Chapter 12: Fundamental Forms, III. Fugal Form
Please note that these chapters refer to Appendices in the text, and you can listen to all scores in Appendices by clicking the Appendices link near the bottom of the contents column.
At any point now, you would benefit from reading Chapter 18, From Composer to Interpreter to Listener. Read it now or later, but be sure to read it before you set the materials of this course aside. It will help you to see that you, the listener, have important responsibilities to music (as you do to all the arts).
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Assignment
In What to Listen For in Music, by Aaron Copland, read Chapters 11 & 12 before coming to this class. As you read, be sure to listen to the musical excerpts provided within the chapters (below on this page). Listen to them as you encounter them; then continue reading.
Listen !
Here are videos of the musical excerpts that Copland provides within the text, followed by suggested listening for each chapter. Excerpts performed and recorded by Adam Matlock.
Chapter 11 (variation form)
Excerpts for Chapter 11
Page 118
Score for above; click to enlarge.
Page 119
Score for above; click to enlarge.
Page 120
Score for above; click to enlarge.
Page 121
Score for above; click to enlarge.
Page 123
Score for above; click to enlarge.
Page 126
Score for above; click to enlarge.
In order to have an understandable set of examples of thematic variation, Copland wrote a set of variations of the most common types, all based on the simple tune, "Ach! du lieber Augustin".
Copland's Musical Recommendations for Chapter 11 (variation form)
1) Sibelius—Piano Music, Pastorale
2) Purcell—Dido and Aeneas, Dido's Lament, Jessye Norman
3) Stravinsky—The Soldier’s Tale (The Soldier's Violin at 1:45)
4) Bach—Passacaglia for Organ with score
(The version that Copland liked best, by Marie-Claire Alain)
5) Copland—Passacaglia for Piano
6) Copland—Piano Variations
7) Mozart—Piano Sonata in A, K. 331
Additional, for Chapter 11 (variation form)
• J. S. Bach -- The Musical Offering, Canon 1 á 2 Example of cancrizans, or crab movement in a canon. Types of musical variations include playing the same score backwards, upside down, and both. This video depicts the movement through the score as a trip on a möbius strip, the result of cutting a strip of paper, twisting one end one-half a turn, then joining the ends. The resulting closed circular paper has one surface surface and one continuous edge. In the video, the two halves of the canon are printed on opposite sides of a strip, the strip is then made möbius, and then the canon is played by traveling along its single surface.
• Ravel, Trio for violin, cello, and piano, or with score HERE. Use links below each version to find the passacaglia movement. Listen to the bass line in the piano at first, but don't try to follow it slavishly -- it is varied quite freely. If you find that you are susceptible to this kind of music, you should try other chamber music by Ravel.
• Brahms, Symphony 4, 4th movement. Recognizing that following the chaconne here is not straightforward, but it's rewarding to listen particularly to the melodic lines in the bass throughout this movement, until it goes into an extended coda, when all bets are off.
• Buxtehude, Chaconne in E minor. The excerpt on page 126 is the beginning of this early organ piece.
• E. Elgar, Enigma Variations. Navigation provided (click SHOW MORE) to help you know where you are in this extended set extended set variations on an unstated theme. Read the story, somewhat apocryphal maybe, about its origins. Perhaps the clearest statement of the enigmatic theme is the variation called "Nimrod". The whole piece is decidedly English, and so sweet that it could be poured over a waffle. After all, Elgar wrote the Pomp and Circumstance marches. How much more English can you get?
••••••
Chapter 12 (fugal form)
Excerpts for Chapter 12
Page 132: Click HERE to find excerpts in Appendix II
Copland's Musical Recommendations for Chapter 12 (fugal form)
1) Bach—Brandenburg Concertos
2) Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier
3) Franck—Sonata in A for Violin and Piano
4) Beethoven—Piano Sonata in A flat, Opus 110
5) Schoenberg—String Quartet No. 3
Additional, for Chapter 12 (fugal form)
• J.S. Bach -- Musical Offering, Canon 1 á 2 This video illustrates several ways in which a composer can produce a fugue by reversing and inverting a musical line.
• Gregorian Chant—The “Sarum” Liturgy
• Medieval Polyphony—Music of Johannes Ciconia
• Old McDonald Had a Fugue
• Little David's Fugue -- Modern Jazz Society
• Blues Fugue
• Little Jazz Fugue
• Bach-Swingle Singers: Chorale Prelude, "Sheep May Safely Graze" transcription of aria from Bach Secular Cantata BWV 208.
• Bach, Cantata BWV147, The last movement, at 28:40, is another famous chorale prelude, called Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring (German title, "Jesus bleibet meine Freude", which translates roughly as "Jesus shall remain my joy").
• Bach: Fugue in A Minor, Modern Jazz Quartet We started the course with this fugue. Does it sound any different to you now?
The Science of Music 6
How Ears Work
