Listening in which I first write about who I think the composer is, then look to see (without altering my initial work)

Context

• Sounds as though it is from the Romantic period, due to its incredible dynamic range at the beginning- the voices enter at ff, and after a few seconds go to p. This exchange between the two dynamics runs throughout the piece.
• This use of what is essentially terraced dynamics could also indicate the Baroque period.
• However might be neo-Classicism, due to the Latin lyrics, which were used in the Classical period, as it was looking back to the ancient Greeks and Romans.

The piece is O Fortuna by Carl Orff. I will look at the first 2 minutes and 54 seconds of it.

Rhythm

• From 0:00 to 0:16 entirely crotchets and minims with both voices and instruments, creating drama and tension from the start.
• From 0:18 to 0:25 quavers are introduced, broadening the range of rhythmic values used and thus creating development in the piece, which adds to the tension, as well as the fact that the harmonic rhythm has increased too as a result of the quavers being added. The long fermata at the end of this phrase indicates the introduction of a new phrase.
• At 0:29 there are crotchets once again in the voices, as a reference to the initial phrase of the piece, with the bassoon and strings playing quavers as a tonic-dominant bass. This emphasises the key of the piece. This rhythmic motif continues for a majority of the piece.
• At 2:44, more of the instruments begin playing the quaver motif, further developing the music.

Melody/Harmony

• First melody enters at 0:05, very simple in pitches used- super tonic, mediant, tonic. This is played twice. At 0:18 the melody jumps to the dominant, in a sort of imperfect cadence, which assures the listener of the key. This melody fully cadences at 0:27 with a fermata on the super tonic, creating tension with the elongated suspension that remains unresolved until 0:30, when there is only a mediant used, however this is less tense.
• The melody beginning at 0:30 is centred around the mediant and super tonic notes, which is very tense and remains unresolved until 0:57, yet even then the melody repeats, so we have the tension once more.

Mahler Section B Analysis

This piece sounds as though it is from the Romantic period, as it does not appear to have such an extensive harmonic range and as much dissonance as the music of the 20th century. However it is quite emotional (due to its extensive use of legato playing, and later the rubato used in the B section), and for all its (arguably) rhythmic simplicity. The piece would be played in a concert hall normally, due to the fact that it is from a symphony (the 1st), and thus requires a lot of space for the large ensemble (a full orchestra).
The piece begins with timpani drums playing a steady pulse on the tonic and dominant notes (crotchets). This introduces the minor key. After two four-beat bars (as the piece seems to be in 4/4), a solo cello enters with a simple conjunct melody that resembles a minor version of the popular tune 'Frere Jaques'. This melody lasts for six bars, and at [0:32] a bassoon enters in direct imitation, creating a canon. At [0:53] another low pitched instrument comes in, again directly imitating the original melody, creating a three-part canon. This only lasts for four bars this time, before an oboe comes in at []. The oboe's melody is much more lively than the canon beneath it, as it consists of much shorter rhythmic values, namely quavers and dotted quavers tied to semiquavers, which refers to the countermelody (the Frere Jaques theme), although it is more disjunct, for example at [1:16] there is the interval of a perfect fourth, in a perfect cadence consisting of acciaccaturas, and at [1:12] there is the interval of a perfect fifth, played as two quavers. At [1:22] a flute enters, in direct imitation of the Frere Jaques theme, which returns the piece to the A section and gives cohesion to the piece.
The piece has two clearly distinctive sections, the A section being the Frere Jaques theme with all its canonical texturing, and the B section beginning at [2:20], which is a sultry melody introduced by the oboes, when they play a three-beat anacrusis (an ascending, conjunct, scalic pattern) that leads into a swung, almost jazzy melody that lasts for the rest of the extract. This greatly contrasts with the steady first section, as it is so syncopated and rubato is used frequently here. However one major thing the two sections have in common is that the first beat of every bar is the strongest, which creates a strong feel of the four beats in a bar, another implication that the piece is from the Romantic period (the fact that the time signature deeply manifests itself into the piece). The phrase length here seems to be two bars, then another two bars, because of the way the countermelody is used (by another oboe), as it plays half way through the second bar (at [2:24]) in a sort of response to the first oboes.
Texture throughout the extract is generally polyphonic, as we get a canon in section A that is accompanied by the timpani drums until [1:08], when the oboe comes in with its melody. At [1:23] the oboe blends into the canon by playing more quietly and also because it takes on the canon melody. At [1:44] the oboe returns with the same melody as before, which brings the material back in order to give some cohesion before this section ends. At [1:58] the oboe stops, and we just hear the canon, accompanied by the timpani and with some of the instruments now static, playing only the tonic note, which creates a more monophonic texture to ease off the tension of the section before bringing it to a close at [2:20]. The B section has a much simpler texture, which is another contrast with the A section, because it is predominantly just melody and countermelody played by the oboes, with the pulse maintained by the timpani drums (or perhaps that is the sound of strings playing pizzicato).