Hello. My name is George Marshall and I am the founder of Any Old Music. I am a composer with over 10-years of experience, having completed work on 50+ projects for video-games, films and the concert hall. In 2020, I completed my doctorate in Music Composition. My PhD was on constraint and how it emerges in creative projects. For example, team discussions in video-game projects. If a video-game team presented a mood-board and certain briefs, these constrain and challenge the composer to compose in a particular way or style. Less quantifiable than, say, the application of serialism, but probably just as (if not more) constraining and creatively directing. It was during my PhD that I realised that there would only be two outcomes for me as a composer: I became a professional composer who needed to compose lots of music in not enough time. I became an amateur/hobbyist or semi-professional composer who needed to compose less music but still with not enough time. With this in mind I eventually opted for something more along the lines of semi-professional, but with an ambition of setting up Any Old Music as a means of helping similarly time strapped music makers. Particularly those in the second group, the hobbyists and semi-professionals, whose composing competes much more for time against other aspects of life. Composition is incredibly rewarding. You never stop learning and developing as a composer. Furthermore, many of us boast renegade autodidactic personalities to a certain extent. My hope is that Any Old Music’s self-paced composition courses can help composers to continue growing, by learning through creating and doing so in their own time.
The quiet power of Åse’s Death
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The longing son, weeping for a dying mother: Åse’s Death is one of the most moving moments in Grieg’s music. Yet the music avoids the melodrama we often associate with the Romantic era. Instead, it is restrained and respectful: music that mourns quietly while still expressing deep emotion and yearning. Background: Peer GyntÅse’s Death is the second movement of Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite, drawn from the incidental music he wrote for fellow Norwegian Henrik Ibsen’s play of the same name (first staged in 1875). Peer, the protagonist, is a deeply flawed character. However self-centred Peer may be, he still loves his mother: the woman who defended him throughout his life, no matter how much trouble he caused. In truth she may have been his final champion and advocate (excluding, perhaps, Solveig: though Peer only realises her importance much later in the play). A Short Series on Åse’s DeathOver the next few emails I would like to share my working analysis of Åse’s Death as I finalise it for inclusion in my course on composition and orchestration lessons from Grieg’s Peer Gynt. Today (as I often like to do) I would like to begin with large-scale form, before moving later to melody, harmony and orchestration. So far in the Grieg course and my existing analyses we have covered Morning Mood, which presents a straightforward ternary structure. Åse’s Death, by contrast, is in simple binary form. The Form of the PieceBinary form: AB Bars 1–24: Section A The type of binary form Grieg uses resembles something closer to Classical binary form rather than Baroque binary form. I have also attached a short annotated piano reduction highlighting these two sections if you would like to follow along visually: Åse's Death [Piano] - Overall Form Annotations - Full Score.pdf Baroque and Classical Binary FormBaroque binary form
Classical binary form
In Classical examples the second theme is often closely related to the first. Romantic composers, however, were more willing to introduce stronger contrast between sections: something we see clearly in Åse’s Death. The contrast is not jarring, but it is distinct. Grieg builds each section around its own melodic idea:
Harmonic Behaviour in Binary FormBaroque binary forms often explore closely related keys: I, IV, V, vi and so on. Classical binary forms may do the same, though many shorter examples are harmonically simpler. A typical pattern is to modulate to the dominant at the end of the A section, begin the B section in the dominant, and eventually return to the tonic. Additional modulations can occur, but often the harmony is enriched through passing chords such as secondary dominants or diminished chords. Grieg, however, largely oscillates between tonic and dominant, using chromaticism to colour and slightly destabilise the tonality in an expressive, mournful way. Two ObservationsThere are two points I would like to pause on briefly:
