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Another homework assignment courtesy of Post-Tonal Theory.
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Assignment 2 Part 1: Bohuslav Martinů, Sonata no. 1 for Viola and Piano (1955), mm. 1-‐12 Listen carefully to the opening of this sonata* and answer the following questions. 1) In what mode is the viola melody across mm. 1-‐9? Consider all notes in the viola line, but rely on the accompaniment to supply any missing notes and to determine the modal final ('tonic'). 2) How does the accompaniment help 'ground' the listener by providing a clear modal final? 3) The pitch collection changes slightly across mm. 10-‐12.
• What is the new note? • What is the new mode when you account for this change? Use the mode from
your answer to question #1 as a starting point. It is not a good idea to assume that any of its tones have changed unless you actually hear/see them change.
* You can hear the music online at the Naxos website (ID = Shenandoah, Password = Shenandoah). However, BE WARNED! According to our account with Naxos, our bandwidth is only wide enough to service 15 listeners at a time, so don’t wait to do this part of the assignment until the night before it is due. Part 2: William Bolcom: Second Sonata for Violin and Piano (1978), mm. 1-‐8 In light of your readings on polytonality and polyharmony, I thought it would be interesting to consider the opening of Bolcom’s second violin sonata. This is a much later work that takes the aforementioned “poly—“ ideas a bit further. After downloading the score excerpt, please listen to the opening measures several times while reading along. Here, Bolcom clearly establishes a stratified texture characterized by contrasting pitch collections in different instruments. In this way, the excerpt resonates with what we experienced listening to pieces from Milhaud’s “Saudades do Brazil.” 1) What ‘tonality’ is established in the piano across this excerpt (and especially across mm. 1–4)? Consider the A-‐flats and E-‐flats that sound at mm. 3 and 5 to be momentary, inconsequential inflections—a couple of ‘blue notes,’ if you will. 2) Now, consider the first four tones in the violin. Allowing for enharmonic equivalencies (it helps to think of them as sharp notes), please name the three major scales (i.e., diatonic collections) that contain all four of these tones. 3) How do the diatonic collections you got for the answer to number 2 relate to the diatonic collection expressed in the accompaniment (your answer for number 1)? Are they closely related? Not-‐so-‐close? Distantly related? Really distant? As distant as possible? (Understand that this concept of ‘closely-‐relatedness’ refers to common tones, in the same way we gauge closely and distantly related keys in tonal music from the common-‐practice period.)
Part 3: Darius Milhaud Saudades do Brazil: Corcovado & Ipanema After you’ve done the posted reading (following along with scores), please answer the following questions. 1) Explain, in your own words, the difference between polytonality and polyharmony. 2) Please give an example of where polytonality clearly occurs in either of the Saudades discussed in the reading (by including the name of the piece and measure numbers). 3) Please give an example of where polyharmony occurs without polytonality in either of the Saudades discussed in the reading (again, by including the name of the piece and measure numbers).