Part 3

Project 1 – Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Figures Bass

For this project I was asked to listen to the first movement of George Friedrich Händel’s (1685-1759) “Dixit Dominus”, which`s composition was finished in 1707 but only published for the first time in 1867. The piece is written for a choir (two sopranos, alto, tenor and bass), strings and a continuo. A continuo is a form of musical notation, with numbers and/or symbols above the notes, which indicate which chord has to be played, the continuo is mainly played by a piano, harpsichord, organ or lute. ¹

Using a score, I should highlight the following aspects of the piece;

a)Voices

Händel sets psalm 110 to music, which reads: “The Lord says to my Lord:” Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” in Latin: Dixit Dominus Domino meo, sede a dextris meis, donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum tuorum. ²

Even though the piece is polyphonic, Händel arranged the words sung by the four voices in a way that they’re often sung at the same time or close to one another. Thus, the following arrangement of the first phrase of the text above is created:

“Dixit, dixit Dominus Dimino meo, dixit, dixit dixit, dixit. Dominus dixit Domino meo dixit, dixit Dominus Domino meo dixit Dominus dixit Domino meo, dixit, dixit,dixit Domino meo dixit Domino meo, dixit dixit;”

The following part “sede, a dextris meis” is sung twice, the first time by a solo soprano and the second time by a solo alto- voice. For both solos there’s mainly one violin playing a contrasting theme, often resting on a note when the voice sings in a fast pace and vice versa. Furthermore, one can notice, that for both voices the first word “sede” is sung melismatically.

Solo Sopran contra to violin — Played/ sung voices in order by: Soprano, Violin

The tenor voice leads the music back to a part of the first phrase where Soprano I, Soprano II and the Alto-voices repeat the word 7 times. Tenor and Bass are singing the whole phrase in the meantime, but come together with the rest of the voices for the last four “Dixit(s)”. Coming back to the second phrase of the psalm, the whole choir sings “sede, sede de a dextris meis” , whereas the first word is sung melismatic again.

7 dixies — Sung in order by: Soprano I, Soprano II, Alto, Tenor, Bass

The sopranos start the third phrase “donec ponam inimicos tuos, scabellum pedum tuorum” with long minims or whole notes, contrasting the quavers and semiquavers sung by the other voices. The strings and harpsichord adapt rhythmically to the choir. Interestingly, the sopranos stay ahead with the text, due to the repetitions by alto, tenor and bass. Those three voices, mainly stay rhythmically together.

Rhythmische gleichheit — Played/ Sung in order by: Soprano I, Soprano II, Alto, Tenor, Bass, Violin I, Violin II, Viola I, Viola II, Continuo

From bar 64 to 73, the voices mainly stay rhythmically individual, even though one can notice a canonic character for the separate entries. Händel arranged them to follow the rules of the counterpoint. One can notice again, that the strings and harpsichord adapt rhythmically and harmonically to the pitch.

rhythmical adaption — Played/ Sung in order by: Soprano I, Soprano II, Alto, Tenor, Bass, Violin I, Violin II, Viola I, Viola II, Continuo

Still focusing on the previous phrase all of the voices (apart from Soprano I) come back to the same rhythm. This rhythmical equality is kept the same up to bar 85, where Händel starts with the first phrase again “Dixit, dixit, dixit, dixit Dominus Domino meo.

A solo tenor voice continues with the second phrase, a melisma on the first word “sede”. Similar to the same phrase mentioned above, the solo violin plays alongside the tenor in a contrasting way, being accompanies by the harpsichord.

Tenor und vilin — Played/ Sung in order by: Tenor, Violin I

The alteration of the separate parts seems to be happening more often towards the end, right after two repetitions of “sede dextris meis” the third phrase is started again by the basses, which take over the minim notes of the sopranos. The other voices continue again in a canonic form, all rhythmically individual but woven together to create a contrapuntal theme. In bar 104 they all come rhythmically together again (apart from the altos, which take over the long notes). The choir ends with the word “Dixit” repeated another three times by all the voices.

b) Instruments

The violoncello, bass and “continuo” (in this case a harpsichord) all share the same melody. This melody consists mainly of a continuing line of quaver notes. One (of a few) exceptions to that can be seen from bars 94 to 103, where The numbers below the bass line indicate which chord the harpsichord has to play in relation to the note seen.

The melody of both violins are sometimes completing one another, which can be noticed at the beginning of the piece:

Vervollständigung — Played in order by: Violin I, Violin II

One can see (and hear), that especially the first violin almost continuously plays rising and falling arpeggios. A few exceptions occur at the mentioned contrapuntal and solo parts. After the choirs entry, the strings echo the first “Dixit” several times whilst the choir continues singing. The two violins come back to their arpeggio-movement, whilst the two violas adapt to the voice of the bass.

adaption to bass — Played in order by: Violin I, Violin II, Viola I, Viola II, Continuo

As well as the whole instrumental part works in different ways with the choir (as mentioned above, sometimes contrary, sometimes supporting) the voice of the bass seems to communicate with the violas and violins in a similar way.

In the following score I highlighted the following occurrences once again:

When the first two violins play altered arpeggios: orange
When the first violin plays an arpeggio by itself: light blue
Melisma on the word “sede”: red
When either all voices, all voices but one or most of the instruments (in a supportive way) have the same rhythm: light green
The mentioned often used bass-line: purple
Beginning of the mentioned contrapuntal entrances from the choir, supported by at least one of the instruments: pink
When the instrumental part “interjects” with the choir, or plays in a contrasting/contrapuntal way: light brown

As one can also see below: Most of the notes for the violins and violas are often runs of quavers and semiquavers. The longer, in pink highlighted parts are the mentioned contrapuntal ones, where every instrument, including the bass line, seems to play along with one of the voices. (First and second violin with soprano I and soprano II; Alto and tenor with Viola I and Viola II and the bass voice with the bass line. The rest of the not-highlighted score (mainly focusing on the instruments) is either supporting the choir, or echoing their phrases.

