DOCSLIB.ORG

French Finale

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
French Finale FPO FRENCH FINALE PROGRAM NOTES By Erik Rohde © | Violin II, Illinois Symphony Orchestra | Music Director, Winona Symphony Orchestra | Director of Strings and Activities, Indiana State University Pavane for a Dead Princess After a well-received public premiere of the piano MAURICE RAVEL piece in 1902 by Ravel’s friend, the Spanish pianist b. Ciboure, France, 7 March 1875 Ricardo Viñes, the piece became very popular. Not d. Paris, 28 December 1937 that technically challenging to play, Ravel found the piece suffered musically at the hands of many an ILSYMPHONY.ORG The piece was likely premiered in its original form as a solo amateur pianist. As one friend of Ravel’s said, the piano piece sometime after the work’s composition in 1899 36 at the home of Ravel’s patron the Princess de Polignac. The piece won him “the esteem of the salons and the orchestral version was published in 1910 and premiered on admiration of young ladies who did not play the piano February 27, 1911, in Manchester, England by conductor overly well.” Because of its continuing popularity, Sir Henry Wood. (Approx. 6 minutes) Ravel created the stunning orchestrated version in 1910, which was generally considered to be an Born in the French Pyrenees close to the Spanish improved version of the work. Ravel was already a border, Ravel grew up in Paris but is one of several deft and imaginative orchestrator, and the colors he French composers of his age who have written some creates in the orchestra added much to the of the best Spanish music for orchestra. He atmosphere of the work. As to the identity of the dead studied composition at the Paris Conservatory, but his princess, Ravel acknowledged several years after success there was limited. At the time the writing the piece that he had no one specific in mind conservatoire was not fond of stylistic creativity, and at all, but simply liked the way the alliterative title Ravel’s questioning manner and wild musical ideas sounded: Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane led him to simply leave in 1895 after not earning a for a Dead Princess). prize (like a diploma) in harmony for three years in a row. Shortly thereafter he made the acquaintance of Piano Concerto fellow French composer Claude Debussy, whose own disgust for the stodgy reputation of the conservatoire EDVARD GRIEG and his lack of diligence in his studies caused him no b. Bergen, Norway, 15 June 1843 shortage of disapproval from his teachers. d. Bergen, 4 September 1907 Ravel was readmitted into the composition studio of Premiered on April 3, 1869 in Copenhagen at the Royal Theater with Edmund Neupert, pianist and Holger Simon Gabriel Faure in 1898, and this piece comes from the Paulli, conductor. (Approx. 30 minutes) years under his tutelage. It is based on the pavane, which is a slow processional dance from Padua (Pava, Grieg’s Piano Concerto has one of the most famous from which we get the word pavane being a dialect beginnings in the concerto repertoire – huge chords name for Padua). According to Spanish tradition, the crashing down the piano to launch the work that itself pavane is performed as part of the funeral launched Norway’s most famous composer’s career. proceedings at the church, and is a stylistic farewell Written when he was only 25, this piano concerto to the deceased. remains a concert favorite and set the composer off on a trajectory as the national voice of Norway. Grieg was born into a musical family and first took The piece is full of Norwegian inspired melodies and piano lessons from his mother starting at the age dances. From the first movement, which contains ILSYMPHONY.ORG of 6. By the age of 15 Grieg had met the famous wisps of Norwegian fiddling figuration, to the second, Norwegian violinist Ole Bull (a family friend), who a lyric folk song, to the dancelike finale, his native encouraged Grieg’s parents to send him to study at musical roots come to the fore in a brilliant technical the Leipzig Conservatory. There he studied piano and display by pianist and orchestra alike. some composition, and while he chafed under the discipline of the conservatory course of study, his La Mer (The Sea) time there was very influential. One major highlight CLAUDE DEBUSSY of his life as a student was hearing Clara Schumann b. Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, 22 August 1862 37 play her husband’s piano concerto. The two pieces d. Paris, 25 March 1918 bear some similarities, so it must have had an impact Premiered on October 15, 1905 at the Concerts on the young composer. Lamoureux in Paris, Camille Chevillard, conductor. Grieg’s own Piano Concerto was written while on (Approx. 