Ap Music Theory
Shoshana Dunner
AP Music Theory
Miss. Evans
May 3rd 2013
Final Project: Prelude in D Flat major Op.28 Chopin’s Raindrop Prelude was composed during the romantic period (1820-1900) and completed in 1839. During the romantic period, most composers portrayed feelings and nature in their work. In addition, they used a wide range of dynamics with lots of sudden changes, using sforzandos and accents, to dramatize their music. The music was more expressive using extra instructions as well as tempo markings like dolce (sweetly) or it could change speeds many times. The use of extra notes was common and made romantic pieces more interesting and created dissonance to help portray emotions. The timbre of the pieces increased as more woodwind and …show more content…
15 in Db Major, there is only one instrument; the piano. He wrote 28 preludes, one in every key, and this is the only one marked as sostenuto (sustained). This sustained tempo gives the piece a slow, held back tempo and the pedal is frequently used as a result. Generally, this piece is homophonic because it uses melody and accompaniment. The form of this piece is ternary form (ABA). Section A is in Db major and Section B modulates into C# minor- enharmonic equivalents. There is a constant quarter note used in both sections. In section A it is the Ab and in section B is it a G# but those are both the same notes, however they are notated differently because of the key change from Db major of the A section to c# minor of the B section. This repeated pedal note creates a feeling of raindrops, hence the ‘informal’ name of this prelude being the raindrop …show more content…
The melody is played in the bass clef and the pedal notes are played in the treble clef. The B section modulates to the enharmonic minor of Db major, which is C# minor, and ends on a half cadence (measure 75). The piece then modulates back to Db major for the second A section. The second A section (measures 76-89) of the piece is a repetition of the first A section however, with 10 notes in the ornament (measure 79) instead of seven and it is cut short by the coda. The coda has the highest note of the piece (measure 81-82) and it is not accompanied by a raindrop quarter note. After the highest note, the raindrops quietly return but the piece ends very slowly, as if dying away. The coda is monophonic and ends on a perfect authentic cadence, making the prelude its most final sounding. As you can see, this piece is very tragic. Frederic Chopin used ternary form and the raindrop-like sounds for a reason. The piece is a process starting with a few drops of rain, turning into a storm and finally calming down slowly back to a few raindrops, where the highest note of the piece represents the sun, perhaps, peaking through the clouds to give us a sense that the piece is about to
AP Music Theory
Miss. Evans
May 3rd 2013
Final Project: Prelude in D Flat major Op.28 Chopin’s Raindrop Prelude was composed during the romantic period (1820-1900) and completed in 1839. During the romantic period, most composers portrayed feelings and nature in their work. In addition, they used a wide range of dynamics with lots of sudden changes, using sforzandos and accents, to dramatize their music. The music was more expressive using extra instructions as well as tempo markings like dolce (sweetly) or it could change speeds many times. The use of extra notes was common and made romantic pieces more interesting and created dissonance to help portray emotions. The timbre of the pieces increased as more woodwind and …show more content…
15 in Db Major, there is only one instrument; the piano. He wrote 28 preludes, one in every key, and this is the only one marked as sostenuto (sustained). This sustained tempo gives the piece a slow, held back tempo and the pedal is frequently used as a result. Generally, this piece is homophonic because it uses melody and accompaniment. The form of this piece is ternary form (ABA). Section A is in Db major and Section B modulates into C# minor- enharmonic equivalents. There is a constant quarter note used in both sections. In section A it is the Ab and in section B is it a G# but those are both the same notes, however they are notated differently because of the key change from Db major of the A section to c# minor of the B section. This repeated pedal note creates a feeling of raindrops, hence the ‘informal’ name of this prelude being the raindrop …show more content…
The melody is played in the bass clef and the pedal notes are played in the treble clef. The B section modulates to the enharmonic minor of Db major, which is C# minor, and ends on a half cadence (measure 75). The piece then modulates back to Db major for the second A section. The second A section (measures 76-89) of the piece is a repetition of the first A section however, with 10 notes in the ornament (measure 79) instead of seven and it is cut short by the coda. The coda has the highest note of the piece (measure 81-82) and it is not accompanied by a raindrop quarter note. After the highest note, the raindrops quietly return but the piece ends very slowly, as if dying away. The coda is monophonic and ends on a perfect authentic cadence, making the prelude its most final sounding. As you can see, this piece is very tragic. Frederic Chopin used ternary form and the raindrop-like sounds for a reason. The piece is a process starting with a few drops of rain, turning into a storm and finally calming down slowly back to a few raindrops, where the highest note of the piece represents the sun, perhaps, peaking through the clouds to give us a sense that the piece is about to