bredon hill Flashcards
(8 cards)
intro
‘IOn Wenlock Edge was completed following a period in which Vaugh Williams was determined to revitalize traditional English folk music. Vaughan Williams sought to preserve English Folk songs by modernising them. As a result, On Wenlock Edge not only draws from traditional folk music, such as the use of modes, but it also includes elements of French impressionist musical writing. Incidentally, Vaughan Williams spent some time studying with Ravel in France, and perhaps aspects of impressionism can be heard in his music.
melody
- vocal line = mainly stepwise- typical of folk
- reserves highest registers for drama + distress ‘oh noisy bells’
IS MY TEAM PLOUGHING
- both mainly syllabic and conjunct- typical of folk
- has wide expressive leaps ‘yes lad’ ‘oh noisy bells’
–> shows distress - bells - deafening so shout
—-> similar to how living man’s guilt = so overwhelming
*
‘i will come’ home note G + funeral bells - eventual fate
OWE- ‘twill soon be gone’ - contrasts chromatic descent of previous stanzas –> home note
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liturgical turns and religious chants- Tavener the Lamb
rhythm
simple duple- calm and resigned
- long sustained opening chords
- triplets set song in motion as bells begin to ring
SCHUBERT ELKONIG
- triplets- continuous tension
- anticipation- horses galloping
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as accompaniment begins to move ‘sung quite freely, irrespective of accompaniment’ —> confusion + echo of ‘noisy bells’
IS MY TEAM PLOUGHING
RIDERS TO THE SEA
RAVEL ONDINE
- constant movement - demisemiquavers almost every bar –> water flowing
dynamics
- extreme dynamics - used frequently
- beginning = distance- violin mutes –> nearer + more unsettled ‘noisy bells’
IS MY TEAM PLOUGHING
- builds tension- dead man becomes louder + meets living- more angry
tonality
uncertain throughout- due to modality and parallelism when representing bells
- dissonances to emphasise drama
IS MY TEAM PLOUGHING
- dead man’s modal lines = woeful + foreshadowing later truth
- ‘happy’ = modal- foreshadows future unhappiness
*
tonal centre of G- manipulated by extensive use of modes
–> folk elements: pastoral + idyllic scene of a hill
GRIEG MORNING MOOD - moroccan desert
PRELUDE L’APRES MIDI D’UN FAUN- symbolism daydream/ hazy atmosphere
sonority
- many string techniques
- open w mutes ‘con sord’ - bells from a distance
- in terms of time + geography - hazy summer atmosphere
- gets louder as they approach singer ‘oh noisy bells’
SAINT SEANS AQUARIUM
underwater, mystic
PSYCHO, MURDER
muted strings increase tension- removed at murder
- when mutes= removed, harmonics - added to reflect the lighter sounds of the bells
- tremolo strings- agitated- build towards climax
- repeated downbows - more forceful
- piano pedals sustained chords
RAVEL LA VALLEE DES CLOCHES
- dense chords + sustaining pedal - haunting ringing
- traced over by RH passages
harmony
7th chords- blurring harmony
parallel chords- bells
PRELUDE L’APRES MIDI D’UN FAUN
CLAIRE DE LUNE
JEUX D’EAU
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funeral bells toll on G
‘ they tolled the one bell only’ semitone clash Ab G
–> word painting
texture
varies melody-dominated homophony- bare chordal textures
DEBUSSY SUNKEN CATHEDRAL
- distance of hands draws attention to contrasting textures
- sus pedal –> underwater / lost in hazy summer air
LA VALLEE DES CLOCHES
- dense, sonorous chords- sustaining pedal
*
monophonic vocal line @ end
- IS MY TEAM PLOUGHING- equally devastating solo