23 minutes) holiday in Søllerød, Denmark in 1868. He had been Debussy’s love for the sea was ignited by tales from married the previous year, and after his studies in his father, a sailor who told him about vast oceans Leipzig and a 3-year period spent in Copenhagen, and exotic lands. Debussy’s family traveled to Cannes living in Norway where he became a voice for his when he was 7 years old, and his fascination with native country and drew inspiration from it. As he the waves and emotions evoked by the water were considered his compositional style, he wrote: set for the rest of his life. It was there that Debussy “Composers with the stature of a Bach or Beethoven also began piano lessons. As a young adult, Debussy have erected grand churches and temples. I have was scheduled to take a short trip along the coast always wished to build villages: places where people in a small fishing boat with friends, but with a storm can feel happy and comfortable . the music of approaching, the captain advised that they cancel the my own country has been my model.” So much of trip. Debussy insisted that they set sail anyway and his music is inspired by the folk music of his own lived through his first storm at sea, at no little risk country, including such a prominent work as his first to himself and the rest of the crew and passengers. piano concerto. Two years before writing La Mer, Debussy wrote to a Grieg was unfortunately not able to attend the friend: “You may not know that I was destined for a premiere of his concerto, due to prior obligations with sailor’s life and that it was only quite by chance that the orchestra in Oslo. He was thankful for news from fate led me in another direction. But I have always his friend who was the soloist that several eminent held a passionate love for the sea.” music critics had “applauded with all their might,” All these experiences he molded into orchestral form and that Anton Rubenstein, the famous pianist, in his epic suite La Mer (The Sea). There are few composer, and founder of the St. Petersburg pieces more richly evocative and reminiscent of the Conservatory had been there and was “astounded to ocean. The work is cast in three portraits, each a have heard a composition of such genius.” different mood or portrayal of the sea. FRENCH FINALE PROGRAM NOTES continued ... By Erik Rohde © | Violin II, Illinois Symphony Orchestra | Music Director, Winona Symphony Orchestra | Director of Strings and Activities, Indiana State University “From dawn to noon on the sea,” is a dark, various soloists in the orchestra, creating the most mysterious setting. Debussy uses the orchestra to impossible, imperceptible, inevitable crescendo over plunge us deep into the depths of the ocean where the course of a full fifteen minutes, Boléro is now ILSYMPHONY.ORG light is scarce and the colors are shaded. The perhaps the most famous of Ravel’s music. It was first ambience slowly transforms until a noble chorale-like conceived for a ballet, a work promised to Ida 38 passage takes us to a grand image of the sun blazing Rubinstein for her Paris ballet troupe. Just before he over the water at high noon. left on a 4-month concert tour of America, he pulled The second movement, “The play of the waves,” is a aside a friend, Gustave Samazeuilh, who was the sparkling portrait of waves splashing in an music critic of La Républicaine, and played his Boléro ever-changing mosaic across the orchestra. And in melody. “Don’t you think this theme has a certain the final movement, “Dialogue of the wind and the insistent quality?” he asked. “I’m going to try and sea,” Debussy gives us a storm much like the one he repeat it a number of times without any development, experienced earlier in his life. You can hear the wind gradually increasing the orchestra as best I can.” whipping and the waves crashing as the orchestra is And he succeeded. Starting with a single snare drum unleased in its full fury, much as the ocean itself. playing as soft as humanly possible (softer, perhaps The work, famous now, was not always so well than humanly possible), the piece proceeds simply received. Before the premiere, Debussy told from one iteration of the melody to the next. We are Stravinsky that violinists in the orchestra tied so familiar with the work now that this no longer handkerchiefs to their bows in protest of the music. seems as avant garde as it was at the time. Imagine Debussy himself was in the middle of a personal listening to a work with no thematic development! scandal that colored the premiere of La Mer in a Yet Ravel masterfully structures the work so that the disapproving light.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A BIOGRAPHY of JOSEPH MAURICE RAVEL by Matthew Dechirico
    A BIOGRAPHY OF JOSEPH MAURICE RAVEL by Matthew DeChirico Joseph Maurice Ravel, who lived from March 1875 to December 1937 was a French composer born in the Basque region of France His mother of Basque-Spanish heritage from Madrid Spain had a strong influence on his life and his music. His father was a Swiss inventor and industrialist from France. Both parents provided a happy and stimulating life for Joseph and his younger brother. His parents encouraged his musical pursuits and sent him at age 14 to the Conservatoire de Paris first as a preparatory student and eventually as a piano major. Although intellectually bright and well read, he was not successful academically even as his musicianship matured. Considered “very gifted” he nevertheless was called “somewhat heedless” in his studies. He failed to meet the requirements of earning a competitive medal and was expelled. He returned three years later studying with Gabriel Faure focusing on composition rather than piano. He was again dismissed for having won neither the fugue nor the composition prize. He remained an auditor with Faure until he left the Conservatoire in 1903. During his years at the Conservatoire, Ravel tried numerous times to win the prestigious Prix de Rome but to no avail: he was probably considered too radical by the conservatives. Ravel’s “String Quartet in F” is now a standard work of chamber music, though at the time it was criticized and found lacking academically. His first significant work, “Habanera” for two pianos was later transcribed into the third movement of his “Rapsodie Espagnole”.
