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Melodic Variation Techniques in Music

1. Melodic variation techniques can involve adding embellishments or altering the rhythm and meter of an original melody. The document gives the example of Bach fashioning an elaborate orchestral melody from the chorale melody "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" by changing the time signature and adding embellishments. 2. Another variation technique involves repeating a short bass figure while a soloist or ensemble performs a longer unfolding melody. The document cites Purcell's air "When I am laid in earth" from Dido and Aeneas as an example, where a ground bass is repeated under the vocal melody. 3. Chaconne and passacaglia are also mentioned as variation forms, though

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186 views3 pages

Melodic Variation Techniques in Music

1. Melodic variation techniques can involve adding embellishments or altering the rhythm and meter of an original melody. The document gives the example of Bach fashioning an elaborate orchestral melody from the chorale melody "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" by changing the time signature and adding embellishments. 2. Another variation technique involves repeating a short bass figure while a soloist or ensemble performs a longer unfolding melody. The document cites Purcell's air "When I am laid in earth" from Dido and Aeneas as an example, where a ground bass is repeated under the vocal melody. 3. Chaconne and passacaglia are also mentioned as variation forms, though

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negreba
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Variation techniques

1. Melodic variation may take the form of added embellishments or rhythmic


and metrical (see Metre) alterations of the original melody. Ex. 1b shows the
first four bars of the famous chorale melody usually known as ‘Jesu, Joy of
Man’s Desiring’. In the last movement of his cantata Herz und Mund und Tat
und Leben (BWV 147), Bach fashions an elaborate orchestral melody from it by
changing the metre from 34 to 98 and by adding a wealth of embellishments. The
lines between Ex. 1a and Ex. 1b show how every note of the vocal melody is
retained in the instrumental melody. Audio 1 begins with the four bars shown in
(a) and continues with four more bars that complete the instrumental melody.
This second phrase is derived from the second phrase of the vocal melody by
the same variation technique. When the choir enters the sopranos sing the four
bars shown in Ex. 1b with a simple chordal accompaniment. However, in the
next four-bar phrase the original chorale melody and Bach’s lavishly
embellished variant are performed simultaneously, and the rest of the track (and
the whole movement) is based on the same variation techniques.
2. In another important type of variation technique a short bass figure is
repeated several times while a singer or instrumental soloist unfolds a longer
melody (sometimes a whole ensemble might be involved, but the compositional
principle is the same). This basso ostinato or ground bass technique can be
seen clearly in Purcell’s famous air ‘When I am laid in earth’ from his
opera Dido and Aeneas; the first 36 bars are recorded on Audio 2. It begins
with the ground bass (Ex. 2) played on a bass violin. The vocal part starts on
the last note of the ground and it is then repeated six times without any
alterations. Meanwhile, the vocal melody is composed in such a way that none
of the singer’s cadences coincide with the perfect cadences played by the string
ensemble. The result is a type of continuous variation quite unlike the sectional
structure of the usual theme and variations.
3. Chaconne and passacaglia.

NOTATION EXAMPLES

Example 1
Bach: cantata, Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147
(closing chorale ‘Jesus bleibet meine Freude’)
zoom 
Example 2
Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
(‘Dido’s Lament’, ground bass)

zoom 

AUDIO CLIPS

Audio Clip 1
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J.S. Bach
Cantata ‘Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben’, BWV 147
Chorale: Jesus bleibet meine Freude
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00:57
03:23
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Audio Clip 2
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Purcell
Dido and Aeneas
Act 3, Air (Dido): When I am laid in earth
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