Enrique Granados – 8 Valses Poéticos (sheet music, partitura) Piano
Track List:
- Vivace molto and Melodico
- Tempo de Vals noble
- Tempo de Vals lento
- Allegro humoristico
- Allegretto (elegante)
- Quasi ad libitum (sentimental)
- Vivo
- Presto
Poetic waltzes by Enrique Granados: Melodic waltz
The Spanish composer Enrique Granados (1867-1916) wrote numerous works for piano throughout his life. His poetic waltzes were composed between 1893 and 1894, and form a set of 9 pieces: an introduction and 8 waltzes.
The poetic waltzes contain typical characteristics of a romantic style, very close to the piano music of R. Schumann and F. Chopin:
- Character pieces with a simple structure based on derivatives of classical forms and a square phrasing: phrases of 8 or 16 measures that are divided into semi-phrases of 4 or 8 measures with motifs of 4 or 2 measures.
- Use of the possibilities offered by the romantic piano: pedal that maintains the written sounds producing dense sounds and orchestral effects that contrast with more intimate sections (end of the first section versus the second section).
- Dynamic processes that conclude with a climax at the end of the first section.
- The accompaniment is closely related to the melody: the ascending scale of the melody appears inverted on the first note of each measure in the bass.
- The composer writes all dynamic, articulation, agogic, and character details into the score, thus eliminating any option for the performer to add, modify, or improvise.
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The Melodious Waltz, in the key of A major, is played after the prelude. Its general structure derives from the form binary re-expository , with varied and written repetition of the first 16 bars of the first section, thus avoiding the repetition bars that only appear in the second section .
Curiously, the melodic Waltz by E. Granados has a structure and melodic design similar to that of the first piece of Papillons Op. 2 by R. Schumann, composed in 1831.
The 32 bars that the first section contains are divided into two parallel phrases, a and a’, of 16 bars each. The phrase a’ repeats the first phrase in forte and with greater sound density: doubling of the melody in octaves and higher and lower registers in its last bars.
Made up of two 8-bar phrases, b and a’, the beginning of the second section presents a dynamic, textural and modal contrast: piano, partly low melody and change of mode to A minor. The phrase a’ has a development character, uses only M-a1 and forms a semi-sequence by descending thirds (la-fa). The relationship of the third or tenth of the first measure, in the accompaniment, is observed in phrase b at various structural levels:
- The initial notes la and fa form a falling third interval.
- The initial and final notes of each motive have a relationship of ascending tenth (la-do and fa-la).
The phrase a’ partially restates the first phrase, but this time with inverse density and dynamics that facilitate the closure of the entire piece.
Style
- Accompanied melody texture. The melody is partly high in the phrases a and a’, and partly low in the phrase b.
- General structure derived from the re-expository binary form.
- Dynamics for terraces in the first section: p, f, ff.
- Formal structure based on phrases of 16 and 8 bars, semi-phrases of 8 and 4 that take as a model the thematic organization in groups of 4 bars.
- Contrasting and complementary melodic motifs and designs that are based on a melodic scheme (ascending scale) and the projection of an interval with which the accompaniment pattern begins (la1-do#3). The parallels of the tenth in the accompaniment stand out, and between it and the melody.
- Full stop at the end of the first sentence.
- Rhythmic displacements at the end of the first section that appear already in the first bar with the tenth-do# break.
- Semi-cadence, change of mode, and arrangement between melody and accompaniment in phrase B.
- Markings in The tempo of the second section invite interpretation using the rubato as the piece concludes.