Lesson 19: Irregularities of Rhythm and Meter
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1 LESSON 19: IRREGULARITIES OF RHYTHM AND METER u SUGGESTIONS FOR LISTENING lesson examples: • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), Piano Sonata in F Major, K. 332, first movement (1783). • Béla Bartók (1881–1945), “Change of Time,” Mikrokosmos vol. 5, no. 126 (1926, 1932–39). recitative preceding an aria: • Henry Purcell (1659–1695), “Dido’s Lament” (Dido and Aeneas, 1689). • Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), Cantata 82 (“Ich habe genug”), “Ich habe genug” (1727). • George Frideric Handel (1685–1759), Messiah, part 3, bass recitative (“Behold, I tell you a mystery”) and aria (“The trumpet shall sound”) (1741). • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), The Marriage of Figaro, act 3, scene 8 (“Dove sono”) (1786). • Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809), The Creation, No. 11 “And God said, Let There Be Lights,” and No. 12 “In Splendour Bright” (1798). • Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), Symphony No. 9 in D Minor (1824), beginning of the fourth movement. A kind of “recitative” in free rhythm first occurs in the low strings. Later in the move- ment we hear the same music sung as recitative by the baritone soloist (now with text by Friedrich von Schiller). • Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901), La Traviata, end of act 1, “Follie! Follie!” and “Sempre libera” (1853). • P.D.Q. Bach (1807–1742?), Blaues Gras [cantata], “Blaues Gras.” verse preceding a chorus in popular songs: • “Someone to Watch Over Me” (George and Ira Gershwin, from Oh, Kay!, 1926), performed by Ella Fitzgerald (Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook). • “Ol’ Man River” (Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II, from Showboat, 1927), performed by William Warfield. • “Autumn in New York” (Vernon Duke, from Thumbs Up, 1934), performed by Dawn Upshaw (Dawn Upshaw Sings Vernon Duke). • “Just One of Those Things” (Cole Porter, from Jubilee, 1935), performed by Ella Fitzgerald (Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook). • “My Funny Valentine” (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, from Babes in Arms, 1937), performed by Ella Fitzgerald (Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers and Hart Songbook). • “White Christmas” (Irving Berlin, from the film Holiday Inn, 1942), performed by Barbra Streisand (A Christmas Album [1967]). • “I’ll Know” (Frank Loesser, from Guys and Dolls, 1950), performed by Isabel Bigley and Rob- ert Alda (Guys and Dolls original cast album). • “I Never Has Seen Snow” (Harold Arlen, Truman Capote, from House of Flowers, 1954), per- formed by Audra McDonald (How Glory Goes). 9780199975563_294-308.L19.indd 299 5/31/13 11:37 AM 2 LESSON 19: IRREGULARITIES OF RHYTHM AND METER • “When Did I Fall in Love?” (Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, from Fiorello!, 1959), performed by Audra McDonald (How Glory Goes). irregular meter: • Charles Ives (1874–1954), “The Last Reader” for voice and piano (1911). The song begins and ends in compound duple meter (notated in ^4) but has passages of simple meter in the middle part (mostly quadruple, notated in ò). • Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971), Le sacre de printemps for orchestra (1913). This work has many examples of irregular meter, but the best (and most notorious) may be the last section of the piece, “Sacrificial Dance (The Chosen One).” In the first nine measures of that section, for example, the meters change as follows: | #6| @6| #6| | @8| @6| #6| | @8| • Henry Cowell (1897–1965), “Exultation” for piano (1921). The pianist’s hands are notated in different meters throughout this piece (while sharing a quarter-note pulse). • Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951), Five Piano Pieces, op. 23, no. 4 (1923). This 35-measure piece shifts unpredictably among ò, à, á, ó, and ô. • Maurice Ravel (1875–1937), L’enfant et les sortilèges (1925). Ravel sometimes shifts freely among different meters with eighth-note beats. • Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975), Preludes for piano (1933), no. 17. The left hand seems to want to play a waltz (notated in è), but the right hand repeat- edly shifts the meter to quadruple (notated in common time). • Aaron Copland (1900–1990), El Salón México (1937). The last part of the piece shifts frequently among ò, è, á, and ó. • Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990), Symphony No. 1 (“Jeremiah”), second movement (1942). In this movement it’s easy to hear the impact of Copland on Bernstein’s musical lan- guage, especially in the role of irregular meter. • “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” (Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim, from Gypsy, 1959). Each time the song title appears, the meter shifts briefly from ä into ë. • Fifteen Character Pieces: Prelude. hemiola: • George Frideric Handel (1685–1759), Messiah, part 1, chorus (“And the glory of the Lord”) (1741). Hemiolas were sometimes used by Baroque composers as ending figures (“cadences”). Listen for a hemiola in this example at the end of the orchestral introduction. • Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809), String Quartet in G Major, op. 17, no. 5, second move- ment (1771). • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, third movement (1788). • Franz Schubert (1797–1828), Piano Sonata in D Major, op. 53, third movement (1825). 9780199975563_294-308.L19.indd 300 5/31/13 11:37 AM 3 LESSON 19: IRREGULARITIES OF RHYTHM AND METER • Robert Schumann (1810–1856), Symphony No. 3 in E∫ Major (“Rhenish”), first movement (1850). • Antonin Dvorak (1841–1904), Slavonic Dance No. 8 in G Minor, op. 46 (1878). The composer made versions of this work for piano four hands and for full orchestra. • Antonin Dvorak (1841–1904), Symphony No. 6 in D Major, third movement (1880). • Johann Strauss II (1825–1899), Voices of Spring, op. 410, third theme (1883). The third theme begins around 2:16. • Johannes Brahms (1833–1897), Romance in F Major for piano, op. 118, no. 5 (1893). • “The Glamorous Life,” “A Weekend in the Country” (Stephen Sondheim, from A Little Night Music, 1973). 9780199975563_294-308.L19.indd 301 5/31/13 11:37 AM.