• Perfect cadences are used to confirm the key and establish modulations.

Schumann • Functional Harmony and Tonality.

No. 1 – Von fremden Ländern und Menschen

• G major.

• Modulation to E minor at bar 12 but resolution to tonic is surprisingly avoided. (See Harmony)

No. 3 – Hasche-Mann

• B minor.

• Modulation to G major at bars 9-10.

• Emphatic dominant preparation at bars 15-16.

No. 11 – Fürchtenmachen

• The key seems to waver between E minor and G major.

• E minor is suggested by initial I-Vb progression at the start but the chromatic lower parts blur the sense

of key.

• G major is established in bars 3-4, continuing to the imperfect cadence in bar 8.

• ‘Schneller’ (Faster) section starts in E minor, confirming this with a cadence in bar

9, then continues sequentially to C major in bar 12. The accented B in bar 12 wrenches the key back to

towards E minor.

• Transient modulations, via secondary dominants, to A minor in bars 21-22 and B

minor in bars 23-24.

Armstrong E flat major throughout.

21

● 12-bar chord structure with substitution chords, based on the pattern: I : I : I : I : IV : IV : I : I : V : V

: I : I/V

This pattern is maintained with few changes during most of the choruses, with occasional substitution

chords and more complex harmonic progressions in the piano solo, as shown in table in harmony section.

Tippett Tippett’s music depends on modality in its widest sense, that is the free movement of melody and

harmony within a modal set of pitches. The lack of stability of certain pitches in the modal system (7ths,

3rds, 6ths) led Tippett to a variable tonality with alternative notes within a standard mode. There is, for

example, ambiguity in the opening bars of the movement, as it is possible to detect pentatonicism in the

first orchestra as well as elements of Aeolian mode (C and F) and Mixolydian (C# and F#).

Despite the potential complexity of this resource, the music never loses sight of its diatonic character,

although it tends to glide around its tonal centres, treating them as reference points rather than

establishing them firmly. There is little feeling here that harmony guides and supports the tonality – there

are few instances where a new tonic is preceded by a dominant for example (bb.904-91 is a rare case,

where the bass moving from dominant to tonic establishes the tonal centre as it plunges from C to F, but

even here it is a minor chord on C that precedes the new key of F minor). Elsewhere the tonal centres are

created by the implications of melodic shapes and intervals, and often in particular by the strength of the

main oscillating motif from the opening of the movement which recurs persistently, and unfailingly gives

weight to the prevailing tonality.

Principal tonal centres in the first movement of the Concerto

● The movement begins centred on A (mixed mode).

● The Exposition moves through D to G major for the 2nd subject.

● The Development takes E (the dominant) to start, but soon moves towards ‘C#’ (b.80).

● At b.91 the tonal centre reaches F minor, relatively far removed from the home key and marking the

start of the collapse of the frenetic movement of the Development.

● A series of descending fifths leads to E flat minor (b.97).

● A further step to A flat occurs at b. 107, the point that marks the ultimate disintegration of the

development and the start of the gradual return to the Recapitulation.

● Interestingly, Tippett chooses to use whole tone melodic patterns for much of the following section,

thereby obscuring the sense of tonality.

● As the Recapitulation is reached (b.129) there is a firm return to A, which is maintained thereafter as

the centre of tonality until the coda.

● The Coda contrasts F# in b.194 with C in b.202 before returning to A.

Cage A major result of preparation is that the tonal relationships of scale or key are absent, and any

preconceived notions of tonality formed on the basis of the notation alone are destroyed by the actual

sounds produced.

22

Broadly, this means that because the prepared piano does not lend itself to conventional tonality the

music cannot be expected to explore contrasts of key and modulation, nor necessarily to identify tonal

centres. In practice, though, there are vestiges of tonality: passages repeat themselves, thereby giving

emphasis to certain pitches, phrases approach cadence points with a sense of closure given by rhythm

and stepwise movement, and the pitched notes that do exist often form pentatonic patterns that are

exploited melodically and suggested a tonal centre. One feature of conventional tonality that is completely

avoided, however, is the marking out of cadences by harmonic progression; in Sonatas I-III cadence

points are definitely not articulated by chord progression.

Harmony Corelli This movement is entirely diatonic, that is, all the accidentals in the music are related to a change of key.