Exercise 3.1

This exercise included a task to space chords of the first eight bars from “Dixit –Dominus” differently, to see how spacings can affect the “flow of chords and the tension between them”.

Exercise 3.2

Fitting to the previous exercise, I was asked to work out what the numbers of the following figurative bass are:

The numbers and symbols marked in red were the ones I didn’t find initially.

I always tried to find the chord, by staging all the notes on top of one another until they were all a major or minor third apart.

The third last sign (6 with a line going through it) was the only sign I hadn’t seen before; I also was unable to find it anywhere online. By looking at the chord above it, it seems to indicate, that the sign refers to a diminished triad with the third in the bass.

Exercise 3.3

Even though I was already confronted with the figured bass in my former musical education, which I remember to have worked confidently with, I found it difficult to make a start for this exercise. After looking through some notes I made on the subject a few years ago and practicing on a few other examples before starting with the ones above, I began to understand the concept again.

The most important thing to know about the figured bass for me, is that it basically only affects to bass note and not the spacings in the melody part. For example:“B” in the bass with a 6 under it indicates that the bass note is the third note of the chord, which therefore is G –major, but the “melody”, paying the chord can be arranged in several ways :

I personally see the figured bass as a prestage of chords, which are often used for guitars or modern pop-music. When I started to work with the figured bass for the first time, I found it difficult to imagine, how a performer would be able to play the chords so quickly, only by using numbers below the bass. Nevertheless, I myself don’t find it difficult to play any given chord on the piano and therefore assume that this type of notation just needs to be practiced.

Project 2- A Bach Sonata

For this project I was asked to listen to Bach’s Sonata for violin and harpsichord No. 4 in C minor.

Exercise 3.4

After having had a closer look at the accompaniment of the piano, I wrote a small piece for piano and violin myself, with the aim to include a few ornaments (written out). I had the following chords to work with:

G-minor, E-Major, Cm⁶, D which is the dominant leading back to G-minor.

I generally enjoyed working on this piece. One thing I found slightly difficult is to write out the ornaments for the violin in the right pace. I normally start with only writing the main notes and only do the details once I’ve got a good idea of how the piece sounds. This time though, I already included them whilst writing the piece. I mainly used the signs I learned more about in this chapter, listened to them and added the missing notes to the score. At the beginning and end I included a few accucciaturas, in the second bar two inverted turns, followed by a trill in the third bar.

For the piano part I tried to stick to Bach’s form of accompaniment as I was able to see it in his Violin Sonata No. 4. Apart from the very last bar I only used semiquaver notes for the right hand. I also tried to stick to the notes of the given chords, but made some alterations every now and then too keep it more interesting. For the left hand I kept it rather simple by only letting it play crotchet notes.

To come back to Bach’s piece: For the structure of the piece in the first movement Bach modulated from C minor to G-major (the dominant) and came back to the original key at the end again. This A-B-A’ structure like this is used quite often in this period. Nevertheless, I personally prefer it when composers don’t modulate to the dominant but to the minor or major relative. I’ve often used this structure as well to compose my pieces and find it very helpful as a “framework-plan” when I start writing.

Exercise 3.5

For this exercise, I had to listen to one of Bach’s Cantatas, BWV 140, with the title Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme , which’s most applicable translation that I found is “Wake up, cries the watchmen’s voice”. It is based on a song by Philipp Nicolai, was composed by Bach in Leipzig in the year 1731 and had its first performance on the 25^th of November in the same year. The piece is written for 3 soloists: Soprano, Tenor, Bass; a four-part chorus and includes the following instruments: 2 oboes, taille, horn, violin piccolo, strings and a continuo. Furthermore, the piece is separated into 7 parts, which have the following title, structure and arrangements: ^3,4

Chorus: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Wake up, cries the watchmen’s voice)

The first movement starts with an instrumental intro, where I noticed, that Bach especially focused on the dotted rhythm. The chorus’ melody is sung with very long notes by the soprano as Cantus Firmus, which is imitated by the other voices. The orchestra seems play rather independently from the chorus. One can also notice that the orchestral part includes deep-pitched oboes which reflect the night of the first movement really well.

The text can be translated to the following:

Awake, calls the voice to us
of the watchmen high up in the tower;
awake, you city of Jerusalem.
Midnight the hour is named;
they call to us with bright voices;
where are you, wise virgins?
Indeed, the Bridegroom comes;
rise up and take your lamps,
Alleluia!
Make yourselves ready
for the wedding,
you must go to meet Him.

Recitative (tenor): Er kommt, er kommt (He comes, he comes)

This recitative describes the arrival of the groom. It has a minor key, and only two male soloists (tenor and bass) as well as a soprano soloist are performing. The soloists are singing in a mixture of correlation and contrary movements with the orchestra. Especially distinctive is the violin, which sometimes imitates the soprano.

He comes, He comes,
the Bridegroom comes,
O Zion’s daughters, come out,
his course runs from the heights
into your mother’s house.
The Bridegroom comes, who like a roe
and young stag
leaps upon the hills;
to you He brings the wedding feast.³
Rise up, take heart,
to embrace the bridegroom;
there, look, He comes this way.

Duet Aria (soprano, bass): Wann kommst du, mein Heil? (When will you come, my Saviour?)

This movement starts with a warm intro by the orchestra, emphasising the solo violin, which can be heard throughout the whole piece, playing a constant, individual melody. The duet describes how the soul, represented by the soprano is waiting for the arrival of Jesus, represented by the bass.

When will You come, my Savior?
– I come, as Your portion. –
I wait with burning oil.
Now open the hall
– I open the hall –
for the heavenly meal.
Come, Jesus!
– I come, come, lovely soul! –

Chorale (tenor): Zion hört die Wächter singen (Zion hears the watchmen sing)

The theme the orchestra starts with, includes several grace notes played unison by the strings. For the fourth movement, the tenor takes the role of the Cantus Firmus.

Zion hears the watchmen sing,
her heart leaps for joy within her,
she wakens and hastily arises.
Her glorious Friend comes from heaven,
strong in mercy, powerful in truth,
her light becomes bright, her star rises.
Now come, precious crown,
Lord Jesus, the Son of God!
Hosannah!
We all follow
to the hall of joy
and hold the evening meal together.

