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I have created this site in order to provide performers, listeners and composers with a description of a composer's experiences with the creative process. The posts will provide discussions of the inspirations, challenges, and successes of a composer from the inception of the piece to the culmination in performance. I will provide a link to where you can see and hear the works in progress. Comments and questions are always welcomed. They will not posted unless you grant me permission.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Fantasie Variations on the Polish National Anthem - End

Yesterday, I finished Fantasie Variations and I'm pleased with the way it came out especially considering the departure from my normal style. There are nine variations and I repeat the theme again at the end before moving to a coda.

The final fast section begins with a 5/8 variation where the measures are grouped 3+2. When I marked the tempo as 8th equals 240, little did I know that the tempo was ideal as it transitions with the eighth equaling the eighth into 6/8, where the dotted quarter equals 80, and then to 3/4, where the quarter equals 120, which was the tempo of the opening fast section. The opening piano motif uses the dotted eighth and sixteenth rhythm that permeates the theme. The saxophone enters (measure 147) with an elaborate filling in of the minor third opening interval of the theme with a turn (note, note below, note, note above). But the rest of the 5/8 is mostly free material, thus is very far removed from the theme. There are three large phrases for this idea (measures 147-165) and those 3 phrases repeat (measures 166-184), but with the piano doing the melody and the saxophone filling in for the first two phrases then back to the reverse for the last phrase. The 6/8 section at 185 varies the B part of the theme and is more recognizable even in 6/8. Hemiola of 3 against 2 is used a lot in this section.

An extension by one beat transitions the listener back into the minor variant heard earlier but with its own variation of the chromatic runs from measures 202-209. Measure 210-217 is a variant of the introduction and then the theme returns to remind the listener of what was varied. I set up the coda at measure 241 with a 5/4 measures that repeats the turn motif and sounds as if things are coming to a halt before the boisterous, rousing close.

After listening to the entire piece, I altered the chords in measure 125 so that the altered chords create a smoother progression. Because of this, I've included the entire composition in the 8/18 posting of the Sibelius file, but the mp3 is just measures145 to the end.

To see and hear what I have discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/Fantasie_Variations_blog.html. You will be viewing a transposed score.

As always, your comments are appreciated.

Dr. B
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