The harmony is largely consonant and uses mostly root position chords and first inversion chords (shown

by a 6 in the figuring). Dissonance occurs through carefully prepared suspensions (a 7-6 on the first beats

of bars 9 and 10 for example, and a 4-3 on the second beat of bar 40) and double suspensions (9-8 and

7-6 simultaneously on the second beats of bars 29 and 30).

Suspensions also occur in the organ part alone (notice the figures at bar 23) and as part of a IIb7 – V

progression (bar 18). Usually, all suspensions resolve downwards by step, but the first violin leaves the

dissonance occurring on the first beat of bar 39 unresolved with a leap upwards.

There are frequent perfect cadences which define the phrase structure (bars 4, 10-11, 18-19) and the

changes of key (B minor in bars 27-28, E minor in bars 31 – 32). These latter examples are masculine

cadences (finishing on strong beats) whereas the earlier ones (e.g. bar 4) are feminine cadences

(finishing on weak beats). The strongly functional harmony is also evident in the cycle of fifths

progression (bars 32 – 35) and the pedal points heralding the ends of sections (bars 15 – 18 and 39 –

40).

Haydn As one would expect, much of the harmonic language Haydn utilises adheres to contemporary stylistic

norms, for example:- • Functional harmony

• Tonic and dominant chords used very frequently – e.g., the opening phrase consists of a straightforward

I-V-I • Frequent perfect cadences

• Pedals

• Some limited use of chromatic harmony – e.g., a diminished triad in Bar 69

• Harmonic sequences – e.g., Bars 59-61

• Suspensions – quite rare in this movement, but one can be found in Bar 14 (the Bb).

In addition there are some features which are both unusual, and clearly designed with a humorous effect

in mind:- • A dominant 7th chord left “hanging in mid air” in Bar 28 before the return

of the main theme

• Extended dominant pedals on p. 203, with chords Ic and V regularly

placed above, yet a desired key-affirming cadence is never reached. The sf

markings only exaggerate the sense of exasperation. Seemingly

embarrassed by this lengthy indecision, Haydn then, at Bar 59, speeds up

the harmonic rhythm from one chord per bar to two as if desperate to

escape these unresolved pedals as quickly as possible! • A mock-dramatic dominant 9th chord at the start of the Adagio.

Haydn’s delightful harmonic ingenuity does appear on various levels.

To appreciate the full subtlety of this movement one must delve into the detail. Here’s one example:-

• Whilst the opening three two-bar phrases are identical in rhythm, their harmonic treatment

varies considerably, particularly with regard to the harmonisation of the first bar of each unit.

Bars 1 and 3 both contain the aforementioned échappée note but the resolution note on beat two

of each bar is quite different – in Bar 1 Violin 1 lands on an F, the consonant fifth note of Chord

V, whereas in Bar 3 Violin 1 lands on an E flat, the far more dissonant seventh of the prevailing

harmony. This increase in harmonic tension is taken much further in Bar 5 when a B natural,

melodically treated as a chromatic retardation, creates tremendous dissonance, resolves upwards

for the briefest moment on a C natural, and then lands on an A flat, doubling the seventh of a

23

V7d chord. Thereafter, harmonic tension dissipates and we are gently led back to a comfortable,

diatonic, E flat major by way of a concluding and simple II-V-I progression in Bars 7-

8. Of course, at the movement’s rapid pace all of these harmonic nuances are over in a flash but

their effect is both carefully calculated and brilliant; they give the eight-bar statement a

compelling sense of gradually increasing tension followed by playful and carefree release in the

concluding bars.

Beethoven •The piece uses functional harmony with clear perfect cadences (e.g. bars 28-9 in E flat).

• An imperfect cadence appears at bars 7-8.

• Most of the music draws on root and first inversion chords with occasional 2nd inversion harmony.

• The typically Classical cadential Ic-V progression is used, e.g. bars 38 and 97.

• There are occasional chromatic chords, including a German augmented 6th in bar 7.

• Pedal notes are used, for example a reiterated tonic pedal passed from the French horn to the lower

strings bar 98-106. Long tonic reiterated Bb pedal bar 140-153, passed between different instruments

and heard as an inverted pedal for three bars in the violin.

• The introduction ends with a dominant 7th chord, which leads effectively into the tonic chord of the

beginning of the Exposition. It is also used in bar 80.

