What’s so funny?
What took so long?
Thank you all for your patience. It’s been a busy few months including gigs on many instruments, a great deal of conducting time, and a detailed revision of the Energy Calculator. I know this project is taking longer than expected but I assure you, it’s still going strong and I’m happy to report that a second draft of the second movement is now complete! That makes three complete movements and 75% completion of this massive twenty-eight minute sonata.
Capital Region Wind Ensemble posters and my set ups from three fun gigs.
Form
Scherzo literally means a joke. They are traditionally light and whimsical. But the scherzo, as most of you no doubt know, is derived from the Baroque minuet and trio. Essentially a ternary—ABA—form in three-four.
Baroque Minuet and Trio
MINUET
A|: a :||: b :|
TRIO
B|: c :||: d :|
MINUET
A a b
Classical composers expanded the form to include added material and forms within forms. Note the rounded binary form of both the minuet and trio.
Classical Minuet and Trio
MINUET
A|: a :||: b a’:|
TRIO
B|: c :||: d c’:|
MINUET
A aba’
Late classical composers naturally expanded the form even further, combining it with other forms such as the rondo.
Late Classical Minuet and Trio
MINUET
A|: a :||: b a’:|
C (episode)
TRIO
B|: c :||: d c’:|
|:c (episode) :|
MINUET
A a ba’
|:c (episode) :|
Coda
c’
In the romantic era the tempo was sped up and the form became more complex, but the style remained light and fanciful. It’s no surprise that the form would expand to include elements of sonata allegro form, particularly a development. In most cases, the trio was more lyrical and often slower.
The Wery Clarinet Sonata presents a fanciful but typically romantic variant on the classical minuet and trio. It abandons the discrete, rounded binary forms of the traditional minuet and trio and creates a strong tempo relationship between the second theme of the minuet and the trio proper. The repeats are written out in order to manipulate longer lines of energy. Development sections are added as formal divisions but the corrections—earned by virtue of the development—of themes do not result in transformations of tonal centers or meter but in the energy itself. By the end of the movement the once frenetic first theme is transferred into a calm reverie.
MINUET
A a b a’ b’
Development
TRIO
B c d c’
MINUET
A a Dev. b Dev.
Coda
The Graphic below shows an overlay of the planned energy (orange line) and the actual energy (blue line) with the outline of the form (top of chart). The blue line is the actual set of data point representing the relative energy of each individual measure. The discrepancies between the orange and blue lines are due to the fact that the orange line is plotted by seconds and the blue is plotted by measures resulting in a stretching of the proportions during shorter (faster) measures and a proportional compression during longer (slower) measures.
Form, planned relative energy, and actual measured, relative energy.
Take a listen below and you’ll immediately hear an instrument that is neither clarinet or piano. The piano part calls for a desk bell to be placed and either end of the keyboard. Yes, a desk bell; that thing you find at the reception desk that pisses off the receptionist when you use it. (It’s a scherzo!)
One last revision of the Energy Calculator (for now).
One factor in the delay of this movement was yet another revision of the Energy Calculator. The latest revision includes an improvement in how the calculator computes rhythmic data and the effect of meter. A significant improvement is the ability to tick a box on each data field preserving that data for the next measurement. Targeting is also improved by the addition of a large vertical field to the right where planned energy is collected and averaged according to the start and stop time entered in the upper left corner.
Energy Calculator 3.0
There are still some areas where the calculator could improve but that’s a project for the next large-scale work. For now, the device works well and continues to sharpen my eye (ear) for shaping long stretches of music.
Stay tuned for updates on the fourth, and final, movement in the next few months. If you would like to contribute to the project and receive recognition in the score please consider doing so below.
As always, thank you for your continued support and patience.
Brett