    [Show full text]
  • 1) Aspects of the Musical Careers of Grieg, Debussy and Ravel
    Edvard Grieg, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Biographical issues and a comparison of their string quartets Juliette L. Appold I. Grieg, Debussy and Ravel – Biographical aspects II. Connections between Grieg, Debussy and Ravel III. Observations on their string quartets I. Grieg, Debussy and Ravel – Biographical aspects Looking at the biographies of Grieg, Debussy and Ravel makes us realise, that there are few, yet some similarities in the way their career as composers were shaped. In my introductory paragraph I will point out some of these aspects. The three composers received their first musical training in their childhood, between the age of six (Grieg) and nine (Debussy) (Ravel was seven). They all entered the conservatory in their early teenage years (Debussy was 10, Ravel 14, Grieg 15 years old) and they all had more or less difficult experiences when they seriously thought about a musical career. In Grieg’s case it happened twice in his life. Once, when a school teacher ridiculed one of his first compositions in front of his class-mates.i The second time was less drastic but more subtle during his studies at the Leipzig Conservatory until 1862.ii Grieg had despised the pedagogical methods of some teachers and felt that he did not improve in his composition studies or even learn anything.iii On the other hand he was successful in his piano-classes with Carl Ferdinand Wenzel and Ignaz Moscheles, who had put a strong emphasis on the expression in his playing.iv Debussy and Ravel both were also very good piano players and originally wanted to become professional pianists.
    [Show full text]
  • MAURICE RAVEL Miroirs (“Mirrors”) Work Composed: 1904–05 in Contrast to the Voluptuous, Sens
    MAURICE RAVEL Miroirs (“Mirrors”) Work composed: 1904–05 In contrast to the voluptuous, sensuous and intentionally ambiguous music of Debussy, Ravel’s compositions are precise, clear in design and economical in scoring. Nonetheless, the music of both composers — and many strikingly similar titles — clearly shares an overlapping sensibility and sense of fantasy. Ravel presented his freshly minted piano score Miroirs (“Mirrors”) to his inner circle of artist friends known collectively as the Apaches, dedicating each movement to a specific member of the tight-knit group. The five-part suite reflects the gauzy evanescence of Debussy’s impressionism while paying homage to Liszt’s pianistic pyrotechnics. The influence of Debussy is felt immediately in the first movement, Noctuelles (“Night moths”). Schumann and other composers have rhapsodized about butterflies but Ravel, who always maintained a fascination for the outré, obviously delighted in the intentional grotesqueries evoked in the music. Not coincidentally, he dedicated this piece to Léon-Paul Fargue, who authored this phrase: “The owlet-moths fly clumsily out of the old barn to drape themselves round other beams.” Rapidly scurrying passagework vividly portrays the rapidly changing flight patterns of the winged insects. In the second piece, Oiseaux tristes (“Sad Birds”), dedicated to pianist Ricardo Viñes, Ravel sought to evoke “birds lost in the torpor of a dark forest during the hottest hours of the summer,” or so the composer explained. Even so, the textures are more crisply chiseled than one might expect from the descriptive explanation. Unlike his latter compatriot, Messiaen, Ravel does not imitate bird-song but conveys an unmistakable avian aura.
