Elgar 1st Symphony - Movement 2 (Exposition) Flashcards
What form is the 2nd movement in?
Sonta rondo form. ABACABA.
How do the Strings, Bassoon and Timpani begin the movement?
They begin with a pulsing F#, the tonic of the movement, on the 1st beat of alternating bars.
What do the Viola, Cello and Double Bass play at the start?
In the bars between the pulsing F#, they play a piano semiquaver motif.
What theme enters in the 1st Violins on the 5th bar?
The scherzo theme.
Describe the scherzo theme.
Quick continuous flow of semiquavers, spanning 2 octaves.
What leads the scherzo melody into figure 56?
The scherzo melody stops and there is a low pitched woodwind link that is an augmentation of the scherzo semiquavers, now as quavers. This woodwind part keeps cutting in between the scherzo theme in the Violins.
What is different between the scherzo theme and the woodwind link upon their 2nd playing?
The scherzo theme is now played in both Violin parts with octave texture. For the 2nd playing of the woodwind link, the parts are now doubled and the link is extended with a crescendo on the extension to emphasise the doubled parts.
Describe the melodic idea of the transition? (figure 57)
An angular string pattern with unison teams forming between the 1st Violins + Violas and the 2nd Violins and Cellos.
Describe the thematic devices leading into figure 58.
A pattern of four descending quavers is treated sequentially before demisemiquavers in a Harp flourish lead into figure 58.
How are the four descending quavers of the transition developed just before figure 59?
The passage has been extended as there are now three sets of descending quavers. This along with a descending Harp lead us into the dominant key for the 2nd subject (march).
What tonality have we reached at figure 59? And how did we reach it?
The piece cadences into the dominant key, C# minor.
Describe the march theme that enters at figure 59.
Insistent repeating crotchets that are followed by agitated dotted rhythms. This is enforced further by the bassline which plays staccato notes on the beat.
What interesting textural and melodic techniques are used during the march theme?
There is a slightly menacing rising sequence starting 4 bars after 59 in the Viola and Clarinet. There are overlapping entries of the march theme which is emphasised by octave texture in the two Violin parts.
What happens to the texture at figure 60?
It becomes more animated with demisemiquaver flourishes canonically between the Flutes and both Violin parts.
What theme is reminiscent in the String section during figure 61?
The transition theme from after the scherzo.
