La soirée dans Grenade

context

impression on evening ingrendada

he spent a short time in san sebastian in spain(border to france)

grenada is known for flamenco and moorish cultrue/music

the moorish invasion of andalucia in southern spain brought its intruments and scales to europiean countries

3 elements to this piece

flamenco-guitar

moorish/arabic - melody intervals

habanera rythm with a 2 4 metre

this piece was agaisnt germany and german cultur(nationalisim)that was very powerfull.This piece was exotic

texture

homophonic chordal

dense piano chordal writing / four note chords in left or right hand

monophonic

octaves

parrallelism / parallel chords

ostinanto

pedal

3 layers_chords in upper part,melody in inner part,habanera ostinato in lower part

wide range of piano

• Homophony of various types

• Melody over ostinato

• Melody changes in it’s position throughout

melody

augmented 2nd interval

ornamentation / accicaaturas

limited range of notes

note repetition

repetition of a bar

melody based on whole tone scale

contrasting diatonic conjunct melody

descending sequence

blue note

built on a limited number of melodic motifs :

theme 1 : orientalist “andalusian “ arabic melody(moorish lament) at bar 7 : semitome and augmented 2nd feature(dissonant)

theme 2 at b 17 balanced 2-bar phrases with repetead notes

theme 3 whole tone elements

theme 4 major mode with lengthy descent

tempo metre and ryth

slow tempo

frequent changes of tempo

flexible tempo in performance / rubato / free time

2 4 duble time with change to 3 4 triple time

habanera rythm

syncopation

triplets

crossrythms

scotch snaps/lombardic rythms

rythm distorted by spread chords

harmony

pedal notesdraw the harmony in to a tonal centre

parallel 7th chords - parralel movements : creates washy texture(impressionism)

whole tone harmonies - jazzy / spanish

false relations between adjacent chords/simultaneous false relation

chords of 4ths and 5ths/open 5th chords

parallel triads

• Whole Tone Scales (b.23)

• False Relations (b.33)

• Inverted Pedal (b.6)

• Parallel movement (b. 17-18)

• Extreme Dissonance (b. 7)

• Parallel 7th chords (b.17)

tonality

keys are reinforced through use of pedal points

bar 1-28 there is a c# tonal centre despite f# minor key signatur : it is ambigious

the arabic melody uses the double harmonic scale based on C#

at b29-37 the tonal centre changes to f#

• Long pedals underpin tonal centres

• Bar 1 – 37 F# Tonal Centre

• Bar 38 – 66 A Tonal Centre

• Bar 67 – 91 F# Major

• Bar 92 -112 A Major

• Bar 113 – End F# Major

structure

This piece has a very complex structure. Ideas reoccur throughout and it is hard to pin an idea to it’s own subject. Despite this, it is possible to define ‘La soirée dans Grenade’ to having a loose ternary form. There are sections where for a couple bars the mood, harmonic pace and texture completely changes, such as in b 17 – 18, but they cannot be defined as an individual subjects. Instead they are called laments.

• Intro (introduces the Habanera rhythm)

• Subject A (bar 17 – 37)
  • Bar 17 – 18 Moorish lament
  • Bar 23 – 28 Whole Tone Idea
  • Bar 29 – 32 Moorish Lament
  • Bar 33 – 37 Extension of the moorish lament

• Subject B (bar 38 – 91)
  • Bar 38 – 60 New Rhythmic Section
  • Bar 61- 66 Whole Tone Idea
  • Bar 67 – 77 New Rhythmic Idea
  • Bar 78 – 87 Modfied Whole Tone Idea
  • Bar 87 – 91 Link. Focuses on Habanera rhythm.

• Subject A (bar 92 – End)
  • Bar 92 – 97 Moorish lament
  • Bar 98 – 108 Whole tone idea
  • Bar 109 – 113 New rhythmic idea
  • Bar 113 – Lament then fades out until left with pedal

sonority

• Large range

• Sustain pedal for blending effects (feature of impressionism)

• Long sustained notes to create a tonal centre

• Spread chords imitate flamenco guitar playing (b.28)