    [Show full text]
  • Ravel's Sound
    Ravel’s Sound: Timbre and Orchestration in His Late Works Jennifer P. Beavers NOTE: The examples for the (text-only) PDF version of this item are available online at: hps://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.21.27.1/mto.21.27.1.beavers.php KEYWORDS: Ravel, timbre, contour, magical effect, illusory instruments, timbrally marked form, sound object, auditory scene analysis, Pictures at an Exhibition, Boléro, Menuet antique, Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, Piano Concerto in G Major ABSTRACT: Ravel’s interwar compositions and transcriptions reveal a sophisticated engagement with timbre and orchestration. Of interest is the way he uses timbre to connect and conceal passages in his music. In this article, I look at the way Ravel manipulates instrumental timbre to create sonic illusions that transform expectations, mark the form, and create meaning. I examine how he uses instrumental groupings to create distinct or blended auditory events, which I relate to musical structure. Using an aurally based analytical approach, I develop these descriptions of timbre and auditory scenes to interpret ways in which different timbre-spaces function. Through techniques such as timbral transformations, magical effects, and timbre and contour fusion, I examine the ways in which Ravel conjures sound objects in his music that are imaginary, transformative, or illusory. DOI: 10.30535/mto.27.1.0 Received January 2020 Volume 27, Number 1, March 2021 Copyright © 2021 Society for Music Theory 1. Introduction [1.1] Throughout his career, Ravel’s sound often defied harmonic and formal expectations. While most analytic scholarship has treated Ravel’s use of timbre as secondary to the parameters of harmony and form, particularly in early- and middle-period compositions, recent scholarship has made timbre a central concern of Ravel’s style.
    [Show full text]
  • Tzigane – Rhapsody for Violin and (Luthéal) Piano (1924)
    Program Notes by Chris Darwin. Please use freely for non-commercial purposes. Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) Tzigane – Rhapsody for violin and (Luthéal) piano (1924) The Luthéal piano was patented in 1919 by the prolific Belgian inventor George Cloetens, but it did not catch on. An elaborate mechanism was added to a normal grand piano which allowed three additional timbres to be produced independently for high and for low notes, under the control of organ-like stops: (i) a 'harpsichord-like' sound produced by a set of pins brought close enough to touch the vibrating string; (ii) a whispery timbre like a violin harmonic produced by a set of felts that could be lowered to touch each string halfway along its length; (iii) a sound like a Hungarian Cimbalom produced by both mechanisms used together. Ravel was clearly intrigued by the Luthéal's possibilities for gypsy music and specified it for Tzigane. He also wrote a part for itin his orchestral suite L'enfant et les sortilèges. The only surviving original example of the instrument, in Brussels' Musical Instrument Museum, has been renovated; their website (www.mim.be) has a recording of Tzigane being played using it. Tzigane was commissioned from Ravel by the virtuoso violinist Jelly d'Arányi, great-niece of Joseph Joachim. Ravel had been working on his violin sonata and she was due to give the first performance, but he was having trouble with it. So, writing a very different piece for her may have appealed to him. She gave the first performance of Tzigane in 1924 in London, with the Luthéal attachment added to the piano.
    [Show full text]
  • Download This PDF File
    JOURNAL OF RESEARCH ONLINE MusicA JOURNAL OF THE MUSIC COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA ‘Jangling in symmetrical sounds’: Maurice Ravel as storyteller and poet aurice Ravel’s perception of language was defined by his métier. He thought EMILY KILPATRICK about words as a composer, understanding them in terms of their rhythms and Mresonances in the ear. He could recognise the swing of a perfectly balanced phrase, the slight changes of inflection that affect sense and emphasis, and the rhythm ■ Elder Conservatorium and melody inherent in spoken language. Ravel’s letters, his critical writings, his vocal of Music music and, most strikingly, his poetry, reveal his undeniable talent for literary expression. University of Adelaide He had a pronounced taste for onomatopoeia and seemed to delight in the dextrous South Australia 5005 juggling of rhymes and rhythms. As this paper explores, these qualities are particularly Australia apparent in the little song Noël des jouets (1905) and the choral Trois chansons pour chœur mixte sans accompagnement (1915) for which Ravel wrote his own texts, together Email: emily.kilpatrick with his collaboration with Colette on the opera L’Enfant et les sortilèges (1925). @adelaide.edu.au The common thread of fantasy and fairytale that runs through these three works suggests that through his expressive use of language Ravel was deliberately aligning his music with the traditions of storytelling, a genre defined by the sounds of the spoken word. Fairytales usually employ elegant and beautiful formal language that is direct, expressive and naturally musical, as typified in the memorable phrases‘Once upon a time…’ and ‘… happily ever after’.