Recitative (bass): So geh herein zu mir (So come to Me)

In this movement the strings are very dominant, playing alongside the recitative of the bass. Jesus calls the soul and promises her comfort.

So come in to Me,
you My chosen bride!
I have to you
eternally betrothed Myself.
I will set you upon My heart,
upon My arm as a seal,
and delight your troubled eye.
Forget, O soul, now
the fear, the pain
which you have had to suffer;
upon My left hand you shall rest,
and My right hand shall kiss you.

Duetto Aria (soprano, bass): Mein Freund ist mein (My friend is mine)

The fifth and sixth movement both describe the joy from both sides, which can be unmistakably heard by the playful sounding melody in form of melismatasand a joyful sounding theme for the oboe.

My Friend is mine,
– and I am yours, –
love will never part us.
I will with You
– you will with Me –
graze among heaven’s roses,
where complete pleasure and delight will be.

Chorale: Gloria sei dir gesungen (Let Gloria be sung to you)

Bach finishes the cantata with a four-voiced movement of the last stanza.

Let Gloria be sung to You
with mortal and angelic tongues,
with harps and even with cymbals.
Of twelve pearls the portals are made,
In Your city we are companions
Of the angels high around Your throne.
No eye has ever perceived,
no ear has ever heard
such joy
as our happiness,
Io, io,
eternally in dulci jubilo!

The chorale harmonisation of the piece can be divided into 9 short phrases, which will be described more detailed in the following paragraphs.

The numbers after the following three stanzas indicate which musical phrase is used for which line.

1 Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Awake, calls the voice to us)
2 Der Wächter sehr hoch auf der Zinne, (of the watchmen high up in the tower;)

3 Wach auf, du Stadt Jerusalem!                 (awake, you city of Jerusalem.)
1 Mitternacht heißt diese Stunde;               (Midnight the hour is named;)
2 Sie rufen uns mit hellem Munde:              (they call to us with bright voices;)
3 Wo seid ihr klugen Jungfrauen?                (where are you, wise virgins?)
4 Wohl auf, der Bräutgam kömmt;              (Indeed, the Bridegroom comes;)
5 Steht auf, die Lampen nehmt!                   (rise up and take your lamps,)

6 Alleluja!                                                          (Alleluia!)
7 Macht euch bereit                                        (Make yourselves ready)
8 Zu der Hochzeit,                                            (for the wedding,)
9 Ihr müsset ihm entgegen gehn!                 (you must go to meet Him)

1 Zion hört die Wächter singen,                      (Zion hears the watchmen sing,)
2 Das Herz tut ihr vor Freuden springen,       (her heart leaps for joy within her,)
3 Sie wachet und steht eilend auf.                  (she wakens and hastily arises.)
1 Ihr Freund kommt vom Himmel prächtig, (Her glorious Friend comes from heaven,)
2 Von Gnaden stark, von Wahrheit mächtig,(strong in mercy, powerful in truth,)
3 Ihr Licht wird hell, ihr Stern geht auf.          (her light becomes bright, her star rises. )
4 Nun komm, du werte Kron,                           (Now come, precious crown,)
5 Herr Jesu, Gottes Sohn!                                  (Lord Jesus, the Son of God!)
6 Hosianna!                                                          (Hosannah!)
7 Wir folgen all                                                     (We all follow)
8 Zum Freudensaal                                              (to the hall of joy)
9 Und halten mit das Abendmahl.                    (and hold the evening meal together)

1 Gloria sei dir gesungen                                    (Let Gloria be sung to You)
2 Mit Menschen- und englischen Zungen,      (with mortal and angelic tongues,)
3 Mit Harfen und mit Zimbeln schon.              (with harps and even with cymbals.)
1 Von zwölf Perlen sind die Pforten,                (Of twelve pearls the portals are made,)
2 An deiner Stadt sind wir Konsorten              (In Your city we are companions)
3 Der Engel hoch um deinen Thron.                 (Of the angels high around Your throne.)
4 Kein Aug hat je gespürt,                                  (No eye has ever perceived,)
5 Kein Ohr hat je gehört                                     (no ear has ever heard)
6 Solche Freude.                                                  (such joy)
7 Des sind wir froh,                                             (as our happiness,)
8 Io, io!                                                                  (Io,io !)
9 Ewig in dulci jubilo.                                          (eternally in dulci jubilo!)

1^st phrase:

For the first three phrases the slightly faster flowing bass seems to be responsible for most of the movement. All the other voices are moving mostly harmonically but much slower.
The alto always stays either an interval of a third or a fourth underneath the soprano, although rhythm wise it is slightly more independent; the tenor adapts to the alto’s rhythm. Furthermore, one can notice, that the first three notes from the bass echo the soprano voice.
The natural A towards the end of the phrase leads to the following Bb-chord (soprano Bb; alto F; tenor D and bass Bb).

2^nd phrase:

For cadence at the end of the phrase, Bach decided to not completely stick to the rules of finishing a cadence: Instead of moving up in the alto part from A to Bb, he lets the voice go down to F, whereas the soprano gets to sing the Bb above. With this, Bach also creates another Bb-chord
One can find two welcome sounding clashes of major seconds between the soprano and the alto: The first time whilst the soprano stays on a Bb and the alto move to an Ab and the second time when the soprano and alto play D and C at the same time.
Bach creates an interesting chord, with a passing note from the third beat of the fourth bar from this phrase.

3^rd phrase:

The soprano has a wide range within the first three phrases- from Eb’ to G’’
Also often to be found within the first three phrases are shared notes:
It is mentioned in my study folder, that sometimes “shared notes” occur, in this point I looked over the whole chorale to find the same notes, sung at the same time. I found several being an octave apart, but only three notes, which were exactly the same; one in bar 14, on the third beat, for tenor and bass (creating C-minor in a closed position) ; a second one in bar 24, on the third beat for tenor and bass; and a third one in bar 33 on the third beat for alto and tenor. Those and all the others are marked in the following score:

Apart from the note sharing, the voices are well spread out and don’t cross.

