Variations on a theme of Pergolesi
For string trio. The audio file was created with software as a demo: PergolesiStringTrioMS4.mp3
Version of 23 January 2023
A demo score (watermarked, without ancillary material) is available in a public access file here. If anyone wants to see a full score, please pm me, or see my permissions page, link below.
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Copyright 2023 by Jon Corelis. For performance permission, please see my permissions page.
Source: this composition in part adapts a melody from Bergerettes by J. B. Wekerlin (1913)
Replies
Jon,
I like the dance part.
Good Job.
Regards,
Saul
Thanks for liking it. The Pergolesi theme wasn't called a dance in my source, but it does sound like one.
As of 25 January 2023 this has been updated with a new MuseScore 4 audio file and a link to a score pdf.
This is a really captivating and immersive composition. I especially liked when the texture thickened up roughly around the 1:30 mark. Interesting to me that this take on Baroque was more likely to make use of unison doubling than, say, Bach might have been inclined to use. It's an interesting effect, and certainly emphasizes the melodic aspect.
Thanks for the comment and for liking it. The change at 1:30 you mention is inspired by, though not really an example of, the Middle Eastern technique of taxim, using a loosely structured introduction as a set-up for the more tightly organized main passage. I don't know if anyone will recognize the first few measures as an echo of the shepherd pipe in Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique; I don't have a score handy so was echoing it from memory. As for the doubling, in earlier drafts I tried to make harmonized melodies that worked, but none of them seemed as pleasing as just relying on the combined contrasting timbres of the instruments playing the same scale.