• Harmonic rhythm (rate of chord change) is often relatively slow, e.g. 4 bars of tonic E flat chord at the

beginning of the Exposition, but speeds up towards cadences (e.g. bars 27-8).

Schumann • Clearly defined cadences.

• Modulation to related keys.

• Mainly diatonic harmony with occasional chromatic chords.

No. 1 – Von fremden Ländern und Menschen

• Perfect cadences, e.g. bars 21-22.

• Chord V usually has a 7th added. Dominant 7th chords are heard in first inversion (bar 2), root position

(bar 7) and third inversion (bar 13).

• Diminished 7th chord in bar 12.

• Unusual progression in bars 112-12: instead of the expected II-V-I progression in E minor the harmony

shifts unexpectedly to a G major triad when the D# (leading note of E minor) slides down to D natural.

After a momentary bare fifth, the triplet inner part completes the chord.

• 4-3 suspension in the inner part writing of bar 7.

• The root progression in bars 9-12 follows a circle of fifths (E-A-D-G (with B as the bass note)-C-F-B (-E

expected but avoided).

No. 3 – Hasche-Mann

• Plagal progression (I-IV-I) is the first harmonic movement.

• Perfect cadences, e.g. bar 20.

• Appoggiaturas e.g. in bar 2 (the accented semi-quavers).

• Use of 7th chords, mainly dominant 7ths but II7-V7 progression in G major is used in bar 10.

• Striking use of a prolonged ‘Neapolitan’ chord in root position in bars 13-151. This is an example of an

eighteenth-century progression reinterpreted in a romantic context. The Neapolitan flat supertonic (C

major) is approached via an interrupted cadence in E minor (bars 122-13). The music lurches into tonic

and dominant harmony in C major over an accented double pedal for two bars (bars 13-14).

Because the Neapolitan chord is, unlike its eighteenth-century usage, in root position, the expected move

to the dominant 7th in bar 16 involves a leap of a tritone in the bass, which Schumann emphasises with

his sforzando.

No. 11 – Fürchtenmachen

• The rhythmic placing of cadences every four bars may seem somewhat mechanical, but they appear in

varied forms. Traditionally placed root position perfect cadences are avoided in favour of less conclusive

kinds. Even at the final cadence, the effect is softened by feminine cadence treatment.

• Perfect cadences close at the half bar in bars 10 and 12 and, even more dramatically, on the last quaver

of bar 24.

• Imperfect cadences are frequent – e.g., I-V in G major in bars 4 and 8 (again with feminine treatment).

• Chromatic harmony – the opening two bars are highly chromatic and include parallel diminished chords

on 2nd and 4th quavers of bar 2 (the former notated as a 7th).

24

Armstrong

For the coda, Hines plays a descending sequence based on chord VI (C minor), over a dominant pedal,

landing at 654 on an inverted half-diminished seventh on F (compare the last chord in bar 53). The last

three chords form a chromatic variant of a plagal cadence (partially concealed by the inverted chords in

bar 67 and the notation using B natural) – A flat maj7/C; A flat min7/C flat; E flat added 6.

● Note the chromatic consecutive chords in bar 54, creating the progression C minor, B major, B flat

major.

Tippett Developing as a composer in the early twentieth century, Tippett had at his fingertips the rich harmonic

language of the late nineteenth century. However, he found there little to stimulate him in what he felt

was overindulgent use of harmony and extreme dependence on the exploitation of harmonic tension.

A study of Tippett’s early works confirms his own suggestion that at that stage of his career he did not

write chords. Certainly, this is borne out by the first movement of the Concerto for Double String

Orchestra, where for the most part harmony arises incidentally as a result of counterpoint; there are a

few block chords, but only at crucial punctuation points in the structure, and even then they do not

display conventional progression. Such chords often contain only two pitches and move by contrary

motion of their outer parts (b.38, b.59). Tippett’s main concern is with the interplay of counterpoint and

his harmony becomes subsidiary. In the Concerto this free linear movement gives rise to mild but brittle

dissonance brought about in a number of ways:

● the contrapuntal collision of dissonant intervals in independent lines (e.g. in the interplay of fragmented

figures in the section from b.51)

● false relation, sometimes resulting from modal inflections, e.g. b.6 C/C#; b.26 E/E#; b.71 G/G#)

25

● the construction of chords from unusual intervals, e.g. chords in fourths, stemming from the emphasis

on seconds, fourths and sevenths in his melodic language (see b.213 onwards)

● pandiatonicism (free use of dissonance), as in bb. 85-89.

