Fugax Contrapunctus

Unfortunately, given how short this piece already is, such textural density isn't just merely accidental, but a properly deliberate design choice. Should the composition in question reach up to more than 3 minutes or so, as is the case for other compositions of such duration among my works, perhaps I would consider temporarily suppressing one or more of the given voices. Otherwise, unprompted rests in the middle are out of the question for me. Fixed, and thank you for your kind words, as well as your constructive feedback.

The name of the program in question is Cantāmus (https://cantamus.app/), a music rendering website originally intended for vocal rehearsals, but which serves my purpose of setting my vocal works with actually "sung" lyrics well enough, so to speak. Better yet, it doesn't even work with MIDI, as it reads the score directly once uploaded to the site as a .musicxml file (which I find rather optimal, given my own bad experiences and failures in trying to get MIDI exports of my compositions to be relatively decent). I also often tend to overlay the final recording of the Cantāmus rendering with the audio file for my composition as sung by the MuseScore 4 MuseSounds Choir soundbank afterwards using Audacity, so as to grant the otherwise crisp and dry timbre of the Cantāmus voices a softer, more mellow sound and a greater sense of reverb.

A slightly more Romantic-sounding fugue than usual, whose theme's chromatic nature I chose to exploit with a string quartet setup for greater expressive intensity. The subject itself was originally somewhat experimental in nature but quickly developed into a full-fledged exposition, and the rest was hours upon hours of trying to deal with its rather unwieldy nature as best I could. Enjoy! YouTube video link:

Comprendo, perdón por el malentendido. Gracias por todo, Luis.

I'm not entirely sure what kind of connotations you're asigning to such a term, which I am familiar with, though with a meaning which isn't exactly very positive, so to speak. To me, "dejado" means something on the lines of "lazy", "careless", "unattentive", etc., so I don't quite understand whether that's what you actually meant here or I might be misinterpreting your words. In any case, thank you for your kind words. My mother ended up quite liking this little composition, so I'm quite glad dedicating it to her as a gift actually payed off this well.

Probably the shortest canon I have ever written in terms of duration, as I found most suitable to dedicate it as a gift to my mother both on account of this year's Mother's Day and her own birthday falling by the end of the month. Enjoy! YouTube video link:

A religious motet I began writing this afternoon and have finished composing in under five hours. I didn't initially think of the text when I first started, as is usually customary for me, but instead found the rhythms suitable for the text afterwards, and as such, took it from the passage of the Vulgate where the crucifixion of Christ under the connivence of Pontius Pilatus is mentioned, and then added a a reference to His resurrection at the end. Admittedly, this motet would have been more suitable for Late Easter, but alas, I guess only now have I managed to compose anything of the sort. Enjoy! YouTube video link:

A revisited, revamped and restored version of a little fugue I first composed back in mid December 2019. Given I had only started composing a few months prior to that point, this one was previously riddled with contrapuntal flaws and mistakes of all sorts, the vast majority of which have all hopefully been fully corrected or at least starkly mitigated after this revision. Enjoy! YouTube video link:

It's actually quite funny how this person couldn't be bothered to read between the lines and as such your comments' whole point flew right over their head. Really amusing how they have essentially exposed themselves by trying to expose me, like calling them out in private for these immature tactics they're displaying at any point warranted any kind of convincing response. Moreover, playing the victim card by accusing me of "toxic masculinity" or whatever for defending myself and pointing out what they're doing is pretty low, specially coming from someone repeatedly showing this kind of behaviour. Anyway, not much else to be said about this person, by their actions it should be fairly evident by now that they are clearly ill-intentioned and ostensibly incapable of taking criticism or self-reflection. Thank you for your help nontheless, Henry, as I would have otherwise lost my temper and wasted my time and energy all by my own on someone who plainly does not deserve either of those.

Buenos días, Luis. Thank you very much for your kind words. As for the picardy third, its usage here isn't merely just a stylistic preference, it's also intended to be symbolic in nature, as the piece is sort of meant to evoke the feeling of a raging storm finally coming to a standstill, and that picardy third at the end represents the final glimpses of sunlight amidst the dark clouds, as well as the enlightenment that befalls a period of great pain, confusion and soul-searching. A subtly fleeting glimmer of hope, the omen of a rainbow as the ever-creeping conflict suddenly comes to an end. Muchas gracias por todo. 🙂