4^th phrase:

The tenor takes over the crotched movement from the bass, imitating the previous bass part from bar 12 (3^rd phrase)
The phrase closes with an interrupted cadence from V(Bb) to VI (Cm)

5^th phrase:

The soprano melody repeats the previous phrase but the end chord is Eb major ( I ) this time.
All the other voices move slightly differently than I phrase 4.

6^th phrase:

The bass line imitated the descending movement from phrases 5 and 4 with the same notes (an octave lower) but a different rhythm. (marked in yellow)
Even though many phrases are imitating one another throughout all the phrases, the individual parts are still independent enough to keep the piece entertaining.

7^th phrase:

Bach modulates to C major by including a drop of the bass from Eb to a natural A. (marked in yellow)
The chord of C-minor can generally be spottet quite often throughout the second half of the harmonisation, which may be caused by the notes thes chord Bb (key chord) and Cm share: Eb

8^th phrase:

-(same as phrase 7)

9^th phrase:

The melody from phrase 3 is repeated, with a different harmonisation
The phrase finishes with the tonic-chord Eb.

Exercise 3.6. Bach chorale harmonisation

I was given an extract from Bach’S chorale harmonisation “Nun danket alle Gott (Now Thank We All our God, which’s harmonisation I should finish.

Having worked with the figured bass before, I didn’t find it difficult to work through this exercise. I initially had a look at the bass and tried to build it up in a similar way as Bach had done it, by mainly using quavers, which often function as leading notes between the given chords. Apart from finding the fitting chords, I also tried to include rhythmical features, such as the dotted quaver followed by the semi-quaver note. I furthermore tried to avoid big intervals between the notes, two exceptions make the bass in bar 2 and the tenor in bar 4, both dropping down a 5^th.

¹Kennedy, M; Kennedy, J and Rutherford-Johnson, T. (2013). Basso Continuo. In: Oxford-Dictionary of Music, 6^th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p.61.

² Brough, J. (2008) Dixit Dominus- the Text. [Blog]. Podium Speak. Available at: http://podiumspeak.blogspot.com/2008/01/dixit-dominus-text.html [Accessed: 03.08.2019]

³ Bach Cantatas Website. (2019). Cantata BWV 140-Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme. [online]. Available at: https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV140.htm [Accessed: 03.08.2019]

⁴ IMSLP- Petrucci Music Library. Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140 (Bach, Johann Sebastian) [online] Available at: https://imslp.org/wiki/Wachet_auf,_ruft_uns_die_Stimme,_BWV_140_(Bach,_Johann_Sebastian) [Accessed 03.08.2019]

Research point 3.0 – Instrumental Tuning

One of the most successful tuning system was the “meantone tuning”, developed at the end of the 15^th century. It focussed on the consonance of major thirds. In the time of the renaissance, each tuner had his own version of tuning, but the most used form was the “quarter-comma meantone”. The perfect fifth is flattened by one quarter of a “syntonic comma” (ratio 81:80). Within a small range this type of tuning sounded pure, even though the fifths were slightly too small. ^{1, 2}^,³

Even though, the meantone tuning lasted up to the beginning of the 18^th century, Andreas Werckmeister (1645-1706) developed another tuning system, the equal temperament, which was used throughout the Baroque-era and the following centuries. Werckmeister divided the octave in 12 “equal” intervals, which causes all of them to be slightly incorrect, but only by a small amount. Therefore, musicians were able to play in all 24 major and minor keys equally. ^{4, 5, 6, 7}

The equal temperament has been used in western music up to this century. Nevertheless, around the world instruments were still tuned differently. In order to solve this problem, scientists of the 19^th century agreed in 1859, that the A above the middle C should be 435 Hz, this frequency was officially changed again by the International Organization for Standardization in 1939 to 440 Hz. ^8,9

One still has to consider, that this kind of tuning system and frequency only applies to the western world. The non-standard tuning of folk music (Celtic music, Balkan music, Jewish music, etc.) often has a much more abstract system, including narrow thirds, quarter notes and more. (A quarter tone can be described as a microtone, with an interval half the size of a semi-tone). Especially quarter tones can be found often in the “Middle East”. The music involving quarter notes is often considered to sound exotic or even “out of tune”. ¹⁰

Nevertheless, the use of quarter tones in Western music has increase over the past 80 years, even though most musicians are still unfamiliar with the sound of it. One of several musicians who worked with quarter-tonal music was the Czech composer Alois Haba (1893- 1973). Of course, this technique couldn’t be applied for every instrument, most of the pieces are written for string instruments. A further problem was the notation of the microtones, which was solved by applying special accidentals to the normal stave ¹¹:

Research point 3.1 – Baroque Ornamentation

Throughout the history of notation, several standardized patterns were developed, which were stopped to be written out and replaced by symbols called “ornaments” (in other subjects they’re also known as decorations.). Since the usage of ornaments started in the 16^th century, there has been a high variety of symbols was used, all different depending on the period, place and composer. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) wasn’t the only one who wrote a list of ornaments with descriptions on how they have to be played, but even those lists didn’t always cover every symbol, and they didn’t necessarily apply for other regions or slightly different times.¹²

The following list will present some of the most well-known ornaments used throughout history.

Acciaccaturas:

This ornament (can contain one or more notes) is crossed through with a diagonal line, usually bound to a following “normal” note by a slur. Theoretically, the acciaccatura is timeless and has to be played as quickly as possible.

Appoggiaturas

Are similar to Acciaccaturas, those are played much slower than the previous ones, depending on the following note (normally as half the size of it, but it’s usually performed individually.

Arpeggios:

Arpeggios look like vertical waves, normally placed in front of chords. They are normally played from the lowest to the highest note. In some rare occasions, the composer puts an arrow pointing down on the wave, indicating, that it has to be played the other way round. ¹³

Written:

Played:

Mordents:

A mordent placed above a note indicates, that this note has to be played with a fast alteration either with the following note or the previous one from the scale.

