Caprice for Solo Violin No. 5

This is my Caprice for Solo Violin No. 5. Following on the heels of my 4th Caprice for solo violin, I think it is equally beautiful in its own way. Like the third one, it makes use of left hand pizzicato, but much less substantially.

Here are the links of my first four Caprices for Solo Violin:

https://www.youngcomposers.com/t44427/caprice-for-solo-violin-no-1/

https://www.youngcomposers.com/t44439/caprice-for-solo-violin-no-2/

https://www.youngcomposers.com/t44505/caprice-for-solo-violin-no-3/

https://www.youngcomposers.com/t44826/caprice-for-solo-violin-no-4/

8 hours ago, luderart said:

Following on the heels of my 4th Caprice for solo violin, I think it is equally beautiful in its own way. Like the third one, it makes use of left hand pizzicato, but much less substantially.

Sorry but I must be a stone and unqualified to comment on your piece, as I don't quite get the autonomous beauty of this piece. And I am sure I have no authority to say anything on it.

Henry

19 hours ago, luderart said:

I think it is equally beautiful in its own way.

11 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Sorry but I must be a stone and unqualified to comment on your piece, as I don't quite get the autonomous beauty of this piece. And I am sure I have no authority to say anything on it.

Henry

 

Although I think there is little point in answering your post, there are some points I should clarify:

1. I qualified my remark in two ways: a) I said "I think", b) I added "in its own way". Even then perhaps the word "beautiful" might have been the wrong word to use here. Perhaps "great" would have been a more appropriate word to use, since not everything great ought to be beautiful.

2. As you well know, beauty as well as music is subjective. So I have no problem with you not seeing anything "beautiful" - or for that matter "great" or even "worthy" in this music. That is your own subjective opinion.

3. This in not a competition submission for which you are serving as a judge - thank God for that! So you do not have to feel compelled to give your opinion - or feel obligated to belittle mine for that matter. If you do not appreciate the piece or do not have anything constructive to say, you had better shut up.

Hello

I think the play is funny.
Of course, at least those of us who have been here for a while know that this is part of a style to which you are faithful and constant.
No wonder it catches the eye, which is a bit naive, in the sense of creating unique lines, almost always, without harmonic complications, and with little dynamic contrast.

In this case, for my taste, the pizzicato is superfluous, especially in measure 20, which, at that point, produces more of a jolt than anything else.
 

Hello, ludeart. Long time 🙂

So as for this Caprice I will give you some feedback in hopes you would improve and become more flexible in this variation form.

1. Thematic material

I think you got better overall in that regard, but here it is like you start of from the middle of the theme. Theme is a story in its own, and like every story it has statement, development, answer to the initial statement, culmination, ending. You seem to start from the answer. Why do I feel that? Because you start to introduce sequences right from the start, but sequences is only a form of developing an already established theme or motif. So my opinion is that you should heavily work on that. Because Theme is like a main hero. If your story lacks a good developed main hero, no one will care about the story. You can work with this by looking at 24th Paganini Caprice and studying how he does his theme.

2. Variations

Variations are fine, there is not much to it, because of how short the piece is, and you simply don't give yourself time to execute all of the violin techniques which you would place in a caprice.

3. How long the piece is.

Well it's very short. I can translate your story as this: "There is an old man, who knows how to do everything. He does smithing, he loves his wife. He lives happily. The end." The whole thing just wants a question: "So what?" And partially that is because you don't give yourself time to develop anything you do in the composition, which is bad for you as a composer, and bad for listener as they doesn't care.

So I hope you will follow more Paganini's 24th Caprice in the future, maybe even locking yourself to releasing your composition until you hit 5 minute mark, so you can develop everything in your piece to the maximum. Also do a thematic exercises every day. Try to write a theme (theme is a nicely developed motif, don't forget) and see how it affects you on its own and then when you are capable of writing such bright and interesting themes, you can go on and try to implement them in variations to develop it even further.

Looking forward to your progress 🙂

6 hours ago, Luis Hernández said:

Hello

I think the play is funny.
Of course, at least those of us who have been here for a while know that this is part of a style to which you are faithful and constant.
No wonder it catches the eye, which is a bit naive, in the sense of creating unique lines, almost always, without harmonic complications, and with little dynamic contrast.

