Leonard Bernstein ~ Something's Coming from West Side Story, 1958.

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  • Leonard Bernstein ~ Something's Coming from West Side Story, 1958.
    • Structure
      • Introduction bars 1-3.
      • Section A bars 4-39.
      • Section B bars 40-105.
      • Section B1 bars 106-140. (shortened version of B)
      • Section A1 bars 141-157. (shortened version of A)
      • Outro bar 158, has a slow fade out.
    • Tonality and harmony
      • Piece is in D major, there are two contrasting sections in C major.
      • The harmony is jazz influenced, conventional chords have added 'blue' notes and other dissonances.
      • Use of tritone, which is an interval of 3 whole tones.
        • The motif of the interval of the tritone is used throughout every moment.
      • The last note is a flattened 7th. This creates a feeling of incompletion and unsolved.
    • Melody
      • The piece is almost entirely syllabic.
      • There is a quiet syncopated opening theme.
      • There is a loud and strident theme in the metre 2/4 in bar 21.
      • It has a lyrical slow moving theme that starts in bar 73.
      • Themes are repeated a number of times, but are all varied.
    • Dynamics
      • Section A is a quiet piano section.
      • Section B is marked warm and freely.
      • Range from pp to ff.
    • Texture
      • Layered textures of independent parts.
      • HOMOPHONIC.
      • The clear homophonic texture is used to make sure that the instruments don't overpower the voice.
      • Thick texture is very thick with all instruments.
        • Adds a richer harmony, also helps the vocals stand out.

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