Peripetie: An Analysis of Schoenberg's Tempo and Texture

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Peripetie- A schoenberg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ1HFjJxkbY

Peripetie by Schoenberg has a time signature of triplet quavers and sextruplet semi- quavers. The tempo slows slightly in bar 7 and builds up throughout. The tempo of this song is called- ‘Sehr Rasch’ which means very fast. it differs between ruhiger ‘calmer’ and heftig ‘passionate’ throughout.
The metre changes between ¾, 2/4, and 4/4 with complex rhythms and varied time signatures which can change very quickly and become unpredictable. In parts of the piece Schoenberg layers a number of different rhythmic patterns on top of each other to create complex contrapuntal texture. This means there is more than one melodic line being played at the same time. This is heard a …show more content…

bar 1 and bars 59-61 in the clarinet part. Bar 3 and bars 62-63 in the flute part.
This song has some very long slow parts and then some short quick parts with changing tempos. This makes the song have an unclear rhythm or the sense of no metre. This piece uses many different rhythmic devices such as Syncopation, Complexity and cross rhythms in other words it is polyphonic. Polyphonic is when two or more rhythms with different pulses are heard together. The syncopation in the song is when the variety of rhythms sound unexpected and make the whole piece of music sound off beat. The short note durations such as quavers and semiquavers make the music seem much faster than it actually …show more content…

The tempo can sound unclear at the start as it sounds a bit like 6/8. The song has frequent syncopation in the vocal and instrumental lines. The song starts with a use of cross rhythms created by a hi hat. The piece is entirely diatonic and is in the key of G Major with a modal feel.
Throughout the song the shaker and hi hat play every two beats giving the rhythm a triple feel. The vocal part has a characteristic lilting rhythm and is sung using the scale of E minor. The main female part goes as low as bottom E which is lower than middle C and then up to G above the middle C.
It Is pentatonic throughout. In the instrumental section the second and fifth beats of the bar are emphasised by the accordion. By verse 4 the rhythm settles to a compound quadruple time of 12/8. This song has polyrhythmic patterns which is when many different rhythms are played at the same time all weaving in and out of each other to create an interesting

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