Naqmey-e Sahar (The Melody of Dawn) A Piece for solo violin, woodwinds, percussions and strings
by
Ali Montazerighahjaverestani, B.S., M.A.
A Doctoral Project
in
Composition
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of
Doctor of Musical Arts
Approved
Dr. Mei-Fang Lin Chair of Committee
Dr. Peter Fischer
Dr. David Forrest
Dr. Mark Sheridan Dean of the Graduate School
December 2016
Copyright 2016, Ali Montazerighahjaverestani Texas Tech University, Ali Montazerighahjaverestani, December 2016
Acknowledgments
I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. Mei-Fang Lin for all her kindness, time and encouragement. Dr. Lin taught me many things about composition and contemporary musical styles. Completing this dissertation would not have been possible without the support of Dr. Peter Fischer who offered his expertise both in composition and in pedagogy. Additionally, Dr. Michael Stoune was particularly generous with his consideration and instructions about the process of graduation. I owe a great debt to Dr.
David Forrest for agreeing to be one of my committee members. I also want to thank all my friends and classmates from whom I learned a lot.
This piece is dedicated to my parents, who supported me all my life, especially after I left my homeland in 2011.
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgments……………………………………………………..………………….ii
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………...iv
Chapter 1: Introduction……………………………………………………………………1
Chapter 2: Musical Sources………………..……………………………………………...6
Chapter 3: Analysis of Naqmey-e Sahar...... 11 1st movement………………………………………..………………...…….……15 2nd movement………………………………………………………….…….…...21 3rd movement…………………………………………….………………….…...26
Chapter 4: Conclusion…………………………………………….……………………...31
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Abstract
Naqmey-e Sahar (The Melody of Dawn) is a composition for solo violin, woodwinds, percussions and strings. The majority of the melodic materials used in this piece came from Iranian popular songs and traditional tunes or melodic patterns from
Radif (a collection of modes in Iranian music) in addition to original themes that are composed based on the same musical sources. The harmonic system used in this piece is based on quartal and secundal chords while tertian chords with added notes are also used occasionally in this piece.
The piece contains three different movements with no space in between. Even though each movement has its own characteristics and special features, different movements share the same musical ideas.
The 1st movement is in ABCAB form, and it is the longest movement of the piece. It employs melodies in the modes of Māhur, Chahārgāh, Dashti and Shur as well as those based on folk songs.
The 2nd movement is written in ABC form and demonstrates a lot of concepts of
Radif, mostly in the mode of Esfahān. The middle section of this movement is an ametric cadenza that uses many melodic and rhythmic figures from Radif.
The finale of the piece is a fast dance-like movement in ABC form that uses a very simple rhythmic motive as the basic idea. Not only do the principal themes from the
1st movement reappear in this movement, the final section of this movement also brings back the same atmosphere as in the very beginning of the piece.
iv Chapter 1
Introduction
Since August 2011 when I left my home country, Iran, I started a new compositional style. In the past, I had written many pieces for traditional Iranian ensembles and a few pieces for symphonic orchestra or chamber ensembles. My compositional techniques were based on traditional melodic materials accompanied by tertian chords. Since 2011, I tried to use musical materials derived from traditional Iranian music while employing chromatic harmony and other twentieth-century western compositional techniques such as the usage of quartal and secundal harmony, polytonality and polymodality, as well as symmetrical patterns. Of course, it is not a new method for composing. The foundation of my musical style is based on the techniques of previous nationalist composers, particularly Iranian composers. Since the late nineteenth century, nationalist composers such as Dvorák, Sibelius, de Falla and Bartok utilized folk tunes and other traditional musical materials from their cultures. In the middle of the twentieth century, Iranian composers also began writing music for symphonic orchestra and western ensembles in combination with traditional instruments in nationalistic styles using the Iranian modal system.
Ali-Naqi Vaziri1 and Ruhollāh Khāleqi2 are among the pioneering composers who created music in this style.
My thesis piece Naqmey-e Sahar (The Melody of Dawn) is a piece for solo violin, woodwinds, percussions and string orchestra that utilizes popular traditional songs and newly- composed melodies based on traditional folk Iranian music. Since certain concepts of Iranian
1 Ali-Naqi Vaziri (1887-1979) was a composer, tar player, and the first musician who transcribed the Radif and wrote the first book about the theory of western and Iranian music. He was the first composer who composed orchestral Iranian music. 2 Ruhollāh Khāleqi (1906-1965) was a prominent Iranian composer, violinist and music teacher, and one of Ali-Naqi Vaziri’s students.