Certain chords and harmonic progressions which are familiar in other western traditions appear in

Tippett’s music, many having modal origins.

● A simple, although rare, example of a modal cadence is found in bb.20-21 (phrygian cadence).

● In contrast, notice the perfect cadence in G (bb. 45-47).

● The lack of a third in the final chord of the movement is a characteristic feature of cadence chords in

earlier music, and here is both reminiscent of such influences as well as reinforcing, by the absence of the third, the ambiguity of Tippett’s modal language.

● Augmented triad (bars 118-122).

● The use of a tonic chord with a minor third and added sixth is a characteristic sound which permeates

Tippett’s later music and is heard here occasionally at important moments such as the abrupt move to F

minor at b.91

Cage In 1946, Cage dismissed harmony as a ‘tool of western commercialism’, observing that it had become a

device used in western music to make music impressive and grand, but noting that simple cultures

avoided it, preferring to focus on the more natural elements of music: pitch, volume, timbre and duration.

The very nature of Sonatas and Interludes negates the value of harmony as a functional resource in the

traditional sense. The idea of a continuous flow of harmonic progression moving between hierarchical

chords, leading to modulation and creating tension and resolution is entirely foreign in an environment in

which it is the colours of percussive sounds and their interaction that dominate the musical effect.

There are, however, some primarily ‘harmonic’ moments in Sonata I:

● G 7 chords of opening

● parallel chords at bar 20.

Rhythm and Metre Corelli This movement is written in the style of a gigue, which is a lively dance in compound time, more usually

found in the Sonata da Camera. There are two main beats per bar and the strongly rhythmical character

of the music is enhanced by the phrasing in dotted crotchet beats in the opening subject (bars 1-2) and

the cadence points in bars 2 and 4. Corelli plays around with this regularity of metre to add interest and

buoyancy to the movement:

Violone entry in bar 6 starts half way through the bar (all subsequent entries are at one-bar’s distance –

bars 11-12, 21-22 etc).

Syncopation in the 1st violin part in bars 26 – 27.

Hemiolas in bars 27 and 31 with the harmony changing on the 1st, 3rd and 5th quavers of the bar giving a

feel of 3/4 time.

Haydn It is very unusual for a Rondo movement to incorporate any changes of metre but Haydn does so here.

The prevailing compound duple metre is interrupted at the Adagio in Bar 148 and a slow simple duple

emerges for four bars before resumption of the previous metre. Rhythm is generally simple in style and

dominated by crotchets (often dotted) and quavers, with a tendency for longer notes to appear in the

lower parts. The 1st violin has a number of passages consisting of endless and rather “breathless” streams

of quavers, e.g., Bars 54-67. • Some rhythmic diminution is apparent. Motive X, quaver/crotchet/quaver, becomes three quavers when

it recurs at Bars 22-3.

Even rhythmically and metrically, Haydn is not averse to throwing in some little surprises. The first

episode, or B section, begins rather innocuously at Bar 37 with a two bar phrase which Haydn then

repeats almost identically, but the last few notes suddenly lead us unexpectedly into the beginning of the

series of Dominant Pedals which have previously been discussed. As listeners we should feel some sense

of metrical disorientation here. We want Bar 40 to sound like the end of a two bar unit and it nearly does,

but it also becomes clear that it is equally the start of a new phrase and section. The correct academic

26

term for this type of overlap is elision. Deliberately and additionally unhelpful to our aural stability is the

subsequent sf marking in Bar 41 and beyond which succeeds in accenting what seems like the “wrong

bars in the next series of phrases. By playing with our rhythmic and metric sensibilities Haydn is, ye

again, having one of his little “jokes”. The Adagio begins with an anacrusis, something which it has in

common with most of the movement. Bar 149 then follows with on-beat demisemiquavers creating a bold

Lombardic (Scotch Snap) rhythm. Finally, mention has to be made of the astonishing use of silence in the

concluding Presto – certainly this is where Haydn plays his most daring and mischievous pranks! It’s hard

to imagine what the first audience must have made of the bizarre General Pauses which fragment the

tune, particularly the extended four bar silence just after the point at Bar 166 when our musical instinct

suggests that the movement has finally run its course.

