Music GCSE
Area Of Study 2: Music of the 20th Century

A. Schoenberg 'Peripetie' From five orchestral pieces, Op. 16.

The piece is Expressionist, aiming to express emotions and feelings as intensely as possible. Composed in 1909 - first performed 1912 at the Proms in London. It is the fourth of the five orchestral pieces, and 'Perpetie' means 'a sudden reversal'.

Instrumentation

A large orchestra of 90 players.
Contrasts created with timbre as the instrumentation is constantly changing throughout.
Extreme pitch range used.
Unusual effects are used (e.g. Cymbals played with cello bow)

Melody

Short, Fragmented motifs. Combined in different ways.
Disjunct melodies - large angular jumps.
Octave displacement (Moving notes of the melody to the next octave.)

Rhythm, Metre and Tempo

The metre changes from 3/4 to 2/4 to 4/4
Sehr rasch (very quick) tempo.
Complex and varied rhythms.
Rhythmic patterns are layered to create a complex contrapuntal texture.

Tonality and Harmony

Atonal (No sense of a key)
Dissonant harmony.
Hexachords used in melodies.

Texture and Dynamics

Texture = largely contrapuntal - occasional monophonic moments.
Imitation and Inversion used.
Canons used.
Dynamics are used to the extremes, with sudden changes being common.

Structure

Free rondo - five sections (A B A C A)
Not clearly contrasting sections, hence Free rondo.

*********************************************************************** 'Something's coming' L.Berstein

Composed in 1957, based on Romeo and Juliet. 2 Rival gangs Jets (American) and Sharks (Puerto Rican). Tony falls in love with Maria.

Instrumentation

Solo tenor song - Accompanied by Strings/Woodwind/Percussion/Brass.
Accompaniment uses: Quiet dynamics, Soft timbres (Muted trumpets and Pizzicato strings) And a homophonic texture - not overpowering the vocal part.
Word-Painting - emphasis on certain words, harmonics and tremolos used.

Structure and Melody

3 Main themes:
1. Quiet, syncopated opening
2. Loud, strident theme in 2/4 (Bar 21)
3. Lyrical, slow moving theme (bar 73)
The melody throughout is mainly syllabic. Themes are alternated during the piece, however not exact repeats are used.

Rhythm and Metre

Alternates between 2/4 and 3/4
Changes in metre, fast tempo, syncopation = Excitement and Anticipation.
Accompaniment is largely made up of an on-beat bass with off-beat chords.
At the beginning cross rhythms are used between these two parts.

Harmony and Tonality

D major, 2 contrasting sections in C major.
Frequent use of Sharpened fourths/flattened sevenths.
Sharpened Fourth => Tritone.
Ends on a Flattened seventh => Unresolved => Imperfect cadence.
Tonal
Jazz influenced.

Texture

Texture is homophonic.
3 Main ideas:
1. Opening = Repeated riff
2. Short, Syncopated chords (bar 21)
3. Fast, Um-Cha Accompaniment (Bar 32)

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'Electric Counterpoint' Steve Reich

Made in America, in 1987. It was written for Pat Methany, who was a jazz guitarist. It uses minimalist techniques. As it is a minimalist piece.

Instrumentation

In total there are 10 guitars.
7 Electric Guitars (Pre-recorded)
2 Bass Guitars (Pre-recorded)
1 Live amplified guitar (To blend with others)

Structure

Builds in 3 layers.
1. A syncopated, quaver motif for live guitar and top 4 guitar parts.
2. A second quaver motif in the 2 bass guitars.
3. Sustained motif based around 3 chords.

All layers are built up before layers 2 and 3 fade out leaving layer 1.

Melody and Texture

Melody = One bar ostinato
Introduced in live guitar before the top 4 pre-recorded guitars- creating a canon.
Melody is gradually added to by note addition.
At one point the Live guitar uses notes from all other guitar parts = Resultant Melody.
Contrapuntal.

Rhythm, Metre and Tempo

3/2 = Metre (3 dotted minims in a bar)
Fast tempo (192 crotchets a minute)
Little rhythmic variety.
Frequent syncopation.
Metrical displacement used. (Same motif played by different parts/ times so they sound out of synch)
Polymetre (Some parts go into 12/8 whilst others stay in 3/2)

Harmony and Tonality

Hexatonic Scales = 6 notes
Cadences and conventional harmonic progressions aren't used.

Dynamics

Fairly constant
Parts gradually fade out in places.

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Area of Study 2: Music of the 20th Century