Texas Tech University, Ali Montazerighahjaverestani, December 2016
music and its modal system are employed in this piece, it is necessary to discuss briefly the theory of Iranian music, especially the modal system and specific terms relevant to Naqmey-e
Sahar. In this chapter, I will define the terms and concepts related to the modal system in Iranian music. In chapter 2, specific folk songs and traditional musical materials that have been used as the source for this composition will be introduced. Finally in chapter 3, I will provide an analysis of the piece.
The basic scale in Iranian music contains seventeen degrees. Besides all twelve pitches used in the well-tempered system, five more pitches are used in Iranian music. As the quarter steps are used in Iranian music, specific accidentals are also used. These accidentals are Sori
(which raises a tone by a quarter step) and Koron (which lowers a tone by a quarter step). Since these accidentals are only used by Iranian musicians, I prefer using half-flat and half-sharp in this document instead.
The modal system in Iranian music consists of a collection of melodic patterns called
Radif. Radif (“row” or “series”) is the complete repertoire of musical materials in Iranian music consisting of twelve different modal systems including 7 dastgâhs (“systems” or “sets”) and 5
âvâzs (“songs”). Each dastgâh comprises a group of melodic segments called gusheh (literally,
“corner” or “cantle”). All of the gushehs in a dastgâh have a root in a main mode representing the fundamental characteristic of that dastgâh. These modes are shown in Example 1. Each gusheh is a short piece distinguished from other gushehs based upon its melodic contour, rhythmic pattern, the changeable tones and the central tones.
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Example 1: Dastgāhs3
Radif is not only used as a main pedagogical tool for teaching Iranian music, but it is also used by performers and composers of Iranian music as a basis for improvisation and composition.
3 Jean During, Le Répertoire-Modèle de la Musique Iranienne: Radif de Tar et de Setar de Mirza‘Abdollah, Version de Nur ‘Ali Borumand (Tehran: Soroush, 1991), 18-22.
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Âvâzs are modal systems derived from dastgâhs, but they are not as extensive as dastgâhs. Âvâzs derived from a dastgâh differ from the main dastgâh in their central tones.
Dastgâh of Shur has four Âvâzs: Abu atā, Afshāri, Bayāt-e Tork and Dashti4. The central tone of
Bayāt-e Tork is the second scale degree of the Shur scale, while that of Abu atā and Afshāri is the fourth scale degree and that of Dashti is the fifth scale degree of the Shur scale. Homāyun has only one Āvāz called Bayāt-e Esfahān or Esfahān. The central tone of Esfahān is the fourth scale degree of Homāyun. Example 2 demonstrates sample melodies of each Āvāz5. In this example, Bayāt-e Tork, Abu atā, Afshāri, and Dashti are derived from the mode of Shur in G while Bayāt-e Esfahān is derived from the mode of Homāyun in D.
Example 2: Sample Melodies of each Āvāzs
4 In some versions of Radif, another âvâz called Bayât-e Kord is also introduced. 5 Dariush Tala’i, Radif of Mirza Abdollah: Pedagogical and Analytical Notation (Tehran: Mahoor, 1995), 87, 99, 128, 143, 295.
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The rhythmic patterns found in the Radif cover a broad range from clearly measured rhythms to non-measured ones. Many rhythmic patterns are derived from poetic meters, as in the case of Kereshmeh (coquetry). Kereshmeh is a gusheh found in dastgâhs of Shur, Homāyun,
Māhur and Navā. All gushehs, which are called Kereshmeh, have the same rhythmic structure, while the melody of kereshmeh is different in each dastgâh. Example 3 shows the gusheh of kereshmeh in Shur6.
Example 3: Kereshmeh in Shur
A typical traditional performance consists of the following parts:
1. pīshdarāmad (prelude, usually in slow tempo)
2. darāmad (a free-metric instrumental improvisation based on the initial gusheh of the dastgâh)
3. Sāz o āvāz (a free-metric vocal and instrumental improvisation based on the various gushehs of dastgâh accompanied by an instrument)
4. Chahārmezrâb (literally means "four plectra", an improvised or composed piece, which almost always has 6 or 12 beats in a fast tempo, suited for demonstration of virtuosity)
5. Tasnif (song, accompanied by the whole ensemble)
6. reng (a dance-like closing composition, usually in 6/8 with dotted-note rhythmic patterns)
It should be noted that improvisation is not the most appropriate word for the situation mentioned above about darāmad and Sāz o āvāz because the music is not completely
6 Hormoz Farhat, The Dastgâh Concept in Persian Music (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 109.
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improvised. Performers use melodic and rhythmic models derived from Radif, and do not usually go beyond the limited area of Radif and the gushehs. Moreover, the order of the gushehs is important in a traditional performance. As Lloyd Clifton Miller wrote in his book Music and
Song in Persia:
“Although the gushe(h) or melodic sequences are passed down from master to disciple, after many years of training, a student becomes familiar enough with the material to be able to improvise by interpreting the melodic sequences which he or she knows. It is similar to the way that American jazz was originally passed from musician to musician, each artist learning the solos and patterns of the master and then finally adding his or her own interpretation during improvisation”7.
