1.3 Musical emphasis  (Page 3/3)

In Francis Poulenc’s, a group of nuns are sentenced to death during the Reign of Terror. As the nuns are marched to the guillotine, they sing a chorale over a march-like rhythmic accompaniment. As each nun is executed, one singer drops out, finally leaving a single voice alone. The march-like rhythm and final female voice drop out with the fall of the blade: Once again, music and narrative are in perfect alignment. Dialogue of the Carmelites

Rhetorical reinforcement is frequently used to highlight the beginning of a new section or the return of an important passage. Listen to the main theme of the first movement of Beethoven’s. Symphony No. 2

We will now fast forward to later in the movement. Do you recognize the return of the opening? What rhetorically reinforces it?

After an intense flurry of activity, the rhythm suddenly stopped. The texture and dynamics changed. The musical dimensions shifting in coordination signaled that an important formal arrival was taking place.

The Finale of Bartok’sbegins with the following explosive theme. Concerto No. 1

Once again, we will fast forward to later in the movement. Once again, do you recognize the return of the opening? What rhetorically reinforces it?

Once again, a compounding of emphases marked the return: The rhythm stopped; there was a loud cymbal crash, followed by a dramatic change in volume and texture.has created an unmistakable formal landmark. Rhetorical reinforcement

The reinforcement of extremes

When extremes reinforce each other, they create a particularly strong emphasis.

In his, Cesar Franck uses extremes of volume and density to emphasize two appearances of his main theme. The theme is initially played softly and sparely. Symphony in D

It returns later, this time played loudly by the full orchestra.

Similarly, in, Pierre Boulez introduces his primary theme in the solo oboe, with a sparse accompaniment. Rituel

Later, the theme echoes between different instrumental groups, in a prolonged statement made powerful by is massive density and loud volume.

Musical climax

When the greatest number of extremes coincides, a climax is created. A climax is the “most of the mosts:” It represents a work’s maximum emphasis .

The Finale of Igor Stravinsky’sbegins with the following theme: The Firebird

Stravinsky brings the work to a close by using maximum repetition, volume, density and speed—both fast and slow--to create a majestic emphasis.

A climax typically highlights that which is most essential : It gives you the most direct, powerful statement of a work’s main idea.

In Alban Berg’s opera, the beleaguered soldier Wozzeck becomes convinced of his wife’s infidelity. He lures his wife to a deserted lake and stabs her. Throughout the scene, as Wozzeck is contemplating his wife’s murder, a fixed pitch hovers perpetually in the background. After Wozzeck has slain his wife, Berg creates one of the mostspectacular and climactic rhetorical reinforcements in music history: The fixed pitch swells in intensity until it consumes the entire orchestra. Emphases of duration, volume, register and density are all joined together. That which is most essential is given its strongest emphasis. Wozzeck

The absence of rhetorical reinforcement

When a player for the home team hits a home run, the crowd rises to its feet cheering, music plays, the scoreboard flashes a replay: Strong rhetorical reinforcement occurs. But if a player for the visiting team hits a home run, the stadium is quiet: No one cheers, no sirens go off, no replays are shown. The fans refuse to acknowledge that an important event has occurred. There is an absence of rhetorical reinforcement.

Such equanimity is crucial when you play cards: If you are dealt four aces, it is important to maintain a “poker face,” betraying no hint of your good fortune.

Similarly, in music, it is possible for the rhetorical reinforcement to be weak or absent.

Listen to the opening of Schubert’s. Quintet in C for two violins, viola and two cellos

Once again, we will fast forward to later in the movement. Do you recognize the return?

You may have hesitated this time. Why? This time, the rhetorical reinforcement is much less emphatic.

At the opening, the strings move together in very slow values.

At the return, the instruments should change speed, texture and dynamic together. But the first violin does not cooperate! Instead, it continues with its pattern from the previous section. Thus, a united emphasis does not take place: The first violin is out-of-phase with the other instruments, creating a weaker acknowledgment of the form.

Whereas strong rhetorical reinforcement promotes clarity , weak or absent rhetorical reinforcement creates ambiguity . The degree of rhetorical reinforcement is one of the strongest measures of compositional intent. Schubert could have created a strongly articulated return. However, he chose to maintain a “poker face,” making the return less obvious. Why? This question can become a point-of-entry into a more in-depth study of the piece.

Climaxes depend on coordination between the musical dimensions. As a result, highly unrhetorical music will tend not to have a climax: The different dimensions are too out-of-phase from one another to create a clear structural alignment. In Morton Feldman’s, the three players—flute, glockenspiel and piano—are instructed to proceed independently through the score. The synchronization of the players varies from one performance to the next; each time, the combination of the parts is unique. Under such conditions, rhetorical reinforcement and a reliable climax are impossible to produce. Feldman related this to the absence of perspective in Abstract Expressionist art: He wrote of “flattening the aural canvas” so that it lacked rhetorical peaks. Why Patterns?

Conclusion

Duration, change and extremes are primary ways of creating emphasis in a musical composition. Being alert to such emphases--how they are created and what they are signaling—helps you to recognize significant musical events. When emphases are aligned to signal a formal landmark, rhetorical reinforcement is created. Strong rhetorical reinforcement promotes clarity; weak or absent rhetorical reinforcement promotes ambiguity.