Form and Structure in Music

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Form and Structure in Music

• Area of Study 1

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Ground Bass and Variations

• Ground Bass A Baroque form in which a bass
  melody called a ground is played over and over
  again to a set of variations in the other
  instrumental/vocal parts.

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Ground Bass

• A repeating pattern of notes ALWAYS in the bass.
  (Hence its name!!)
• The music starts simple then becomes more
  complex.
• It was called a ground as this was the lowest
  part.
• The bass would repeat every one, two, four or
  eight bars.

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Features of Ground Bass

• Often in a minor key (sounds sad)
• The notes were mainly of long value (crotchets
  and minims)
• Slow tempo
• Usually created a solemn mood - especially if
  chromatic notes were used. (Notes that move in
  semitones, e.g., C - Csharp etc.)

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Ground Bass and Variations

• Ususally, the piece would start with just the
  ground bass.
• When the bass came around to repeat, new melodic
  parts were brought in to build the musical
  texture.
• The composer would then vary the number of parts
  playing, the type of note values used, the
  dynamic levels, pitch etc.
• In many pieces, the note values became shorter to
  create more drama and give the sense of the music
  becoming faster.
• Listen to Canon in D by Pachelbel

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Theme and Variations

• Common in the Classical and Romantic eras
• Composers were interested in writing pieces that
  started with a theme heard at the beginning of
  the music and then created variations on that
  theme for the rest of the piece. Mozart managed
  to write 20mins of variations on the theme
  twinkle twinkle little star!!
• In the Romantic era, it became popular to write
  variations that developed motifs which were
  smaller fragments from the main theme. This made
  the music a lot more interesting, instead of just
  writing variations on the main melody.
• Listen to Piano Concerto in C minor by Mozart.

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Ternary Form (A-B-A)

• A piece of music that has three parts.
• The first section is described as A, the middle
  contrasting section, B and the third section is
  A1 as it is a repeat of the first. Think of a
  sandwich or a hamburger! Bread - filling - bread
  ABA
• Listen to No. 9, Volksliedchen (little
  folksong) by Schumann.

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The Classical Minuet and Trio

• A classical style (1750 - 1825) written in
  ternary form.
• The minuet is a dance in triple time and the
  contrasting middle section - the trio, has less
  instrumental parts. The music then returns to the
  minuet.

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Rondo A-B-A-C-A

• Means to come around.
• It was an extension of ternary form.
• The music is structured so that the A section is
  repeated after each new section. E.g.,
  A-B-A-C-A-D-A-E-A etc. Think of a big mac or club
  sandwich! Bread, filling, bread, filling, bread.

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The Baroque Rondo

• Called a ritornello
• Was basically alternating sections of a theme
  (called the ritornello)and contrasting episodes
  (the other sections, B,C etc.) The ritornello
  would could often return in different or related
  keys. (Where the music sounds like is gone up or
  down in pitch.)
• Listen to Les Moisonneurs by Couperin.

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The Classical Rondo

• Much more simpler than the baroque rondo.
• Mostly stuck to the ABACA structure.
• It was different to the baroque ritornello as
  the main theme (A) was always in the same key.

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The romantic rondo

• Romantic composers such as Beethoven preferred
  the idea of the ritornello, where the theme
  returned in different keys.
• They also added an introduction and a end section
  called a coda. (Like an outro).
• They also sometimes included short sections
  called links (like a bridge) which joined an
  episode to the theme.
• Listen to Pavane pur une Infante definite by
  Ravel