Bradenburg Concerto No.5 In D Major Movement III Flashcards
A section bars
1-78
B section bars
79-232
Repetition of A section bars
233-310
Structure
Starts with Anacrusis
Concerto Grosso, which is a baroque piece for a group of soloists and orchestra. The Concerto Grosso groups have a Concertino(Group of soloists in a concerto grosso), a Ripieno (A group of instruments that consists of non-soloists. The opposite of the concertino), and a Continuo(Repetitive line in the bass that’s goes on in bass instruments or chordal instruments)
Form
Ternary form-A musical form in which the opening section returns after a central contrasting section
Melodic format and structure
2/4 time signature with a gigue-like feel (A lively dance) with continuous triplet quavers (In bar 110 the harpsichord plays triplet quavers).
Fugue structure and texture with counterpoint
stretto-overlapping of playing (in the harpsichord, bar 39 has subject in left hand, bar 40 has subject in right hand)
Instruments and roles
In this work the soloists are flauto (flute) and violino (violin) and sometimes the cembalo (harpsichord). The ripieno is a string ensemble, violino (violin), viola, violoncello (cello) and contrabasso (double bass). The continuo part is played on the cembalo (harpsichord).
Subject bars
The violin plays the subject in bars 1 and 2, and then the countersubject.
The flute begins in bar 3, playing the subject five notes higher, and then the countersubject.
The harpsichord plays the subject in bar 9.
Dynamics
Terraced
General melodic points
the trills in the harpsichord in bars 19 and 21
The opening melody of section B contains the same motif that is heard in the very first bar but transposed to a new key
This time the melody has a held note in bar 80 instead of the triplet quavers heard in the original subject in section A, giving a lyrical feel to the music
There is a sequence in the harpsichord in bars 114 - 118, utilising a short motif. This three-note motif begins on G# and is replicated using the exact melodic shape, beginning on A and then rising up the scale to D
Bach devises a canon (When an identical melody begins at two or four bars distance to the initial melody and works harmonically with it) between the two hands of the harpsichord part in bar 163
Texture
Monophonic texture in the first 2 bars
Homophonic moments in section B
Contrapunctual (polyphonic) texture is fugal (Section A)
Tempo rhythm and metre
The metre is given by the time signature usually found at the beginning of a score and so too can the tempo marking. In this piece, remember that:
the concerto sounds as if it is written as a gigue - in compound time - but it is written in 2/4 with lots of triplets
the time signature is 2/4 or simple time
Allegro
Tonality
D major/B minor (switches to parallel minor briefly in section b)
Section A:D major, modulates to E major and A major
Section B:B minor, modulates to F# minor, A minor and E minor
perfect cadences are used to signal important moments, eg at the end of section A, in bar 78
Ends with a perfect cadence
Harmony
a pedal is used often in the cello and double bass, from bars 11 to 104
Section B opens with a pedal note of B in the bass - played on the first beat of each bar. A pedal is an example of a harmonic device - another example is a cadence. This indicates that the piece has moved to B minor, the relative minor to D major, which creates a contrasting feel in the middle B section within the ternary structure
The movement begins in D major, which is a comfortable key for string instruments to play in as it uses lots of open strings. It modulates to the dominant of D major, A major, because the note of G is sharpened in bar 12. The section continues to modulate to A major’s dominant, E major, working back to D major. The music is punctuated with perfect cadences before each new key.
Diatonic harmony, perfect cadences at the end of section A in bar 78, certain moments of chromatics, figured bass, section B has a pedal
