brandenburg concerto Flashcards

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1
Q

Type of music

A

secular,(non religious), chamber music, baroque, fugal/contrapuntal composition
- 1711

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2
Q

performance and instruments

A
  • extended virtuoso solo part for harpsichord (scalic runs, both hands playing trills)
  • Harpsichord only occasionally plays continuo chords
  • ripieno only has one violin part
  • concertino consist of flute, violin and harpsichord
  • TECHNICALLY a concerto grosso
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3
Q

Structure

A

Ternary structure A B A

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4
Q

Texture

A
  • The texture is polyphonic/contrapuntal (i.e. contains several independent melodic strands
    sounding together).
  • The movement begins in fugal style. A fugue is a complicated piece which uses imitation
    almost throughout.
  • This piece is not an actual fugue, but uses fugal characteristics (the
    opening four bars are a good example).
  • The subject (main theme first statement) in the solo violin is followed by an answer in the
    flute at a distance of two bars. We now have two-part imitation.
  • There are then four additional bars before the harpsichord left hand enters with the subject,
    which is then answered two bars later by the right hand.
  • The harpsichord plays in two-part counterpoint.
  • Once both hands are playing, the music is in four-part counterpoint.
  • Occasionally the flute and violin play in thirds. The harpsichord also does this.
  • When the ripieno is playing, the flute and violin sometimes double each other in unison (e.g.
    bar 33).
  • The bass line for the new middle section theme has a tonic pedal on B.
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5
Q

Melody

A
  • Much of the music is in conjunct (stepwise) style (e.g. bar 2), though there are leaps (e.g.
    fourths in bar 1).
  • Often the conjunct music is extended to scalic runs, especially in the harpsichord part.
  • There is a rising sequence at bar 137 (same short phrase repeated several times, going up
    one note each time).
  • There are occasional ornaments, with trills (e.g. bar 19) in the harpsichord part.
  • There are appoggiaturas in the main middle section theme when it returns in A major (e.g.
    bar 148).
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6
Q

Tonality

A
  • The music is in D major.
  • This key is used for most of the two A sections.
  • The B section modulates to the dominant (A major) and relative minor (B minor).
  • The music is diatonic.
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7
Q

Harmony

A
  • The harmony uses the standard chords of the time (i.e. predominantly chords I, IV and V,
  • with occasional use of II and VI), including dominant sevenths in various inversions.
  • The harmony is functional.
  • The harmony uses mainly root position and first inversion chords.
  • Perfect cadences announce the ends of sections.
  • Suspensions are used occasionally (i.e. 9–8 suspension at bar 130).
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8
Q

Tempo, metre and rhythm

A
  • The metre is 2/4, duple time – two beats to the bar – but the music could also be notated in
  • 6/8 compound time. It is essentially a Baroque gigue (a dance in compound duple time).
  • It uses triplets and dotted rhythm throughout.
  • The dotted quaver-semiquaver grouping (as in the first bar) would have been performed in
  • triplet rhythm – so the dotted quaver would be two-thirds of a beat, and the semiquaver
  • would be one-third of a beat.
  • The harpsichord part in particular has many semiquaver runs.
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