Trills:

Normally, thrills are indicated by a “tr”, followed by a wavy horizontal line. The note, with the thrill on top is meant to be altered with the note above it.¹⁶

Turns:

The symbol for a turn looks similar to a horizontal 8. It is placed either on top of a note or in between two and performed like in the illustration below. The rhythmical interpretation of turns seems to be always different, mostly dependent on the performer.

In the late 18^th century the use of ornaments decreased, composers preferred to write their music out fully. Only a few symbols (acciaccaturas, thrills, arpeggios), which were developed in the 16^th century are still in use today. ¹⁸

Research point 3.2 Vivaldi Recomposed

One of Antonio Vivaldi’s* (1678-1741) most famous pieces is the “Four seasons”, which are four violin concertos, each representing one season. The British composer Max Richter** (born 1966) “recomposed” the piece in 2011.

Even though I am familiar with those concertos, I wasn’t able to identify all themes of Richter’s version. It starts with the famous intro of the spring, which is hidden within a cacophony of strings. With some soothing harmonies underlying it, the violins play in a canonical form. The shifts between the movements are more sudden.

The harmonies for “the summer” are almost the same as in the original. The second movement has a spatial, warm character, the melody is underlined by constant dotted notes. I enjoyed the last movement, Richter managed to keep Vivaldi’s style well, whilst putting in his own adjustments.

From the third season, autumn, I enjoyed listening to the slow, dramatic part at the end of the first movement, as well as the beginning of the second. The third movement is similar to the first movement of the spring, with long deep notes underlining a repetitive melody.

I preferred Vivaldi’s version of the first movement of the winter, which I see as my personal favourite movement. Richter created shriller sounds, which may represent the character of the winter slightly better, but I found it unpleasant to listen to. The second and third movement were more atmospheric.

Overall I would say that Richter’s version is probably more adapted to the modern ear. Nevertheless, apart from a few occasions I personally definitely prefer Vivaldi’s version.

Further information to Vivaldi’s original version can be found in my listening log.

*Antonio Lucio Vivaldi, born in Venice 1678, was an Italian composer and violinist. He was taught music by his father, who also played the violin. Some of the first works he published were his trio sonatas op. 1 in 1705. “The four seasons” were published in 1725. Vivaldi died in Vienna, 1741. ¹⁹

**Max Richter is a German born, British composer writing mainly contemporary classical and alternative pop-music. He has a classical music (composition) degree and also writes music for sage, opera, ballet and screen.²⁰

¹Knapp, W and Peschl, W, (2005). Wege zur Musik – Oberstufe Band 1. Esslingen: Helbling, pp. 46.47.

²Wang, E. J. (2011). Mistuning the World: A Cultural History of Tuning and Temperament in the Seventeenth Century. 1^stedition. [ebook]. California: UMI. pp: 60-61. Available at: https://search-proquest-com.ucreative.idm.oclc.org/docview/919079524?accountid=14178&pq-origsite=summon [Accessed 13.09.2019]

³ Halewood, M. (2015). On equal temperament: Tuning, modernity and compromise. History of Human Sciences [online] Volume 28, Issue 3, pp 3-21. Available at: https://journals-sagepub-com.ucreative.idm.oclc.org/doi/epub/10.1177/0952695114567480 [Accessed 13.09.2019]

⁴Knapp, W and Peschl, W, (2005). Wege zur Musik – Oberstufe Band 1. Esslingen: Helbling, pp. 46.47.

⁵ Halewood, M. (2015) On equal temperament: Tuning, modernity and compromise. History of Human Sciences [online] Volume 28, Issue 2 pp. 3-21. Available at: https://journals-sagepub-com.ucreative.idm.oclc.org/doi/epub/10.1177/0952695114567480 [Accessed 14.09.2019]

⁶Wang, E. J. (2011). Mistuning the World: A Cultural History of Tuning and Temperament in the Seventeenth Century. 1^stedition. [ebook]. California: UMI. pp: 69-70. Available at: https://search-proquest-com.ucreative.idm.oclc.org/docview/919079524?accountid=14178&pq-origsite=summon [Accessed 13.09.2019]

⁷ Lindely M, and Ortgies I, (2006). Bach-Style Keyboard Tuning. Early Musis. [online] Vol. 34, No. 4, pp 613-623. Available at: https://www-jstor-org.ucreative.idm.oclc.org/stable/4137309?pq-origsite=summon&seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents [Accessed: 14.09.2019]

⁸Wang, E. J. (2011). Mistuning the World: A Cultural History of Tuning and Temperament in the Seventeenth Century. 1^stedition. [ebook]. California: UMI. pp: 55-60. Available at: https://search-proquest-com.ucreative.idm.oclc.org/docview/919079524?accountid=14178&pq-origsite=summon [Accessed 13.09.2019]

⁹Swenson, E. (2006). The History of Musical Pitch in Tuning the Pianoforte. The Horn Call- Journal of the International Horn Society. [online]. Vol. 36, Iss 3, pp. 43-47. Available at: https://search-proquest-com.ucreative.idm.oclc.org/docview/1227177?pq-origsite=summon [Accessed 15.09.2019]

¹⁰Wang, E. J. (2011). Mistuning the World: A Cultural History of Tuning and Temperament in the Seventeenth Century. 1^st edition. [ebook]. California: UMI. pp: 55-60. Available at: https://search-proquest-com.ucreative.idm.oclc.org/docview/919079524?accountid=14178&pq-origsite=summon [Accessed 13.09.2019]

¹¹Jn, Y. (2015). A Study of Quarter-Tone Music for Solo Violin by Alois Haba. 1^st ed. [pdf]. Cincinnati: ProQuest. Available at: https://search-proquest-com.ucreative.idm.oclc.org/docview/1729520338?pq-origsite=summon&accountid=14178 [Accessed 25.09.2019]

¹² Taylor, E. (1989) The AB Guide to Music Theory-Part 1. 24^th ed. ABRSM, pp. 87-97

¹³Taylor, E. (1989) The AB Guide to Music Theory-Part 1. 24^th ed. ABRSM, pp. 87-97

