Chopin: Prelude No.15 in Db

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Strcture-tenary form.

Section A

  • Lyrical melody accompained by quavers in bass.
  • section also ahs its own ABA structure.
  • Is in Db major.

Section B

  • Melody in bass and quavers above.
  • Major to minor (C# minor)
  • Has a couple of ff sections.

Section A

  • Return to opening melody and key.
  • Shorter and finishes with a coda.
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Rhythm,metre and tempo

  • 4/4 time.
  • septuplet in bars 4 and 23: seven notes of an equal lenght in one beat.
  • dectuplet in bar 74: same as above but with 10 notes in one beat.
  • Rubato is used: notes played longer or shorter than written, creates a flexible tempo.
  • Repeated quavers throughout the peice.
  • Melody begins with a dotted rhythm, this repeated thorghout section A making it feel lighter than section B.
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Melody

  • Prelude begins with a lyrical melody in the right hand .
  • It is decorated with ornaments, eg acciaccatura(bar 4) and a turn (bar 11).
  •  Melody features dotted rhythms and chromatacism.
  • Section B melody move to bass.
  • Narrower range and mostly made up of longer notes ( crochets and minims).
  • Mostly made up of four or eight bar phrases.
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Tonality and harmony.

  • The prelude is in Db major.
  • Harmony is mainly diatonic with occasional chromaticism.
  • Modulations from Db major to C# minor. Return to origimal key for repeat of section A.
  • Section A and B both end with imperfect cadences.
  • Prelude ends with a perfect cadence.
  • Dominant Pedal heard thoughout. Ab in section A andG#s in section B.
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Texture

Section A

  • Meoldy in right hand
  • Supported by broken chords in the left hand

Section B

  • Melody passes in to the left hand
  • Repeated quavers ( pedal in right hand)
  • Pedal is inverted and doubled in octaves when the music bulids up.
  • Texture more chordal than section A.

Section A

  • back to opening texture
  • Short monophonic texture in the coda.
  • APART FROM CODA TEXTURE IS HOMOPHONIC.
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Dynamics

  • Lots of cresendos and dimnuendos used.
  • Wide range of dynamics but no sudden constrasts.
  • Section A is quieter than section B which has two ffs.
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Use of the piano

  • Most of the prelude uses middle and lower ranges of the piano.
  • Is not virtuoso like most of Chopin's others peices.
  • Exploits wide dynamic range.
  • Sustaning pedal used for resonance to create legato melodies.
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