Composing Phrase by Phrase 22

Recap's End

Hello and welcome or welcome back to Composing Phrase by Phrase! We're in the coda of the composition, trying to figure out how to end the dang thing. I guess I could just slap a V-I cadence on the end and call it a day, but... no. Last week's post took us on the first steps towards the ending. Let's keep tugging on that thread and see where it goes. Here's the next phrase for today:

mms. 194-205

The phrase kicks off with a passage of sixteenth-note runs reminiscent of measures 155-158. The segment is playing a similar role each time. Each of them is helping set up a structural change in the composition, the first returning us from the middle section into a return of the melody from the beginning and the second now taking us from the recap towards the end.

At 155, the runs were in groups of six. Here, they are in groups of four. Even though there isn't an actual difference in tempo between them, the smaller grouping gives the impression of 194 seeming "faster" because each iteration happens in a shorter amount of time. Same subdivision, different meter.

Viola and cello are playing the supporting role again, so let's start with them. The two alternate playing fast, crunchy chords. The base chord is a G major, but the cello adds a C-sharp to the mix. This gives the sonority a bit of extra pungent spice to it. The two instruments are offset from the meter, as well. By never playing on the downbeat, the rhythm has a feeling of driving instability.

mms. 194-197, viola and cello

The violins take turns alternating sixteenth-note runs on each beat of the meter. The ending of each dovetails into the next to create an overlapping flow of pattern. It also gives it a slight stereophonic effect, to the extent such a thing could be heard with a string quartet in a typical concert space.

mms. 194-197, violins

What are they doing harmonically? That's a little more difficult to describe. I'm going to note that I'm just going to describe how I wrote it. Theorists will likely have better language to describe what it is. Each measure runs the course of a hexachord, a group of six notes. It might be a little odd to call it a scale, but I guess that's what it is, actually. A scale with a gap of a third in there somewhere.

Each segment of the hexachord runs through three steps of a third. So the first hexachord, descending, is G, F, E, C, B, A, then repeating G. The first violin covers G, F, and E, as well as the skip to C before landing on B. The second violin picks up where the first left off going through B, A, G and then... E-flat. I don't have great logic for why it's E-flat instead of E. I'm pretty sure I wanted the half-step leading into the next measure's D. Could I go back and change the first violin's E to an E-flat? Yes. Will I? No.

m. 194, violin hexachord

The next hexachord in 195 is D, C, B-flat, G, F-sharp, E. The transposition isn't exact, but the change from a starting tone of G to D gives the impression of a tonic-dominant progression, somewhat. In 196, we have E-flat, D-flat, C-flat, A-flat, G, F. At 197, the hexachord starts up again on D, but then turns into a good old fashioned D7 arpeggio. The D7 helps give the previous measure's harmony some context and defines it as something of a secondary dominant, a V of V in G major.

One last detail - during the last beat of measure 197, the viola comes in to help push the phrase into the next with a continuation of the hexachord pattern.

mms. 195-197, hexachord progression

Measure 198-202 mark a return of the "interruption" motive. It's not the same as the others, but it's not so different that I feel like I need to go into great detail to describe it again. It's the half-step motive accompanied by big, crunchy chords built on C minor flat-nine, lots of sevenths, lots of accents, lots of lotsness. These measures act as the arrival point for the previous four bars.

mms. 198-202

Last but maybe least, we've got scales! SCALES! What kind of hack resorts to using... Ahem. I mean, yes, these scales help bring the momentum of the previous measure's energy towards the actual actual coda. Worth noting are the parallel fifths in measure 203, because I really can't be bothered, and the cello's entrance in 204 doubling the viola to allow a seamless transition to the lower register of the string quartet in 205.

The first violin's scale was written first and then harmonized by the second violin and the viola. Measure 203 follows a pretty straightforward D major scale starting on G (or G Lydian, if you like), while 204 tracks an E-flat minor scale with an extra chromatic step that allows the line to end on a D. From there, the viola and cello pick up with a B-flat whole tone scale pressing towards the B-flat arrival in 206.

mms. 203-206

And that about covers it! I'm sure I missed some interesting tidbits here and there. If you'd like, you can follow the blog on your RSS feed. Hope to see you again next week!