Beethoven • The introduction is in a slow simple triple time, whilst the main section is at a lively tempo with vigour

(Allegro con brio) and in cut common time, simple duple.

• The slow introduction is rhythmically more complex than the main section, including demisemiquavers,

sextuplets and double dotted rhythms.

• The first subject theme is characterised by three quavers leading to a longer minim tied to a quaver.

• The accompaniment to the first subject theme has a distinctive continuous repeated quaver pattern in

the viola. This is replaced by a syncopated rhythm in violin and viola, over on-beat crotchets in the ‘cello

when the theme is repeated (bar 29).

• The opening of the second makes an effective contrast with the preceding passage with its sustained

minim rhythms.

• There are some sections of continuous triplet rhythms, bar 76-79, 211-214.

• Many themes begin with an anacrusis. The first theme has three upbeat quavers. The first theme of the

2nd subject has a single upbeat quaver.

• Syncopation is again prominent in bars 45-6.

• There is some rhythmic diminution at the end with crotchets being halved to quavers, compare bars 284

to 285. This gives a sense of increased pace and excitement as the music rushes to its conclusion.

Schumann • Simple rhythms, typically established and maintained for a whole piece.

• Use of simple duple time signatures for all three pieces. Other pieces in the set use simple triple and

quadruple.

No. 1 – Von fremden Ländern und Menschen

• Is this piece in simple or in compound time? Although the time signature is simple duple, the triplet

rhythm continues throughout.

• Melody features dotted rhythms. In contemporary notation, a dotted rhythm against a triplet could be

played in a variety of ways. It might be equivalent to a triplet divided into crotchet-quaver, (in which case

the semiquaver would be written directly above the third note of the triplet); it might be intended exactly

as written, or as half of the third note of the triplet.

• Schumann’s ‘rit.’ and ‘ritardando’ to a pause are typical of the rhythmic nuances that he adds to

harmonic and structural corners. He appears to intend them only to apply where they are written, as he

often fails to indicate an a tempo.

No. 3 – Hasche-Mann

• Semiquavers are continuous.

• Each 2-bar phrase of the melody starts with a crotchet, perhaps giving the idea of a child pausing

before running in a new direction. To keep the momentum going, the inner part maintains the semiquaver

movement as an arpeggio.

• A broad rhythm of sforzandi runs through the piece every two bars, interrupted only in bars 13-16.

No. 11 – Fürchtenmachen

Only the idea of a spooky atmosphere of ‘things that go bump in the night’, coupled with the rondo form,

could hold together these very diverse and briefly stated ideas.

• Dotted rhythms push the music forward in alternate bars of the A section.

• Each episode has its own characteristic rhythm, with semiquavers in pairs (B section) or in groups of

four (C section).

• Offbeat rhythms feature in the accompaniment of the B section and aggressively on alternate quavers in

the C section

27

Armstrong Swung rhythm

Swing is a much-debated jazz term. As Duke Ellington’s 1931 song goes, ‘It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t

got that swing’. Louis Armstrong has been credited with introducing swing into jazz (Norton online Jazz).

When the trumpeter Cootie Williams was asked to define swing, he said he would rather ‘try to describe

Einstein’s theory’.Swing is heard most obviously in the long–short rhythm into which the beats are

subdivided – roughly equivalent to repeated crotchet–quaver groups in compound time. It is notated

either as quavers, or (as in this transcription) as dotted quaver–semiquaver. However, players using

swing also anticipate (‘push’) or delay (‘lean’) notes to increase the expressive and ‘speaking’ quality of

the phrase, and to shape groups of three or four notes with rubato rather than playing in metronomic

time. Variations in accentuation also contribute to the sense of swing, for example the constant variation

of the semiquaver groups in bars 59-61.

Syncopation

In ragtime, the rhythmic bounce of the music is created by systematic syncopation, with longer and

higher notes often given an unexpected accent by starting on weak semiquavers, as in the well-known

Scott Joplin rag ‘The Entertainer’. Syncopated notes are marked ‘x’.