¹⁴8notes [image] Avalable at: https://www.8notes.com/glossary/acciaccatura.asp [Accessed 27.09.2019]

¹⁵piano-playit(2019), [image], Available at: http://www.piano-play-it.com/appoggiatura.html [Accessed 27.09.2019]

¹⁶Taylor, E. (1989) The AB Guide to Music Theory-Part 1. 24^th ed. ABRSM, pp. 87-97

¹⁷notation. [image]. Available at: https://www.notation.com/ComposerDocs26/DiscardIndex.html?editing_arpeggios.htm[Accessed 27.09.2019]

¹⁸ Taylor, E. (1989) The AB Guide to Music Theory-Part 1. 24^th ed. ABRSM, pp. 87-97

¹⁹ Thompson, W. (2001). The Great Composers- An illustrated guide to the lives, key works and influences of over 100 renowned composers. London: Joanna Lorenz, p. 52

²⁰ Deutsche Grammophon (2018). Max Richter-Biography. [online]. Available at: https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/gb/artist/richter/biography [Accessed: 10.10.2019]

Listening Log

Piece: Water music in F (Suite in F major HWV 348)

Composer: Georg Friedrich Händel
Instruments: piccolo, flute, 2 oboes, bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, strings, continuo (harpsichord)
Date of composition: 1717
Date of first performance:1717
Performed by: The English concert
Listened to: 05.08.2019 ¹

Water music in F is a suite put together by 11 short pieces for the orchestra. Generally, the whole piece has a calming, relaxing character, which suits its name well. One thing that especially caught my attention, was the rapid switching of contrasting themes. Also notably were the jumps of fifths, which I found is an often used motif, that several composers used throughout the Baroque era. I personally enjoyed the way in which Händel used the instruments, especially his usage of the oboe as a solo instrument sometimes, which created a more “mysterious” atmosphere. The only part of the suite I wasn’t too pleased with, was the 8^th, which I found was rather monotonous.

¹Water Music, HWV 348-350 (Handel, Georg Frideric), 2019, IMSLP: Petrucci Music Library. Available at: https://imslp.org/wiki/Water_Music,_HWV_348-350_(Handel,_George_Frideric) [Accessed: 05.08.2019]

Piece: Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 In F major, BWV 1046

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Instruments: 3 oboes, bassoon, 2 horns, violino piccolo, strings, conitinuo
Date of composition: 1721
Performed by: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Listened to: 05.08.2019 ²

The emotional colours are incredibly contrasting whenever a movement changes: The first movement is dramatic, but also has a high pitched melody and is played rapidly, whereas the second movement is slow and has a sad character. In comparison to the “water music in F” (above), the whole piece is brisker and wilder. The third movement seems to be built up like a fugue in parts, which can be especially noticed at the beginning. Towards the end of the movement one can notice some further imitation of already presented themes. The fourth and last movement is also the longest one, Bach include several general rests, which made me initially think, that he wrote more than 4 movements. The themes played in this movement were once again incredibly contrasting and were probably written to remind the listener of the previous movements. I personally enjoyed listening to it, even though I found it was one of the pieces, which one automatically starts to analyse, I therefore probably would only listen to it again, if I had to make further studies about it (or when I’m sitting in a concert hall)

²Brandenburg Concerto No.1 in F major, BWV 1046 (Bach, Johann Sebastian), 2019, IMSLP: Petrucci Music Library Available at: https://imslp.org/wiki/Brandenburg_Concerto_No.1_in_F_major,_BWV_1046_(Bach,_Johann_Sebastian) [Accessed: 05.08.2019]

Piece: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BVW 1047

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Instruments: recorder (or flute, depending on interpretation), oboe, trumpet, violin, strings, continuo
Date of composition: 7121
Performed by: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Listened to: 06.08.2019³

The first movement has a very cheery, uplifting character. Although, I personally found the tune slightly too penetrant after a while, I therefore enjoyed the parts again where the melody came to a rest for a few bars and deeper, warmer sounds could be heard. Even though I enjoyed the slow movement of the second movement, I found the shrill sound of the recorder unsettling. Similar to the first concerto, the third movement (which is also the last one) involves several imitational movements. I personally would have enjoyed the piece more, if Bach had used a concert flute instead of a recorder.

³Brandenburg Concerto No.2 in F major, BWV 1046 (Bach, Johann Sebastian), 2019, IMSLP: Petrucci Music Library. Available at: https://imslp.org/wiki/Brandenburg_Concerto_No.2_in_F_major,_BWV_1047_(Bach,_Johann_Sebastian)  [Accessed: 06.08.2019]

Piece: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Instruments: 3 violins, 3 violas, 3 cellos, continuo (violone and harpsichord)
Date of composition: 1718
Performed by: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Listened to: 06.08.2019⁴

The intro for this concerto had a style, which reminded me more of Vivaldi rather than Bach. (Even though they both belong to the Baroque-era). Some parts of the first movement were incredibly penetrant, unsettled. Normally I find it easier to listen to and analyse homophonic pieces, seeing that there’s only one melody to follow. Nevertheless, in the case of this piece the second movement was much more relaxing, even though it was polyphonic. This effect was established by the huge contrast it made to the first. The third movement was similar to the first one again, even though it had a slightly more cheerful and vivid sounding character. From the 4 Brandenburg Concertos I’ve listened to, this one was my least favourite one, I found it too unsettling.

⁴Brandenburg Concerto No.3 in G major, BWV 1048 (Bach, Johann Sebastian), 2019, IMSLP: Petrucci Music Library. Available at: https://imslp.org/wiki/Brandenburg_Concerto_No.3_in_G_major,_BWV_1048_(Bach,_Johann_Sebastian) [Accessed: 06.08.2019]

Piece: Brandenburg Concerto No.4 in G major, BWV 1049

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Instruments: 2 recorders (solo), violin (solo), 2 violins, viola, cello, violone, concerto
Date of composition: 1719-1720
Performed by: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Listened to: 07.08.2019⁵

Similar to the second concerto I personally didn’t enjoy the sound of the recorders. The tune of the first movement sounded quite medieval to me, which was caused by the recorders as well. For the second movement Bach often used Echo-motifs, from the four concertos above, this was the movement I enjoyed most due to its dramatic but beautiful character. The strings give an intro for the third movement, which, at least at the beginning, has the structure of a fugue.

