Bredon Hill

bells are important in this piece

could say the bells are insistent

the material depends on the text

sonority

lots of bells

piano quintet + voice

piano much more chordal writing

sustainted pedal used a lot - gives a bell sound effect

the ringing sound is kinda the memory of the girl,it resonatesç

the sustained pedal and the bell evokes time passing and time fading but still being there

con sord ( mute)

at the beggining theres a lot of double stopping creates a rich sounds they are trying to get the natural harmonics of the bell,

in bar 100 he use pizzicato and then arco(creates the effect of the bell, the hitting and decay)

he uses the strings to depict the funeral

bar 128 when he tells the bells to shut up(Oh noisy bells be dumb) (on the word dumb theres a repeated down bows which creates this phsyco - gives ephasises and gives anoyance)

structure

strophic yet not but it doesn't have a chorus, yet it has some variation

intro,A,A1,B,B1,C,D,A2,ending

A

A1

B

B1

C

D

C is when things start to change, the melody changes the tonality changes

theres no chorus but theres new material

maybe wider listening schubert leed on the cyclical structure

intro - bars 1 to 24 (mainly chordal introduction)

verse 1 - bars 24 to 35

interlude 35-39

verse 2 39 to 48

interlude 48-51

verse 3 is new material 52-66

verse 4 66-82

ends abruptly

min intro 82-84

verse 5 84-100

verse 6 -100-114 - funeral

verse 7 115-135 postlude 136-end

dynamics

ppp but its says pesante(heavy so its quiet but heavy very melancholy)(conveys feelings and distance)(bar 20) → ff-127

bar 127 - he gets taunted by the bells(much louder and “noisy bells to be dumb” is ff

texture

mainly melody dominated homophony however theres antiphony and homophony

verse 1 and verse 2 is very simple melody dominated homophony and sustained chords plus verse

in bar 52 the instrumentation is reduced to just piano and voice however the right hand is more active with triplets so even thought its a reduced texture its a more active texutre,theres a change in texture.creating contrast

bar 127(where he tells bells to shut up) theres much more activity in the piano,theres a rising and falling arpeggios

b 15 heterophony (RH piano + violin 1 )

tonality

key signture is major but its the relative minor but then it gets ambigious

first verse → g pentatonic scales G A B D E suggest its in g

but in bar 29 its in f natura

bar 33 its G Dorian

in verse 5 the tonality is further blurred and theres chromaticism but if we look closely its G Locrian(very dark scale)

it ends in a mine 7 however the vocal melody ends on a g so it doesn't feel resolved

lower part a minor 7 upper part is minor 7 ( very ambiguous),the mans life is unresolved it doesn't feel like it comes a satisfactory ending cause hes haunted by the bells

33 happy is minor 3rd

harmony

everything is built on the minor 7ths chords

mostly in the beggining theres these minor 7th chords

in the begigning theres these alternating minor 7ths chords Emin7 and Amin 7th(serene)(theres a perfect 4th)

in bar 13 theres c major 7

parallel harmonies

paralel 4ths

serene 7th chords and impressionistic parallel 4ths

9ths and 11th chords in bar 52(cminor 7th with added 9ths and 11th

non functional - no clear cadencepoints(no perfect cadences and such) more about mood rather than resolution its about leaving thins unresolved

melody

mainly stepwise,sylabbic,conjunct

33 happy its melismatic

some large leaps in 68 and 70 with the word “among” maj 6,”Springing thyme” minor 7th

verse 1 is very pentatonic because it is folky inosence simplicity

verse 5 disjunct,more chromatic more disconant it uses the locrian sacel

in the “happy” verse1-4 the melody is higher and the verse 5 and 6 is lower

rythm metre and tempo

in 2 2 but they are a couple of metre changes(2 4 and 3 2) only to allow the text,emphasize the important of the song here(the melody)

in verse 5 and 6 the tempo slows down and it changes to 4 4

there are some accelrandos and ritardandos

moderately tranquilo

rythms charectirezed by lots long sustained tied notes throughout represent bells

they becomes shorter

in bar 84 theres less movement than before more sustained notes,creating melanchoyly,in 100 theres single bell toll(single note),the right hand is dotted rythm and the left hands os playing on beats 2 and 4

in 128 where the bells are tauting him there semiquavers agaisnt triplets(when he says bells be dumb)

theres an interesting device of lengthening notes bar134-135 goes from smeiquavers to triplets to quavers to crotchet triplets(gives the illusion of slowing down but it doesnt actually slow)(la fille avec le cneveaux de debussy WIDER LISTENING)

these are notes taken from a lecture

main musical idea is about bells calling people to church

uses the idea of bells as the central feature of the song

when tenor enters at bar 24 the voice is meant to be “sung freely” like recitative

modal harmony is mixolydian starts when the melody comes in

meloday is in g major until in bar 29

melody is sylabic but theres a melisma in bar 33