    [Show full text]
  • Trois Chansons and World War I. (2014) Directed by Dr
    JACKSON, AARON RONALD, D.M.A. Maurice Ravel: Trois Chansons and World War I. (2014) Directed by Dr. Welborn E. Young. 62pp. Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) began writing Trois Chansons in November of 1914 and completed it in February of the following year. Durand Musical Editions published the composition in 1916. The Bathori-Engel Chorus, conducted by Louis Aubert, gave the premiere in October 1917. The compositional time frame coincides with Ravel’s numerous attempts to volunteer for military service at the onset of World War I (WWI) and his eventual enlistment in March of 1916. By all accounts, Trois Chansons is a unique addition to Ravel’s compositional oeuvre. Except for this work, Ravel wrote almost exclusively for instrumental genres; this composition is his only a cappella choral contribution. Additionally, the texts of each chanson are by the composer. The purpose of this document is to demonstrate that Trois Chansons represents a level of involvement in WWI through composition and contains Ravel’s both explicit and implicit commentary on WWI. This research encompasses general information about Chansons and commentary on Ravel’s attempts to enlist in the Armée de Terre. Also included are summaries of Ravel’s compositional components including text, genre, and personal dedications. Furthermore, this document outlines specific compositional devices utilized in Trois Chansons and includes representative musical analysis. Finally, through both compositional components and devices, this study suggests aspects of Ravel’s personal commentary on WWI. This document concludes with suggestions for further research on Trois Chansons. In addition to a compiled bibliography, appendices containing Ravel’s original poetry for Trois Chansons and conductor’s analysis pertaining to each chanson accompany the main body of research.
    [Show full text]
  • Ravel Pavane and Tzigane
    Pavane for a Dead Infanta Tzigane Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) In many ways, Ravel’s music is as equally distinctive and unique as Beethoven’s, - as powerful in it’s suggestion and language. As a result he is one of the outstanding composers of his generation and definitely the era’s preeminent composer in France. Though often compared with Debussy, and banded together for convenience in the “french impressionist” box, there is much more to Ravel. It is true that there are colossal, “impressionist” tendencies exhibiting the hint of ‘this and that’ and a point of light ‘here and there’. However, at other times Ravel values a sharp edged clarity, inextricably linked to cultivation of eighteenth century French forms. He was a masterful colorist for orchestral writing, a facility evident in the orchestral versions of so many of his pieces that started as piano works. The Pavane for a Dead Infanta is one such work. Written in 1899 when he was 24, it represents the earliest sound on Ravel’s palette, but still it’s suggestive melancholy has made it one of the most beloved pieces in the repertoire. Tzigane, ‘a piece in gypsy style’ comes from an altogether different time in Ravels’ life and it is worth mentioning some of the circumstances that condition the emergence of this work, in 1924. The great war had just taken place and we know that Ravel was profoundly moved by it, and moreover what it had done to his country and his countrymen. He had been declared medically unfit for service, even though he signed up and was later sent to the front as a driver in 1916.
    [Show full text]
  • Identifying French Compositional Styles: Subtlety Through Familiarity
    University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 1-1-2017 Identifying French Compositional Styles: Subtlety Through Familiarity Brandon Kinsey University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Music Commons Recommended Citation Kinsey, Brandon, "Identifying French Compositional Styles: Subtlety Through Familiarity" (2017). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1302. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1302 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. IDENTIFYING FRENCH COMPOSITIONAL STYLES: SUBTLETY THROUGH FAMILIARITY __________ A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of Arts and Humanities University of Denver __________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts __________ by Brandon Kinsey June 2017 Advisor: Kristin Taavola Author: Brandon Kinsey Title: IDENTIFYING FRENCH COMPOSITIONAL STYLES: SUBTLETY THROUGH FAMILIARITY Advisor: Kristin Taavola Degree Date: June 2017 Abstract In this study, I examine two French berceuses for violin and piano to identify common compositional traits, specifically subtlety and familiarity in rhythm and harmony. Both Fauré’s Berceuse (1878-9) and Ravel’s Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré (1922) are representative of small form pieces written by French composers; in addition, the relationship of the two works is particularly striking as Fauré was Ravel’s teacher. The similarities of genre and instrumentation, coupled with 40 years of separation provides a unique setting to examine aspects of French compositional practices over time.
