Harold In Italy by Berlioz

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  • Harold In Italy by Berlioz
    • Structure
      • Ternary Form
        • Saltarello-Allegro Assai (b. 1-31)
          • Drone, Saltarello rhythm, Pifferi melody
        • Serenade-Allegretto (b. 32-135)
        • Saltarello-Allegro Assai (b. 136-165)
        • Coda that combines all melodic material-Allegretto (b. 166-208)
    • Texture
      • Mostly uses melody dominated homophony
      • The opening starts with a drone
      • The main melodic material is played in octaves by the oboe and piccolo.
      • The first viola plays a counter melody
      • The bassoon maintains a pedal throughout
      • In the B section the strings play a homophonic accomp. the serenade theme
      • Bar 53, the C.A, Oboe and bassoon play in octaves
      • Bar 60 the horns are in 3rds and 6ths
      • Bar 65-Viola solo from the idee fixe
      •  Bar 79-80 there is dialogue  (call and response)  between cor anglais/oboe, and clarinet flute/piccolo and bassoons
      •  Bar 202-206 there is a monophonic statement of idee
    • Meoldy
      • Section A
        • The second viola part has lots of repetition
        •   There is conjunct movement in the oboes and piccolo’s
        •  The melody played by the oboe and piccolo has a range of a 9th
        •  In bar 27-29 there is use of grace notes
        • The B flats represent the mixolydian mode
        •  One bar cells leads to a one bar idea and irregular phrasing
        • Bars 10, 13 and 19 are all examples of inversions of the basic material
      • Section B
        • The melody is played by the Cor Anglais
        • It opens with and arpeggio figure
        • The viola plays the idee fixe in long notes in bar 65
    • Tonality
      • The overall tonality of the piece is C
      • Cadences are clearly defined
      • Modulation is limited reflecting the folk character of the piece.
      • Tonality of the Allegro Assai (A section) is defined by a pedal C in the bassoon
      • There are modal inflections (B flat) (B flat that occurs not modulating but it hints at mixolydian mode)
    • Harmony
      • There is some chromaticism through the use of diminished chords
      • The harmony of the opening is built on a pedal C (the second bassoon pedal C goes through the whole opening)
      • Chord of F in bar 14
      •   Bar 39 to 40 is an imperfect cadence in A minor with and extension (4-3)
      •  From bar 51 the piece starts to go a bit more chromatic (lots of semitone movement)
      • Bar 71 there are chromatic upper auxiliaries in the cello part
    • Forces
      • Viola solo
      • Symphony orchestra
      • Cor Anglais in F
      • Horns are usually in F, and in the piece there are horns in E and C
      • The piccolo is an octave higher than written
      • Doesn’t use trumpets, trombones or percussion
      • The violas are divided in the beginning and the lower viola part is playing open string drones
      • The piccolo and the oboe at the beginning represent  pifferi (a rustic oboe)
      • The clarinet  plays broken  chords in bar 48 in the chalumeau register
      • In bar 166 the strings play consodini  (with mutes)
      • In bar 167 the harp plays  harmonics
      • The viola part is quite easy/ not very demanding
    • Rhythm and metre
      • 6/8
      •   Allegro assai (A) is twice as fast as the Allegretto (B)
      • Beat 2 is accented in the pifferi melody
      • Bar 37: Parts of the serenade melody sounds like its in 3/4
      •   Bar 132: Use of  semiquavers to ornament the melody
      •  Bar 132: Use of  semiquavers to ornament the melody
      • Bar 77: Triplet semiquavers
      •  Bar 192: Length of notes have doubled.  Rhythmic augmentation

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