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Sinfonia No. 91, by Franz Joseph Haydn
This is an excerpt from the first movement of a Haydn Sinfonia, in E-flat major, scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns in E-flat, and strings. This excerpt is divided into two sections, the first with a tempo of Largo, quarter note=50-60, and the second section Allegro assai, quarter note=76-92. The Largo is very relaxed, and should be played with a steady tempo in ¾ time; in the Allegro, there is a slight emphasis on the first note of each measure—you can almost feel it in “one” instead of “three”.
The piece begins with a stately series of chords, quarter notes on beats 1 and 3, staccato and forte (except the violins, who are fortissimo). Then the bassoon has a solo, joined a measure later by the flutes and first violins, accompanied by broken eighth-note chords in the second violins and sustained notes in the violas and cellos. Seven measures later, the chords return, followed by another lyrical passage; the flutes and violins have the melody again, a descending quarter-note scale, in which each third note is repeated. The violas now have the broken chord accompaniment. The cellos have half notes and quarter notes, in tenor clef. The section ends at measure 20 with a D-flat major chord.
The Allegro assai section begins with strings alone, no winds. The first and second violins are in unison, and have a chromatic four-note pattern of three quarter notes followed by a dotted half note. The violas, cellos, and basses have the same pattern, rhythmically opposite—it begins with a dotted half note followed by three quarter notes. As the violin pattern ascends, the viola/cello/bass pattern descends, and when they reach the Bb major chord, they switch: the violins now have the descending, dotted-half followed by quarters, and the violas, cellos, and basses have the ascending, quarter followed by a dotted-half note. Then they all come together with quarter notes, and the woodwinds enter at measure 36.
The first violins now have a sprightly 4-measure melody of eighth notes and sixteenth notes—this is the first time we’ve encountered sixteenth notes. Then the low strings, second violins, and bassoons take the melody, followed by eighth note ascending and descending patterns and double stops in the violins. Our excerpt ends just as things are getting exciting.
As always with reading an orchestral score, the considerations are transpositions and where the eye should be at any given moment. It is incredibly valuable to take a moment to glance through the entire score to get a sense of which parts are very important and should not be left out—such as solos, or passages that are only played by one section (one staff)—and also to be aware of any tempo changes or key changes. The only transpositions we have are the basses, which sound an octave lower than written, and the two horns in E-flat major, which sound a major 6th lower than written (not a minor third higher). Let’s run through the excerpt again, this time with sight-reading considerations in mind. The opening four measures are simply chords: E-flat, B-flat, and A-flat major. We must be aware of the oboes and horns, which have a moving quarter note part that fills in the chords in measure 2. When the lyrical melody begins at measure 4, we see that we only have to play the broken eighth note pattern in the second violins (with left hand), catching the cellos’ and violas’ notes with that hand as well. The right hand plays the flutes and violins, a simple melody in octaves. It is not uncommon in classical orchestral music for the flutes and violins to be in unison or octaves, as is often true for the cellos and bassoons. We have to be careful at measure 16: the broken chords are now in the violas, and the cellos are playing in tenor clef. The beginning of the Allegro assai section is easy: the violins are in unison, as are the lower strings, so we essentially only have to read two staves. Things change again at measure 36, but at measure 40 the lower strings and bassoon have the same melody, so we only have to worry about the flutes, oboes, and violins. General points to remember: be careful of transposition and clef changes, see chords rather than individual notes, and be aware of staves that are frequently in unison or octaves.