7 Lloyd Clifton Miller, Music and Song in Persia: The Art of Āvāz (Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press, 1999), 20.
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Chapter 2
Musical Sources
Naqmey-e Sahar (The Melody of Dawn) is a piece that employs some well-known popular songs and folk tunes from Iran. Therefore, I will provide an introduction to some traditional folk tunes in this chapter.
Three types of musical materials are employed in this composition: 1) quotations of early
20th-century popular songs, 2) tunes derived from folk music and 3) newly-composed musical ideas based on the figures in Radif. All three are used in the first movement, which is the longest movement of this composition. I will illustrate below some transcriptions of the source materials used in this piece and briefly explain their social or historical contexts.
Two well-known Iranian songs written in two different modes are employed in the first section of the 1st movement. Morq-e Sahar (The Dawn Bird) is a popular song composed by
Mortezā Ney-Dāvood8 in 1927. The song was first performed and recorded in 1927 by singer
Moluk Zarrābi9 with the composer at the tar.10 Since then, numerous artists including the legendary Iranian singer Qamar-ol-Moluk Vaziri11 and Mohammad-Rezā Shajariān12 have arranged and performed this tune in his concerts, resulting in various versions of the song. The song lyrics are written by Mohammad-Taqi Bahār13, who illustrates in the text a deep sorrow
8 Mortezā Ney-Davood (1900-1990), famous tar player and composer who composed a lot of pīshdarāmads, Tasnifs and rengs. 9 Moluk Faršforuš Kāšāni (1907-2000), known as Moluk Zarrābi, well-known singer, actress and tonbak player. 10 A long-necked Iranian plucked string instrument. 11 Qamar-ol-Moluk Vaziri (1905-1959), known as Qamar (literally means moon in Arabic), famous and beloved singer and the first woman who sang in Iran without veil. 12 Mohammad-Reza Shajarian (1940- ), great traditional singer, also known as Iran's greatest living master of traditional Persian music. 13 Mohammad-Taqi Bahār (1884-1951), also known as Malek o-Sho'arā (The King of Poets), a very famous poet, politician, journalist and professor of literature.
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due to political and social issues. Example 4 shows the first two phrases of the song that I used in my piece14.
Example 4: Morq-e Sahar
The piece is written in the mode of Māhur. Examples 5-a and 5-b show two musical ideas derived from the Radif, which have almost the same melodic patterns used in the excerpt illustrated in Example 4.
Example 5-a: Excerpt from Kereshmeh of Māhur
14 The symbol above the staff used in this example is called “chap-riz”, which is a tremolo that starts with an accent.
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Example 5-b: Excerpt from Darāmad of Māhur
Another song used in this composition is Mosem-e Gol (Blooming Season), a composition based on a folk tune from northern Iran (Māzandarān) written by Musā Marufi15 and performed by Qamar in 1940. Mosem-e Gol is written in the mode of Shur and Dashti (Example
6). This mode has a plaintive characteristic, and is usually used in pieces with romantic context as well as songs that portray the hardship and passion of lovers who are far away from each other.
Example 6: Mosem-e Gol
At several instances in the piece, one finds a few short musical ideas based on a popular dance song, Bābā Karam, in the mode of Chahārgāh (Example 7). This song is usually performed in wedding ceremonies and parties. It was composed and performed for the first time in around 1951 by Hossein Hamedaniān16.
15 Musā Marufi (1889-1965), tar player, music teacher and collector of the Radif. 16 Hossein Hamedaniān (1923- ), tombak player and singer who composed and performed many popular songs for dance and feasts.
