Lessons with Matthaeus

Hi M

Ok, understood. I'm trying to do my best!

M

Hi M

Hello Matt, thank you for the link, I will have a look at those minuets.

I have also reread the lesson about 6/4 chords and realized that the I6/4 at bar 4 is not prepared properly (the melody simply jumps to the 4th) - though I suspect that it's not an error in the classical style.

The h/w is attached, I hope it's better now.

M

Matthaeus_hw_09b-inner.pdf

Matthaeus_hw_09b-inner.MUS

Hi M

Hi M

Hey Mat

Very sorry, Matt, about not replying. I'm working 12 hrs a day lately, so I have very little free time for music. I will have more time after 15th June.

I've read the augmented 6th lesson, but I don't feel myself ready for that until I fully understand the previous excercise. It's obvious for me that your harmonisation is much better than mine, but with the exception of the hidden parallel octaves (shame on me!), I've tried to make it as logical as possible:

Bar 3 - There is no 3rd here, because you said that C# here sounds very strange after the C in the soprano.

Bar 5 - There's a 7/5 here. I've skipped the 3rd only because I did't know what note to use, F or F# ?

Anyway, there's some confusion around suspensions. I thought that suspension is a dissonance on strong beat prepared on weak beat. But looking at this 2/4 piece even if you treat 1/8th as a beat unit, using 7-6 suspensions in bar 5 produce dissonance for each beat (stong and weak). That's why I haven't noticed the possibility of using suspensions here at first.

M

Hi M

Hello Matt,

I think I understand now the purpose of the augmented sixth chord. :) The first and second h/w is attached.

The third one is still in progress...

M

Matthaeus_hw_10_1.pdf

Matthaeus_hw_10_1.mid

Matthaeus_hw_10_2.pdf

Matthaeus_hw_10_2.mid

Well done! Full marks - excellent!

Hi M

Hello Matt,

Sorry about the delay, I had a computer crash (Fortunately, the lessons survived).

I try to post the 3rd h/w tomorrow.

M

Hello Matt,

I've attached the h/w. At the 3rd bar, I've tried to make a augm.6th chord moving from IV6/3 -> V, but I realized that such movement results in parallel 5th with the soprano, so only the bass is altered. I hope it's ok.

M

Matthaeus_hw_10_3.pdf

Matthaeus_hw_10_3.mid

Hi M

Thanks Matt, I try to harmonise those minuets.

I like both pieces of Purcell. Actually, I heard the instrumental one on a live performance about 3 weeks ago and I enjoyed it very much!

M

Hello Matt,

Finally I managed to harmonise the first minuet theme. It was very difficult, because I still don't really understand this melody. The start suggests a 4/4 time signature instead of 3/4, so I hear 3x4 beats in 4/4 instead of 4x3 beats in 3/4 (ok, minus 1 for the last, so 11 beats total). I also feel the melody a bit directionless and "floating" (I don't have a better word for this).

So sorry if the harmonisation is bad, I really have tried my best.

M

Matthaeus_hw_11_1.pdf

Matthaeus_hw_11_1.mid

M

Hello Matt,

Thanks for posting the original one (I know: only look at page 6!). :)

I find it quite tricky; Beethoven uses the lower parts to dictate the 3/4 rhythm, which is not supported by the melody alone.

Another difference is that he don't use 4 voices all the time -- dropping out voices is possibly the most difficult thing for me, since I treat every composition as a 4-part chorale, which is bad I think.

If you don't mind I have some questions:

1.) I know it's a silly question, but all minuets need to have the form: ||: A :||: B :|| ?

2.) In bars 9-12 of this minuet, the tenor is only a variation of the soprano, so hidden parallel octaves are everywhere. Is it OK for the classical style, or it's just Beethoven's speciality?

3.) At the final V7-I cadence, the 5th from the I is often omitted. Is it acceptable to split the 7th of the dominant, so resolving to the 3rd and moving up to the 5th at the same time?

M

Hi M

Hello, Matt! There's a lot of work lately, so I don't really have much time for music. However I have some free time this weekend so I try to finish the h/w.

Hope you are right,

M

Not to worry M

Hello, Matt. Just posting because I still would like to continue this lesson but still don't have the time for composing. I've started to harmonize the Beethoven-minuet, but haven't finished it yet, sorry. I would like to finish it till Christmas, at least.

Thanks for understanding,

Máté