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Vaughan Williams Flashcards

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1
Q

What was Vaughan Williams influenced by?

A

English folk music, Tudor music and Impressionistic (Debussy and Ravel)

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2
Q

What are the folk influences?

A

Vocal melodies resemble folk

Use of modes

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3
Q

What impressionist influences are there?

A

False relations and parallel movement

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4
Q

What are the lyrics based on?

A

Six poems from ‘A Shropshire Lad’ by A.E Housman

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5
Q

What is a song cycle?

A

Collection of songs in the Western Classical tradition that share similar subject matter or have texts by the same poet

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6
Q

What is Wenlock Edge?

A

Limestone escarpment in the Shropshire Hills area of outstanding natural beauty

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7
Q

What’s the story behind ‘On Wenlock Edge’?

A

Wild storm lashing out at young trees
The poet realises that Romans experiences the storms
Romans faced the same struggles
Storm is brief so sufferings will soon be over

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8
Q

What’s the story behind ‘Is My Team Ploughing?’

A

Dialogue between a ghost and a young man (friend)

Friend stolen the dead means girlfriend

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9
Q

What’s the story behind ‘Bredon Hill’?

A

Young love defeated by death
Bells calling people to church - the couple say they’ll go on their wedding day
Girl dies - bells are tolled

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10
Q

What instruments is On Wenlock Edge composed for?

A

Tenor
String quartet
Piano

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11
Q

Describe the piano part

A

Not hard but not virtuosic

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12
Q

Describe the special effects in ‘On Wenlock Edge’

A

Quiet demisemiquaver flourishes
ppp echoes
extended trills
tremolos

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13
Q

Describe the full textures in ‘Bredon Hill’

A

Large chords together with chains of parallel 4ths

R.H melody doubled at the 4th and octave above, L.H block chords in piano

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14
Q

Describe the string quartet in ‘On Wenlock Edge’

A

Tremolo
Long Trills
Sul Ponticello

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15
Q

What is sul ponticello?

A

Player bows very near the bridge to create a thin, strained tone

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16
Q

Why does ‘Is My Team Ploughing?’ involve muted strings?

A

Enhance the mysterious, distant effect

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17
Q

Describe the string quartet in ‘Bredon Hill’

A

Con Sord
Double stopping
Sul D and G
Natural Harmonics on open strings

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18
Q

How does ‘On Wenlock Edge’ show the gale through dynamics

A

Word ‘trouble’ matched by opening f

Frequent use of crescendo and diminuendo = gales speed

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19
Q

Describe the dynamics in ‘Bredon Hill’ and ‘Is My Team Ploughing?’

A

Quiet, even pppp

Loud outbursts

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20
Q

What is the texture?

A

Homophonic with considerable variety

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21
Q

Explain some textural variety

A

Doubling at the octave over broken-chord semiquavers in ‘On Wenlock Edge’
Singl chords sustained by upper strings - simple harmonic background in ‘Is My Team Ploughing?’
Voice accompanied by dense parallel semibreve and minim chords in ‘Bredon Hill’

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22
Q

What is the structure of each song?

A

Blending of strophic and through-composed

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23
Q

Describe the tonality of ‘On Wenlock Edge’

A

Gm
Bitonal - piano on Ab while vocals in Gm
Pentatonic - G-A-C-D-F

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24
Q

What’s the tonality of ‘Is My Team Ploughing?’

A

Dorian mode for the ghost
Dorian inflections - B and C natural
Dm in friends replies

25
Q

What is the tonality of ‘On Bredon Hill’?

A

Mixolydian on G - his favourite key

Blurred

26
Q

Describe ‘On Bredon Hill’s’ pentatonic set

A

G-A-B-D-E

27
Q

What is the tenors range?

A

12th from D below middle C up to A

Highest note - A on ‘bells’ in Bredon Hill

28
Q

Describe the word setting

A

Syllabic
Some slurred pairs
Short melismas for emphasis

29
Q

Describe the melodies

A

Stepwise
Small leaps
Larger leaps (above a perfect 5th) in intense moments

30
Q

What’s freer in its use of larger intervals?

A

Instruments

31
Q

How does Williams use contrary motion?

A

Similar motion
Parallel first inversion chords and triads
False relations
Parallel 4ths and 5ths

32
Q

How ‘Is Wenlock Edge’ harmony simple?