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Example 7: Bābā Karam
Besides these two popular songs mentioned above, I have also employed some musical materials derived from folk music. They are mostly used in the 1st movement. Two folk songs are used in the second section of the 1st movement. Example 8 shows one of the themes used in the piece, which is a folk tune from Luristān in the western part of Iran called Mar jange
(translated as “Is it war?”). This is a type of patriotic song that illustrates the bravery and championship of the Bakhtiāri17 people. While there are different versions of this song, I have chosen for my composition a march-like version and transformed it to a Chahārmezrâb. Another folk tune employed in my composition is called Aziz Joon (translated as “Sweetheart”), which is a love song from Northern Iran (Mâzandârân). Motives and fragments from this tune are accompanied by dissonant harmonies in the second section of the 1st movement, shown in
Example 9.
Example 8: Mar Jange
17 A southwestern Persian tribe and a subgroup of the Lurs.
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Example 9: Aziz Joon
Other borrowed materials are melodic figures derived from the Radif. The most prevalent source material used in the 3rd movement of my composition is the piece Chahārmezrâb of Navā, which is the initial gusheh in Dastgāh of Navā. The overall rhythmic and melodic structure of this Chahārmezrâb is also used in Dastgāh of Segāh and Dastgāh of Shur (Example 10).
Example 10: Chahārmezrâb of Navā
The Chahārmezrâb of Navā contains a simple idea including a short 5-note motive that starts from a different scale degree each time and returns to the tonal center in a downward motion.
Besides quotations and adaptations of existing popular and folk materials, original themes with characteristics of traditional melodic and rhythmic figures in Radif were composed and used
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throughout the piece. I cannot point to a specific gusheh or tune as the source, but Example 11 shows some musical ideas that serve as the sources of inspiration and reference for me. a) Jāme-darān, Dastgāh of Homāyun
b) Bayāte Rāje, Āvāz of Esfahān
c) Bāvi bā Chahārmezrab, Dastgāh of Homāyun
d) Naqme, Āvāz of Esfahān
Example 11: Sample Melodies of Radi
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Chapter 3
Analysis of Naqmey-e Sahar
The main idea for the composition Naqmey-e Sahar is to establish a conversation between western and eastern musical cultures, especially Iranian music. In certain sections of the piece, twentieth-century western musical techniques and concepts dominate while traditional
Iranian musical traits are more obscure. In other parts of the piece, western and eastern cultures assert equal influence. In general, western materials outweigh Iranian materials in the beginning of the piece, but gradually Iranian musical materials become more prominent with western materials in the background.
Harmonically speaking, this composition is largely based on quartal harmony, whereas secundal chords and a combination of intervals such as the fourth and second are also used occasionally throughout the piece. In Iranian music, the third scale degree of a mode is not a stable tone, but the fourth and the fifth scale degrees are the stable ones. As a result, some composers believe that the best tonic chord in Iranian music is a quartal chord including the tonic, the fourth scale degree and the fifth scale degree. Based on this idea, I chose the quartal chords as the basis of the harmonic structure for my piece. The most consonant type of quartal chords is one that is made of only perfect fourths. These chords are mostly used in cadences and melodic lines, and when Iranian materials are more important. Other less consonant quartal chords are also used throughout the piece. In the 1st movement, for example, more dissonant quartal chords are used in order to create a dark atmosphere, particularly in section A. These chords contain at least one augmented forth or diminished fourth. Furthermore, they are often
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combined with other types of chords or intervals, especially those that are less dissonant.
Example 12-a shows a succession of a tertian 9th chord (G-(B)-D-F-Ab) a quartal chord with four notes (D-G-C-F) that has three common notes with the preceding chord and a quartal chord with five notes (Ab-D-G-C-F) that has four common notes with the previous chord. Example 12-b indicates a quartal chords with three notes (G-C-F) with the added note B.
Example 12-a: Naqmey-e Sahar, mm. 40-42
Example 12-b: Naqmey-e Sahar, mm. 229-230
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Quartal chords with four or more notes are most common in this piece. They may also include one or more altered notes. Other harmonic materials include tertian chords or tertian chords with added notes. For instance, the initial chord of the piece played by the strings is basically a Gb major seventh chord without the fifth (Example 13-a), and the chord in measure 5 is a G major triad with an added note A (Example 13-b).
Example 13-a: Naqmey-e Sahar, mm. 1-2
Example 13-b: Naqmey-e Sahar, m.5
Formally speaking, many of the forms found in western tonal music are used with some modifications here. First of all, I did not call this piece a “violin concerto” because it is not divided into three separate movements like in a traditional concerto. But in reality, there are three
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different movements connected to each other in this piece, each of which has its own formal structure and characteristics. The 1st movement (mm. 1-268), which lasts more than half of the piece, is in a form that can be described as ABCAB. Sections A, B and C all have their own theme or theme groups while the return of Sections A and B at the end not only resembles sonata form’s recapitulation section, but it also reveals characteristics of the development section in a sonata form.
