Mystery Excerpt?

[Hummingbird]

In AP Music Theory class, we took a practice exam using the test material from a few years ago. There was an orchestral excerpt used which began with a solo oboe. The piece sounds very awesome, however after searching around, using various sites, I still have not been able to identify the piece the excerpt is from. I've transcribed the first few bars of the oboe part below. (It seemed like 6/8 or 3/8 time, not too sure, so I used 6/8. Also, tempo seems to be around 56 = dotted quarter or so.)

http://i53.tinypic.com/2dbwcuh.png

If anyone can identify what this is, it would be awesome! I can attempt to locate the recording and transcribe more of it if needed.

Thanks!

[Will W W]

Is it possible to link to the orchestral excerpt itself?

[sbeckmesser]

It would be very unusual for an orchestral piece to start with just a solo oboe. What else was going on besides the oboe line? What was the rest of the instrumentation? Could you get any feel for the musical era involved? Also, as transcribed, the first bar definitely falls flat as both a melodic shape and in its implied harmonies, especially at the tempo cited. This would be unusual from a major composer of the kind you typically find on music-ID tests.You sure you transcribed it correctly?

--Sixtus

[tonybabony11]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRnR692kyFE

Verdi, Sicilian Vespers, Four Seasons Ballet, Summer (Listen about 0:38 at the above link)

Hummingbird, you remembered this well enough to plant it in my head until I could recall where it came from. (Took about 2 hours! I went Smetana? Grieg? Dvorak? and then, oh right, Sicilian Vespers - IMSLP has the Vocal Score.)

Sixtus, your comment about the melody is spot on, as transcribed, but what Verdi actually wrote is...well, Verdi doesn't need anyone's defence as a melodist.

As you hear, in context the tune is meant to be like a peasant bagpipe thing, you know with static harmony, and as always V. nails it.

Tony

[sbeckmesser]

Thanks Tony for the ID. As I suspected, the real Verdi is indeed far more interesting than the transcription.

The question remaining is why this particular piece is thought to be either interesting enough or historically significant enough for some teacher to put it in a test. What was the didactic point being made? There are many far more interesting bagpipe-imitation pieces ranging back to the Renaissance, nearly all of which make the same music-theoretical points (drones, static harmonies, etc). And there is far better ballet music even by Verdi (from Aida, Otello, and even Macbeth), by Wagner (the Venusberg music from Tannhauser -- with lots of juicy harmonies for a theory course) as well as the big names in 19th century ballet music, like Delibes and Tchaikovsky. Then again, what teachers subject their students to often seems bizarre to me, even perverse.

--Sixtus