Raymond Deane Seachanges Flashcards
Give features of 20th century art music in general
Diversity of approaches- impossible to determine a single style
Atonality - use of dissonance shows no key
Irregular rhythms, changing time signatures, tempi
Unusual instruments and performing techniques- subtraction
Use of non western instruments
No form
Give features of Deane’s style
Uses small musical idea(motif)- GAC seagull theme
Ideas are built up to be distorted and systematically dismantled
Order verses disorder
Binary opposition heard at same time. - ex: black vs white notes or tonal vs atonal
Borrowed use of musical quotations
Atonality/tonal anchors
Why is the title seachanges- title of work background
Metaphor of Deane’s compositional approach comes from Shakespeare The tempest- Character suffered a seachange, something negative ie. death and body after death into a positive- negation
ea serves as a link to Ireland and mexico whose cutures both inspire the music
Changing natue of the sea is reflected in changing tempi.
Explain how negation is seen throughout Seachanges
through us of: Interference and distortion, Instruments abandoning their natural sound, principle of numerical progression of subtraction, addition and use of prime numbers
How is the philosophy illustrated in the piece- describe what imagery is included to represent death
Dies Irae, Danse Macabre, Influence of the ‘grotesque and gaudy morbidity characteristic of Mexican iconography’
Name the ethnic instruments in the work
Crotales Maracas Rainstick Marimba Guiro
What si the instrumentation of the work
Piccolo and Flute in G
Piano
Violin and Cello
Percusion: Crotales, Maracas, Rainstick, Marimba, Guiro, Gong, Tambourine
What is the form of the piece and explain
sort of Rondo form- When a primary idea is represented between many various ideas
What is the overall structure of the piece- include form letters
Intro- Seagull theme A- Seagull theme GAC B Danse Macabre A1- Seagull theme aug C- Die Irae A2- Seagull theme GAbBb Coda- (B1+C1) Dies Irae and Danse Macabre
What are the pedal points/ anchors throughout the piece
Intro-G Section A- G Section B- Atonal Section A1- D Section C- Atonal Section A2- Eb Coda- C then A
What is significant about the pedal point/anchor notes
Largely based on the four open strings of the cello
Give examples of order and disorder in the piece
Note Ab in Bar 15 acts as virus and quickly permeates taking over piece
Four semiquaver rhythms take over from bar 28
Give an example of permutation in the piece
Bar 25- flute and marimba the intervals created by the three note cell are permutated
Section C- Dies Irae Quotation
Give six ways in which the melody is transformed- Compositional techniques
Augmentation Diminution Inverse Retrograde Canon(in dies irae) Transposition subtraction addition transposition
Why does music change time signature
To give a sense of freedom like that of the sea- suggests continual change of sea
What are the two tempos used in the piece alternatively
crochet= 80 crochet= 120
What is the danse macambre rhythm and time signature
7/4
three pairs of quavers, four semiquavers, two pairs of quavers, four semiquavers
What is organum and what is it’s effect
Harmonising in fifths- reminiscent of medieval music