The 2nd movement (mm. 269-321) is a slow, plaintive movement in ABC form where
Sections A and C carry out different musical ideas while maintaining similar atmosphere.
In contrast to the 2nd movement, the last movement of Naqmey-e Sahar is a fast, dance- like piece. In addition to the solo violin, xylophone also carries some of the principal ideas in the last movement.
Below I will provide a detailed analysis of each movement in this piece.
1st Movement
This movement can be divided into the following sections:
Introduction (mm. 1-38)
Section A (mm. 39-109)
Section B (mm. 110-170)
Transition (mm. 171-187)
Section C (mm. 188-228)
Section A’ (mm. 229-251)
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Section B’ (mm. 252-268)
The introduction begins with dissonant chords played by the basses, cellos and violas while the 1st and 2nd violins present an initial motive of Morq-e Sahar (Example 4) and later on short musical figures that are thematic segments used in the following sections. The use of minor-second intervals creates more darkness at the beginning of the introduction while the chords played by the strings are from the mode of Chahārgāh. Flutes present musical patterns that are mostly based on the melody of Bābā Karam (Example 7) in the mode of Chahārgāh, and clarinets play sporadic motives in different modes such as the mode of Dashti, the mode of
Māhur, as well as the octatonic scale that are more or less segments of the themes used in
Section A.
A 2-measure link in the low strings connects the introduction to Section A that contains two main themes. The 1st theme is in the mode of Māhur. It should be noted that the seventh scale degree of this mode is a changeable tone. Usually when the melodic contour is downward, the seventh scale degree is lowered by a half step. This technique is used in the 1st part of the theme. Although the phrase is in the mode of Māhur A, G# is replaced by G in a descending motion (mm. 44-46). The second part of the theme is a variation of the tune of Morq-e Sahar in
Māhur C with some changes and additional ornamentations. The last part of the theme starts more or less the same as the beginning idea, but soon connects to the figures that are derived from the modes of Shur and Chahārgāh (mm. 59-64). In measure 66, the oboe plays a variation of this phrase transposed at the tritone. In this section, the relationship between melody and harmony shows more accordance than in the introduction.
After a short transition (mm. 72-75), the 2nd theme starts in the mode of Dashti G (Shur
C). The principal theme is the melody of the song Mosem-e Gol illustrated in Example 6.
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Although the harmony used in this section is still based on quartal chords, it sounds less dissonant than the preceding section because most of the pitches used in the harmony are derived from the same mode of the melody. However, clarinets, oboes and flutes play figures employing more chromaticism and are less connected to the main theme. In terms of harmonic progression, the last part of the theme (mm. 101-105), which is played by the solo oboe accompanied by the strings and xylophone, is more dissonant, creating more instability in order to prepare for the following section. At the cadence (m. 105), while the oboe stops on F#, the xylophone plays a quartal tetrachord that includes a tritone (Ab-Db-G-C), and the strings play a hexachord with secundal harmonic structure (D-E-F-G-Ab-Bb). Transition begins in measure 106 while the woodwinds play very short segments from the preceding theme. The idea shown by the solo violin and the xylophone in measures 110-111 demonstrates the characteristics of
Chahārmezrâb, which is a fast and usually virtuosic piece that includes a back-and-forth motion between the notes of a melody and a particular note outside of the melody (usually the tonal center).
Section B begins in measure 116, and it includes two themes. The first theme is a 4/4 dance-like theme that begins in the solo violin part. The basic idea of this theme is adapted from a gusheh in the mode of Homāyun called Bidād (“Injustice”) (Examples 14-a and 14-b). Flutes and the solo oboe continue this theme after the violin solo, accompanied by the clarinets and bassoons. In addition to the mode of Homāyun, segments of octatonic scale are also used frequently in this section.
Example 14-a: Bidād, Dastgāh of Homāyun
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Example 14-b: Naqmqy-e Sahar, mm.117-123
The second theme in Section B played by the solo violin is a free variation of the song
Mar Jange (Example 8) in the style of Chahārmezrâb (Example 15). This theme also bears some resemblance to the idea of Bidād. The second phrase of the theme appears in the clarinets, and the whole theme repeats with some slight changes: the solo violin idea is transposed down a minor third, and the second phrase of the theme is played by the flutes instead of the clarinets.
