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Hello I haven't uploaded anything here for some time. Too busy in what is actually my job.... But I have been studying (and continue...) the harmonic, and compositional world in general, of Romanticism. Which is fascinating. I really encourage anyone interested in composition to seriously study the resources of each period. We can always, always improve. So I am uploading this piece, after reviewing some Romantic works with that title.... I hope you like it. By the way, although I have hundreds of "works" written, I am discarding, reclassifying and renumbering from Op. 1, not caring if it is something written now or years ago, as long as it has some value to me.

I'm pretty new to all of this, mostly having fun with composition while I apply to medical school. This is the first big piece I tried to write, some errors here and there with some questionable passages, but I'm overall happy with it. Very open to criticism as I hope to improve this piece and others I hope to write as a way to ward off application anxiety. Main idea of the piece: it's about the death of Henry II of France at his daughter's wedding. The beginning is meant to be a little chaotic but joyous because it represents the many people of France, both of high and low standings, gathering for this momentous occasion (imagine flying over the castle and seeing the many people walking around, preparing things). The softer part afterward is meant to represent the princess as she readies herself for the festivities, including the jousting. Bell tolls signify the beginning of the joust, with everyone being summoned to watch the event. Once things become faster, imagine the knights galloping at each other, lances ready to unsaddle their opponent. The King is one of these knights, excited to take part in a sport he loves. The tension builds as the joust becomes quite dangerous, until the unthinkable happens and the King is launched off his horse, a part of his lance protruding from his visor. The uneasiness and sadness that follows portrays the people as they become worried about not only the King's health (as he will soon perish), but also the fate of France as the King's young son will claim the throne without any experience and proper guidance.

Wow, this is great! I love some of the tactile things I can hear with your samples. The wood echo of the strings pizz, or I could hear the breathiness for some of the subtle wind moments. A hobbyist composer/aspiring medical professional? Very cool, and welcome! You do some pretty eargasmic things in your music lol. Was that wind harmonics in the background at the part around 5:40? The part at 4:00 was really to my liking too, I love the bass/cello low suspenseful line. The winds at 5:00 remind me of the scherzo in Beethoven's 9th 😄 The ending section was very beautiful, and capped this off nicely. This was a bit "heavier" in sound, which I think you flirted with the line of being too much. Nice job with that. It seemed to have a good balance with orchestral colors, and you didn't hold back with the wide range the orchestra offers (church bells, percussive stuff I couldn't quite make out, etc.). One thing to think about is your melodies and motifs. To me, as impressive as your piece sounds, it could've benefitted with stronger themes for the listener to latch on to. About halfway through listening, I read your description of the music, and I like that you used a story for the form, but attaching motifs to characters or plot points would be something to delve into deeper next time. Maybe it's there and I just didn't catch it, but that's kinda the point. I'm a guitarist, and with heavy distortion and high gain, I can mask a lot of "mistakes" or cookie cutter patterns in my leads. I can hide behind the "sound". I kind of hear something similar with this piece. There are lots of cool sounds and effects you create, and your samples really get to flourish in this. But, I'm just saying don't let that be your heavy distortion. I listened to this 3 times, and after every listen, I liked it even more. 🙂 Kudos to a fine work, and good luck with the med stuff. Involve yourself in the community as well! People would love to hear your thoughts on their music. Thanks for sharing!