Adagio
This appears to be the Adagio movement, in D-flat Major, from a piano sonata. We are not given a composer, but it sounds like it could be Mozart. It is in ¾ time, in two sections: one page with a repeat, followed by two pages, for a total of 80 measures. The piece begins with the left hand alone, playing two voices: the melody in eighth notes with dotted-half or quarter notes in the other voice. The right hand enters in measure 5. In this piece, the right hand generally demands the most attention, though both hands frequently interact. The chief concerns here are rhythmic: the right hand has everything from quarter notes and half notes to 64th notes, so we must be careful to count, feeling the subdivision of the beat. The right hand frequently does not start on the beat. It is the left hand that is the “time keeper”, while the right hand floats floridly above. Breathing is of the utmost importance, a short inhale before the sixteenth note triplet figures or the syncopated eight notes will help keep everything even and relaxed. The rhythmic pattern that first appears in measure 13 is easy to rush; the first note of the right hand doesn’t come as quickly as you expect. Count the subdivision of the beat; this is not a dotted rhythm. The sextuplets that follow must fit into the third beat, but there is plenty of time for them. We don’t need to worry too much about the ornamentation; a quickly glance through the score reveals that they are mostly trills and a few mordents.
Even when sight-reading, we must pay attention to phrasing and articulation. This score gives us no clues as to dynamics, phrasing, or articulation, but the dynamics probably range from mezzo-piano to forte. The articulation can be mostly legato in the left hand, though I would probably play the sextuplets in the right hand with a gentle staccato. The three-note sixteenths from measure 66-71 could be played as one note staccato, two note slurred; similar articulation patterns can be applied at the player’s discretion.
Ragtime Tune
This is a short, two-page ragtime piece, a musical style popular in America between 1890 and 1910. Characteristic of ragtime is a moderate tempo—in this case quarter note=126-132, even eight notes, and syncopated accents. Ragtime is a rhythmic form in which the beats are “avoided” and the syncopations before and after the beat are accented. This piece must not be played too quickly, and the eights should not be rushed. We must play extremely relaxed, with an almost “sloppy” feel, while keeping the rhythm perfectly accurate.
The right hand has the melody, and the left hand has a simple “boom-chuck” accompaniment. This piece is actually a caricature of ragtime, according to the paragraph of explanation at the beginning of the piece, and sounds very humorous. The accents can be exaggerated, and the first note of each of the two-note tied patterns can be slightly accented. Both hands should play with a light staccato during the melodic sections, and strongly accented short staccatos in the chord sections. The minor seconds in the right hand that begin in measure 28 should be annoyingly humorous; the score tells us to crescendo into them and accent them.
In terms of sight-reading considerations, we focus primarily on the melody in the right hand, seeing the left hand as chords with inversions. Indeed, if we only played the right hand, we would still get a sense of the piece. Our eye moves about two beats, or half a measure, ahead of what we are playing. The piece begins in F major, followed by a four measure repeated passage in B-flat major, then the A-flat major “B part” that comprises most of the second page, concluding with a four-measure coda in F major. There are frequent accidentals to watch out for, in addition to the key changes. Unexpected notes or harmonies should be emphasized.
4 Impromptus, Op. 90: No. 1 in C Minor, by Franz Schubert
This is the first of a series of Impromptus, which are free-form pieces, usually for solo instrument (in this case piano), that have the character of improvisation. It begins in the key of C minor, with a stately march-like theme. This theme is stated in its “opening” form, which ends on the implied G major chord, in the right hand alone. It is then followed by a “closing” form, which returns to C minor at the end of the four-measure phrase. Then the right hand plays a slight variation on the theme, this time a minor third higher, and the left hand joins in for the following “closing” form. This pattern is repeated several times, growing more elaborate (octave doublings in the left hand), and then we hear a four-measure transition of dotted half notes followed by the dotted-eighth/sixteenth note “pickup” from the beginning of the theme. The chords are strong; our right hand’s statement is growing more confident, no longer suggesting timidly, but now stating forcefully. Then we have four more measures of transition chord. This time there is a surprise: the final measure of this first section takes us from a D-flat major chord to an E-flat dominant seventh (major-minor seventh), which resolves in the next measure to an A-flat major chord.
