Music
This week our discussion will be an analogy using the three basic musical structures (monophony, homophony, polyphony) as found in Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” from the Messiah [CD #1, track 11]. It is important to listen to this piece to better understand and define these 3 elemental structures and to do this comparison and analogy; so be sure to read about them in the lectures this week and listen to the music using the listening notes. Then answer the following:
In defining the 3 structural forms of monophony, homophony and polyphony; make an analogy about their structures. Listen to how Handel uses these forms to heighten the impact of the words. Then answer:
“What non-musical forms or structures found in nature or man-made are analogous to ‘monophony’ (unison), ‘homophony’ (chordal or vertical movement), and ‘polyphony’ (independent, layered or horizontal movement). [You can try to do one that combines all three or three different things that defines each texture.]
Guide to the Orchestra
LISTENING NOTES
The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
Op. 34 (1946)
by Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten composed a work specifically to introduce the instrumental families of the orchestra. Despite its title, the work is not childlike. It is a twentieth-century composition based on a theme written by Henry Purcell nearly two hundred years earlier. Listen to it as many times as you need to learn the sounds of each instrument and section.
The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra introduces two of the forms discussed above: theme and variation and fugue. The two structures used in this work, theme and variationsand fugue, offer an exciting introduction to the orchestra. The theme is played, in turn, by each family in the orchestra.
00.00 The work begins with a unison statement of the theme by the entire orchestra. Notice the percussion instruments, especially the xylophone.
00:41 First, the woodwinds state the theme.
01:11 Next the brass (the lower brass instruments enter first).
01:42 The strings take their turn.
02:07 The last section is the percussion. Notice that the timpani are tuned to the first three notes of the theme.
02:25 The theme is stated a fifth time by the entire orchestra.
02:50 The variations follow, featuring sections and solo instruments. See if you can identify each instrument with every new variation. Notice the many colors available in the percussion section.
03:00 Variation 1 – flutes and piccolo play a very active melody, while the harp supplies low notes.
03:27 Variation 2 – oboes play a slower melodic line, strings accompany.
04:32 Variation 3 – clarinets play a melody built on arpeggios. Bass notes come from the tuba, creating a march-like texture.
05:15 Variation 4 – bassoons enter with aggressive chords supplied by the string section.
06:12 Variation 5 – violins. Brass accompany. This variation ends with the violins plucking the strings (pizzicato).
06:57 Variation 6 – violas play a slower melody. Bassoons help feed the texture.
07:45 Variation 7 – cellos, soft clarinet, and harp accompaniment.
08:43 Variation 8 – string basses. Shaker bells and woodwinds accompany.
09:41 Variation 9 – harp, while strings repeatedly bow the same note, creating an intense but soft accompaniment.
10:31 Variation 10 – French horns enter in chords, echoed by the orchestra. They separate melodically in a brief overlapping idea.
11:13 Variation 11 – trumpet, as snare drum plays a rhythm that gives the theme a galloping sound.
11:47 Variation 12 – trombones and tuba play a slow, rich melody. Bassoons end the variation.
12:48 Variation 13 – percussion instruments conclude the section of variations.
13:17 Tambourine, triangle, snare drum. Chinese block.
13:38 Xylophone.
13:50 Castanets and gong.
14:03 Whip.
14:08 The entire percussion section. The fugue follows; each instrument enters again, this time playing the subject. (See Lesson Three) The instruments appear in the same order as heard in the variations.
14:44 The subject of the fugue is first stated by the piccolo.
14:49 Next by the flutes, overlapping the piccolo.
14:55 The oboes.
15:03 The clarinets.
15:12 The bassoons. The texture thickens, as all the woodwinds continue to play.
15:23 The first violins enter and are followed immediately by the second violins.
15:30 The violas enter and are soon followed by the cellos, and finally the string basses.
15:51 The harp plays the subject.
16:02 The French horns are the first brass instruments to state the subject of the fugue.
16:08 The trumpets are next.
16:16 The low brass. First the trombones, then the tuba.
16:22 The percussion section makes the last statement of the subject. Following the percussion section, the theme by Purcell is played by the entire orchestra, climaxed by the return of the percussion.
16:31 The theme is played slowly by the brass section, while the strings and woodwinds continue to spin out material from the fugue subject.
17:02 The percussion instruments enter forcefully.
17:15 A final chord ends the work.
17:20 End.
On subsequent listenings notice the various combinations of the instruments and how they interact to build interesting textures.