Contestants were asked to create a piece around the theme of Fireworks. 11 members signed up and the contest begins NOW! Deadline to vote is July 31st at 5 pm EST. Thanks to all who signed up and good luck! Members may vote here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5JL2WSF
You need to be a member of Composers' Forum to add comments!
Replies
(It shouldn't get too much later than that, so that it doesn't conflict with Gav's semi-annual contests, of which the Winter contest is upcoming.)
Question: Why shouldn't this BE one of Gav's semi-annual contests?
Mayybe it should be. :-)
H. S. Teoh said,
(It shouldn't get too much later than that, so that it doesn't conflict with Gav's semi-annual contests, of which the Winter contest is upcoming.)
I said,
Question: Why shouldn't this BE one of Gav's semi-annual contests?
H. S. Teoh replied.
Mayybe it should be. :-)
I responded,
Perhaps it should.
I listened to your Fruehling piece and enjoyed it very much. I am glad to meet you as a composer.
I don't know the answer to your question as to whether that piece would have qualified to enter a polyphony contest of the type Theo had in mind.
Theo, what do you think?
I would rather not help decide this too much, simply because my music knowledge is too limited.
Mariza
I think any polyphonic piece should be accepted into the contest. It's up the voters to decide which piece conforms more closely to the ideal of polyphony (in the sense of an interplay between voices where each voice is given equal importance in the overall texture). As has been suggested, a generalized definition of fugue could be employed: a piece that revolves around a central "subject" that's taken up by each voice and developed contrapuntally.
Teoh,
That's fine with me, to define the requirement simply as a "polyphonic piece". However, do you fully realize that a fugue, which involves perhaps a large effort, will not necessary have an advantage over other polyphonic forms that, because they have fewer rules to abide by, may find a more appealing sound?
Mariza
Very true. Do you have a better suggestion how we can capture the "essence" of a fugue while allowing more modern interpretations of the rules?
Basically, the idea behind this contest is to challenge ourselves to write something that's pretty difficult to write, to "flex our compositional muscles" so to speak, even if we don't normally write in such a style. It's not supposed to be limiting in the sense of entries being disqualified on some technicality of what a fugue is/isn't. Rather, it's supposed to give us a challenge to see what's the most difficult (in the sense of difficulty of writing, not difficulty to perform) piece we can write. The idea of a fugue came up only because it has a well-known reputation of being very difficult to write, due to its stringent requirements. If there is another form / style that's equally (or more) difficult to write, yet allows a wider range of styles than a fugue, I'm open to consider it.
Thank you very much, Mariza! Glad you enjoyed it!
Mariza Costa-Cabral said:
A useful working definition of a fugue is:
A fugue is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and recurs frequently in the course of the composition.
Whereas, as several people have noted, there are strict rules governing what constitutes a strict fugue, I think for the suggested contest the above definition is sufficiently loose to allow us all a bit of freedom without getting bogged down in the detail....does anyone object to this or, dare I say it, is there a sufficient number of composers who agree with it for us actually to get the contest off the ground?
Personally, I got so upbeat about the idea when it was first mooted that I got down to work immediately and have managed to produce (what I'm told by those I've played it to) a very musical and dramatic offering that includes the above elements and a good bit of 'mirror canon' also. Great fun to do although a bit of a brain bender.
It's been suggested that Gav might want to include this as the category for the forthcoming Winter Contest - I will mail him directly to see what he thinks. As ever, any other comments will be most welcome.
I second Stephen's definition. Let's get this off the ground.
-
14
-
15
-
16
-
17
-
18
of 18 Next