This brings us to the second section, a lyrical variation on the theme—this Impromptu almost has a “theme and variation” structure. The right hand has the melody again, accompanied by triplets in the left hand. The melody moves through several keys, doubled for a while in octaves, the left hand playing only triplets. At measure 60, the hands reverse roles, and the left hand takes the melody while the right hand has triplets. At measure 74, we have a new melody, a wistful tune in A-flat major in the right hand accompanied by repeated eighth note chords. The first theme returns at measure 88 in the left hand, growing progressively more intense and forceful; we hear the piece approach its point of greatest excitement. But then the tension resolves into a new “variation” at measure 125, sixteenth note accompaniment in the right hand, and the melody also in the upper voice of the right hand, with off-the-beat eight-notes (playing on “and” of “one-and-two-and”). We have another variation on this when both hands play strong alternating chords, the left hand on the beat, the right hand playing on the division of the beat. Then the sixteenth note left hand accompaniment returns, with the melody in the right hand, in measure 145, which recalls this variation in measure 135. At measure 152, the wistful melody from measure 74 is back, but we’re in a new key now: G major. We move through several new keys on the last page, including the parallel minor of g minor, with the melody in the right hand and the repeated eighth note chords in the left hand. At measure 193, we decrescendo to pianissimo, and the piece ends in C major, the tension resolved into tranquility.
Our sight-reading concerns are greatly simplified after recognizing the general “theme and variations” structure. We have different sight-reading problems in each section: in the first, opening section, our eye moves about half a measure ahead of our fingers, and we must focus on both hands, though the right hand sometimes demands more attention. Dynamic contrast is very important, as this is a romantic piece, and the embellishments and octave doublings of the theme must be accompanied by crescendo—in the first page alone, we have a dynamic range of pianissimo to fortissimo and sforzando.
The second variation (the melody with triplet accompaniment) is in the key of A-flat, so we must be aware of the key change; the theme moves down chromatically, with plenty of accidentals. We must watch out for the right hand/left hand switch in measure 60, when the right hand takes the triplets and the left hand has the melody.
The third variation at measure 74 is actually not too difficult to read; the left hand has repeated eighth note chords, and the right hand has the melody, sometimes with the repeated rhythm as well. But once we recognize this repeated rhythm as unchanging, we only have to worry about the notes. Our attention is focused primarily on right hand, through this variation and into the new variation at measure 125 (the sixteenth notes in the right hand). As usual, we must see these sixteenth notes as chords rather than individual notes, taking care to bring out the melody in the upper voice. We play staccato, forte chords at measure 139, and the right hand must be more accented and staccato than the left hand—the two hands are not equal. We must be ready for the key change at measure 152, but it recalls measure 74 (the wistful theme). We move through several new keys on the last page, finally ending up in C major. There is much dynamic contrast on the last page, as on the first page; ranging from triple piano to fortissimo. We end tranquilly in C major.
4 Impromptus, Op. 90: No. 2 in G-flat Major, by Franz Schubert
This beautiful, andante Impromptu has three voices: the left hand plays the bass, simple chords of two or three notes, usually in fifths and octaves, and the right hand has an eighth note accompaniment in the lower voice and the melody in the upper voice. The melody should ring out over the other voices; we can imagine singing it. Our initial dynamic marking is pianissimo, but we should not take that to mean that all voices should be played at the same dynamic level. The left hand (bass) should begin pianissimo, the middle voice between piano and mezzo-piano, and the melody should be clearly heard at about a mezzo-forte. The time signature requires some consideration; it marked double cut-time. We note that each measure has two whole notes, and should be felt as two groups of two, rather than as eight beats per measure.
Our eye moves about half a measure ahead of what we are playing, depending on the frequency of the chord changes. The chords often change only once or twice a measure, though the chords are frequently inverted. In the descending quarter note figure in the melody that is first heard in the second half of measure 3, we see that while the melody descends by step, the middle voice remains the same.
Though the middle voice is sometimes written on the bass clef staff, it is almost always played by the right hand. The music has a close texture, concentrated around the middle registers. The left hand needs a bit more attention in the second and third pages, when it has either three eighth-note or four sixteenth-note pickups to the next measure.