Measures 172 to 187 represent a transition to Section C, mostly written in the mode of
Chahârgâh with some ideas borrowed from the song Bâbâ Karam (Compare Example 16 to
Example 7).
Example 15: Naqmey-e Sahar, mm. 136-140
Example 16: Naqmey-e Sahar, mm. 177-180
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The principal theme in Section C (mm. 188-228) is the song Aziz Joon shown earlier in
Example 9. The melody is shared between the violin solo, woodwinds and strings. For instance, in measures 217 to 226, the melodic line first appears in the first violins before going to the flutes and ending in the solo violin part. (Example 17 shows the flutes, solo violin and the first violins without the other instruments.)
Example 17: Naqmey-e Sahar, mm. 217-226
Section A’ begins in measure 229 with materials similar to Section A. The only difference when compared to Section A is the addition of the 1st and 2nd violins in section A’.
Both the solo violin and the violin sections play the melody of Morq-e Sahar. However, the melody is not used in its entirety. Only fragments of the melody reappear in different variations, showing some characteristic of a development section. Moreover, a reduced version of the second theme from Section A reappears in measures 242-249, first played by the oboe then the flutes.
Section B’ occurs in measure 252, with no transition connecting to the previous section.
Although the figures and rhythmic motives used here are almost the same as Section B, the
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melodies are not the same and some elements of the theme demonstrated in this section are also seen in the violin solo part (Example 18).
Example 18: Naqmey-e Sahar, mm. 254-255, solo violin
The final cadence of the first movement happens in measure 268, where one finds a very dense pentachord using quartal harmony (E-A#-D#-G#-C#) on top of double-stops in the strings using open strings (A, D, G, C) in order to make the cadence stronger and more powerful.
At the end of the cadence, the timpani continues to play, serving as a connection to the 2nd movement.
2nd Movement
In contrast to the 1st movement, Iranian musical materials and concepts are more prevalent in this movement, and most of the musical materials are in the mode of Homāyun, especially āvāz of Esfahān. As already mentioned in Chapter 1, the fourth scale degree of
Homāyun is the tonic of its relative mode of Esfahān. For instance, the scale of Esfahān related to the mode of Homāyun G (see Example 1) is this:
The 2nd movement is in ABC form. Below is the sectional division:
Section A (mm. 269-291)
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Section B (m. 292): Cadenza
Section C (mm. 293-320)
After a short introduction presented by the strings and timpani, Section A begins with the violin solo playing a theme in the Homāyun D and Esfahān G (Example 19-a). Although this is an original theme, some elements of Radif are seen throughout this theme. For example, measures 283 to 289 show a resemblance to one segment of Darāmad of Esfahān (Example 19- b). The final cadence of this section ends with a quartal chord (Bb, E, A, D) in the Esfahān D with the tonic and dominant in the double basses and cellos in measure m.291.
Section B is a cadenza that is entirely in the mode of Esfahān, and a number of musical patterns of Radif are employed in this section. As the alternation between two adjacent scale degrees and a back-and-forth motion between a certain scale degree and its two adjacent notes are two very common ways of prolongation in traditional Iranian music, Section B is filled with similar gestures. Examples 20-a, 20-b and 20-c show three examples of Āvāz of Esfahān while
Example 20-d illustrates a passage in the cadenza that uses similar melodic patterns.
Example 19-a: Darāmad, Āvāz of Esfahān
Example 19-b: Naqmey-e Sahar, mm. 283-289
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Example 20-a: Darāmad, Āvāz of Esfahān
Example 20-b: Bayāt-e Rāje’
Example 20-c: Mortezā Ney-Davood: Pīshdarāmad of Esfahān
Example 20-d: Naqmey-e Sahar, Cadenza
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In traditional Iranian music, an important part of a performance includes an ametric solo improvisation based on different gushehs of a certain Dastgāh or Āvāz. The cadenza in this movement demonstrates some of these characteristics with some modifications. While most gushehs are used in a traditional performance, the cadenza here only employs two gushehs:
Darāmad and Bayāt-e Rāje’. Moreover, the key normally does not change during a traditional performance. In this piece, however, the melody starts in one key and ends in another.
Preceding the pizzicato section, the melody stops on the note E, which is the second scale degree of the Esfahān D (Example 21). Since the Bayāt-e Rāje’ is a gusheh that concentrates on the second scale degree of Esfahān as the tonal center (Example 22-a), the pizzicato section deliberately demonstrates this trait. This section starts with this gusheh (Example 22-b) before modulating to the Esfahān G, and finally ends in the Esfahān C. At the very end, the cadenza ends with the note D, which is the second scale degree of Esfahān C.
