THIS SCORE IS A TWO-PIANO REDUCTION TO HELP YOU IDENTIFY THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ‘x’ MATERIAL

HARMONY. YOU SHOULD ALSO BECOME FAMILIAR WITH THE FULL SCORE. ‘x’ has an ambiguous time signature, fluctuating
bet ween 6/4 and 3/2. It consists of steady
crotchets and open 5ths
COMPARE to PRELUDE A
L’APRES-MIDI D’UN FAUNE TREATMENT OF ‘y’ MATERIAL
(1894) Includes what we will call the ‘foghorn’ motif.
‘y’ is used elsewhere in the movement, but unlike
‘A’ IN ‘TERNARY FORM’ TWO PIANO / FOUR ‘x’, it always maintains its shape, register and timbre.
HANDS VERSION BY RAVEL It is used like a refrain, and concludes each rotation.
ROTATION 1 (b. 1-10) It doesn’t achieve a clear sense of tonality
‘x’ material
‘B’
AS A 1 B MINOR DIATONIC
KEY
CENTRE

REPEAT OF BAR 1
REPEAT OF BAR 3
B OCTATONIC with chromatic auxiliary/passing notes

Strings marked ‘DIVISI’ / ‘SOURDINES’ (mutes)

5
‘y’ material
DOUBLED G/B DYAD (TWO NOTE CHORD)

purely OCTATONIC, spanning a TRITONE. ‘FOGHORN’ motif (‘y’).

D&B important as
COR ANGLAIS ‘CADENTIAL’ notes

‘y’ material has 4/4 feel / G7

METRICA LLY DISSONANT (first inversion) B DRONE

10

LINK PASSAGE
3 parts with new version
‘x’ in FULLER TEXTURE with DIVISI strings rather than W/W
of bar 1 and 2 alongside
chromatic ascending
minor 3rds

EXTENDED VERSION OF BAR 1-10

Starts same as Rotation

1
ROTATION 2 (b. 11-28)
 This section uses overlapping Eb/Gm PENTATONIC SCALES

14

Dm PENTATONIC MELODY
PARALLEL DOMINANT 9THS
LINE ABOVE CHORDS

G9 NEARLY SEQUENTIAL

Anticipates TERNARY
‘B’ section

PERFECT 5TH
PIZZ. DOUBLE BASS
etc…
18

Section based on ‘diatonic decoration’ of G9

G9 ‘CROTCHET OSCILLATIONS’

Eb9 with Bb DORIAN ELEMENTS

FOGHORN motif from ‘y’ again with 4/4 feel

OCTATONIC
‘METRICALLY DISSONANT’
except for A
‘ ’ (9th)
or G ACOUSTIC
As ‘x’ expands in rotation 2, so does ‘y’.
10 bars in rotation 1; 18 in rotation 2

23

OSCILLATING CROTCHETS IN ONE BAR REPEAT OF PREVIOUS 4 BARS

REPEATED UNITS REMIND US OF ‘x’

FALLING ‘FOGHORN’ motif repeated again

TRITONE
MOTIF

‘y’ is no longer fully OCTATONIC, which

integrates ‘x’ and ‘y’ material

BASED ON EITHER: both WHOLE TONE and OCTATONIC scales

ACOUSTIC/OVERTONE scale on G
 ROTATION 3 (b. 29-56) unexpected & sustained Forms a link between previous
tonally clear passage and the
29 following that is less tonally clear

melody emphasises MAJOR 2NDs and PERFECT 4THs

C MAJOR chord - kind of

RECOMPOSED version of PARALLEL CHORD variation of ‘x’ ‘tonic resolution’ of Horns emphasise 3rd (E)
previous G9

Now SIMPLE TRIADS rather than dominant 9ths

This is the MOST CONTRASTING PRESENTATION of ‘x’

JUXTAPOSITION OF WHOLE TONE AND OCTATONIC MATERIAL (b. 33-42) after tonal clarity of C major at b. 31

33 SEQUENTIAL

SEQUENTIAL
SIMILAR TEXTURE as in the opening bars
material is similar to ‘x’ 2 part with orchestral doublings

After four bars of triadic harmony, b. 33-41 introduce tonal/harmonic ambiguity

Uses C WHOLE TONE scale with some passing notes
OCTATONIC

The melody is a variation of the opening diatonic crotchet figure, but is now in the bass.

38 MORE OCTATONIC TO LINK TO ‘y’

LINKING

SEQUENTIAL SEQUENTIAL
43

RETURN of ‘y’ material, again EXTENDED.

