Excerpt+20

This excerpt is called ‘Attack and Fall’ and comes from a twentieth century opera. At this point, the people rise in rebellion, attacking the palace and killing the king. How does the composer use his musical resources to capture the drama of this moment? media type="file" key="20 Track 20.m4a" width="300" height="50"
 * Track 20: Phillip Glass – ‘Akhnaten’ (2:40) **

Sense of drama created mainly through: rhythm, harmony, instrumentation, dynamics and texture.

Rhythm:

Very driving due to repeated, fast relentless motif which is played the whole way through, passed through different instruments (e.g. starts in brass, later played by strings) which creates an agitated mood.

This motif consists of 3 bars of quavers in 12/8 all played on the same note, followed by a bar of 6 crotchets played in a descending scale. This hemiola effect creates tension in the rhythm

On top of this motif, male voices sing a melody which uses quite syncopated rhythms: complex, polyrhythmic: agitated character

Rhythmic diminution is used between bass voice melody and low brass counter melodies which adds to rhythmic complexity and tension

Pulse is steady and unwavering contributing to the driving feel

About half way through, percussion enters playing on beats 2+4 and then on the off beats in the hemiola bar. This adds yet more rhythmic complexity = more tension

Harmony:

Chromatic harmony used, does not seem to follow any conventional chord progression = unpredictable = agitated mood, sense of drama and anticipation

Minor tonality = sense of drama

Instrumentation:

A lot of brass used, in all different registers and a large bass choir: strong, dramatic mood

Dynamics:

Loud the whole time, becoming even louder when extra instruments are added: tense/dramatic mood

Texture:

Very dense and complex, polyrhythmic

Consists of melody in bass choir, accompanied by relentless motif played by various, changing instruments. Low brass (e.g. bass trombone, tuba) sometimes double a line of the melody and/or add a counter melody: all contribute to a thick, dense, agitated, dramatic mood

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