Final Composition Paper

This piece is written for solo piano and is primarily in C Major, though it explores several
related key areas. The primary theme is relatively long for a five minute piece of music, and it is
perhaps best characterized as playful with a lilting melody in the right hand that at times sits more
than 2 octaves above the left hand. There is a good deal of melodic and harmonic figuration in the
right hand’s melody, with many diatonic passing tones, lower and upper neighbors, anticipation, and
suspension. The left hand alternates between arpeggiating chords tones every eighth note and
playing actually chords every half note or quarter note. Harmonically, much use is made of
secondary dominants and secondary diminished seventh chords. There is a brief tonicization of A
Minor toward the theme’s end, when a V chord passes to a vi chord (creating a deceptive cadence)
and an E Major chord (V/vi) soon appears before returning to an A Minor triad. Quickly, though,
we return to C Major. This section has an interesting modulation into G Minor in which diminished
seventh chords (beginning with that tonicizing scale degree six in C Major) are raised a whole step at
a time. Eventually, the melody begins a descending G Minor scale while the chord tones in the left
hand are C, D#, and F# (these are intentionally three of the notes in a common tone diminished
seventh chord that later makes several appearances). The F# goes to a G, the C to a Bb, and the D#
to a D natural; along with the descending G Minor scale in the melody, this makes for an effective
and clear modulation. To make the modulation especially certain, the G Minor chord is followed by
a D Major chord for an authentic cadence, and several inversions of the G minor triad are struck.
In this new key, the second theme begins. This theme should be played slower than the first,
and it is accompanied by an unusual rhythmic pattern in the left hand that includes a thirty-second
note immediately before beats 1 and 3. This theme also makes generous use of melodic and
harmonic figuration. One notable part of this theme is the sequence of secondary dominant chords
that tonicize iv and then V. The second time that these secondary dominants are resolved, the piano
part’s left hand has an interesting accompaniment of sixteenth notes. The pitches first descend on
chord tones of the chord that has been resolved to and then the part begins moving stepwise.
The first half of Theme A is restated in G Minor, and the second half is restated in G Major,
due to an authentic cadence that clearly brings the piece into G Major. By the end of the second
theme, with a simple IV6, V, I chord progression in C Major, we return to the home key. Then a
surprising common tone diminished seventh chord is used, with the pitches C, D#, F#, and A. This
resolves to a C Major chord, but these chords are filled with tension, especially when they are first
used because they are unexpected.
 Theme A returns in a different fashion. Two measures of the melody are played
unaccompanied and then both hands play lush chords that harmonize that same melody for two
measures. The dynamics written make the melody by itself as piano and its restatement as fortissimo,
so this section is supposed to provide some additional excitement before the piece’s end. Theme B
returns, now in A Minor. After just two beats of sixteenth notes clearly on a C Major scale, the piece
is back in C and for good. The C Major chord is revoiced several times, and the common tone
seventh chord returns again. The rest of the piece, though, is almost Lisztian in a way—it is self-
indulgent and artificially exciting (with dynamics, extremely high and low voicing, and lush chords
with both hands playing three or four pitches each). After Theme B is restated in A Minor, no more
substantial new ideas are added.
One thing that I struggled with was figuring out how to write for solo piano. Whereas
almost all of the composition that we’ve had to do in this course is either in two or four voices, for
this assignment I had to decide when striking more or less pitches would serve the melody and
harmony well. I ended up adopting the following philosophy: whenever I made chords either
notably lush or notably sparse, I did so for the sake of emphasis. I hope that this choice is effective.
I am also just a bit worried about what will happen when this piece is given to a piano player.
Some of the rhythms in the left hand are quick and followed by more quick rhythms but with
different pitches. I am talking specifically about the accompaniment for Theme B. Hopefully the
pianist will slow down the tempo to the extent that she can easily move from one chord to the next
in the span of a thirty-second note. (For this reason, I used to tempo marking “Slower, as needed.”
I’m not a pianist, so I really do not know what tempo is too fast. Though I did play each measure of
the piece myself, I had to do so at a slower tempo than that at which I’d like the piece to be
performed. Ideally the section would remain fairly brisk, perhaps at 80 or so beats per minute.)
There are also some large leaps in the left hand, but I am confident that a skilled and trained pianist
would have no problem with these. I think, though, that a beginner pianist would struggle with some
of these moments with large leaps.
On the whole, I am proud of my work on this assignment, and I am excited to hear it played
on Monday.