There is nothing fancy about the rhythm in this piece: even eighth notes, quarter notes and half notes in the melody, and sustained whole notes. The beauty and the interest of this piece are the harmonies and the progressions. The notes wash over the listener in flowing, ever-changing streams. It is music that never stops moving. Because of this, we must be very aware of the large phrases, even when sight-reading it for the first time. We must understand where each phrase is “going”, and we must also have a sense of the over-arching movement towards the very end of the piece. |
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The first song I decided to sight read was Rodent Rhapsody. It’s easy to spot that the song is actually two songs performed simultaneously, which is one of the first things that I figured might cause me some problems. The fact that the counting was strange and confusing because of the different melodies, I knew I had to be extremely careful with my timing and rhythm. I also noticed there were an abundance of accidentals that appeared throughout the song, and that I needed to pay attention so as to play the song correctly. My predictions came true, and though the counting was not nearly as bad as I had anticipated, the accidentals were my downfall. Attempting to keep the timing correct, my fingers skipped over the correct notes and landed on several wrong ones. But once I went through it a second time, I remembered to look out for the accidentals and I was able to concentrate on the dynamics and musicality of the two songs.
Next, I decided to play the Courante by Handel. After an initial scan over the piece, I recognized the repeated cords, and several well known arpeggios and scales. Also, I knew that Handel was alive in the Baroque era, and being familiar with the music from that time, I was able to predict the style and voices that applied to the piece. This was an easy song for me to sight read, simply because I’m comfortable with Baroque music and because I had glanced at which scales I would be playing before I even began.
After the Courante, I went straight to the Chorale. I enjoy playing choral music, because I love the unique and sometimes surprising chord progressions that define music that is designed for the voice. I knew from the title that the range would be limited to normal vocal ranges. Being familiar with vocal scores, I knew to search the piece for any unusual chord changes before I began. Also, the tempo is not very fast, so my eyes had time to wander ahead to the upcoming music. Plus, the song consists of mostly chords, so I knew it shouldn’t be a problem to sight read. I proved myself correct in that the song is one continuous chord progression and I could play with feeling and depth, knowing I had time to look at the chord before I had to play it.
When I finished this easier song, I went on to score reading and tried to go over the Rimsky-Korsakoff piece again. I knew from playing it in class that there was plenty to watch out for in this particular orchestration. The bass was simple with its continuous F on the first beat of every measure, helping me keep time with the music. What was really difficult for me was the alto clef that the viola played in. I looked at the music before I started and tried to figure out exactly which notes I would be playing and matched them up to chords that were familiar to me. Next, I also looked at the four horn parts and transposed them in my head and outlined specific chords that I needed to play so that the music sounded correct. Needless to say, my initial sight read went terrible (the one in class), but the second time I knew which measures were difficult for me, and I recognized the alto clef and the transpositions I had to make in my head before I played. Thus, my second try went much better than the first, and I was able to play something that sounded remotely like a bass, viola and horn orchestration, except on the piano.
Finally, the last song I chose to study and write about was Schubert’s Impromptu no. 2 in Eb Major. Having played Schubert before, I knew the style of which I’d be playing, so I was able to relax. I also saw that the left hand had a bass accompaniment to the right hands triplet melody, which in turn consisted of mostly different runs or scales. I noticed the accidentals and anticipated the chromatic changes. Plus, I spotted the dynamics paralleled the direction of the right hand. And finally, I drilled the key signature into my head, so that I’d play the song in the correct key. Fortunately, the initial run through of the song went well, and I was able to play the song with a certain ease because of my ability to predict what needed to be done. However, the song was not up to the correct tempo, but luckily when I played the piece again, my fingers knew what to expect and I was able to play the song without much difficulty.
Thus ends my adventures of sight reading for the past two weeks. I’m surprised and quite pleased at how much I have already improved with the much needed practice. |
