Taught by renowned pianist
Johnandrew Slominski
Music analysis is for the classroom, not the concert stage... Right? Not so fast, says music theorist and concert pianist Johnandrew Slominski. Join the Linfield College professor for an illuminating look at the aesthetic and dramatic possibilities that arise from applying music analytic techniques. Using Franck's signature Prelude, Chorale and Fugue as a model for analysis, Slominski reveals how musical motives serve as the unifying thread of the work and shows you how to construct what he calls an "architecture of interpretive possibilities" when preparing for performance.
Applying Music Analysis to Performance
We often hear about the importance of analyzing our pieces when preparing for performance. But what does this mean in practice? In this lesson, music theorist and concert pianist Johnandrew Slominski demonstrates how to approach repertoire with an analytical lens that can actually inform interpretative decisions, with examples from Chopin, Schubert, and Brahms. This lesson also serves as a preface to Slominski's extended case study in music analysis, concentrating on Franck's Prelude, Chorale and Fugue.
Prelude, Chorale and Fugue – Prelude Analysis
What do you get when you cross Bach and Wagner? The answer is Cesar Franck! Franck was born on the very day Beethoven finished his 9th Symphony, so perhaps he was predestined to develop a close relationship with music of the past. As Johnandrew Slominski reveals, the Prelude from Franck's signature 'Prelude, Chorale and Fugue' follows an arpeggiated voice-leading pattern that could have been ripped from Bach's figuration preludes in the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier, except that it employs late-romantic harmonies reminiscent of Wagner. Inside the moody first few bars of the Prelude lies a motive that ends up unifying the entire work: a "Kreuz," or "cross" motive that resembles Bach's musical signature.
Prelude, Chorale and Fugue – Fugue Analysis
Preludes have been indelibly linked fugues ever since Bach composed his "48," the so-called Well-Tempered Clavier. While Bach rarely united his preludes and fugues motivically, Franck made a point of it. As Johnandrew Slominski shows, the Fugue from Franck's Prelude, Chorale and Fugue incorporates the sighing motive born in the opening bars of the piece and developed further over the course of the Prelude. Slominski then considers how one might choose to interpret this connection in performance.
Prelude, Chorale and Fugue – Chorale Analysis
Although originally intended as a Prelude and Fugue in homage to Bach, Franck's signature piano work eventually sprouted a chorale. As Franck explained to his student Vincent d'Indy, the Chorale serves a unifying role in the work. As Johnandrew Slominski shows, this unification is achieved through Franck's use of motives. First, Franck enlarges the double-neighbor motive that forms the crux of the work and uses it as a structural key scheme for the Chorale. In the Chorale's melody, Franck appropriates a storied bassline pattern known as the "Romanesca," which can be heard from Pachelbel to Beethoven to Wagner. Slominski considers the religious overtones of the Romanesca and its significance in Franck's work.
Prelude, Chorale and Fugue – Unifying Motives
When developing an interpretation of a large-scale piece like Franck's Prelude, Chorale and Fugue, it's important to trace the purely musical connections that emerge and develop over the course of the work. As Johnandrew Slominski reveals, upon analysis, one discovers a startling fact: at the moment Franck finally achieves tonal closure in the coda of the work, he brings together motives from all three movements. It is the performer's responsibility to pronounce these motives in developing an overarching narrative interpretation so that they may be experienced with a maximum of dramatic intensity at the climax of the work.
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