In this case, for my taste, the pizzicato is superfluous, especially in measure 20, which, at that point, produces more of a jolt than anything else.

Hello Luis,

Thanks for your review of the piece as well as your insights into my compositional style. I do not understand what you mean when you say "the play is funny". Do you mean the software violin?

Regarding the pizzicato, it is true that in the software violin sound, it gives the effect of a jolt. But I am of the opinion that in an actual performance, it would not have that effect and would come off as more natural.

5 hours ago, AlexeySavelyev said:

Hello, ludeart. Long time 🙂

So as for this Caprice I will give you some feedback in hopes you would improve and become more flexible in this variation form.

1. Thematic material

I think you got better overall in that regard, but here it is like you start of from the middle of the theme. Theme is a story in its own, and like every story it has statement, development, answer to the initial statement, culmination, ending. You seem to start from the answer. Why do I feel that? Because you start to introduce sequences right from the start, but sequences is only a form of developing an already established theme or motif. So my opinion is that you should heavily work on that. Because Theme is like a main hero. If your story lacks a good developed main hero, no one will care about the story. You can work with this by looking at 24th Paganini Caprice and studying how he does his theme.

2. Variations

Variations are fine, there is not much to it, because of how short the piece is, and you simply don't give yourself time to execute all of the violin techniques which you would place in a caprice.

3. How long the piece is.

Well it's very short. I can translate your story as this: "There is an old man, who knows how to do everything. He does smithing, he loves his wife. He lives happily. The end." The whole thing just wants a question: "So what?" And partially that is because you don't give yourself time to develop anything you do in the composition, which is bad for you as a composer, and bad for listener as they doesn't care.

So I hope you will follow more Paganini's 24th Caprice in the future, maybe even locking yourself to releasing your composition until you hit 5 minute mark, so you can develop everything in your piece to the maximum. Also do a thematic exercises every day. Try to write a theme (theme is a nicely developed motif, don't forget) and see how it affects you on its own and then when you are capable of writing such bright and interesting themes, you can go on and try to implement them in variations to develop it even further.

Looking forward to your progress 🙂

 

 

Hello Alexey. Indeed it's been a long time! Maybe I can say welcome back!

Thanks for your review of this caprice of mine and your observations of my progress as you see it, as well as your advice.  Indeed it would be a challenge for me to compose a piece that is 5 minutes long. I tend to finish my pieces early and keep them short. Indeed Paganini's 24th Caprice would be a great model to study and learn from.

 

Sorry about that word funny, it was the translator.

I meant catchy and interesting. One thing I like is that the harmony is sometimes like planning.

On 8/10/2023 at 3:19 AM, AlexeySavelyev said:

Hello, ludeart. Long time 🙂

So as for this Caprice I will give you some feedback in hopes you would improve and become more flexible in this variation form.

1. Thematic material

I think you got better overall in that regard, but here it is like you start of from the middle of the theme. Theme is a story in its own, and like every story it has statement, development, answer to the initial statement, culmination, ending. You seem to start from the answer. Why do I feel that? Because you start to introduce sequences right from the start, but sequences is only a form of developing an already established theme or motif. So my opinion is that you should heavily work on that. Because Theme is like a main hero. If your story lacks a good developed main hero, no one will care about the story. You can work with this by looking at 24th Paganini Caprice and studying how he does his theme.

2. Variations

Variations are fine, there is not much to it, because of how short the piece is, and you simply don't give yourself time to execute all of the violin techniques which you would place in a caprice.

3. How long the piece is.

Well it's very short. I can translate your story as this: "There is an old man, who knows how to do everything. He does smithing, he loves his wife. He lives happily. The end." The whole thing just wants a question: "So what?" And partially that is because you don't give yourself time to develop anything you do in the composition, which is bad for you as a composer, and bad for listener as they doesn't care.

So I hope you will follow more Paganini's 24th Caprice in the future, maybe even locking yourself to releasing your composition until you hit 5 minute mark, so you can develop everything in your piece to the maximum. Also do a thematic exercises every day. Try to write a theme (theme is a nicely developed motif, don't forget) and see how it affects you on its own and then when you are capable of writing such bright and interesting themes, you can go on and try to implement them in variations to develop it even further.

Looking forward to your progress 🙂

 

 

Wow, quite a lesson on composition! Great!