Example 21: Cadenza
Example 22-a: Bayāt-e Rāje’, Āvāz of Esfahān
Example 22-b: Cadenza, Pizzicato Section
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Section C is in aba form and uses melodies in the mode of Esfahān and the octatonic scale. It is worth noting that in this section there are many melodic lines in the mode of Esfahān that modulate to two or more keys, and sometimes two different keys occur simultaneously.
Examples 23-a, 23-b and 23-c are a few examples of this technique. In the beginning of the
Subsection a, the oboe starts the 1st phrase in Esfahān C and the flutes continue the 2nd phrase in
Esfahān F while the solo violin presents a counter-melody against the main melody. The melody ends in Esfahān Eb and, with a short transition, connects to the Subsection b that includes a moaning melody in Esfahān B, Esfahān D and Esfahān G# played by the solo violin (mm. 305-
310). Subsection a returns in measure 311 in a different key, otherwise more or less the same as before.
Most of the chords used in this movement are quartal chords using mostly diatonic notes.
Altered notes are rarely found here. However, unprepared modulations make the harmony rather unpredictable.
Example 23-a:
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Example 23-b: Naqmey-e Sahar, mm. 316-317
Example 23-c: Naqmey-e Sahar, mm. 310-316
3rd Movement
This movement is a fast movement in ABC form and reintroduces musical materials from the 1st movement in sections B and C. The sectional division is as followed:
Section A (mm. 320-416)
Section B (mm. 417-477)
Transition (mm. 478-494)
Section C (mm. 495-515)
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Harmonically speaking, both quartal and secundal chords are used in this movement.
Sometimes the harmony consists of nothing but a simple quartal chord, while other times the harmony is more complicated. For instance, one finds in measure 327 a simple quartal chord (D,
G, C) played by the strings and the solo violin, while in measure 330 one experiences a quartal chord (A, D, G, C) played by the clarinets, bassoons and strings on top of another quartal chord
(C, F, Bb, Eb) played by the flutes and oboes. The same chord at measure 330 is used again in the following measure with some voicing and registral changes.
Section A is in ternary form, divided into subsections a, b and a’. The fundamental idea of section A is a very simple figure adapted from an existing piece called Reng-e Navā in the mode of Navā (Example 24). This figure consists of three eighth notes and serves as the basic rhythmic motive used throughout the 3rd movement.
After an introduction played by the vibraphone and the strings, Subsection a starts with the solo violin playing in the mode of Navā G (Example 25). The 1st phrase ending in measure
346 is connected to the 2nd phrase from measures 350 to 356 (Example 26-a) through a passage played by the woodwinds and the vibraphone. The second phrase is based on a gusheh called
Nahoft (Example 26-b).
Example 24: Reng-e Navā
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Example 25: 3rd Movement, mm. 326-334
Example 26-a: 3rd Movement, mm. 350-356
Example 26-b: Nahoft
In traditional performances of Dastgāh of Navā, this gusheh is the climax of an improvisation or a composition. The fifth scale degree of Navā is the tonal center of Nahoft. In this phrase, D is the fifth scale degree of Navā G and is held by the double basses as a pedal point.
After a transition presented by the woodwinds and the strings (mm. 356-358), the solo violin initiates the 1st phrase in Subsection b that begins in Navā E and ends in Navā A (Example
27). The 2nd phrase begins in Navā G (mm. 375-383) and modulates to the mode of Chahārgāh.
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At the same time, the solo oboe presents a melody that uses segments of Navā G, Chahārgāh D,
Esfahān A and Esfahān D (Example 28).
The last note of the oboe melody in Subsection b coincides with the beginning of
Subsection a’ that starts with the solo violin playing almost exactly the same materials as in
Subsection a. However, whereas Subsection a is entirely in the mode of Navā, Subsection a’ includes three phrases in the mode of Māhur. The first two phrases played successively by the solo violin and the vibraphone are in Māhur C (employing the lowered seventh scale degree), and the 3rd phrase played by the solo violin is in Māhur Ab. At the end of Section A, there is a transition to Section B that includes a short idea in the mode of Dashti B and Shur E played by the flutes as well as a 2-measure idea in the xylophone and the solo violin accompanied by the strings.