⁵Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major, BWV 1049 (Bach, Johann, Sebastian), 2019, IMSLP: Petrucci Music Library. Available at: https://imslp.org/wiki/Brandenburg_Concerto_No.4_in_G_major,_BWV_1049_(Bach,_Johann_Sebastian) [Accessed: 07.08.2019]

Piece: Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Instruments: Cello
Date of composition: 1717-1723
Performed by: Yo-Yo Ma
Listened to: 07.08.2019⁶

The first part “Prelüde”, is one of the most well-known pieces from Bach, which are still often used today on different types of media. It includes a clear, soft melody, interrupted by deep bass notes, which always create the underlying “chord” for the following short melody phrase. All the following parts are adapted to the style of the first introduced theme.

All in all, I personally have always found this piece enjoyable and am especially surprised, that Bach managed to give it such a full, vivid sound, even though only one instrument was used. Furthermore, I found it interesting, that the piece stays entertaining throughout all the six parts, even though they all work with the same motif.

⁶Cello Suite No.1 in G major, BWV 1007 (Bach, Johann Sebastian), 2019, IMSLP: Petrucci Music Library. Available at: https://imslp.org/wiki/Cello_Suite_No.1_in_G_major%2C_BWV_1007_(Bach%2C_Johann_Sebastian) [Accessed; 07.08.2019]

Piece: Cello Suite No. 5 in C-minor, BWV 1001

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Instruments: Cello
Date of composition: 1717-1723
Performed by: Yo-Yo Ma
Listened to: 08.08.2019⁷

Even though I chose particularly this piece, because I prefer minor to major keys, I didn’t find the first part too interesting. There are two different melodies played, one high and one low pitched, which are alternating. A proper structure can only be recognised after a several bars. In the second half of the first part the pace increases. The alteration of high and low pitched melodies can be heard again, either played as an imitative form, in a contrary way, or as two different question-answer-motifs. For the second part, a slower, more dramatic motif is introduced, which always starts with a deep note, followed by the octave, which is then continued with a new melody line. The third part is quite stormy and aggressive, but similar to the first one. The fourth part, on the other hand, is slower again, but stays rather monotonous throughout, I didn’t particularly enjoy listening to it. For the second last part Bach used quite a few double stops, which creates an interesting effect and makes the whole piece sound more vivid. The sixith part consists mainly of staccato notes, which makes the melody sound “jumpy”.

It seems to me as if Bach tried to use different musical textures for all the parts. He nevertheless managed to hold them all together by repeating melodies, which have been heard before. In comparison to Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G major (above), this suite sounded rather empty to me, apart from the double stops in the fifth part. It is obviously difficult to write a melody for a string instrument, but I would have expected it to be similar to the suite above.

⁷Cello Suite No.5 in C minor, BWV 1011 (Bach, Johann Sebastian). 2019, IMSLP: Petrucci Music Library. Available at: https://imslp.org/wiki/Cello_Suite_No.5_in_C_minor%2C_BWV_1011_(Bach%2C_Johann_Sebastian) [Accessed: 08.08.2019]

Piece: Matthew Passion

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Instruments/Voices: double orchestra: 1) 2 flutes, 2 oboes, oboe d’amore, oboe da caccia, strings, continuo. 2) 2 flutes, 2 oboes, oboe d’amore, oboe da caccia, vilola da gamba, strings, continuo. Soloists: SSATB. Double chorus: SATB + SATB
Date of composition: 1736, revised 1742, 1743-1746
Date of first performance: 1736
Performed by: Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Chicago Symphony Chorus.
Listened to: 08.08.2019⁸

The tale is about the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. Seeing that the duration of this piece is almost three hours, I found it difficult to focus on it towards the end. Every soloist had a different role to play: the evangelist -tenor; Jesus- bass; two maids and wife of Pilatus- sopranos; two witnesses-alto and tenor; Simon Petrus, Judas Ischariot, pontiff, two priests, Pilatus – basses.⁹ Due to the amount of text being involved, Bach included many recitatives for then male voices and arias for the female voices. In terms of the sound, I definitely enjoyed the choral parts more than the solo-parts. The orchestra played a supporting role throughout the whole piece, was kept really quiet, when the text came to great importance, but also managed to create the right mood for more tense or inspirational moments. Even though the choral parts were, as already mentioned, more enjoyable, the text from the soloists was much easier to understand. I hadn’t informed myself beforehand about the piece and it took me a while to realize, that there were different roles. I am astonished by the detail Bach put into this piece and have to say I overall enjoyed listening to it.

⁸Matthäuspassion, BWV 244 (Bach, Johann Sebastian). 2019, IMSLP: Petrucci Music Library. Available at: https://imslp.org/wiki/Matth%C3%A4uspassion%2C_BWV_244_(Bach%2C_Johann_Sebastian) [Accessed: 08.08.2019]

⁹Toll, W. Johann Sebastian Bach-Matthäus Passion [pdf]. Frankfurt: Frankfurter Kantorei. [online]. Available at: http://www.frankfurterkantorei.de/programmhefte/matthaeuspassion.pdf [Accessed: 08.08.2019]

Piece: Le Quattro stagioni (The four seasons)

Composer: Antonio Vivaldi
Instruments: Solo: violin; orchestra: strings, continuo
Date of composition: 1716-1717
Date of first performance: 1723
Performed by: The English Concert
Listened to: 09.08.2019¹⁰

Spring:

The spring starts off with a bright theme played by all the stings, this bright, lively mood is kept almost the same for the rest of the piece. Even though Vivaldi introduces several different themes, the first one comes up several times throughout the piece to remind the listener about this initial mood. For example, one very excited character, which could represent plants growing. Followed by a more “stormy” part, to which’s centre one is able to hear the first theme again, but modulated into minor.

