Saltarello in C minor

G'day fellas,

My Saltarello in C minor is easily my most ambitious piece, and the one I've been dedicating most of my time to over the past month. After a couple of weeks of chipping away, I feel like I've run low on where to take it next.

I have written several more bars here and there beyond this point (and I'll be sure to include them in updated versions of this composition), but I thought I would first show you how far it goes before the first hiatus.

By the way, does this sound more like a saltarello, a tarantella, or neither?

Cheers,

Quinn

Saltarello in C minor.mid

Hey there

I can't help you with the saltarello tarantella difference, mainly and predominantly because I don't know (lol), but if it at all helps it starts like the famous tarantella in a minor?

Speaking of which, maybe a potential direction you could take this is returning back to the quarter note rhythmic pulse you established in the beginning. In all honestly, this piece to me got insanely complex or virtuosic (why the E above middle C on beat 3 of bar 13 for the left hand? Why not an octave lower? Stuff like that). To me it would be cool to have all of that complexity and then return to the simple rhythm from time to time. I'm curious as to where you take this piece, it sounds very promising so far! 

Hi @Quinn St. Mark,

6 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

I can't help you with the saltarello tarantella difference, mainly and predominantly because I don't know (lol)

Me like Vince don’t know the difference between them! I have never heard the term Saltarello LoL !!

Watching this I think they are literally the same thing??

I really enjoy those complex chord progression!

By the way, why don’t you write the piece in 12/8 so that you can cancel out all those triplets? 

I think those octaves in b.15 onwards can be really difficult to play! I mean even Brahms Piano Sonata or Chopin Scherzo no.3 are around the same or even slower tempo!

I think like Vince said, you can develop a bit further first before having those virtuosic passages!

Thx for sharing, it does look promising!

Henry

G'day @Thatguy v2.0,

On 4/7/2024 at 5:42 PM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

but if it at all helps it starts like the famous tarantella in a minor?

 

I take it you are referring to Pieczonka's?

On 4/7/2024 at 5:42 PM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

a potential direction you could take this is returning back to the quarter note rhythmic pulse you established in the beginning. In all honestly, this piece to me got insanely complex or virtuosic

That's a very interesting observation! I'll see what I can pull off 🙂

On 4/7/2024 at 5:42 PM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

I'm curious as to where you take this piece, it sounds very promising so far! 

Thanks heaps!

Thanks for this, @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu!

Interesting video!

On 4/8/2024 at 12:01 AM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

By the way, why don’t you write the piece in 12/8 so that you can cancel out all those triplets? 

Actually, I was doing that initially until I noticed that both the Saltarellos in Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony and Saint Saëns' Piano Concerto 2 are in common and cut time respectively. I guess they don't represent a hard and fast rule though, so maybe!

On 4/8/2024 at 12:01 AM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

I think those octaves in b.15 onwards can be really difficult to play! I mean even Brahms Piano Sonata or Chopin Scherzo no.3 are around the same or even slower tempo!

 Thanks for the heads up. I'm not much of pianist myself at all, so it's useful to hear from others what's actually possible to play.

Cheers!

Hello @Quinn St. Mark!

I am no expert either but having watched the above Saltarello video that @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu posted, it makes me think that maybe the Saltarello is a dance that is not as fast and driven and intense as a Tarantella might be?  Although it does also speed up.  That's just my uneducated observation.  But then there's also the concern that if your piece were played by a pianist it would probably be performed at a slightly slower tempo to make it feasible.  It's a very engaging piece so far though!

Also to 2nd what @Thatguy v2.0 said about returning to the quarter note accompaniment somewhere in the piece - I think you could have done that right before bar 15 when you bring back the melody in octaves.  Giving the piece some breathing room by bringing back the C minor triads in quarter notes right before that might better punctuate the phrases in the piece.  Although you might also not want to do that if you want to keep the breakneck pace of exposition of ideas that you have going.  Thanks for sharing!