Example 27: 3rd Movement, mm. 360-372
Example 28: 3rd Movement, mm. 374-382
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Section B is also divided into three subsections c, d and e. Subsection c starts with a variation of Morq-e Sahar (the very 1st theme in the 1st movement) played by the solo violin in
Māhur E and immediately imitated by the flutes in Māhur G. At the same time, the vibraphone plays an important figure from Section A of this movement. A dissonant passage played by the flutes and oboes is used to connect subsections c and d. In contrast to Subsection c, the harmony is more dissonant in Subsection d (mm. 432-457), and the melodic lines here are not related to the vertical chords. In the 1st phrase (mm. 432-442), the solo violin presents a melody in the mode of Chahārgāh but in different keys. The 2nd phrase starts with the woodwinds playing the opening idea of the Mosem-e Gol (the 2nd theme of Section A in the 1st movement) while the violin solo plays motives from Section A in the 3rd movement simultaneously (mm. 443-455).
After a 2-measure (mm. 456-457) link in the solo violin that outlines a quartal chord
(Example 29), one finds a varied fragment of Morq-e Sahar in Subsection e (mm. 458-477).
Example 29: 3rd Movement, mm. 456-457
The transition that connects Section B to Section C (mm.478-494) is mostly based on musical ideas from Section A of this movement and does not adhere to any specific mode.
Section C reprises ideas from the beginning of the piece. While the clarinets and bassoons play fragments of Morq-e Sahar, the vibraphone represents short motives of Mosem-e Gol. The closing theme of the piece (mm. 502-515) played by the solo violin is a melody using octatonic scales similar to the one presented in the introduction of the 1st movement (mm. 22-36)
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Harmony in this section is as dense as in the beginning of the piece. The last six measures of the piece form a short codetta that uses many dissonant chords. The piece ends with a chord that uses all twelve pitches played by the whole orchestra, which creates the highest degree of opacity and darkness.
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Chapter 4
Conclusion
In Naqmey-e Sahar, I had attempted to connect two different compositional styles from my earlier compositional years. The first style stems from my early experience in playing and composing music for traditional Iranian music instruments and ensembles. After leaving my home country and having been exposed to a lot of western music, I started developing a second style, which is characterized by the use of a combination of modes in traditional Iranian music and western chromatic harmony.
The main idea of my piece is the cultural interaction and the influence of the western culture on an eastern person who tries to adapt to the new culture. The Iranian tunes used in this piece could be considered as the signs of Iranian concepts, which are covert under the western cultural concepts at the beginning. The Iranian concepts become openly displayed soon but they do not appear in their original form due to the influence of western culture. The Iranian concepts lose some of their original traits in order to become familiar with western cultural concepts. In some moments they match together successfully but there are also moments which these two cultures are disparate and does not show any relationship between two cultures. Besides the use of cromaticism and dissonant harmony, the bitonality and polymodality are also used to demonstrate the incongruity between the cultures.
Although this piece includes many themes that are borrowed from traditional Iranian music and folk songs, it does not sound like a traditional Iranian orchestral piece. This could have resulted from several reasons, all of which have to do with my personal ways of working with Iranian materials under the influence of western compositional techniques. First of all, the
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melodic organization in this composition demonstrates some diversions from traditional practices in Iranian music. In traditional compositions or improvisations, the key usually does not change.
There are indeed some gushehs that modulate to other modes before returning to the original one.
However, those are the rare exceptions. In this piece, on the other hand, key changes happen rather frequently. Modulation could even take place in the middle of a phrase. Secondly, western chromaticism is not used at all in traditional Iranian melodies. It is, however, seen throughout this piece. Finally, the harmonic language goes beyond using chords that are confined to the same mode as the melody, as often is the case in traditional Iranian music. The extended harmonic vocabulary in this piece includes various chromatic chords, quartal and secundal chords, as well as tertian chords with added notes. All of the above-mentioned techniques have helped to obscure the identity of the Iranian materials and coin a new style that integrates the eastern and western musical materials.
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Bibliography
During, Jean. Le Répertoire-Modele de la Musique Iranienne: Radif de Tar et de Setar de Mirza ‘Abdollah, Version de Nur ‘Ali Borumand. Tehran: Soroush, 1991.
Fakhreddini, Farhad. Iranian Music Harmony. Tehran: Moin Publisher, 2015.
Farhat, Hormoz. The Dastgāh Concept in Persian Music. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Miller, Lloyd Clifton. Music and Song in Persia: The Art of Āvāz. Salt Lake City: Utah University Press, 1999.
Tala’i, Dariush. Radif of Mirza Abdollah: Pedagogical and Analytical Notation. Tehran: Mahoor, 1995.
Wright, Oven. The Modal System of Arab and Persian Music. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.
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