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My dear fellow composers, (exactly) a half year ago I presented my Fugue XIII in G flat/F sharp major. Today is the right moment to post the corresponding prelude: The prelude againPraeludium-XIII-F-sharp-major-with-coversheet.pdf has the Ukrainian national anthem as its central thematic background (as it also appears in the fugue as additional „subject“, and – as a reference to the date - today is the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence). Here in the prelude, however, the anthem appears in the lightest key of F sharp major with an optimistic character, light and playful in 3/8 time. Some words about the structure or form of the piece: 00:00 (mm. 1-22) Exposition of the „summer“ theme: A joyful, exuberant and perhaps dance-like theme, with accentuated rhythms and chords, although being composed as five-part voice leading. 01:01 (mm. 23-50) The texture and rhythm of the „summer“ theme is continued, but somewhat more restrained in terms of dynamics. The second verse of the anthem is played in the upper voice. 01:43 (mm. 51-75) The key signature changes to G-flat major, initially creating a peaceful atmosphere, much like that of a playground. However, this tranquility is suddenly disrupted by dissonances and tritone steps in the bass, symbolizing the horrors of war. 02:23 (mm. 76-94) The fugue subject (“dona nobis pacem”) appears four times (tenor, mm. 76-79; bass, mm. 81-84; soprano, mm. 86-89 and alto, mm. 91-94), symbolizing hope and leading back to the key signature with sharps. 02:52 (mm. 95-114) Recapitulation of the „summer“ theme, now in pianissimo and in the key of D sharp minor. 03:31 (mm. 115-140) The repetition finally leads to the triumphant finale in the coda: The third verse of the anthem is sung, ending with a bright F sharp major chord after a minor plagal cadence, expressing confidence. I hope, you'll enjoy it. Wieland Praeludium-XIII-F-sharp-major-piano-steinway-b.mp3
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Greetings everyone, this piece is a short but a lovely piece i have written from a text i found in a collections of pieces called by Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi. I really loved the text and i decided to also set it myself to music, i hope you guys enjoy it as much as i enjoyed! LOB 110 Sonatemi un baletto.mp3
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Minuet in C for String Quartet.mp3Minuet in C for String Quartet.pdfHi all, A professional string quartet is visiting my home island and are wonderfully taking compositions from local artists to perform. It is such a rare opportunity for me, as someone who has never had my work performed in public. For this I adapted several pieces I have composed over the years for string quartet and to which I have made extensive revisions. Overall I am pleased with the music. One interesting thing I have been doing recently is utilizing AI to provide perspectives around the rule based system on which tonal music rests. I recognize that some of my understanding around certain rules could benefit from more flexibility and AI can really challenge my thinking. Although where it is terrible is in actual advice on voice leading in practice. For example, if you give it a passage to harmonize - even with a well crafted prompt with necessary context - it will often fail. I hope you all find the pieces enjoyable and please feel free to provide any comments as usual. A bit of baroque Fun!.mp3Staccatisimo.mp3A bit of baroque Fun!.pdfStaccatisimo.pdf
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Hello! This is a very very VERY simple sinfonia. I did it just for the fun of it as i'm quite bored, i hope you guys like it. It's a single section that's just repeated. In a real performance the instrumentalists would make diminutions on the second repeat for more variety. Enjoy! LOB 82 Sinfonia Semplice.mp3
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Hello! This one of my pieces with lesser compositional quality... It was a very fun piece to work with so im posting it here too, just for the sake of it. Its for organ or harpsichord, in this midi recording its for organ wich i think fits nicely with the more contrapuntal style of this piece. This is a Fantasia (Back in the renaissance and early baroque era, the genre of the fantasia was just a broad therm for anything improvisational or without a structure) wich i used a renaissance popular tune called "La Bassa Fiamenga", You can find this melody extensively on various pieces of that time, and its one of the lesser known ones. Enjoy! Fantasia sopra la Bassa Fiamenga (2).mp3
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Ellooo! This is a very very simple and short passamezzo i made a while ago. The technique i used is pretty straightfoward, i used the passamezzo bass notes as pillars and in between free counterpoint. That way it doesnt sound so monotonous. And it allows for spicy imitations! Enjoy.
