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Hi! I am a newcomer to this forum. It's really fascinating to see many young composers sharing their pieces here. I guess if I would have the right to be called a composer at all, so I would like to present a piece I recently finish here. For me this piece is about despair and meaning, and their dialectic relationship. It's in c minor in all four movements to present the gravity of sadness, especially in our time. It's in a four movement structure, and here is the brief synopsis: 00:05 First Movement: Allegro ma non troppo Modified Sonata Form .One is despair to find the meaninglessness of existence. One would like to find a dream to flee but fail. One is defeated by the despair. 21:06 Second Movement: Scherzo: Presto, Sonata Form. Defeated, one starts to free the self to crazy thoughts, though still reasonably (with its tonal structure ). After this one instead finds moment of calmness. 30:27 Third Movement: Adagio Meastoso - Fugue: Andante ma non troppo. One starts to dwell into the root of despair. One uses different kinds of approach and finally finds something hopeful. But despair soon arises, and hope defeated is worse than hope never appeared. One ends in utter sadness but finally knows the root of it. 45:40 Fourth Movement: Allegro con moto . Sonata Form/Sonata-Rondo. Seemingly to know the root of despair, one pretends to be free of it, although the nightmare keeps reminding the one its presence. After the combat between despair and meaning, one finally knows that without despair there won't be meaning at all, therefore accepting the despair and ends in tranquility. It ends with Beethoven Op.135 since it perfectly fits here, and it is one of my favourite piece, if not the most (The other being his op. 131). It seems like a long piece but I just cannot stop it. I have too many things to tell. I really would like to know whether this piece worth other's attention or not, so I would be extremely grateful to have other comments, whether it's positive or negative. Update on 20/02/2023: Structural Plan of the Third Movement added: Mov 3 Structural Plan.pdf

Thanks for the feedback. The story for the ballet is based on an old Norwegian folktale. It has similarities to Beauty and the Beast. Girl is stuck in a castle with a beastly man. This scene starts with her sense of loneliness in the castle, then apprehension on both sides, before moving toward feelings of affection between the two (at the 5:44 mark you mentioned). Thanks for the feedback. My thoughts tend to flow pretty seamlessly, so I tend to have issues with putting in breaks. It’s something I continually try to remind myself of, but often fail to do. I have a few scenes written so far, but not fully happy with where they are at. I might post another scene soon, as I’m feeling pretty good about it. I hate scoring works… I write using Logic Pro. I have to be in the right mood to actually sit down and score out what I’ve written, but hopefully I get around to it soon.

Yes, that book is essential. It's full of examples and it explains many variants. And provides good historical background. I'm reading it...

I remember there's a book on the schemata, "Music in the galant style" by Robert O. Gjerdingen, which I would like ro read later. The schemata are really important for later composers too.

Hi Henry. Glad you found this useful. I believe it might be the best way we have to make our posts not getting lost in the constant flow of music that we and others create and put in common. This was my second "big" work and the first one I did for piano. I believe that some of the flaws that are present in the first sonata are not in the second, and I consider a mistake having uploaded both in the same posts. Thanks to SSC I continued dwelling in this forum and I did at least separate them in movements. In any case, I might possibly make another post in the future for the sonata Nº2 and leave this one for the first one, since the main criticism has been done to it. As we both know, works that exceed a certain duration are more difficult to review fully. You might know or have an idea of what my actual style is more than myself, really, and that is because I rarely think too much about what my style is. I only compose for the sake of it and thus about ideas that come spontaneously (or not) and how to develop them further in the paper... Dunno, but I must also say that "emotion" in my music is something that I discover after writing it, not before. Not usually before, at least. But this is something I like because I "surprise" myself sometimes. Years ago, I made an arrangement for accordions of Schubert's "Serenade", but apart from that I'm not really a connoisseur of his work. I have listened to some of his piano works but months after composing this so not really sure about how this particular piece sounds. As always, please do whenever you have time, energy and be eager to do that. I lately have no time to even listen to short pieces here (I'm writing this past 0:00 in my country). In fact I'm even surprised you did look to my first post since pieces with months here rarely get any attention, so yes perhaps the idea of putting this in the "About me" works! Again, my sincere thanks for your criticism and feedback Henry. Kind regards, Daniel–Ømicrón.

I love the modality of this piece (I guess it's sort of Lydian with a few borrowed tones from the minor mode?). I wish I knew what the poem was about - would you be willing to post the text and translation of the poem here for the benefit of the community? That would also let the listener know what to listen for in the music and if there is any word painting or not. Thanks for sharing!

Very cool start! To me, I think you set up an awesome motif, and the riff is strong, but maybe vocals and a verse would be next? I hear palm muted guitars underneath singing, but I guess it just depends on where you want to take this. If it's instrumental, maybe have a section afterwards with short guitar chord phrasing while the bass gets to play it's parts over that same drum track. Conversely, it might be cool to have the guitars play palm muted sixteenth note versions of the riff. Hmm, what else... maybe some sort of counter melody on different chords? I could hear something over like a III-VI-i-i progression or something. I dunno, cool start, but I'm excited to hear where you take this one!