    [Show full text]
  • French Violin Performance from Franck to Ravel A
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles In Search of a Style: French Violin Performance from Franck to Ravel A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Musical Arts by Ji Young An 2013 © Copyright by Ji Young An 2013 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION In Search of a Style: French Violin Performance from Franck to Ravel by Ji Young An Doctor of Musical Arts University of California, Los Angeles, 2013 Professor Robert Winter, Chair My dissertation focuses on issues of French sound and style in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century French violin repertoire. As a violinist who studied at the Paris Conservatory, I have long been puzzled as to why so little had been written about something that everyone seems to take for granted—so called French style. I attacked this elusive issue from three perspectives: 1) a detailed look at performance directions; 2) comparisons among recordings by artists close to this period (Jacques Thibaud, Zino Francescatti, as well as contemporary French artists such as Philippe Graffin and Guillaume Sutre); and 3) interviews with three living French violinists (Olivier Charlier, Régis Pasquier, and Gérard Poulet) with strong ties to this tradition. After listening to countless historical recordings, I settled on three pivotal works that illustrate the emergence and full flowering of the French style: César Franck’s Violin Sonata (1886), Claude Debussy’s Violin Sonata (1917), and ii Maurice Ravel’s Tzigane: Rapsodie de Concert pour Violon et Piano (1924). Each of them presents specific challenges: notational and stylistic issues in Franck’s Violin Sonata, Debussy’s performance directions in his Violin Sonata, and notational and interpretive issues in Ravel’s Tzigane that led to a separate, orally-transmitted French tradition.
    [Show full text]
  • Chansons Madécasses”
    Analysis Of Ravel’s “Chansons Madécasses” Maurice Ravel was a modern French composer who lived from 1875 to 1937. Between 1925 and 1926, Ravel wrote Chansons Madécasses (“Songs of Madagascar”), three compositions for voice, flute, cello, piano. The French poet Évariste de Parny provided the text in his collection entitled Chansons Madécasses. The three pieces premiered in Rome in 1926. The first song, Nahandove, is about the poet’s lover and their approaching meeting. The text is relatively explicit for its time and is supported by the music’s visceral intensity. The piece is very calm, yet intense and tension-filled throughout. Marked Andante Quasi Allegretto at the beginning, the tempo quickens at measure 19. This tempo change occurs right before the text “Elle vient” or “she comes”, demarcating the first real action of the poem, when the poet’s lover finally approaches. The first stanza is more of an ode and calling to his lover; accentuated by the soft, calm wistfulness of the score’s beginning. The piano remains the only audible instrument until shortly after this point, at measure 26 in which the cello enters (followed shortly after by the flute in measure 28) at the repeated words “C’est elle” (“It is her”). However, these words are not repeated in Parny’s poem. Once again, the action of the text is emphasized; the actual confirmation of his lover’s appearance is consummated by the emerging orchestration with a rising crescendo from piano to forte between measures 26-28. The climax of the song occurs shortly thereafter in measures 29-32, over the exclamation “Nahandove!” at the lover’s arrival.
    [Show full text]
  • 1002603893-Jenkins.Pdf
    3-19 1Va. 2 33 A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE HARMONIC EQUIPMENT AND FORMAL FEATURES IN THE STRING QUARTETS BY CLAUDE DEBUSSY AND MAURICE RAVEL THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State Collese in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF MUSIC by 211824 Robert E. Jenkins, B. Mus. Fort Worth, Texas August, 1952 29.3.24 TABLE OF CONTENTS I Page LIST OF TAILES ... .*. .# iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . .. vi Chapter I. INTRODUCTION: OBJECTIVES AND PROCEDURE . 1 II. THE INFLUENCE OF PREDECESSORS AND CONTEMPORARIES ON THE WORKS OF DEBUSSY AND RAVEL . .. 4 The Rise of Impressionism in France Influence of Predecessors and Contemporaries on Debussy Influence of Predecessors and Contemporaries on Ravel Counter Influences of Debussy and Ravel III. HARMONIC ANALYSIS AND COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE DEBUSSY AND RAVEL QUARTETS . 31 Analysis of the Debussy String quartet Harmonic equipment: structure and function Formal features Analysis of the Ravel String Quartet Harmonic equipment: structure and function Formal features Summary and Comparison of the Debussy and Ravel Quartets IV. CONCLUSIONS . 86 BIBLIOGRAPHY .,.$ ... ... ... 88 iii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Harmonic Material in the Debussy juart . 31 2. Seventh Chords . 32 3. Inversions of Seventh Chords . 33 . * .. * .. .. .. .. 4* Triads # 35 5. Inversions of Triads . ...... .. 35 6. Ninth Chords. 38 7. Inversions of Dominant Ninth Chords . 38 8. Tonal Centers in First Movement of Debussy Quartet . ... .. 47 9. Tonal Centers in Second Movement of Debussy Quartet . .-. 50 10. Tonal Centers in Third Movement of Debussy Quartet . .a... .. .# . 53 11. Tonal Centers in Fourth Movement of Debussy uart#t .
    [Show full text]