Analysis of Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" Essay

{The curtains open to a scene that has a backdrop of moving a train. The background music starts the minute the curtains open and plays under the dialogue. Raul is looking out the door. }

Section one is introduced with a pedal solo which is used to maintain the rhythm of a ¾ pattern that is consistently present throughout the entire piece and initiates the ostinato theme. A significant part of section one can be distinguished in measure 33 where the melody of both hands shifts to the swell organ manual. Also, the melody switches again to the choir organ manual in measure 49.

There were a lot of instruments you could hear when you first listened to this piece. The first instruments that I heard right away were the violins, flutes, and oboes. As I kept listening I noticed the clarinets, bassoons, cello, viola, and the French horn. The instruments that seemed like they were the most important in this piece were the violins, because they started the piece and through-out the rest of the piece they were always there being the main part of this piece.

When the concert first began, the three instrumentalists walked with energy despite their age. The first song, “Sonata I in G-Major Op. 2, Nr. 1” by Michel Blavet, was a Baroque Sonata. There were five movements and was played by the harpsichord, flute, and cello. All movements of the song were polyphonic because of the three instruments that had different parts and equal importance. In the first movement, I noticed that the flute tended to rise in pitch. In the second movement, I noticed that the melodies often repeated. Throughout the rest of the song the tempo changed from fast to slow and the flute would usually take the lead. On the last movement, the cello and the harpsichord

Throughout the piece, the brass plays the theme in alteration with the timpani and tam-tam. Although the theme is simple, together they create a long musical idea. The overall dynamic of the brass grows throughout creating a sense of power especially when

The harp plays ascending scales whilst the oboe plays a minor legato melody. The bass strings play pizzicato then the rest of the string section play tremolando and Crescendo. The brass repeats the melody, accompanied by the orchestra and a string tremolando inverted pedal. A string melody follows, accompanied by pizzicato strings and brass. There is a series of suspensions in the brass with perfect cadences, then an anticlimax with descending strings and brass. The main melody is repeated again, syncopated, in augmentation then there is a diminuendo as melody strings then French horn play melody.

The concert opened with A Moorside Suite from England; it began quietly accompanied by the clarinet and saxophone. The tempo started out slowly, then shifted to fast and back again to slow, throughout the entire piece. There was an appearance of a few soloists including the oboe, clarinet, and saxophone. This movement ended with the entire orchestra leading to a final chorale that builds to a fortissimo climax.

This piece that they’re trying this year: it starts off quiet, almost mourning. The oboe’s melancholy melody reaches out, connecting its longing with the hearts of everyone—mine especially. Then the bass starts building, and the swells of the clarinets raise the spirits in the theatre up with

The development starts very similarly to the exposition with the first violin part once again playing the sunrise theme with the only differences being the distribution of the motifs ‘x’ and ‘y’ (The opening sunrise theme of the exposition was in the order of motif ‘y-x-x’ then ‘x-x-y’ compared to the opening

The first song played from the Orchestra was Infernal Dance. The whole orchestra plays a loud chord to show the intensity of the piece. The rhythm of this movement is syncopation due to the rhythm not being on the beat. This makes the strong beat weak, thus giving a chilling ambience. Infernal Dance then transitions to the soothing movement Berceuse. Berceuse is a lullaby played by the bassoon. The Orchestra concludes the concert with Finale. Finale is the finishing piece of The Firebird and uses one french horn for the melody in a dynamic of piano. The whole orchestra soon joins in creating a hymn like choral. Instead of ending with a grand note, the brass takes the melody at a faster pace developing a celebratory ending. With its uneven rhythmic and extravagant arrangement this Suite fashions a spellbinding

This song uses long, smooth, and connected bows. It also includes a piano. I would describe this piece as a meditation kind of thing. I could imagine someone meditating to this song. It is very soothing and you feel like your underwater seeing all these fish. I really like that they added the piano because that tells the main story in this piece. I love how this piece starts in the beginning (in other words I like how they jump right into it in the beginning). This piece was originally scored for a chamber group of flute/piccolo, clarinet (B flat and C), two pianos, glass harmonica, xylophone, two violins, viola, cello, and double bass, but it usually performed today with a full orchestra of strings, and with a glockenspiel replacing the rare glass harmonica. This is one of my favorite pieces throughout the

The frightful sounds of groans, shrieks, and shrill laughter echo in his ears. Then, suddenly again the Idee fixe appears. It is his beloved. But the familiar Idee fixe is no longer the reserved and noble melody of the prior movements. The Idee fixe has now taken on new form and has become vulgar and grotesque. She has come to this diabolical orgy. The witches greet her with howling joy and she joins them in the demonic dance; Bells toll for the Dead. Listening Guide 25 is the 4th movement, March To the Scaffold: The diabolical march is in minor and the Idee fixe is heard in the last part of this movement. The clarinet is the instrument that represents the Idee fixe and at the very end it is cut off by a grievous fortissimo chord and then ends in a hadean quintessence. Structure The medium is a large orchestra, (flute, piccolo, 2 clarinets, 4 french horns, 4 bassoons, 2 trumpets, 2 cornets, 3 trombones, 2 ophideiodes, 2 timpani, bass drum, bells, strings). The form is loose tenary (A-B-A). The movement is in 6 sections. It begins with the introduction of ominous drumbeats and muted brass. The introduction ends with an exploding crescendo of a base drum which immediately introduces the 2nd section of theme A of low strings in a slow cautious tempo, and is picked up by violins. Theme B brass and woodwinds enter and picks up the tempo of diabolical march tune. The opening section is then repeated. The 3rd or mid section is the development section. The tenary

This is typical of Stravinsky, as he liked quick transposition between episodes so one never knows quite what one is expecting.                                              Next, a fanfare-like figure is introduced on the trumpets and is passed around the orchestra. Soon after, everything stops (typical Stravinsky) and the chords in the string section returns. The chords now persist for a little longer and there are no bassoon solos. Instead of having a break every now and then, this time the bassoon is on top of the whole string orchestra, playing a loud, simple, powerful rhythm. This eventually is done in some other wind instruments and the movement is finished with a loud bang from the Timpani really caught me off guard.                                         The orchestra then builds up into tremolo ideas used in the strings that create a busy effect. Another fanfare-like figure is introduced on the horns, which appears throughout the rest of the movement. Stravinsky plays around with the accents in the music thus resulting in 9-8 bars

The first theme has a bold and majestic feel to it, with the trumpets and horns declaring it. The overall feeling is much more positive than what was seen earlier and gives a sense that the performance is coming to a major conclusion. The crescendos are followed usually by the winds, especially the clarinet, and play at a much softer tone. Once again the timpani plays a large role in adding to the crescendos and the brass play louder than they have throughout the entire piece. The performance comes to a conclusion with the full orchestra playing theme 1, and lastly with the woodwinds bringing it to a close.

There is a minor brass introduction followed by ascending and descending major scales played by the harp. The strings play a legato melody and there is a pedal note in the woodwind. The music modulates back to minor and there is a crescendo with a sequence and use of the timpani. There is a descending arpeggio played by the brass section, and then the string melody is repeated with brass repeated notes. The music has a ¾ rhythm and an adagio tempo. There is a quiet woodwind passage with a timpani roll and crescendo. The main melody is then played by brass. It is then repeated with cymbal crashes, brass fanfares and a timpani roll. There is a crescendo with discords and imperfect cadences. And the piece ends with a perfect cadence and timpani roll.