Sonatina in B flat (in romantic style)

Hello there! It's been a while since I've checked here and posted something in this forum. 

Well, I have composed this sonatina recently (actually since December last year) which is my first attempt in romantic style. The first movement is a waltz in truncated sonata form inspired by a Chopin Waltz, the second movement is an intermezzo inspired by Brahms, and the 3rd movement is a ballad in hybrid sonata-rondo form which I'd also composed for a friend. Also inspired by Chopin, the 3rd movement main theme is perhaps familiar for those who had watched Gravity Falls, for I had actually adapted the theme for the piece. 

I hope you all will enjoy this piece, and any feedback is appreciated! 

My first impression of the waltz is that it wanders aimlessly up and down the range of the keyboard.  It seems ironically happy-go-lucky in a way, but then your repetition in a minor key gives a welcome contrast to that.  In general your repetition in various different keys is what makes your seemingly aimless melody work pretty well.  And your half-starts give a nice and graceful variation to the melody too.  Good job!

The second movement does sound very sweet and lovely and like Brahms.  I do think that the alberti bass in certain spots sound out of place and too suddenly classical.

The third movement contrasts a somewhat melancholy first theme with one that's once again overly happy and overusing the tonic, subdominant and dominant chords.  This movement I thought was perhaps the one with the most depth, but the Romantic period in music was usually expected to portray more deep emotions than you've done with these pieces in general.  I did enjoy this movement the most of the three however.

I often wonder whether people compose by working on the first thing that comes into their head, or if they labor for a long time in search of just the right kind of melody that they want to actually finish.  Just saying, if you came up with this relatively quickly you might benefit from more searching.

Overall, these were still quite enjoyable however - don't let anything else I said lead you to believe otherwise!  Thanks for sharing.

On 11/2/2022 at 2:01 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

My first impression of the waltz is that it wanders aimlessly up and down the range of the keyboard.  It seems ironically happy-go-lucky in a way, but then your repetition in a minor key gives a welcome contrast to that.  In general your repetition in various different keys is what makes your seemingly aimless melody work pretty well.  And your half-starts give a nice and graceful variation to the melody too.  Good job!

The second movement does sound very sweet and lovely and like Brahms.  I do think that the alberti bass in certain spots sound out of place and too suddenly classical.

The third movement contrasts a somewhat melancholy first theme with one that's once again overly happy and overusing the tonic, subdominant and dominant chords.  This movement I thought was perhaps the one with the most depth, but the Romantic period in music was usually expected to portray more deep emotions than you've done with these pieces in general.  I did enjoy this movement the most of the three however.

I often wonder whether people compose by working on the first thing that comes into their head, or if they labor for a long time in search of just the right kind of melody that they want to actually finish.  Just saying, if you came up with this relatively quickly you might benefit from more searching.

Overall, these were still quite enjoyable however - don't let anything else I said lead you to believe otherwise!  Thanks for sharing.

 

Hey thanks for the feedback! Yeah, this is my first foray into romanticism, and I admit I don't really have much background into understanding romantic harmonies. I do try to reflect the romantic style as much as possible, although I perhaps approached this composition with a more classical mindset.

Glad you enjoyed the piece nevertheless!

Hi @zhenkang

I love the simplicity of the waltz. i agree with Peter that it floats aimlessly but it does create a fleeing effect. But I find it quite repetitive. Other than changing the harmony, the melody, rhythm and texture is quite similar in the whole movement. More fluctuation and colour can be added to make the waltz funnier!

I love your second movement of intermezzo more! For me it's more romantic and there is more variety in it! Nice voice exchange in b.33-36! I always love to have the melody put in different register to create more variety! 

I love the thick texture and more advanced harmonic chord in the third movement. For bar.33 onwards the left accompaniment can add the "legato" description or add more slurs, otherwise it will be too detached from the melody. The emotional scope is wider here than the two previous movements, though it can be greater for a romantic piece. For a sonata-rondo movement it can be more dramatic as well! The emotional scope throughout the movement is quite similar and I really hope the middle section can have more drama to build up the climax for the recapitulation! 

But for a first piece in romantic style--Great job! (At least much better than my first, haha!!) Just keeps writing and definitely you will find ways to add variety to the music!! Keep going!

Henry