1.11 Time's effect on the material  (Page 5/7)

One crucial issue to examine is whether the return is abbreviated or expanded. When the return is abbreviated,it can contribute to making the music more dynamic, more active. The return is more efficient, it has been reducedto an essence.

For instance, Brahms'opens with the following lyrical section: Intermezzo in A-Major

After a contrasting section, the A-section recurs in abbreviated fashion.

The third movement of Francis Poulenc'sdramatically compresses its return. The opening of the piece unfolds with a luxurious panorama ofideas, beginning with energetic figuration played by the flute and piano and culminating in a more languorous themeintroduced by the piano alone. Flute Sonata

At the return, Poulenc presents a dizzying synposis that rushes quickly through the contrasting ideas: Theenergetic figuration and languorous theme now occur much closer together.

From a structural point-of-view, the result is very dynamic and lively.

Compare these examples with Wagner's, in which the theme is expanded when it returns. If the reprise is both expandedand presented with great stability, it creates a particularly emphatic and conclusive sense of arrival. Siegfried's Death and Funeral March

Interpreting time's effect

If transformations have occurred, one way to interpret them is to consider whether time has strengthened or weakened the material.

The opening of Franz Schubert’sbegins with a French horn playing alone. ”

At the end of the work, the entire orchestra plays the theme, powerfully strengthening the return.

In Arnold Schoenberg’s, the narrator recalls witnessing Jewish prisoners being led away to their deaths. As he describes how the condemned started to sing, a disjunct melody is played quietly by a muted horn. A Survivor from Warsaw

Later in the work, the narrator’s retelling becomes more immediate and detailed. As he describes the prisoners’final march, the muted horn’s melody returns—this time sung forcefully by men’s chorus and prolonged into a complete prayer. Time has strengthened the material, giving it an overwhelming emotional impact.

In Samuel Beckett's play, a bumbling, mysterious old man revisits scenes from his lifeby replaying autobiographical tapes he made when he was younger. His idealistic, assured younger self is juxtaposedagainst the hopeless, hapless relic that he has become. The play is an analog to the type of analysis we have beendescribing: Past Krapp and present Krapp are presented side-by-side, so that time's effect becomes palpable. In thecase of poor Krapp, time has weakened him. Krapp's Last Tape

Time can also weaken musical material. The Scherzo of Ludwig van Beethoven’sbegins with a forceful French horn melody. Symphony No. 5

Later, this passage returns. But instead of strengthening it, time has weakened the material. Now it is played delicately by the winds, supported by plucked strings:

In Arnold Schoenberg’sis an instrumental work inspired by a poem by Richard Dehmel. The poem tells the story of a woman who confesses to her lover that she is carrying another man’s child. The man’s shock and distress is represented by the following theme. Verklarte Nacht