An arrangement for choir and orchestra of my Overture in C-sharp minor, originally intended for string orchestra alone and first posted yesterday morning. As stated in the original post, this piece's overall character stems from the metaphor of a harsh storm passing, as hinted by the German title shown in the score: "Der abflauende Sturm" (roughly translatable as "The Passing Storm"). Alongside the initial version of the score, now transposed one half-step lower to C minor, two flutes, two oboes, a basoon and a five-part choir have also been added (though only the vocal parts are shown in the video itself, as the others are doubling each voice respectively). The latter's lyrics are a poem I wrote in German more than 3 years ago, back in late April 2022, which reads as follows: Im kaltesten Winter hätt' ich weder Mantel noch Decke, auch keine warme Suppe oder rauchige Salzkartoffeln, nicht mal Orten neben Schornstein, kein Licht einer Kerze. Im heißesten Sommer wär' ich an keinen goldenen Stränden, auch kein' üppigen Wälder will ich schon besichtigen, zwischen Wolken erreichen mich keine Sonnenstrahlen. Entweder ganzleblich, Jahr über oder seit einer Instant gibt es im ganzen Welt nichts was ich will, und es finden können nirgends weder ich noch niemand. Each of the three stanzas are almost evenly distributed across each of the five voices: the basses and tenors sing the first one, the altos and mezzosopranos the second, and the third is reserved for the sopranos. This poem happened to be exceedingly convenient in length to set music to, an advantage which I think I have made good use of here. A rough translation of the poem into English is provided below: In the coldest winter I would have neither coat nor cover, neither would I have a warm soup nor smoked potatoes, not even a place by the fireplace, nor the light of a candle. In the hottest Summer I would stand in no golden shore, nor would I visit any lush forests, no sunrays reach me from between the clouds. For neither in a lifetime, over the years nor for a single moment, is there in the entire world anything of what I want, and that no one can find, neither I nor anyone else. YouTube video link:

Thank you, I guess. That's certainly an interesting assertion coming from someone who would otherwise call true masterpieces such as Henry's String Sextet "static" or lacking in "originality", "style", and "uniqueness" though, so taking your word on just how compelling the quality of this humble work of mine may be might as well seem like a fool's errand, to be sure. Also, I'm not entirely sure why you would feel the necessity to make a wholesale montage of the score's first page, but props for the editing skills I suppose.

Unable to sleep once again, this early morning I have managed to compose a Late Romantic-style overture for string orchestra. This piece's overall character stems from the metaphor of a harsh storm passing, as hinted by the German title shown in the score: Der abflauende Sturm. Albeit short, compared to my usual standards it is both quite emotional and reflective simultaneously as I tried to pour my feelings on the current state of affairs in my life into music, and I must say, in terms of either harmonic variety and dynamic expression, I think it turned out better than I could have ever imagined, especially considering the fact this work and its idiosyncrasies are pretty far removed from my usual compositional style. Enjoy! YouTube video link:

This canon is based on each of the four contrapuntal transformations of a single dodecaphonic series, initially highlighted in colours corresponding to each of the 12 notes of the tone row. As showcased in the video, said transformations are presented and organized within the melodic line as follows: Original Tone Row - Retrograde - Inverted - Inverted Retrograde. Even though as a perpetual canon it could technically go on forever and always end up in the same pitch, only two complete repetitions of the whole line are shown here: first the one with highlights and labels for each of the transformations amidst the contrapuntal scaffolding, and lastly the one without any of said indicators. A more tonal-sounding plagal-ish cadence has also been included as a small coda at the end, once the cello completely finishes playing the bass line's 2nd repetition. Enjoy! YouTube video link:

Agreed, my piano soundbanks are way too mellow for this fugue's overall character. The first subject, as pointed out by one YouTube commenter, has the exact same initial five notes as Bach's 5th Brandenburg Concert's 3rd movement. The key isn't that far off too, a mere semitone above the original in D major. It's both fantastic and mesmerizing how an entirely different piece could come out of such a similar foundation: such is the mastery over melody and harmony Bach simultaneously displayed in his fugal subjects, that we all should strive from learn from him. As for the 2nd subject, it first apears in b. 32 as you correctly observed, and also in b. 84 in non-strict stretto with itself, kind of like a chain of false entries. That was indeed the purpose of the whole cadenza: to provide a less polyphonically dense passage for the sake of letting the listener rest before the final reexposition. The chromaticism you noticed also inversely follow many of the previous modulations employed throughout the whole fugue up until that point. That would normally be the ideal development, but unfortunately the assymetries between both sequences resulted in unbearably clashing dissonances when trying to superpose both subjects on top of one another in invertible counterpoint. Trying to have them in stretto didn't have much better to offer, as it barely served as one, rather sounding like a sequentially yuxtaposed entry on account of how late the 2nd subject could enter in conjunction with the first one without an inexorable clash of minor 2nd intervals. As such, it appeared as though these subjects are way too independent from one another, to the point I couldn't manage to have them work with each other lest the counterpoint and harmonies became severely riddled with intolerable dissonances. Nevertheless, it would have been a pretty nifty idea, had I been willing to modify all iterations of the first subject to account for it while progress on the piece was still underway. Unfortunately however, I am currently only editing this fugue for minor corrections, and a full revamp making either subject fit for stretto or invertible counterpoint with the other will have to wait at least as few years before I revisit this work in hopes of further expanding it. Gracias por todo, Luis. 🙂