GlossaryAll definitions (bar foot beat) taken from Oxford Music Online [2]
Appoggiatura: A ‘leaning-note’. As a melodic ornament, it usually implies a note one step above or below the ‘main’ note. It usually creates a dissonance with the prevailing harmony, and resolves by step on the following weak beat. It may be notated as an ornament or in normal notation. Motif: A short musical idea, melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, or any combination of these three. A motif may be of any size, and is most commonly regarded as the shortest subdivision of a theme or phrase that still maintains its identity as an idea. It is most often thought of in melodic terms, and it is this aspect of motif that is connoted by the term ‘figure’. Chromatic: Based on an octave of 12 semitones, as opposed to a seven-note diatonic scale. A chromatic scale consists of an ascending or descending line that advances by semitones. An instrument is said to be chromatic if throughout the whole or a substantial part of its compass it can produce all the semitones. An interval is said to be chromatic if it is not part of a diatonic scale (e.g. F–F♯, B–E♭). Foot beat: Stomp or beat created by hitting foot against hard surface |
Whilst Tchaikovsky presents iterations of the same initial melodies, over ambiguous chord progressions to represent the uncertainty of the music, the traditional Norwegian uses rhythmic variations of set melodic phrases to draw attention to the significant notes of the scale.
Tchaikovsky's Sixth SymphonyThe first melody of Tchaikovsky's first movement is built on a simple chromatic scale, which Tchaikovsky uses to move from B minor onto F# Major (Tonic (I) - Dominant (V)). Illustrated below is the principal melodic phrase:
The first melody is built on a chord progression of B minor - diminished on C# - diminished on D - F# major, the dominant. The imperfect cadence which is created leads into the next iteration of the melody, as the dominant chord of F# major requires resolution onto the tonic (briefly provided in the opening of the following melodic phrase, at the end of bar 2 of Fig. 1). This imperfect cadence draws attention to another aspect of this melody: Tchaikovsky, after deceptively opening the symphony in E minor, omits a strong root position B minor chord in the exposition of this first melody. It is instead subverted by an unstable first inversion tonic and moves onto the dominant through the imperfect cadence already mentioned.
Tchaikovsky continues to develop the original melodic phrase by providing the same melody with increasing ornamentation (see the 2nd viola part playing an alternating chromatic upper-auxiliary semiquaver figure in Bar 2 in Fig. 1). The contrary motion between the two 'cello parts in Fig. 1 serves to highlight the chromaticism in the melody. The second 'cello part plays an ascending scale with an rising accented chromatic passing note, similar to the descending accented chromatic passing note in the first 'cellos. He turns the passing note into a suspension in the second iteration of the melody, using the non-harmony B as a dissonance against the ornamented melodies. The second melody of Tchaikovsky’s first movement is comprised of two distinct phrases, illustrated on the example above. The first phrase of this opens with a descending scalic upbeat: a three-note descent preceding a descending minor third (referred to henceforth as x, as shown in Figure 3 below), which leaps onto an appoggiatura that resolves onto a broken chord of D major. This broken chord of D major (based on a tonic pedal in the double bass) moves onto a diminished chord over the same tonic pedal. The x motif is repeated (x2) and elongated after this broken chord, with the same appoggiatura preceding a resolution onto D major. The second phrase of this melody is a further extension of the three-note x motif. The repetition of the third note (the F# at the end of bar 5 of Fig. 2) of the descending scale becomes the basis of a suspension, which is repeated in a descending sequence.
Tchaikovsky places a chromatic descent under the suspensions and resolutions in the second melody (shown on Fig. 2). The resulting harmony is this: Dominant 7th on D + Flat 9th (A fits) – Em7 (F# suspension) - Diminished on D – D major (E suspension) The entire melody builds towards the high A on the third beat of bar 9, after which it follows an extended descending scale down to an A an octave below (in Fig. 2). Tchaikovsky’s repeated use of chromatic descent reinforces the central theme of death and depression – his music continually descends, masked by a lyrical D major melody in the violins. The ambiguity and uncertainty of the key – shown in the contrast between said D major melody and the diminished B chords – also reflects this. Even the ascending D major scale leading to the high A in bar 9 is immediately followed by a descending one. Music for Hardingfele: Svein I Sy' GardeHardingfele music has a tendency towards rhythmic rather than melodic complexity - this piece puts a syncopated 6/8 melody against a regular 3/4 foot beat. However, the melody is built out of a number of phrases and motifs which it varies and repeats.
This piece is based around three melodic motifs: B-B-A#-C#-B (in Yellow on Fig. 4), F#-G#-A#-B (in Green on Fig. 4) and B-B-G#-B-A# (in Blue on Fig. 4) These three melodic motifs are illustrated in the extract below: The interest in this melody comes from its sequential and rhythmic variations on a set of established phrases and motifs. This melody decorates the tonic note: exemplified by the first melodic phrase (shown in yellow on Fig. 4). The leading note of A# resolves onto the tonic B, which is drawn attention to by its length - it is a semiquaver tied into a crotchet in contrast to the semiquaver A#. The tonic note's primacy is also reinforced by the tonic B pedal, played on the sympathetic strings of the hardingfele.
One of the principal ways that Svein I Sy' Garde varies its melody is by inverting the drone and melody strings. Most hardingfele have four principal playing strings (some have five), and have four or five sympathetic playing strings stretched beneath the fingerboard (as shown in the image of the hardingfele to the left [7]). The first melody is played on the top f#' string: And repeated on the e' string:
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