Why? Why Binary Form?Binary form is inherently brief and transient. If it were not for Grieg’s extremely slow tempo, Åse’s Death would be a very short piece. Binary forms often rely on written repeats so that we can properly absorb the musical ideas and the structure. Grieg instead builds repetition into the music itself, allowing the orchestra to express the material in subtly changing ways (something we will explore in a few weeks). Life, of course, is fleeting. Could Grieg’s choice of binary form reflect that fleeting quality? Or was the decision purely musical: the ideas simply developing naturally into a binary structure? Perhaps it was practical: the dramatic moment in the play does not allow time for a full recapitulation. It is difficult to say for certain, but it is possible the choice was at least partly expressive. The Harmonic OscillationTurning now to Grieg’s oscillation between tonic and dominant: Could this relate to the drama of the play? Perhaps. But I am thinking more specifically of the subtext. Is the music’s harmonic oscillation reflecting Peer's emotional state in this moment: his grief moving back and forth between acceptance and denial? Or could it reflect something broader in Peer’s character: his lifelong tendency to wander, to leave, and eventually return home? Perhaps. The latter interpretation is weaker, but still possible. Next WeekNext week we will look one level deeper beneath the form. What exactly does Grieg do inside these two sections: what musical material does he present, and how does he present it? Questions or Thoughts?If you have any questions or comments, I would be delighted to hear them: please simply reply. As I mentioned earlier, this is a working analysis and I welcome any feedback that might help refine and improve it. All the best, George P.S. If you are curious about the full course, you can preview it here for a reasonable price: https://www.udemy.com/course/music-composition-with-grieg-orchestration-melody-form/?couponCode=5ADB3DAED3790066DC12. P.S.S. If you have had enough of hearing from me, please unsubscribe using the link below, cheers and cheerio: |
Any Old Music
Hello. My name is George Marshall and I am the founder of Any Old Music. I am a composer with over 10-years of experience, having completed work on 50+ projects for video-games, films and the concert hall. In 2020, I completed my doctorate in Music Composition. My PhD was on constraint and how it emerges in creative projects. For example, team discussions in video-game projects. If a video-game team presented a mood-board and certain briefs, these constrain and challenge the composer to compose in a particular way or style. Less quantifiable than, say, the application of serialism, but probably just as (if not more) constraining and creatively directing. It was during my PhD that I realised that there would only be two outcomes for me as a composer: I became a professional composer who needed to compose lots of music in not enough time. I became an amateur/hobbyist or semi-professional composer who needed to compose less music but still with not enough time. With this in mind I eventually opted for something more along the lines of semi-professional, but with an ambition of setting up Any Old Music as a means of helping similarly time strapped music makers. Particularly those in the second group, the hobbyists and semi-professionals, whose composing competes much more for time against other aspects of life. Composition is incredibly rewarding. You never stop learning and developing as a composer. Furthermore, many of us boast renegade autodidactic personalities to a certain extent. My hope is that Any Old Music’s self-paced composition courses can help composers to continue growing, by learning through creating and doing so in their own time.
We discovered a couple of weeks back that Edvard Grieg’s Ase’s Death is a binary form composition built around two melodies, with each section having its own material. In section A there is melody 1 (T1), and in section B there is melody 2 (T2). Today I want to look at how Grieg constructs melody 1, breaking down its phrase structure, the sub-phrase structure that I will call ideas, and the motifs that comprise and distinguish those ideas. Here is a PDF that includes annotations and analysis...
One thing I have never really liked about some theory, analytical, and pedagogical composition books that deal with form is how they present it. They will often tell you that a piece uses ternary form. Or sonata form. Or, as we discovered with Grieg last week: binary form in Åse’s Death. This week's annotated score/analysis: Arrangement - Åse's Death.pdf The Problem with How Form Is Often Taught However, for the student, this can create false understandings, misconceptions, and...
A simple but significant change has happened in my Winnie the Pooh arrangement. The whole piece has been transposed down a tone (major 2nd) and the arrangement is now beginning to take shape in full concert band score, having reached a level of detail in the condensed sketch that felt solid enough to build from. So today, I thought I would share how that move is going: what seems to be working well, what seems less convincing, and why. Down a tone First, the decision to transpose the score...