In West End Blues, with its swung rhythm and expressive style of playing and vocalisation, syncopation

takes more varied forms. Many phrases end with an offbeat note extended in a lingering manner e.g. bars

32, 33, 39 and 40 in the scat vocal line. Also in the scat section we find bars with no syncopation (bars 35

and 41) and bars with syncopations in mid-phrase (bars 36, 37, 38). The same mixture can be found in

the trombone solo, bars 19-30. In both of these passages the syncopations all occur as the phrase falls

away, rather than at its peak. The few moments of syncopation in the piano solo, similarly, occur towards

the ends of phrases.

Other rhythmic features:

● Quadruple metre except for bar 66, when the three-beat solo breaks the momentum and prepares for

the final chords. (With the rallentando, these three beats take about the same time as the previous 4-

beat bar.) For convenience, the music is notated in 4-4 time, but given the swung rhythm, it does not

make sense to describe it as ‘simple’ quadruple.

● A background 4-beat rhythm of regular crotchets is heard from bar 7 to bar 62.

● The anacrustic rhythm of the main melody (as in bars 64-91) is the only rhythmic feature that could be

described as thematic.

● The rhythm of other phrases is extremely varied and spontaneous. Phrases start at many different

points during the bar. Notes lasting one beat or longer are mixed with (and often tied to) subdivided

groups of two, three or four shorter notes.

● Armstrong’s improvised choruses tend to break into shorter and shorter note values (e.g. bars 12-16,

33-38).

Armstrong’s introduction uses four rhythmic motifs that summarise the shift from nineteenth-century

straight rhythm to twentieth-century swing:

● a four-note fanfare in straight quavers

● a syncopated third beat – the kind of rhythm used in ragtime

● a rising arpeggio in triplets

● a long, showy descending phrase in double-speed swung rhythm.

Rhythm in the piano solo.

Earl Hines took classical piano lessons as a boy, and this is reflected in his solo, where glittering virtuoso

passage work appears. In the octaves section the quavers are markedly straight, but semiquaver pairs

(notated as dotted semiquaver–demisemiquaver) are swung.

28

Tippett Features of Tippett’s approach to rhythm and metre include the following:

Rhythmic polyphony, clearly evident at the opening with only intermittent alignment of stress. The

melodic lines are drawn together by the regular bar lines of the 8/8 metre, but this is not significant to

the natural accentuation of the two lines; they exist as two separate strands.

Additive rhythm: a crucial and remarkably original feature of Tippett’s technique is the use of additive

rhythm. The basic rhythmic unit is the quaver, from which all the unpredictable patterns evolve. The

result is a restless, sprung rhythm.

T

ippett had some difficulty notating the additive rhythm. He worked closely with the conductor Walter

Goehr, collaborating on the notation of the most complex passages. It was concern about the

interpretation of the rhythms by performers that led to the metre’s notation as 8/8, which allowed quaver

groups of 4 + 4 and 3 + 3 + 2 to exist without confusion. Tippett wrote in his ‘Notes for Performance’:

Though many bars of the first movement are felt to be ‘alla breve’, the time signature is 8/8, not 2/2,

because of the unequal beats of many other bars. Such unequal beats are shown by the groupings and

ligatures [brackets], which give the proper rhythms intended for that part at that time. Certain bars have

been marked ‘Beat 3…’ to ensure that they are played as 3 real beats (which in 8/8 cannot all be equal)

and not as a syncopation of 4/4 or 2/2… (An example of this can be found in bar 15 where the 8 quavers

are grouped 3+3+2.)

Augmentation: see bars 95-106.

Syncopation: see bar 1, both lines.

Cage Durations have been discussed in the section on structure. This section concerns the more basic rhythmic

features.

● Rhythmic ideas may repeat immediately but are not recapitulated as the music progresses.

● Patterns are placed unpredictably against the metre.

● Irregular groupings of rhythm are common and sometimes obscure the natural pulse.

● In each sonata there is a variety of types of rhythm pattern, from sustained or static to fast-moving and

decorative.

● Expected stresses are often displaced, causing strong beats to be unclear and the metre to be vague.

● Metre changes frequently, usually prompted by the demands of structural rhythm.

● Irregular metres are used freely, again in order to satisfy the requirements of structural rhythm.

● Significant periods of silence punctuate each sonata.