Favorite Piece?

Watching a clip about the piece that stops various classical music lovers in their tracks, on hearing it.  Each one had a different one, and I got to thinking: how would I answer that question?  I'm likely to change my mind, depending on what I had been doing ...

But here's one favorite: the last chorus of the St. Matthew Passion by Bach— Wir setzen uns, mit Tränen nieder ... I have to check that title; I've forgotten it.  The disciples, and the two choirs (that work requires two choirs, and two orchestras and two organs), are seated symbolically at Jesus's grave, and are weeping. 

There is a powerful tune that keeps returning (these sorts of tunes are called a ritornello.)  It's in two parts.  One part starts in the major key, and ends in the minor.  The other one is almost a twin of the first, except that it starts in the minor, and finishes in the major. 

It's sad, but I love it!  I ought to give you a link to a recording, and maybe I will, later. 

Archie 

Kerry Dancing

My favorite English choir had an album in which there was this song: The Days of the Kerry Dancing, which not being something I was familiar with, I was not at all impressed with.  I heard it again here and there; on the radio, in the houses of other people, and I continued to be underwhelmed. 

Then, during band practice, (I play in this brass band for seniors) our leader handed out parts for a medley of British folksongs.  I recognized the tune at once, but now the circumstances were different!  The part I was playing would be classified as an inner part by band people, but choir people would hear it as a tenor line.  But all the three harmony lines ('voices', to be technical) were beautifully chromatic.

It's a little tough to explain what that word means without examples, but this song is a perfect example of a piece with chromatic elements in it.

Most folksongs, if they're moved down to C major*, would be playable only on the notes of C major, that is only on the white keys.  Occasionally the tune may wander into other keys, usually what we call neighboring keys, because they have the same notes as C major, except for one extra note: 

• F has B Flat instead of B,
• G has F# instead of F,
• A minor has G# instead of G, and so on.

So if the tune gets to be flavored with a chord in one of these keys, there's going to be an extraneous note inserted.  That would be a harmony note.

 But around the time of Mozart, people began to write melodies that had these extra black notes purely for melodic effect, with no implied harmony at all!  This is what we call chromatic music. 

Well!  That made all the difference!  Unfortunately the piece didn't sound like a typical folksong anymore, but boy, was it fun to play!

[To be continued.]