Melody—Part 1
The Essential Duality and “Triality”
How many different styles of melody are there?
For starters we consider music from Gregorian Chant, the Troubadours, Notre Dame, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, continuing into the 20th century up to the Estonian master, Arvo Pärt, and the Beatles and Dylan. In later posts, we’ll come to 21st century music. The number of possible melodic styles seems almost infinite, but this number cannot be infinite as long as the number of melodic elements are discrete and finite. However, the number of kinds of melodies that already exist is so enormous that it might as well be infinite.
The Three Elements
Although our focus is on melody, the rhythm, harmony, and melody are bound together. And especially in Western music, harmony cannot be separated from melody even if no harmony is explicitly given—even when a melody is harmonized in more than one way. Harmony is a fundamental aspect of our music, whether or not a composer of a melody is “using” it, since the scale and harmonies are both produced from the relationships of the natural phenomenon of overtones. The possibilities of harmony are at least implicit in every real melody.
Form and Content – a Superficial Duality
The question of form. Much about melody in the literature is about the formal structure, but not too much is said about the essence of melody because so little is intellectually understood. Almost everyone who has seriously studied this subject agrees that a great deal of knowledge is embedded in Beethoven’s sketchbooks. Beethoven, like Van Gogh in painting, was the only great composer who left us an extraordinary record of how he worked on his music, especially on his themes.
Some consider form to be like a container into which the content is inserted—as if there were a boundary between the form and the content. But the form that is within the “container” –- i.e., the melody or the music itself—is like an audible record of an organic development, i.e., a form if you will, that starts at a definite point (the beginning!) and, as has been said in many ways “it must progress as it proceeds.”
The Real Duality
In my opinion, “form” versus “content” is not the primary duality. The most fundamental one is between the visible (the inaudible) and the visible (the audible). The composer is the bridge; afterwards, the interpreter is the bridge. Here is Beethoven on this subject:
When at eventide I contemplate in wonderment the firmament and the host of luminous bodies which we call worlds and suns, eternally revolving within its boundaries, my spirit soars beyond these stars many millions of miles away towards the fountain whence all created work springs and whence all new creation must still flow. When from time to time I try to give shape and form in sound to the feelings roused within me, alas! I meet with cruel disappointment. In disgust I throw away the sheet of paper I have soiled, and am almost convinced that no earthborn being can ever hope to set down by means of sounds, words, color, or in sculpture, the heavenly pictures that rise before his awakened imagination! What is to reach the heart must come from above: if it does not come thence, it will be nothing but notes—body without spirit. The spirit must rise up from the earth, whence for a time the heavenly spark is banished, for only by hard, persistent labor through such powers as are bestowed on a man can the work of art be made worthy of the Creator and Preserver of everlasting nature.
Beethoven obviously managed to surmount his doubt.
The composer bridges the gap between these two domains; and afterwards, the interpreter. This is the fundamental “triality.” That what Beethoven received was not whatever exists at the source is affirmed over and over by the fact that the first appearance in his notes of a motive or theme was often in a very poor or crude form and often included an awkward continuation. This material was worked on until it corresponded to the inspiration or content that Beethoven felt obligated to convey.
Different composers work in different ways, but there are essential processes common to all. For some, like Beethoven, the music is often developed in detailed work from quite raw material. For others, like Mozart, who was also obviously well-trained, the music often appears all at once. But this doesn’t address the processes that integrate knowledge and heart which were going on in his exceptional functioning before the appearance. Schubert, whose songs seemed to “pour out of him,” was keen on getting more counterpoint instruction just before he died (at age 31).
Succeeding Music from Scratch Pages
We’ll explore various kinds of melodies and even ask what might be coming next in the culture of both pop and classical music.
Next Post (Wednesday, 8/11/10): Melody— Part 2
On the First Notes of a Melody
Among other works, we’ll examine…
Bach: 3rd Brandenburg Concerto, 1st Movement
Bach: 5th Brandenburg Concerto, 1st Movement
Mozart: Symphony #40 in G minor
Beethoven: Symphony #7 in A Major, 2nd Movement
Beethoven: Symphony #6 in F major, “The Pastoral,” 1st Movement
The Beatles (McCartney/Lennon): “Blackbird”
The Beatles (McCartney/Lennon): “Eleanor Rigby”
Gregorian Chant: “Salve Feste Dies”
Dylan: “Blowin’ in the Wind”
Dylan: “Lay, lady, lay”
Beethoven: Quartet #14 in C# minor, op.131