Alternating dissonant
(b. 13) and G7 chords STRING OSCILLATIONS AGAIN

RETURN of B DRONE

46

‘FOGHORN’ motif conforms to 6/4 metre for first time.

despite SYNCOPATED PIZZICATO quavers, this section has ‘MAXIMUM IMMOBILITY’

49 EXPANSION of ‘y’ material.

COR ANGLAIS EXPANDS EXPANDED FADE OUT with new material in COR ANGLAIS
2 NOTE HARMONIC IDEA
(‘Y’), AND AGAIN IS IN 6 PEDAL B
4
Variant of its own closing motif

previous harmony reduced

to DIMINISHED TRIAD
52

bass moves down by step to F natural (tritone) - same as COR ANGLAIS

The TOTAL LENGTH of ROTATION 3

ROTATION 4 (b. 57-93) ROTATIONS 2 & 3 have consisted of ordered expansions of ‘x’.
is the sum of rotations 1 & 2:
1 = 10 bars, 2 = 18 bars ROTATION 4 lasts for 37 bars and is the longest section.
56
3= 28 bars

GENERALLY more like ROTATION 1… BUT…

The texture of ‘x’ thins out even more here, as is

the case in each subsequent rotation.
Rotation 3 ends inconclusively,
with ambiguous harmonies
based around F major, a tritone
away from the movement’s Solo viola adds additional material - half way between a new
opening tonal focus of B countermelody and expanded accompaniment.

INTERJECTS -
WHOLE TONE CHORDS
60

PARALLEL DOMINANT 7ths

PARALLEL DOMINANT 7ths
recall outline of bar 14

V7d V7d
 HOWEVER, although different from previous material, this is still a
‘B’ IN ‘TERNARY FORM’
LOGICAL CONTINUATION of the processes from ROTATIONS 1-3. ANOTHER
64
WHOLE TONE
INTERJECTION

PROVIDES TIMBRAL CONTRAST -

‘LIGHT’ through ‘CLOUDS’
a i
D#m
V i
G# D#m

RESOLUTION
! of V7d to
D#m D# PENTATONIC THEME/MELODY

PERFECT 5TH IDEA

D# DRONE sets ‘B’ section aside, but also a developed version of ‘x’ from Rotation 1 & b. 15-20

68

Gives impression of DORIAN mode

a1
The texture of ‘x’ thins out even more here, as is
b
the case in each subsequent rotation. DOUBLE BASS PIZZ 5ths

G# (implies IV?) stepwise modal harmonies like b. 20

72

a
 Return of FOGHORN
ENTIRELY OCTATONIC except for G7
melody; same as
76 Rotation 3 but with
darker orchestration

FRAGMENTS OF
PENTATONIC
PATTERNS with abrupt
ending

‘A1’ IN ‘TERNARY FORM’

80

Reduced to F/G

ECHOING HORNS
G7 Different chords from B
octatonic change the colour
C#7 (falling tritone from
ROTATION 2)

‘y’ / ‘FOGHORN’ expanded FADE OUT

85

Against more STATIC CHORDS

E7 FALLING TRITONE AGAIN similar to ROTATION 1

E7 (V7d) continued…
 NEW HARMONIC ROTATION 5 (b. 94-102)
COLOUR, but still
90 OCTATONIC

2 part version of ‘x’

transferred to the bass

Darker/more fragmented
E7 (V7b) continued… orchestration of ‘x’

G PEDAL

95 ROTATION 5 functions as a SHORT CODA

Only uses fragments of previous material

second half of uppermost line from bar 2 followed by a complete version of bars 3 & 4 (in bass)

increasing dissonance with G/B

decreasing dissonance as bass moves up to B
against F sharps and Bbs/A sharps

EXAMPLE OF DEBUSSY FADING OUT AN IDEA (‘WAVE’ STRUCTURE)

Text

B PEDAL
TREMOLANDO in the ‘cellos slight melodic variation
Two statements of ‘echo-like’ horn motif from ROTATION 2 (‘y’)
98
ENDS WITH
G7 chord is SAME KEY
tonally unstable CENTRE (‘B’)
and leaves AS OPENING
harmonic
uncertainty

Reminder of the syncopated ‘B

Two note (D-B) CADENTIAL MOTIF
section’ PENTATONIC opening idea
(cellos, double basses) of the second
statements of the FOGHORN melody
in ROTATIONS 2,3 & 4
DISSONANCE disappears

Oscillating between No real HARMONIC RESOLUTION in the final bars - harmonically

B&D in the timps and tonally ends the only way it could - REPEATED SINGLE PITCH of B