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Hello my fellow musicians, now I present the second half of the fugue with the „special feature“. Today is the 24th of February and it is now exactly four years ago since the Russian invasion in Ukraine. As I composed the fugue between February and May 2022, I decided - after I had accomplished the first half - to integrate the Ukrainian national anthem as further theme in the second half of the fugue – as a dedication to those which suffer from that terrible war, or more worse, have even lost their lives. For continuing the „analytic comments“, we cannot speak from now on of „development sections“ and „episodes“ since the fugue is now structured by the verses of the anthem and interludes between them: First Verse of the Anthem (mm. 51b – 43a). The first verse in B flat minor in the soprano is „accompanied“ by three subject entries: • B flat minor, inverted, bass (mm. 51b) • F minor, tenor (mm. 55b) • D flat major, diminished, alto (mm. 58b) Interlude (mm. 60 - 66). The interlude, dominated by a sequential motif which appears three times in normal form and three time in inversion. The fugue subject appears once in normal and once in the diminished form: • D flat major, bass (mm. 60b) • E flat minor, diminished, bass (mm. 64b) Second Verse of the Anthem (mm. 67 – 74). Similarly, the second verse, again in B flat minor in the soprano has tree contrasting subject entries, where the last, diminished one could be counted to the following interlude, too: • F minor, tenor (mm. 67) • B flat minor, bass (mm. 71) • D flat major, diminished, tenor (mm. 74) Interlude (mm. 75 - 82a). This interlude consists of four sequences, each featuring an entry of the diminished subject, which perform the modulation from the „sad“ keys with flat key signatures used so far (for example E flat minor) to the „triumphant“ keys with sharp key signatures (finally to F sharp major): • D flat major, diminished, tenor (mm. 74) • A flat major, diminished, bass (mm.76) • B major, diminished, soprano (mm. 78) • F sharp major, diminished, alto (mm. 80) Third Verse of the Anthem (mm. 82b – 90). The anthem repeats the last half bar of the second verse and is now in the third verse finally in the brightest major key in F sharp major! The remaining subject entries of the fugue are as follows: • B minor, inverted, bass (mm. 82b) • F sharp minor, diminished, tenor (mm. 85b) • A major, diminished, tenor (mm. 86c) • F sharp major, „tail only“, bass (mm. 89) I hope, you'll enjoy it. Wieland Here is the link to the previous thread with the first part of the fugue:
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Hello! This piece is dedicated to a friend of mine, he gave me the text and i quickly got working on it, i finished it in 1 day and im pretty proud of it. I tried to mimic the style of Orlando di Lasso a bit but it didn't quite work out the way i wanted, so i just decided to stick with my own style. Enjoi! Text: Corpus omne perseverare in statu suo quiescendi vel movendi uniformiter in directum, nisi quatenus illud a viribus impressis cogitur statum suum mutare.
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I made this very small renaissance motet for 4 voices, Cantus, Altus, Tenor and Bassus. However my stupid brain wrote the text wrong and instead of "Sicut LILIUM" it became "Sicut ILIUM", I only noticed it after finishing the motet! But besides that part everything is in accordance to what it should be. Enjoy! Text: Sicut [l]ilium inter spinas Sic amica mea inter filias
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Today I am presenting another fugue from my preludes and fugues project. Since it is a long piece with a special feature in its second half, I have decided to split the presentation into two posts. I began composing this fugue four years ago, inspired by Bach's Fugue in E major from WTC2 (BWV 878), after seeing Jörg Demus' wonderful introduction and tutorial, which unfortunately is no longer available on YouTube. The idea is to compose a fugue in the „stile antico“ or Palestrina style, which means having • 4/2 time signature (long allabreve), • long note values (from quarter notes to whole notes, and even „brevis“ notes), • a subject that moves primarily by step, with few leaps. Any leap that occurs is immediately balanced by stepwise motion in the opposite direction. Exposition (mm. 1 – 15). The „regular“ exposition is ascending (subject highlighted with blue-colored notes) • Dux, G flat major, bass (mm. 1) • Comes, D flat major, tenor (mm. 5) • Dux, G flat major, alto (mm. 9) • Comes, D flat major, soprano (mm. 12b) with tonal answer. We have a recurring countersubject (highlighted with olive-colored notes) which is paired with the subject entries in mm. 5, 9 and 13. Whereas the first occurrence of the countersubject starts together with the subject entry (mm. 5), the second one is delayed by one whole note (mm. 9) and the third one is delayed by two whole notes (mm. 13), thus not repeating the previous entry rhythmically but creating a continuous flow. Second Development Section (mm. 17b – 26a). After a one-bar codetta (mm. 16b – 17a) with a tritone substitution we reach the second development section where the subject appears in stretto as following • B flat minor, soprano (mm. 17b) • F major, alto (mm. 18) • B flat minor, tenor (mm. 21b) • F minor, inverted, bass (mm. 23, highlighed in green) The countersubject appears three times (mm. 17b, 21b and 23), the latter one in inversion (highlighted by plum-colored notes). Episode (mm. 26b - 32a). This episode is built from the material of the countersubject (highlighted with olive-colored notes) creating its own fugato. Third Development Section (mm. 32b – 36a). In the third development section the subject occurs the first time in a diminished form. It is not an exact halving of the notes values but also a rhythmic variation. • A flat major, diminished (highlighted with turquoise notes), soprano (mm. 32b) • C minor, tenor (mm.32b) • C major, diminished, soprano (mm.34c) • F major, diminished, alto (mm. 34b) • A major, diminished inverted (highlighted with pink notes), bass (mm. 34b) The subject entries are heavily squeezed together as strettos, and we have a surplus subject entry. The countersubject does not occur in this development section. Episode (mm. 36b - 40a). This episode is built from the material of the inverted countersubject (highlighted with plum-colored notes), also in a fugative way. Fourth Development Section (mm. 40b – 43a). The fourth development section is another one where the subject is presented in its diminished and normal form, together in stretto. • D flat major, tenor (mm. 40) • A flat major, diminished, soprano (mm. 40b) • C flat major, diminished, bass (mm. 40b) • F flat major, diminished, alto (mm. 42) Episode (mm. 43b - 50). This episode consists of two different sections with sequences (mm. 43 – 45 and mm. 46 – 50) whereas the fugue subject once occurs in its inversion (E flat minor, bass, mm. 46). With the crescendo of the second sequence motif, the fugue reaches its first climax, leading to the second half, which I will present next Tuesday, February 24th. Stay tuned!
