Night Dances - General

Question 1

How does movement 1 treat the register of the piano?

Answer 1

Much of the bass in in the piano’s low register - immediately contrasted with repeated Cs in its higher register in bar 9

This is contrasted in interlude 1a where the LH and RH are very closely voiced and confined to just one octave

Most of the piano material is in its low register, rarely rising above the G above middle C. This created balance with the flute, whose line is pitched around an 8ve above middle C

Question 2

How is the pitch of the piano treated in mvmt II?

Answer 2

Dark colouring of low register persists through most of the movement, only rising into the upper octaves in the latter part of the final section (b. 84-114) once the flute has stopped playing

Question 3

What happens to the tessitura of the flute part through the work?

Answer 3

Subtly shifts from high to low

Pitched relatively high in mvmt I

Much of the material in mvmt II has shifted down by around an 8ve - matches the ‘seductive’ character of the music

In mvmt III, much of the movement is confined to the first 1 and 1/2 octaves of the instrument. This aligns with the programme: “the night is gradually overwhelmed by sleep”

Question 4

How does the texture evolve across movements?

Answer 4

M1: Sharply defined rhythmic textures

M2: Densely sensual textures

M3: Very sparse textures - usually no more than one line

Question 5

Why is the harmony in Night Dances not functional?

Answer 5

Harmonic progressions have no traditional relationships with one another and there is no sense of modulation

Question 6

Why could the harmony in bars 18-50 and 104-141 of the first movement be described as bitonal?

Answer 6

The chords in the RH seem to be in a different tonality to the bass

18-50:
LH repeats C throughout, sometimes alternating with E or F#

RH plays one of two chords: Eb7 or open 5th on C-G with unresolved appoggiatura F#

104-141:
Similar harmonic writing, now transposed down a minor 3rd