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SHOSTAKOVICH 7 PRELUDE AND FUGUE IN A OP. 87 NO. 7 LEARNING OBJECTIVES • To study the melody and rhythm of the Prelude and Fugue by Shostkovich HARMONY: PRELUDE 2 • 23-28: • Inverted dominant pedal • What are the RH chords? • What is the chord in 263? • Therefore what type of cadence is it? MELODY: PRELUDE • As discussed under structure, two ideas: • 1. followed by disjunct quavers • 2. Chorale-like chords, mostly conjunct • Find three ways in which idea 1 is developed • Straight scale, e.g. bar 8 • Semiquaver runs introduced after lots of quavers e.g. bar 10 • Quavers in descending triads e.g. 94 • Conjunct (chromatic!) quavers e.g. 13-14 MELODY: FUGUE • Incredibly, almost all melodic intervals are leaps • Find some exceptions • Subject contains some simple rising arpeggios • Find some examples of bars 1 and 4 being developed not as part of a complete statement of the subject in the second half of the fugue • 58-61 bar 1 stated 4 times in a row! What does this suggest? • E.g. bar 66 soprano part looks quite like bar 4 MELODY: FUGUE 2 • Shostakovich avoids leaps of more than an octave – can you think of a reason why? • Which melodic intervals does he use in the subject and countersubjects? Which does he avoid? • Shostakovich is careful to balance ascending and descending melodic movement (what sort of music has he stolen this idea from?) Don’t forget to state the obvious: The melody of the fugue is based on a subject, which consists entirely of the notes of an A major chord, and two countersubjects… RHYTHM: PRELUDE • What is the time signature? • Find places where Shostakovich deliberately avoids the first beat of the bar • What do you already know about the lengths of the phrases? • Do the time signature changes have a significant effect? • Find some syncopation RHYTHM: FUGUE • What is the time signature? • Describe the rhythmic characteristics of the subject and each of the countersubjects • What is the shortest note length in the fugue? • There is almost continuous quaver movement throughout starting at bar 5