It opens with a rising sequence. It is based on four or eight bar phrases. Harmony and tonality. The piece is in Db major however through an enharmonic modulation it changes to C# minor in part B. The harmony is diatonic with occasional chromatism.
The ‘Raindrop Prelude’ is one in a collection of 24 by Chopin. Pedal A pedal, or pedal note is a long, unchanging or constantly repeated note. A dominant pedal is on the 5th note [dominant] of the key. A tonic pedal uses the 1st note [tonic] of the key. Structure The structure is in ternary form [ABA} with a shortened final section that ends with a codetta.
Using a AABBCC rhyme scheme creates a musical theme at a slow pace reflecting his thoughts to happiness. Also the simple rhyme scheme can express the simplicity of his childhood. In addition to the structure, the poet constantly refers to the narrators present and then his past. The first two lines of each stanza are written in 1st person, representing his present life in adulthood. Then the last two lines of is written in 3rd person, “a child”.
The piece contained four movements, Allegro non Troppo, Allegro Appassionato, Andante, and Allegretto Grazioso. The fourth movement, Allegretto Grazioso, is developed into five main episodes, in the rondo form ABABA. Compared to the rest of the piece, this movement is a happy, carefree rondo sonata in B-Flat major. In the beginning, there is a sense of lightness that is achieved by the harmony centering around the Eb, which is the subdominant of B-flat. The first A sections, bars 1 to 64, and presents the first two themes.
In the sonata form, how can we determine the principle subject? The principle subject consists of a simple melody with a string bass being echoed from the wind 3. How is the melody of the second subject different from the first? The first melody opens quietly with lyrical cello theme on piano which then changes into a series of elaborate transformations. The second movement has a melancholy theme on the piano separated by fast happy interludes.
The six songs of the cycle flow into each other, the tonal structure is very clear, and the poetic structure is also clear. The theme of the first song is re-exposed in the last song. The individual songs share some thematic relationships and are linked the piano accompaniment, which delivers a sort of connecting interlude between songs, and he excludes the option of performing just one song or a selection from the entire work. The cycle of poems have been written by Alois Jeitteles, a medical student and not a very high quality poet. Beethoven has asked him to write the poem, and the last line of the first song that is repeated in the sixth song has been added by Beethoven to create the opportunity for a re-exposure of the theme of the first song.
1750 – 1820. Music from these two periods has different characteristics and can be identified easily. With the Baroque style, the melody, the rhythm and the mood of a piece of music stays relatively constant throughout. Also, distinctive is the use of the harpsichord that is predominately used during the Baroque period. The harpsichord was phased out and replaced with the invention of the piano during the Classical period.
Theme two starts at about 55 seconds and takes us off with a happy, major, melodic feeling that ends around 1:30. In traditional sonata form, the first two themes are usually repeated. As you can tell, that is exactly what Beethoven did. Soon after the repeat of the first two themes, we move into the development at around the 3:00 mark. In the beginning of the development, it gives you a hint of the first theme, and moves into a more minor sound at around 3:18, taking us off into a random dark sounding harmonic tangent.
The initial melody idea in the development is the dotted quaver-semiquaver motif taken from bar 14-15 of the exposition section. In bars 112-113 there are diminished 7th chords taken from the 2nd subject of the exposition (bar65-66), these diminished 7ths lead us into D major (bar 114). In bar 116-117 diminished 7ths are used again to take us to G major for bars 118. Diminished 7th chords used again in bar 120-121 which takes us to the key of C minor for bars 122-125. The rapid modulation continues throughout the 1st section still going round the cycle of 5ths moving to F minor (bar 126-129), Bb major (bar 130-131), Eb major (bar 132-133), then Eb minor (134-135) and finally resolves onto the unrelated key of Bb major for the second section of the development.
Beethoven’s lasting impression in classical music is known worldwide. You see many of these distinctive differences when you sit down and listen to his first symphony versus his ninth. In this paper the following will be discussed Beethoven’s C-Sharp minor quartet; His maturation in his musical development, and how the idea he had of using C-sharp minor showed the maturity and confidence he had in him self to compose on a more personal level in his later years. The works of Beethoven are generally split up into three distinct categories, and are as follows: his early period, which is generally excepted as his music output until 1802, middle period, which is set from 1803 to approximately 1814, and his late period which is from approximately 1815 on. While it can be debated when one style ended and another began for his compositions, for the sake of this paper, I am going to stick with the general dates, as they are adequate for my paper.