Composing Phrase by Phrase 8
Cadential Phrasing
Hello and welcome or welcome back to my Composing Phrase by Phrase blog series! I'm composing a new work and each post details some of the thoughts I have about how and why I constructed each phrase as I did. Will the composition be successful in the end? Maybe! I hope so! But even if not, I hope that reading about the process will help you (and writing about it will help me!) have a more clear idea about how to approach the problems and questions of composing a new musical work.
Last week, I ended on a bit of a cliff hanger. The second phrase of the composition formed a consequent to the first phrase. I needed the composition to continue, of course, so I wanted to find a way to leave a door open for more material to come. The solution I settled on was what might be called a deceptive cadence. This term has specific meaning in the context of tonal theory, but the general idea is applicable: one expects a certain cadence or ending and then gets something else instead. Here are the expected and actual cadences side by side.
expected and actual cadences
Without tonal harmony's fairly strict hierarchy of harmonic progressions, the expectation is created by the direction of the musical line. In this case, a descending chromatic scale is used at the end of each four bar unit to lead the ear into the beginning of the next four bars.
leading chromatic lines
This direction is reinforced in the arrangement with a shift from a melody-harmony-bass texture to a harmonic planing texture. The repetition of the four bars in sequence (that is to say, the repetition is done within a different harmony) helps reinforce the expectation as well. A strong descending scale at the level of the measure is mirrored by a descending structure at the level of the phrase. Without the aid of stylistic practice, the mind's ear nevertheless develops an expectation based on the way what it has heard is repeated. Creating, fulfilling, and thwarting those expectations is a big part of the most memorable compositions.
Alright, now let's look at the phrase itself.
phrase 3, mms. 17-26
It's a bit of a feisty one, this phrase! In function, this and the next phrase are forming a cadential section. Just like phrases have cadences at the end of them, phrase groups have "cadences," too. They come in a variety of guises. This one is a dramatic interruption of a relatively stable and consonant pair of phrases, an escalation of the smaller interruption brought by the viola in measures 2 and 6. Ratcheting up the energy like this helps prepare a pleasing fulfillment brought by a return to familiar material.
So what's in it, exactly, this third phrase? Cello and viola are paired, rhythmically and sometimes pitchally in unison. They are mashing out a B-flat major-7th chord, a usually lightly spiced sonority whose heat is turned up by the accented double and triples stops. Because of the speed required, the cellist's triple stopped chords physically require the player to crush the bow into the three strings to get the three notes out in time. This combined with the open strings and the dissonant chord type combine to create a gnarly crunching sonority.
When the viola and cello switch from chords to a motivic statement, the material is drawn from the viola's interruption in measure 2. For comparison:
m.2 viola motive and mms.19-20
The two violins are almost but not quite in sync with each other. They are playing a similar motive, one which is a development of the viola's interjection shown above. Permit me a quick dive into the nerd box: The minor seconds have been replaced with their inversion, the major seventh. These are placed at two points in the harmony. The second violin starts at the chord's 3rd, D, and adds a C-sharp on top of that. The first violin actually starts on F-sharp, an augemented fifth smashed on top of the B-flat major-seventh chord below it. It adds an E-sharp on top of that, which is the same as the BbMaj7th's perfect fifth. In this way, the violins kind of mirror each other: one starts on a chord tone and adds a dissonance, the other starts on a dissonance and adds a chord tone.
mms.17-18, violins, chord and non-chord tones
All together, the two halves clash against each other, and the rhythmic offset in the violins helps create another layer of instability and tension. The register of material is placed fairly high into the violin and viola's range which brings a taut brightness to the tone of the material, almost a shrieking kind of sonority (but not as shrieking as Penderecki's Threnody, for contrast). The interjection can be heard either as an interruption of violence, which, you know... gestures broadly Or it can be interpreted as a rough and tumble practical joke. Like on Johnny Knoxville and crew on Jackass. Either way works for me.
Anyways. The reason I brought up the nerd box was because the chord was chosen deliberately. Recall that one of the composition's goals is a big section in B-flat major. We already had some foreshadowing of the B-flat from the viola in measure 2. Now that foreshadowing is repeated, perhaps insisting upon itself. Of course, the future B-flat major section is far more calm than this. Take that as you will.
One other reason I chose the B-flat chord is because it leads well to a resolution on the previously expected A-major-with-extensions-to-taste chord. We already had a descending chromatic scale used as a leading motif. This B-flat to A harmony change is basically just a big extension of that.
Alright, that about brings me up to the word count for today! I hope you learned a little bit about composing today. If you liked what you read, consider following the blog on your RSS feed. If you really liked what you read, consider joining my Patreon! I post audio samples of the scores here on the blog as well as scores and videos of compositions not featured here. Either way, thanks for reading! Hope to see you next time!
