Debussy - La Soiree dans Grenade

Question 1

Sonority

Answer 1

6-octave range (as in Pagodes)
Sustain pedal throughout
“light and distant” sections (109) reflects forward to third piece, fast staccato notes- Jardins sous la Pluie
No una corda marked
Spread chords to represent spanish guitar - Isaac Albeniz’s Suite Espanola (Sevilla)

Question 2

Texture

Answer 2

3-part texture
Habanera rhythm underpins the texture - Bizet’s Opera ‘Carmen’
Start of the ‘Tres Rhythm’ is homophonic
Bar 92 - block chords
Bars 107-108 monophonic with a low E pedal

Question 3

Tempo, Rhythm and Metre

Answer 3

Habanera rhythm - Piece En Forme De Habanera for flute and piano by Ravel
38 - 'very rhythmically'
67 - 'with more abandon'
Triplets
Syncopation - 67
Heterorhythms - 33-34
Lombardic rhythms - 33+36
Gongs at the end - reference back to first piece

Question 4

Melody

Answer 4

THEME ONE:
Moorish lament - semitone juxtaposed with major seconds
Delicate ornamentation
Avoidance of balanced phrasing
THEME TWO:
Balanced 2-bar phrases
Repeated notes
Harmonic parallelism
THEME THREE:
Whole-tone scale
Stepwise rising thirds
Falling 3rds (second half of the theme)
THEME FOUR:
Lengthy descent
Could be heard as a diatonicised major-mode version of the very opening line

Question 5

Harmony

Answer 5

Harmonic vocabulary more varied than in Pagodes
Parallel 7th chords (17) - Submerged Cathedral
Whole-tone harmonies (23)
False relations (33) -VW Wenlock Edge
Open fifth chords (38)
Parallel triads (109-110)

Question 6

Structure and Tonality

Answer 6

Not always definable keys - atonal Stravinsky's Four Songs (takes this even further)
F#m - moorish theme, most likely
C# pedals
F# pedals
Mixolydian modes used