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It's been too long! I thought I would share this piece written for my theory and composition class at Berklee. We were asked to work with a couple of "exotic scales" from a selection including the whole-tone scale, the octatonic scale, and modes other than those derived from the major scale. I felt drawn to the Lydian Augmented and Spanish Phrygian modes. I ended up with a contrapuntal rock instrumental in rough ABCA' form. The A section is in B♭ Lydian Augmented, the B section is in G Spanish Phrygian, and the C section an unbroken transition into D Spanish Phrygian. Finally, I modulate with the common tones D and A back to B♭ Lydian Augmented, for the A' recapitulation. The title (Iridescence) was inspired by my understanding of modes as a concept. With many modes sharing the same collection of notes, the tonic note that each mode centers on is what makes it unique -- gives it a unique color. And, iridescence is when something appears in different colors depending on the angle of viewing. I see that as a fitting metaphor. The artwork is my own, made with ProCreate. I didn't paint it for this track, but as a birthday present for my mother, inspired by Kate Bush's song "Kite". She is a massive fan of Kate's and introduced me to her when I was a little girl. I rediscovered her recently and I've been spending a lot of time with her early work. My current favorite album is Never for Ever...whose influence I thought was bleeding into this track. So, in the end there is some relation. 🙂 I hope you enjoy! Any feedback on both the mix and composition is more than welcome. ~ GP P.S. I was required to include a detailed score for the assignment. It might be too precise for a rock track in general, but if enough people are interested I will upload that, too.
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I've been studying counterpoint for years now, learned mainly from Fux's gradus and developed a solid understanding of species counterpoint. That said, one quick analysis of this first movement will reveal deviations from the rules presented in that book. Accented passing notes, leaping from dissonances, and the occasional unprepared chord in second inversion, that one consecutive fifth... I'm well aware of the rules broken and the liberties I have taken when it came time to make the transition from species exercises to actual composition. Despite that, i'm very proud with what I ended up with. There's plenty that I wish to improve, and hopefully you'll get to hear the results of my efforts in the following 2 movements, as well as in everything that will be released following the completion of this sonata. Youtube link with sidescrolling score:
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Not sure if this is the right place for this post, but I came across something, quite simple but still fun. Was browsing youtube and stumbled upon a video. At the very beginning, the creator presented a 4 bar line of a Violin melody. (I've altered it a slight bit to make it a tiny bit more interesting. the original challenge melody reused the 1st measure, except with the same 4 32nd notes you see at the end of bar 3. I elected to simply change it to Gb, rather than staying on the G. I also included an ending 1 and a fine measure to sort of round it out a bit more. Here is the Challenge Melody): The instrumentation to be used for this challenge includes Vln. 1 & 2, Viola, and Cello. 4 Staves, with Vln. 1 already written for ya. Just curious to see what everyone else comes up with 🙂 Here is mine! I'm not a virtuoso or a master so mine will probably pale in comparison to some of yours. Lets see it! Harmony Challenge.mp3
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As implied by its title, this arrangement was based off my Crab Canon (aka. Canon Cancrizans) a 3 in C minor ( • Three-voice Crab Canon in B minor.): Since its initial publication, it has been transported one half step upwards to accomodate for the ranges of the instruments involved in this double trio, with the full realization played by the Continuo harpsichord part (which may be omitted entirely on account of the extremely wide intervals between voices in certain invertible configuartions making it rather difficult to play). Enjoy! YouTube video link:
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