Elgar's Cello Concerto

To assign the first movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony the sonata form would truly be a subjective judgment. I will first explain how this movement fits thesonata form; then I will discuss how it diverges from this form in rather fascinating ways.

The symphony is in four very powerful and entertaining movements. The first movement begins in the pianissimo tone with the strings section, but quickly enters the fortissimo tone with the introduction of the woodwind, brass and percussion sections. The dynamics of the musical melody varies throughout the movement moving from crescendo to decrescendo modes. The first movement reminds you of a raging storm from soft blowing winds to thunder and lighting. The audience is mesmerized by this first movement of the sonata.

This composition consists of three movements of which we will further examine movement II, Adagio Cantabile. This movement is placed in high contrast with the other two, particularly in tempo.

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 next movement of the concert from Czechoslovakia, Three Revolutionary Marches, began dramatic with leaps and high-range climaxes. The music of this piece perfectly portrays the

and another lyrical theme, (denoted hereafter by b). It is clear when one looks at the outline of the themes with respect to their placement, theme "a" is transformed into 8 different versions throughout the composition's first movement, and an additional type, that we will call (a) which utilizes C-G-C-G-C timpani-like motive. This one, namely (a) and a derivative called a6 will play primary roles in identifying and linking structurally important keys and harmonic motions related to changes into different subsections (eg. Timpani theme appears from 288-295 into T3/S3 on minor v,

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 movement began with a very strong texture as the music reflected a very powerful theme. It began with the heavy instrumentation from the strings including cellos, violins, and basses. The tempo was also relatively fast and generally upbeat. About a minute and half in there was a very noticeable solo by the violins which was a bit softer in terms of the texture. The melody seemed to be very upbeat and cheerful. Lasting the form of the movement was very well structured and the instruments backed each other up smoothly.

Another famous work by Moravec is Montserrat: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra. Montserrat: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra is a tribute to Pablo Casals. Casals was a frequent guest of the monks at Montserrat when he was young. He is remembered in Montserrat today by a statue of him seated and playing his cello peacefully in the mountains and trees overlooking Catalonia. Three notes gently rise and pull listeners into the piece by its turns serene and extravagant style. The music moves between prayer and dance. Moravec’s Montserrat grows gradually. Variations of the three-note motive is heard throughout the piece.

Music is constantly changing. The Baroque period (1600-1750) and the Classical period (1750-1820) have both differences and similarities in elements such as form, texture, and dynamics. I will be comparing the first movement of Spring from the Four Seasons composed by Antonio Vivaldi and the first movement of Symphony No. 5 in C minor by Ludwig van Beethoven. I will construct a stylistic comparison of the two compositions and their musical stylings with regard to the periods of music of which they belong.

Since the Baroque era, the concerto has played a vital role in the music world. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, a concerto is “a composition for one or more soloists and orchestra with three contrasting movements.” There are two main types: the concerto grosso and the classical concerto; both will be discussed later. While the term concerto is relatively easy to understand in context, when put into use the term becomes more complicated to define.

The cello and organ provide the basso continuo, following the figured bass. The modulation in bar 10 to A major ends in a V7 - I, providing strength to the piece. This differs from Sonata pian’e forte which is in the Dorian mode with lots of root position chords (bar 1 and 2) and suspensions (bar 3). The melody is mostly stepwise and the tierce de Picarrdie in bar 4 gives a sense of balanced phrasing. This is felt again in bar 8, due to the consonant 4th. The modal harmony in bar 13 creates an imperfect cadence to mark the end of the A1 section. An interesting phrygian cadence (IVb - V) is used in bar 16 leads into a short circle of 5ths (bar 17) and then a perfect cadence in F major with a 4-3 suspension (bar 20). This ‘busy-ness’ before cadences was not uncommon, due to the very expressive works that were composed in this era.

This work was composed during the Classical period, 1750- 1820. One aspect of the classical music style beign applied to this work includes the reoccurance of two or more contrasting themes. Another is the use of short and clearly defined musical phrases. Lastly, this piece, on a purely musical level, was simply more to hum along to. This type of melody took over the complex polyphony of the Baroque period.

The 1st movement is in sonata form. The slow introduction to this symphony is unusual in that it begins in the subdominant key - E minor, solemnly introduced by the bassoons. It modulates into B minor and the tempo increases for the principal subject. This theme is elaborated and developed, and a march-like motif forms a bridge passage leading to a climax. The strings then introduce an amorous, song-like second subject in D major. The development section enters with a bang. This section brings no startling thematic growth or transformation, but is

The return to the home key can be seen as a relief from the “dissonance” produced by the passages of second themes in E major and b minor. Yet, the tonality on G major is not distinctive enough to induce a home-returning emotion in the listeners. Therefore, the composer restated the opening of the first theme in G major and continues with arpeggiando passages (Fig. H) (mm.288-295) establishing the dominant of the home key. The coda (mm.295-324) consists only