Hello @nippon276, and congratulations on completing your first piece! The piece is nice and I enjoyed listening to it! I also took half of that course in the past (I never finished it, though, so I never composed the final assignment). I remember it was a nice course for starting to compose things and getting the hang of how composing worked. Since you finished that course, I would recommend you to learn the following: 1) Counterpoint: Particularly in two voices, there are many books that teach two and three voice counterpoint in the style of Bach. For example the book "Counterpoint" by Kent Kennan. 2) 4-voice part writing: I do not know many resources for this. I learned from "Harmony Treatise" by Korsakov, which I highly recommend. Back in the day it was one of the resources that helped me the most to start composing with a little bit more confidence. These two skills are really practical and t you would be able to apply them to your compositions really soon, specially now that you have the basics grasped from the "Write like Mozart" course. Regarding the piece, others will be able to give more and better feedback but I will point out a few things I saw and I think might help you: 1. Second Inversion Chords Measure 2 is a second inversion IV chord. Second inversion chords require, normally, special treatment (many times the bass move by step). The second inversion IV chord is somehow similar to the third inversion ii chord in that the bass note (F) normally moves by step to the E. In this case, it might sound better if you have a D in the bass (first inversion IV) instead of the second inversion IV. You can look for the common treatment given to second inversion chords since there will be information online. 2. Melody and Accompaniment When you have a clear melody and an accompaniment (like in this case) you do not need to worry too much about the melody creating good voice leading with all the notes of the accompaniment. Focus on creating good counterpoint between the melody and the bass mostly. Then fill in the rest of the accompaniment voices without taking to much into account the melody. In other words, you can focus only on the accompaniment having good voice leading internally and those voices could double the melodic notes. Of course you can also avoid doubling the melody notes in the accompaniment and there is nothing wrong with that. I just comment this because for a long time I was obsessed with writing perfect voice leading of accompaniment and melody together, when, in real compositions, many times the melody tones are doubled in the accompaniment and the accompaniment has good internal voice leading without too much consideration to the melodic contour (except in the melody-bass case). 3. Melody and chord-tones I believe in the course they teach about passing notes, arpeggiaturas, etc. Always be aware of those when creating a melody (even if, in the end, you decide to write the melody without following those "rules"). For example, in the m.2 you have a IV chord but the last four notes of the melody in the measure are: A-G-E-D. G and E do not form part of the main notes of the chord (Bb-D-F-A). It is not necessarily wrong so, if you like it, it is perfectly okay as it is, but in this case maybe it would sound better by doing A-G-F-D. That way you use the G as a passing tone and, in addition, you do not sound the leading tone E before the m.3. Many melodic movements are possible but always be aware of the underlying chord to be sure about your choices. 4. Melodic-Bass Countepoint As commented before, be specially careful about the counterpoint created between the melody and the bass. For example: a) m.4~5: You have a main melodic contour of F-F-G-E, with a main bass contour of F-F-F-E. It might sound better if the melody and bass did not coincide at the beginning so many times. Also, since you want to do the F-E movement in the bass, it might be better not having the leading tone E in the melody. b) m.15: In second and third beats you have the same noes in the bass and in the melody (A-Bb). This is not too bad since you are sounding the C after the A, and also the F in first beat on the bass. Good Job!

The cello melody is very lovely, lilting and serene. For me, the repetitiveness of the right hand chords and rhythm is somewhat less effective against the cello line. A bit of variation in the piano accompaniment - I believe would bring out the cello and emphasize dramatic high points in the melody. Mark

I liked it very much. It is very sparkling indeed and has charm. And something I like is that it has a good speed, where everything is recognizable (I don't like it so much when we go too fast for no reason). The textures are nice and changing and I think they, on their own, are shaping the piece.

Hi @arpeggia, really great work, I very much enjoyed it! I agree with Henry, there is a "Chopin" flavour to it (e.g.: from b. 42 to b.51) . I especially enjoyed the transition around b. 31, then the section from bb. 64 to 77 --> really very clever move, super interesting! And in general, I really enjoyed the transitions from triplets to eighths (and vice-versa), they give a feeling of great energy. PS: was it a recording? If so, what at performance!!! Thanks for sharing, I liked it, Kind regards, Julien

Hi @Guardian25! I think the main melody is quite beautiful and the simple harmony underneath is perfect. It's also a harmony that makes lingering on the tonic note very affecting. Usually I would say that using so much scalar motion would make the piece sound like it's meandering up and down aimlessly, but you seem to pull it off by giving the melody a meaningful melodic contour and by making the rhythmic placement of the motion a bit less predictable. The only thing that I think isn't very musical (at least in this rendition) is the cello's grace notes - they sound very robotic to me and it's also hard for me to imagine how they could be made to be more musical by a real life performance. But that just might be me. Somehow though, when the piano has those grace notes they don't give me the same impression. Thanks for this beauty!