Prelude and Fugue
Subtitle: for orchestra.
Published: 2005
Language: eng
Number of pages: 108
Description: The octatonically-influenced Fugue subject appears first using Damper technique, then Heterophony, Grace-note and finally Free-bow techniques. Each technique is also used in supporting lines in the Fugue.Prelude and Fugue is work which explores techniques of orchestrational blurring. The form allows comparisons among these blurring techniques, both sequentially (in the Prelude) and contrapuntally (in the Fugue).FREE-BOW, DIAPHRAGM, SINGLE-FINGER and SINGLE-MALLET TECHNIQUE all use aspects of the performer's physical limitations to generate independent tempo variations within a sequence of notes. These techniques are introduced in mm.19--223, where the thematic material derives from the Fugue theme.Four principal blurring techniques are used. (1) The main theme of the Prelude (mm.23--49) uses DAMPER TECHNIQUE, in which each note of the melody is sustained softly for several measures. The melody is structured in such a way that the resulting harmonies combine tertian and quartal elements in colourful but non-functional sonorities. Development (mm.49--90) and a repetition (mm.90--114) continue the same texture. The same theme and technique return at the culmination of the fugue (m.372), and as a coda (m.398-end). (2) Foreground material in mm.121--186 uses HETEROPHONY TECHNIQUE, a method of blurring in which several instruments simultaneously play the same melodic line, but with different ornamentations and rhythmic alterations. The thematic material here develops the principal Prelude theme.GRACE-NOTE TECHNIQUE gives a single instrumentalist a series of notes with a precise beginning point and the instruction to play the sequence as quickly as possible maintaining even flow. When multiple instruments of like tonal colour combine using Grace-note technique, it causes a different kind of orchestral blur. Measures 1--22 use this technique to present material containing elements of the main themes. Grace-note technique subsequently appears most often in a counter-melodic role.This work is one continuous movement, with the beginning Prelude lasting through m.262, and the Fugue from there to the end. However, the delineation of the form is not so rigidly clear as in traditional models: textural characteristics are shared by both sections, and the principal thematic elements of each section play a supporting role in the other.
Notes: Thesis (Mus.Doc.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

Electronic version licensed for access by U. of T. users.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-06, Section: A, page: 2009.