Rose Windows, for piano

Hello everyone. I have felt that I should start taking the time to post some of my music on YouTube, so here is a set of four short poems for piano. Feel free to have a listen!

I think my favorite was the crooked swan poem.  It seemed the least abstract and using both the major and minor 3rd of the predominant tonality created a very interesting and trance-like mood.  The other poems also used some very interesting modes/tendency tones to clearly ground the listener in a key (I think for the first poem it was E and the last one was B?)  I don't quite understand how you came up with your melodic material though - you say you transliterated poems into music - how did you do that?  Like - in the beginning it says that b, a, f, e, d# = hazel?  How did you arrive at that?  Overall quite enjoyable - thanks for sharing!

16 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

I think my favorite was the crooked swan poem.  It seemed the least abstract and using both the major and minor 3rd of the predominant tonality created a very interesting and trance-like mood.  The other poems also used some very interesting modes/tendency tones to clearly ground the listener in a key (I think for the first poem it was E and the last one was B?)  I don't quite understand how you came up with your melodic material though - you say you transliterated poems into music - how did you do that?  Like - in the beginning it says that b, a, f, e, d# = hazel?  How did you arrive at that?  Overall quite enjoyable - thanks for sharing!

 

Thank you for your comment - it is appreciated. Each piece takes a slightly different approach, with varying levels of strictness. For all of them, however, the only thing that guides the harmony is what words are used, the order (pitch-wise) in which they appear, and how they are combined. This is generally not extended to the rhythmic material, as a note.

In order to get my pitch material, I simply equated the full alphabet with the twelve-tones (though, not defined by register). For instance, in 'hazel,' the 'H' is equated with the German 'B,' creating the necessary split in continuing for the alphabet (i.e. h = b, i = c, j = c#, etc.). With "Hazel Heart," there are three words used - one of which is of course "hazel"; from this set, vertical harmonies are defined (taking one note from each word and moving in a variety of different ways). So, the first chord that is created between the three words is B-C-F. Once I have my material, the ways in which is it is combined is arbitrary. From bb. 30-33, the three mystery words appear all at once as one word (i) back-to-front; the same word (i) moves front-to-back; the top line taking one pitch from (ii) and (iii) successively moving from front-to-back; and the bottom line taking one pitch from (iii) and one pitch from (ii) moving back-to-front all at once.

For "Grisaille," the piece is more rigidly defined. It is an exact transliteration of the following two haikus (by myself): 

A grisaille template

stained with splotches of carmine,

orange and sunless gold -

dabbled in heather,

a landscape in one tone,

decorative grisaille.

The pitch information is spread out in accordance with the form of the double haiku; so "A grisaille template ( = a, g, a, c, b-flat, a, c, e-flat, e-flat, e, b, e, e, g, e-flat, a, b, e) - which is the first line - takes up the space of 5 bars. The following line is 7 bars, and the next 5 bars. This structure repeats, being in line with two separate haikus. To account for the fact that I have six lines total, I have six chords derived in the same manner as the previous movement; one chord compliments one line at a time.

"The Crooked Swan" takes an approach similar to "Hazel Heart", focusing on a few words - namely "crooked" and "swan." This can also be said about "Bluebell Lover". For me, it's less about you knowing exactly what words are used and more about the effect achieved in their utilization. The idea is that each poem is a self-contained image - a rose window - that has been smashed into pieces, and you, the listener, is trying to piece those shards back together.

It's difficult to explain in a very concise manner, but I hope that all makes sense and clears things up about.

I don't have anything to contribute to the technical aspects of the composition, although, I marvel at your approach to composing.  The music is quite intriguing and I enjoyed this "musical journey" very much. 

3 hours ago, MJFOBOE said:

I don't have anything to contribute to the technical aspects of the composition, although, I marvel at your approach to composing.  The music is quite intriguing and I enjoyed this "musical journey" very much. 

 

Thank you kindly - I appreciate you giving my music a listen. You never know how these different approaches might end up, but I had fun doing it, and it's nice to break up the approach now and again!