Analysis Worksheet Fauré Elegy Composer/ Composition Information from analysis How this affects/informs performance Skill, Knowledge, Expression? Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) pianist and organist, studied with Saint-Saëns, and became friends with him (S-S only 10 years older) Elegy a poem or song composed as a lament for a deceased person/greek root elegos = a mournful song Student grasps concept that the music wasn t just always there. Also creates connection for Fauré s affinity for cello music (through Saint-Saëns, who wrote a number of cello works) Knowing what an Elegy is sets the context for the work and the performance. Stylistic period French impressionist Understanding stylistic period more ambiguous boundaries between sections, less adherence to classical form, more color in harmonies Background information (why piece was written, original instrumentation, etc) The Elegy was composed in 1879, when Fauré was 34, devastated and grieving over his broken engagement to his long-time love. written by a person who had strong feelings of sadness and loss, and was trying to express them in his music and Genre (sonata, concerto, solo suite, etc) Form Originally composed for cello and piano set with Orchestra later. The orchestration requires 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, four horns and strings. Ternary form, sections within sections Aa b a c c trans d A c 1 c 1 Student can listen to recording of orchestrated version and draw on qualities of sounds of other instruments-- understanding compositional form, shape and unifying elements restating a theme in a different mood, transitioning into new idea, returning to a recurring theme, and a rearranged version of the c theme Understanding Ternary form : performance with understanding of whole
Tonality/Tonal centers Melodic characteristics C minor Ab major Whole tone scales/tritones Tritones, fully diminished chords, augmented chords with associated scales. First theme is based on a descending line, descending stepwise quarters and four eighths in a four-bar phrase. Helps change mood Accuracy of pitch important Whole tone scales and tritones have no tonal center Functional root movement, with occasional exceptions and/or altered tones within the chords to create tension and/or changing moods. SKILL: 3 scales : Understanding relationship of whole tone scale, tritones, Diminished chords Second theme is more fluid (but also more ambiguous) in rhythm and direction. The upward sweeps of the melody make this section more hopeful than the first theme. It becomes increasingly angular, however, as tritones and whole tone scales transition into the D section, where all semblance of melody virtually disappears into the storm of fast notes. Could also be analyzed as harmonies moving from chordal to quartal to tri-tones The return second theme in final section is in C Minor, and is an inversion of the first statement. The first theme feels emotionally burdened, sinking feeling Second theme sounds nostalgic and hopeful, sweeps upward melodically. Tritones and whole tone scales signal losing one s way, no center, off-balance, perhaps a bit crazed. gradual descent into chaos. Inverted second theme is the flip side of hope, using that once uplifting feeling to causing the theme to descend to the depths (of despair or death) at the end of the piece. and SKILL= Understanding/playing whole tone scales and tritones = composers craft
Rhythmic elements and motifs The first section primarily uses a repeated two quarters/four eighths motif in the melody, with pulsing, almost dirge-like eighth notes in the accompaniment. The second theme in the C section is syncopated and constantly changing from duples to triplets, over a more fluid accompaniment figure. The D section is based primarily on sextuplet, faster and rhythms that heighten the agitation of this section, and the return of the first theme is made stormy from the continuation of the sextuplets in the accompaniment. Contrast between 1 st and 2 nd thematic rhythm helps create dramatic change between the sections one hard hitting, almost pounding, and definitive, the other flexible, flighty hard to pin down (nostalgic, dreamy, not in sync ) SKILL counting: need to be able to fully integrate rhythm in 2 nd section SKILL play section in appropriate legato style while maintaining accuracy of rhythm Harmony (harmonic style, chord voicing, distinctive harmonies or progressions, etc) Begins in C minor, with almost constant chromatic passing tones in the triadic accompaniment. Use of the VI chord at cadences for unsettled feel. The b section tonality is based on G without actually modulating away from C minor. C section which begins with the second theme is in A Major. Neapolitan (bii) chord. Chords without 3 rd give empty feel Third section is based on whole-tone scale and tritones, and combined with fast-moving notes this section is the Sturm und Drang section of the piece, culminating in the crying return of the first theme in C minor. Reiterated Db s against the C pedal gives the closing section Phrygian feel. Could also be seen as polytonality: Ab Major against c minor. The nostalgic, dreamy feel of this section is enhanced by the use of the Neapolitan chord. Exploring how harmonies give color to melody, offer reason to not always play with the same sound Modes Understanding use of dissonance minor seconds make the music hurt important to feel dissonances, rather than hurrying past like it might be a wrong note Could possibly be interpreted as a war within the mind. The cello hangs onto cm while the piano plays the Ab theme possibly one side of the mind is trying to lift the other out of despair. Then the cello takes the Ab theme and the piano lapses back into cm. In the end both cello and piano resign themselves to the despair of c.
Special terminology Elegie (see above) Other terminology used for analyzing/describing piece: ternary form, motif, tritone, mode Performance with understanding Expression (Dynamics, other factors contributing to expressive aspects) Wide dynamic ranges combined with harmony changes, texture changes, and register changes Every section, whether a repeat of an idea or a new one, has a new and distinctive set of dynamics, ranging from to creating not just different decibels but new moods to reflect changes in dynamics, tonality, etc Compositional devices The melodic motive of the four eighth notes of the first theme (melody) are shadowed in the bass line, and is also used as the primary accompaniment motive throughout the piece. As the piece approaches the stormy area, the eighth note figure is given angular intervals rather than the gentle rise and fall of the original notes. Undercurrent of this motif creates unity of the whole composition, as well as a thematic undercurrent of this unwanted reality that won t go away. Cellist needs to realize the context within which s/he plays the accompaniment not just a stray bunch of notes needs seamless handover from piano and back Texture Fauré uses both spare and densely textured sections, including the homophonic texture at the beginning with both closely spaced and open chords, the fluid polyphonic second theme, and the thick clouds of triplet thirty-second notes in the accompaniment over the slow moving melody of the cello. The feel of repeated melodic sections are altered by the changes of texture in the piano part, and can be responded to by the cellist. Timbre Full range of cello Alters piano registration, particularly noticeable in repeated melodic themes undercurrent always changing, even if melody is the same Expressive middle register, high register for intensity, low register for depth, darkness and despair SKILL (ability to play in upper register with vibrato) (recognize qualitative difference in registration changes)