Summer:

The first movement from the summer surprised me with its slightly sad and longing character, as I would have expected it to be cheerier, seeing that the summer is the warmest time of the year. The second movement reminded me of a slow march with a high pitched lovely melody. This melody is sometimes interrupted by short deep notes, which I interpreted as thunder of a summers’ thunderstorm. The last movement has become one of my favourites with its dramatic character, which reflects the whole storm that started to build up in the previous movement.

Autumn:

This part, which I would have expected to start stormier, similar to the end of the summer, surprised me again with a cheery tune. Nearly at the end of the movement a completely new, much slower theme starts, which I initially considered as the second movement already. The beginning of the second movement is very dramatic and in my opinion much more suitable for the stormy weather. All the different sounds seem to be blurry, woven into one another. One sound which can be heard more clearly are the up and down moving arpeggios by the continuo. The third movement starts with a happier melody again.

Winter:

From all the four seasons the first movement of “winter”, is my personal favourite. For the soloist it is probably also one of the most challenging movements to play, due to really rapidly played phrases. The quietly starting intro slowly builds up towards a climax which has a very vivid and strong theme. The beginning of the theme as well as the climax could be interpreted as snowdrops which are starting to fall slowly, and then end up as the beginning of a dangerous snow-storm.

Vivaldi’s four seasons is probably one of his most famous pieces. I was lucky to be able to listen to the concert a few years ago. It was one of several baroque/classical music concerts, which I enjoyed throughout. Even though, I was surprised by some dark/bright moods Vivaldi has chosen (especially for the beginnings of summer and autumn), I personally think that Vivaldi managed it incredibly well to put the different colours and changes of a year into music.

¹⁰Le quattro stagioni (Vivaldi, Antonio) 2019, IMSLP: Petrucci Music Library. Available at: https://imslp.org/wiki/Le_quattro_stagioni_(Vivaldi%2C_Antonio) [Accessed: 09.08.2019]

Piece: Cantate, ariette, e duetti, Op.2

Composer: Barbara Strozzi
Date of first publication: 1651
Performed by: Catherine Bott, Janet Youngdahl, Cecilia’s Cicle
Listened to: 10.10.2019¹¹

Unfortunately, I was unable to find much about the background of the piece, which may be caused by the fact, that Barbara Strozzi is barely known. This is probably due to the fact, that it was highly unusual for a woman to produce music around that time.

I was glad to get to know this piece, even though I wouldn’t count it as one of my favourites. It is written for one voice, female, and one accompanying instrument. The character is very slow and dramatic. The text is Italian. One thing, which absolutely surprised me, only occurred at the end: Instead of finishing with a perfect cadence (V-I), which was the usual way to end a western piece in the Baroque era, Strozzi left the last chord unfinished. Even though I personally didn’t enjoy the piece hugely (due to it being rather monotonous), I found this very last chord created an unexpected change.

¹¹Cantate, ariette, e duetti, Op.2 (Strozzi, Barbara). 2019, IMSLP: Petrucci Music Library. Available at: https://imslp.org/wiki/Cantate%2C_ariette%2C_e_duetti%2C_Op.2_(Strozzi%2C_Barbara) [Accessed: 10.10.2019]

Piece: Concerto grosso in G minor ‘Fatto per la Notte di Natale’, Op.6, No.8

Composer: Arcangelo Corelli
Instruments: 2 violins, cello, strings, continuo
Date of composition: ~ 1690
Performed by: The English Concert, Trevor Pinnock
Listened to: 10.10.2019¹²

This concerto is divided into 5 movements. The first one introduces a very dramatic and sad motif, which I really enjoyed listening too. The major ending may already be an indication to the cheery, fast paced second movement. This also includes really high, acute, overlapping notes from the violins, which make the piece sound quite hectically. As I expected it, the character of the third part is similar to the first, incredibly lyrical. The fourth movement seemed surprisingly diversified to me; The key alters between major and minor and Corelli worked with echo-motifs. Unlike the other shifts from one movement to the next one, the transition from the fourth to the fifth movement is barely noticeable. The last movement comes back to the character of the first two parts and alters between a soft, longing melody, which alters between high, shrill and warm, deep sounds.

I enjoyed the high variety of sound-colour Corelli put into this piece, as well as the contrary motifs he worked with. Nevertheless, it wouldn’t be a piece I would be able to relax to.

¹²Concerto grosso in G minor ‘Fatto per la Notte di Natale’, Op.6 No.8 (Corelli, Arcangelo) .2019, IMSLP: Petrucci Music Library. Available at: https://imslp.org/wiki/Concerto_grosso_in_G_minor_’Fatto_per_la_Notte_di_Natale’%2C_Op.6_No.8_(Corelli%2C_Arcangelo) [Accessed: 10.10.2019]

Piece: Flute Concerto in A minor, QV 5:236

Composer: Johann Joachim Quantz
Instruments: flute, strings, continuo
Performed by: Mary Oleskiewics
Listened to: 11.10.2019¹³

The first movement has an unusually long introduction before the solo instrument (flute) starts playing. From the entry of the flute, the orchestra seems to play with it in a supporting way. The melody moves up and down in waves and becomes more and more hectically towards the end. The theme of the second movement creates a huge contrast to the first. After another introduction by the strings, the flute starts playing a calm, slow melody. Instead of supporting the melody of the flute, the strings seem to come to a conversation with it, working in a more contrary way. The third movement is faster again. After another intro by the strings, the flute imitates the melody from the intro. The repeated motif occurs again towards the end of the piece, even though, this time the flute starts and the strings imitate it.

I personally am not in favour of the sound of flutes, but was positively surprised by this piece. I especially enjoyed listening to the first movement.

¹³Flute Concerto in A minor, QV 5:236 (Quantz, Johann Joachim). 2019, IMSLP: Petrucci Music Library. Available at: https://imslp.org/wiki/Flute_Concerto_in_A_minor%2C_QV_5:236_(Quantz%2C_Johann_Joachim) [Accsessed: 11.10.2019]