Hazel Nguyen

18.03.2012

Compare and contrast texture and rhythm of Sweelincks Pavana Lachrimae, Corellis Trio Sonata in D and Mozarts Piano Sonata in B flat major. In 1615, Sweelinck composed his Pavana Lachrimae to be a teaching material on organ or harpsichord, which was based on the popular song Flow My Tears of John Dowland. This style of composition was popular in the very early Baroque era, whilst the Trio Sonata no.2 op. 3 (published 1689) - for example the 4th movement composed in style of a gigue in a typical Sonata da Chiesa by Corelli, is an example for late Baroque compositional techniques. Another piece is Mozarts sonata in B flat major the first movement. It is a great example for both teaching and public enjoyment of Classical music. The different features of texture and rhythm in those three pieces will be indicated as follows. The Pavana has two main type of texture following the structure of the piece, the melody borrowed from Dowland is in the top part and it is melody dominated homophonic in sections A,B and C; but it has counterpoints, imitation (bars 40-44) and canon (bar 91) in the variations of A, B and C. The Sonata of Mozart also has melody dominated texture with melody in the right hand and accompaniment in the left hand within broken chords (bars 1-5) and Alberti bass (bars 71-80), which are typical in classical music. Comparing to those pieces above, the Trio Sonata has contrapuntal texture, it is fugal in style in the first section, the first violin states the subject and the second violin answers in a 4th lower, or it has stretto entries in bars 11-13. Most of the Pavana is in four-part texture with embellishment at cadence point, and the texture is often similar to four-part vocal writing. But, as in much other keyboard music, the number of parts is not constant and it has quick semiquavers within large range and large leap, which are passed between hands. The Trio Sonata has three-part texture with violone part joining in the counterpoint for most of the movement. However, there is variety in Corellis style of texture, for instance, it is more homophonic at cadence point bars 26-27;l in bars 32-34, two violins leap over each other within imitation in a 4th higher. In contrast, being described as having quite thin texture, the Mozarts Sonata has mainly two-part texture within development at cadence point (bars 62-63), although there is some moment of monophony, for example, bar 99, 101. The rhythmic features of those three pieces are various. Although all of them do not have the tempo changing through out, the Pavana has slow tempo, which is characteristic of a pavane, while both the Mozarts sonata and the Trio sonata has the tempo of Allegro cheerful and brisk. The metres of the Pavana and Piano sonata are both simple quadruple time, when compared to the Trio Sonata, it is in compound time which is typical for style of a gigue. The variations of the Pavana are characterised by semiquaver movement. Similarly, in the Piano sonata, there is continuous movement of quavers and semiquavers. Furthermore, it also has syncopation, for example, in bars 73-74, and off beat chord in bar 85. In a different way, the Trio sonata is based on the rhythmic pattern established at the beginning. However, it also has syncopation in bars 26-27, moreover, it has hemiolas in bar 27-31, which give the listener a feel of time. In conclusion, although they are composed in different style representing for different music period, there are still some texture and rhythmic features in common that the Pavana of Sweelinck, Piano sonata of Mozart and Trio sonata all have. However, it is obvious that there are a number of techniques that are used differently in those three pieces, which distinguish each of them specifically as discussed above.