A

Quartal harmony with the pentatonic set G-A-C-D-F

33
Q

How is Bredon Hill characteristic of early 20th C music?

A

Parallel 8ves divided into 5ths and 4ths - bells
Mixture of 6ths, 5ths and 4ths
Other parallelisms e.g succession of perfect 4ths and 5ths

34
Q

How is ‘Is My Team Ploughing?’ more old fashioned?

A

Chromatic harmony
Chromatically descending bass
half-diminshed 7th chords
French augmented 6th chords

35
Q

explain the tenors rhythm

A

In keeping with the stress pattern of text

36
Q

Describe the tempo of each piece

A

‘On Wenlock Edge’ - Allegro moderato (suprising for a stormy piece)
‘Is My Team Ploughing?’ - Ghost = Andante, Live man = poco animato
Changes of tempo reflect the changing situation of the text

37
Q

What are the metres?

A

‘On Wenlock Edge’ = 4/4
‘Is My Team Ploughing?’ = change is response to text - 3/4, 4/4, 2/4, 3/4
‘Bredon Hill’ = 2/2, 3/2, 4/4

38
Q

How is the storm shwon through rhythmic activity in ‘On Wenlock Edge’?

A

Tremolo, trills and short notes

39
Q

Describe the rhythm of ‘On Wenlock Edge’

A

Triplet quavers and sextuplet semiquavers and ordinary syncopation and trills on weak beats

40
Q

Describe the rhythm of ‘Is My Team Ploughing?’

A

Rhythmic flexibilty

Mixture of dotted rhythms, triplet quavers, ordinary quavers and offbeat quavers

41
Q

How does ‘Is My Team Ploughing?’ show the live and dead man?

A

dead man = modal and Andante (slower)

live man = Dm and poco animato (faster)

42
Q

What are the features of rhythmic interest in ‘Bredon Hill’?

A

Increased activity in intro
Continous triplet quavers in piano of stanzas 3 + 4
Syncopation in accompaniment to stanza 6
Rallentando at end - beat remains unchanged by semiquavers give way to triplets then quavers then triplet crotchets which lads to minims

43
Q

How are bells represented?

A

Continuous triplet crotchets in piano of stanzas 3+4 giving way into quavers in piano
Dotted minim chords and crotchet octaves in stanza 6

44
Q

What does colla voce mean?

A

With the voice

Players must keep with the singer who must have scope for freedom at intense moments

45
Q

What is quartal harmony

A

Based largely on 4ths rather than 3rds like traditional harmony

46
Q

Structure of ‘Bredon Hill’

A

7 verses

47
Q

Structure of ‘Is My Team Ploughing?’

A

3 verses

48
Q

‘On wenlock edge’ structure

A

5 verses

49
Q

Sea Slumber song context

A

Elgar
1899
Progromatic
From the poem ‘sea pictures’

50
Q

Sea Slumber song sonority

A 
orchestra and solo voice
rocking accompaniment of waves
mostly quiet (ppp)
crescendos and diminuendos
low tesitura and narrow range
spread chords
harp glissando
divided strings
51
Q

Sea slumber song texture

A

sparce texture so voice heard
doubling - horns double vocals
tremolo and spread chord
mel-dom-hom

52
Q

Sea Slumber song melody

A

Syllabic
Opening clarinet motif repeated throughout
Word painting - quavers = waves
orchestra doubles vocals

53
Q

Sea Slumber strong structure

A

Through composed
intro
3 bar postlude

54
Q

Sea Slumber song tonality

A

Em
modulates to E major and C major
brighter
ends on Em chord

55
Q

Sea Slumber song Harmony

A

Late Romantic
Spread E chord = waves crashing
accidentals = chromatic movement
Ends on Em chord

56
Q

Sea Slumber song tempo/metre/rhythm

A 
4/4
word painting - sleep = dotted note
harp glissando
ostinato in strings
quaver movement in chromatic sections
cross-rhythms
57
Q

Comparisons

A 
Sea Slumber
Sky Waulking Song
In Haven
Silent noon
Pagodes
Six songs from a shropshire lad
Erlkonig - schubert
58
Q

Sky Waulking song

A 
Capercaillie
2000
pentatonic
G major
diatonic
cross rhythms, polyrhythms, syncopaton
hetraphonic

Music (19 decks)

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