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The Role of Harmony and Timbre in Maurice Ravel's Cycle Gaspard De

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The Role of Harmony and Timbre in Maurice Ravel's Cycle Gaspard De Miljana Tomić The role of harmony and timbre in Maurice Ravel’s cycle Gaspard de la Nuit in relation to form A thesis submitted to Music Theory Department at Norwegian Academy of Music in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master’s in Applied Music Theory Spring 2020 Copyright © 2020 Miljana Tomić All rights reserved ii I dedicate this thesis to all my former, current, and future students. iii Gaspard has been a devil in coming, but that is only logical since it was he who is the author of the poems. My ambition is to say with notes what a poet expresses with words. Maurice Ravel iv Table of contents I Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Preface ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Presentation of the research questions ..................................................................... 1 1.3 Context, relevance, and background for the project .............................................. 2 1.4 The State of the Art ..................................................................................................... 4 1.5 Methodology ................................................................................................................ 8 1.6 Thesis objectives ........................................................................................................ 10 1.7 Thesis outline ............................................................................................................. 10 1.8 Clarification of important terms ............................................................................. 12 Functional and coloristic uses of harmony ....................................................... 12 Sonority .................................................................................................................. 12 Timbre ..................................................................................................................... 12 II Different aspects of Gaspard de la Nuit ................................................... 14 2.1 Preface ......................................................................................................................... 14 2.2 Purpose of analyzing ................................................................................................ 14 2.3 Interpretation of Gaspard de la Nuit ......................................................................... 18 2.4 Relationship between Bertrand’s poems and Ravel’s piece ............................... 20 III Structural role of different musical components in Gaspard de la Nuit ...................................................................................................................................... 23 3.1 Interrelation of elements within structural plan .................................................. 23 3.2 Interrelation of different elements in Gaspard de la Nuit...................................... 26 Role of dynamics ................................................................................................... 27 Role of rhythm ....................................................................................................... 28 v IV Formal/thematic analysis of Gaspard de la Nuit .................................. 29 4.1 Preface ......................................................................................................................... 29 4.2 Formal and thematic structure of “Ondine“ ......................................................... 31 Exposition ............................................................................................................... 33 Development section ............................................................................................ 38 Recapitulation ........................................................................................................ 39 Summary ................................................................................................................ 43 4.3 Formal and thematic structure of “Le Gibet“ ....................................................... 43 The first section of “Le Gibet” ............................................................................. 45 The middle section of “Le Gibet” ....................................................................... 47 Recapitulation of “Le Gibet” ............................................................................... 49 4.4 Formal and thematic structure of “Scarbo“ .......................................................... 52 Exposition of “Scarbo” ......................................................................................... 54 Development section of “Scarbo” ....................................................................... 59 Recapitulation of “Scarbo” .................................................................................. 62 4.5 Elements of thematic unity of the cycle ................................................................. 66 4.6 Macro-form of the cycle Gaspard de la Nuit ............................................................ 71 V Role of harmony in Gaspard de la Nuit ................................................... 73 5.1 Harmony in “Ondine”.............................................................................................. 78 Summary ................................................................................................................ 84 5.2 Harmony in “Le Gibet” ............................................................................................ 85 Summary ................................................................................................................ 91 5.3 Harmony in “Scarbo” ............................................................................................... 92 Summary .............................................................................................................. 102 VI Role of timbre in Gaspard de la Nuit ....................................................... 103 6.1 Timbre as a form-constituting element in music ................................................ 103 General definition of timbre .............................................................................. 103 Timbre perception ............................................................................................... 105 Timbre as a musical parameter ......................................................................... 108 Relationship between timbre and texture ....................................................... 112 6.2 Timbre’s effect on form articulation in Gaspard de la Nuit ................................ 116 Methodology of timbre analysis ....................................................................... 116 vi Timbre in “Ondine” ............................................................................................ 119 Timbre in “Le Gibet” .......................................................................................... 123 Timbre in “Scarbo” ............................................................................................. 125 6.3 Summary .................................................................................................................. 130 VII Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 131 7.1 Summary and reflection ......................................................................................... 131 7.2 Answering research questions .............................................................................. 132 7.3 Contribution............................................................................................................. 134 7.4 Proposal for further research ................................................................................. 134 VIII Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 135 Appendix………………………………………………………………………………146 vii List of musical examples Example 4.1: First subject within the exposition of “Ondine” ..................................................... 35 Example 4.2: The first subject within the exposition - continuation ........................................... 36 Example 4.3: The second subject within the exposition of “Ondine” ......................................... 37 Example 4.4: Introductory module within the development of “Ondine” ................................ 38 Example 4.5: New (episodic) subject in the development section of “Ondine”........................ 39 Example 4.6: Recapitulation; second subject in “Ondine” ........................................................... 41 Example 4.7: Recapitulation; first subject in “Ondine” ................................................................ 42 Example 4.8: Unit a within the binary form ................................................................................... 46 Example 4.9: Segment of b unit within the binary form ............................................................... 47 Example 4.10: Unit a within the simple binary form .................................................................... 48 Example 4.11: A segment of unit b within the simple binary form ............................................ 49 Example 4.12: Unit a within a simple ternary form .....................................................................
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