Violin concerto
2nd movement
By Svend Hvidtfelt Nielsen
Interweaving
The secret of the passacaglia
A series of notes which in itself contains several
melodies can be formed in various ways. One can delve down into a particular stump of
melody and entice the sub-melodies out of it; or one can start with small fragments of
melody which can be linked together to form a longer passage. If this passage is of
limited length, and is repeated a number of times, it will present itself to the listener
as a sort of passacaglia.
This precisely what happens in the 2nd movement of the violin concerto.
The composite melody line of the score sample, instrumented to produce a very tangible, sensual timbre, is repeated with only slight variations, whereas the solo violin plays first one and then the other of the two lines called here mel. 1 and 2.
Double or treble
The two different melodies
thus at the disposition of the soloist are not only composed in different keys (D minor
and C sharp minor), but also in different metres, triple and double respectively. In other
words, the "passacaglia" possesses a dualism that is both tonal and metric,
contrasts that provide a foreground or background for each other, depending on what the
soloist wishes to emphasise - or what the listener wishes to focus on. Listen to the
sample, or try to play the passacaglia on the piano yourself, emphasising one or the other
melody (or neither) at will, and listening to the result. What can you hear?
In the second music sample
there is also a third part called "harm.", which consists of the notes G and E
flat in different registers. Within the sound pattern of the movement they function as
overall points of reference, and are not drawn out by the soloist. On the other hand, they
provide material for the solo cadence that follows immediately after the soloist has
emphasised mel. 2. After thus having played mel.1, mel.2 and "harm.", the
soloist joins in the fourth passacaglia by playing elements from mel.1 and mel. 2.
To dot the "i"s and cross the "t"s, mel. 1 and 2 are written into both
the string and woodwind parts, so that the tonal and metric differences between these two
melodies can clearly highlight each other in a foreground-background interplay - over a
pedal point on the note E flat.
Listen to bars 43-47.
Score samples © Edition WH