Headscratcher #3

[Starrmark]

How many pieces can you name in which one note is repeated over-and-over, from start-to-finish? Some of them are on IMSLP.

MS

[allegroamabile]

John Cage: 4'33

[sbeckmesser]

Le Gibet from Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit (B-flat), a great piece, and Der Gerechten Seelen from Brahms' German Requiem (D pedal), a weaker section of that piece. The best instance of this type of writing, however, if from Britten's Billy Budd. These are of course the famous chords, all harmonizing at least one of the notes of an F-major triad, played during the unseen interview between Vere and Billy in which Vere informs Budd of his death sentence. Somehow knowing that every chord is related, and that F-minor already has symbolic value as Claggart's key, makes the passage's transformation to F-major even more moving, given the dramatic context in it they occurs. I also seem to recall that there's a piece by Chopin that also has a repeated note throughout, like the Ravel.

--Sixtus

[Starrmark]

Le Gibet is one.

http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/e ... Durand.pdf

A harmonic tour de force. The repeated Bb is used in every chord imaginable. This piece makes an electrifying effect in the recent orchestration ofr Marius Constant -- where the Bb is played by a bell.

The pedal point in the German Requiem might be an answer for Headscratcher 2; but the pedal on D isn't nearly nearly as long as the chord in Verdi's Otello. Moreover, the notes are tied. They don't repeat.

Not any piece by Chopin (that I know of.) But Chopin's next door neighbor wrote one.

There are still other such pieces. One, on IMSLF, also repeats a Bb.

MS

[Melodia]

If you consider a snare drum hit a note, there's Ravel's Bolero(and most undoubtedly "the right answer").

[Starrmark]

Here's one by the German composer and poet Peter Cornelius.

http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/5 ... in_ton.pdf

I can think of at least two more such pieces (with the same note repeated from start to finish.) One is a delightful joke by a very, very old composer.

Incidentally, in regard to Ravel's Le gibet from Gaspard de la nuit, I mentioned Marius Constant, the contemporary French composer who recently orchestrated Ravel's Gaspard (James Conlon conducted it a few years ago with the Boston Symphony.) Marius Constant is the composer (in his youth) of the third most famous, most performed series of four notes in the history of music. The most famous, most performed being, naturally, Beethoven's Fifth. The anonymous Big Ben comes in second. What four-note theme did Marius Constant compose?

MS

[Melodia]

The Twilight Zone theme of course.

[Starrmark]

Yes -- although some may argue that Frère Jacques, or How Dry I Am, or Halleluliah are more famous than the Twilight Zone. Can anyone name other iconic four-note themes? Or iconic 3-note themes (such as Ain't She Sweet.) By iconic, I mean instantly recognizable all by themselves by most people.

MS

[vinteuil]

How about Die Liebe Farbe from Schubert's Die Schone Mullerin - the F# is always repeated in the right hand in sixteenth notes.

[Starrmark]

Sure, that qualifies. I never noticed before the omnipresent F#. It may have had some symbolic meaning for Schubert relating to the text.

Many thanks.

MS

[Leonard Vertighel]

Can anyone name other iconic four-note themes?

Mark Snow's haunting A-C-E-F arpeggio of course!

[vinteuil]

Sure, that qualifies. I never noticed before the omnipresent F#. It may have had some symbolic meaning for Schubert relating to the text.

Repeated notes in general are signs of a sickness, obsessiveness, and madness - the Shostakovich 5th is a good example.
In fact, even Schubert's relatively sunny 9th Symphony is so stuffed with these repeated notes that one can almost hear his sickness.

Can anyone name other iconic four-note themes?

How about: B-A-C-H, A-S-C-H, S-C-H-A, D-S-C-H. Wagner's A-F-E-D# also qualifies.
3 Notes: I need not mention F-A-E
A-B-E-G-G gets honorable mention. Fans of Thomas Mann also might get H-E-A-E-Eb.
Yes, not recognizable by many, but still very, very iconic.

And, of course, the opening of Beethoven's Op. 67 wins.

[wurlitzer153]

Or iconic 3-note themes (such as Ain't She Sweet.)

How about the NBC chimes, which were surprisingly conceived long before G-E-C bought the network
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC_chimes

[Starrmark]

Another piece in which a single note is repeated from start to finish is En FA by Charles-Valentin Alkan.

But the best piece in this odd genre is also the oldest -- and the funniest. The composer was Josquin des Prez (c. 1450 to 1455 – August 27, 1521), the greatest composer of his time. He wrote a five-voice motet for the king that he then served (probably Louis XI.) Evidently, this king was an amateur singer, but he couldn't carry a tune very well. So, Josquin included in this motet a Parte Reale, a royal staff for the king to sing. The notes on this staff are all on the same pitch, and they are all whole notes.

MS

[sbeckmesser]

The NBC chimes were used in Strauss's Sinfonia domestica, long before there was an NBC, most prominently in the last three chords.

--Sixtux