Density 21.5
Edgard Varèse’s Density 21.5 for unaccompanied flute was composed in 1936 (revised in 1944) at the request of George Barrère for the première of his new platinum flute.Inspired by the flute’s capabilities, Varèse sought to showcase the platinum instrument’s full range of sound and explore its timbral capacity. Density is a monophonic work that is characterized by extreme dynamics, angular motives, timbral variety, and complex rhythms. During the span of sixty-one measures, Varèse exploits the flute’s full range of sound and color and almost every pitch on the instrument is realized.
The form of Density is partitioned into three sections: A measures 1 - 23, B measures 18 - 40, A1 measures 41 - end. The first A section can be broken into two parts: Aa mm1-14 and Ab mm.15-23. The B section may be broken into two smaller parts, the first Ba from measures 24-29 and the second Bb from measures 32-36 with the omitted portions (mm. 29-32 and mm. 36-40) functioning as transitional material. The unmistakable return of A occurs in measure 41.
Jonathan Bernard, in “Pitch/Register in the Music of Edgard Varèse,” notes the composer’s fascination with crystals and their influence on his compositional method. Bernard aptly states, Varèse “emphasizes growth through orderly expansion of a bare minimum of an idea that is cell-like in nature.” In Density, Varèse explores the possibilities of a three-note semitone motive through repetition, expansion, and elaboration. During an interview Varèse, the composer explained a “crystallization” analogy and its relationship to his compositions:
Musical form, considered as the result of a process, suggests an analogy with the phenomenon of crystallisation. The clearest answer I can give...
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...hools of Music and Visual Arts, edited by Steven Johnson, 57 - 74. New York: Routledge, 2002.
Perle, George. The Listening Composer. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1990.
Priore, Irna. “Density 21.5.” Flute Talk Magazine. 20.3 (2000): 20.
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Siddons, James “On the Nature of Melody in Varèse's Density 21.5.“ Perspectives of New Music, 23 1 (1984): 298-316.
Spencer, Patricia. “Density 21.5: An Introductory Lesson.”
Varèse, Edgard and Lewis Alcopley. “Edgard Varèse on Music and Art: A Conversation between Varèse and Alcopley.” Leonardo,1.2 (1968): 187-195.
Wen-Chung, Chou. “Open Rather Than Bounded.” Perspectives of New Music, 5.1 (1966):1-6.
-- “Varèse: A Sketch of the Man and His Music.” The Musical Quarterly, 52.2 (1996): 151-170.
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie, 20 vols. (London: Macmillan, 1980)9: 708-709
Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven. Two composers who marked the beginning and the end of the Classical Period respectively. By analysing the last piano sonata of Haydn (Piano Sonata No. 62 in E-flat major (Hob. XVI:52)) and the first and last piano sonatas of Beethoven (Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor Op. 2, No.1, Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor Op. 111), this essay will study the development of Beethoven’s composition style and how this conformed or didn’t conform to the Classical style. The concepts of pitch and expressive techniques will be focused on, with a broader breakdown on how these two concepts affect many of the other concepts of music. To make things simpler, this essay will analyse only the first movements of each of the sonatas mentioned.
8. Waley, Arthur, and Joseph Roe. Allen. The Book of Songs. New York: Grove, 1996. Print.
Edgard Varèse, a French composer born in 1883, was a leader in the realm of
‘Sonata’ at this time referred to instrumental music while ‘pian’ means soft and ‘forte’ means loud. The title of the work indicates that it is an instrumental work that has soft and loud sections. Gabrieli's composition is special because it is the first to show dynamic markings in an ensemble setting. Some sources will say that it is the first piece to portray dynamics in general, but other sources provide evidence that dynamic markings appear in solo literature composed decades beforehand. “Deeper acquaintance with the music shows that they [the dynamics] also have an emotional function, for they occur so irregularly that the listener is never certain if he will be overwhelmed with sound, or when he must strain his ears for some more subdued phrase.” Gabrieli felt that dynamics can help portray or alter the audience’s perception of a pattern of music towards a particular mood.
Sadie, Stanley. New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, The. Vol. II New York: The MacMillan Company, 1928
TitleAuthor/ EditorPublisherDate James Galways’ Music in TimeWilliam MannMichael Beazley Publishers1982 The Concise Oxford History of MusicGerald AbrahamOxford University Press1979 Music in Western CivilizationPaul Henry LangW. W. Norton and Company1941 The Ultimate Encyclopaedia of Classical MusicRobert AinsleyCarlton Books Limited1995 The Cambridge Music GuideStanley SadieCambridge University Press1985 School text: Western European Orchestral MusicMary AllenHamilton Girls’ High School1999 History of MusicRoy BennettCambridge University Press1982 Classical Music for DummiesDavid PogueIDG Books Worldwide,Inc1997
In the following paper I will be exploring the beginning of Leonard Bernstein's career and his family background. I will also look into the influences he had in his life and look at two pieces that he composed, "Jeremiah Symphony No. 1", and "Candide". My reasons for choosing these two pieces is due to the fact that they are contrasting in genre, one being a symphony with orchestration and the other being an operetta, and that they were written at different stages in Bernstein's life. They both produced a number of responses and displayed his wide range of musical ability.
The organum, which thrived at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, was one of the earliest types of polyphony. It was very much similar to a trope, as it added vertical notes onto an existing melody or plainchant. There is quite the development of the organum between the 10th and 12th centuries. French composers, Leoninus, and Perotinus, were leading contributors to the evolution of the organum advancing the terms “free organum”, and “discant organum”. Through examining the works throughout Musica enchiriadis of the 10th century, and the compositions of Leoninus and Perotinusis in the 12th century, it is made clear that the the organum endured influential alterations both melodically and rhythmically.
1. Hunter, Sam and Jacobs, John. Modern Art, 3rd Edition. The Vendome Press, New York, 1992.
Here, Beethoven takes melodic expression to a new level: The appoggiatura in bars, 14 and 16 create a harmonic tension over a diminished 7th chord that creates “the highly expressive progression used by nineteenth-...
Grove, George. The Musical Times Volume 47. United Kingdom: Musical Times Publications Ltd. 1906, Print.
...f. Th.Reinach, La musique grecque, Payot, Paris, 1926; C.Sachs, The Rise of Music in the Ancient World, W.W.Norton & Comp. Inc. New York, 1969.
Music has shaped the lives of people throughout history. Even in its earliest forms, music has included use of instruments. One of the oldest musical instruments known is a variation of the flute; the original flute is thought to date back nearly 67,000 years ago. Tonight we are going to move throughout the eras with a history of instrumental music. This concert will begin with the Renaissance Era and continue through time until we have reached modern instrumental music.
Danson, Lawrence. The Harmonies of The Merchant of Venice. Great Britain: Yale University Press, 1978. Print.