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In the open circle at Woodford Spiritualist Church last night, I gave a message to John: Richard Strauß’s tone poem Death and Transfiguration (Tod und Verklärung, Op. 24), and the key of G minor featuring the notes B♭ G D D. “It’s German,” I said. Well, in German notation, that would be rendered B G D D – which would stand for Birth, Growth, Development, Death. We are born, we grow, we develop, and we die. Indeed, if I were a composer, I would compose a tone poem in G minor on the Cycle of Life; it would incorporate the four-note motif and explore the four aspects of Birth, Growth, Development, and Death. And I might even give it a German title, Zyklus des Lebens, just to show off.
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B♭ G D D
Sylvia- Posts : 124
Join date : 2017-12-02
Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration begins in C minor and ends in C major – keys which are traditionally associated with works of a heroic nature.
George- Admin
- Posts : 357
Join date : 2017-11-26
On the other hand:
G minor has been considered the key through which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart best expressed sadness and tragedy, and many of his minor key works are in G minor.
Sylvia- Posts : 124
Join date : 2017-12-02
A moment ago, I enjoyed listening to the Strauss tone poem in “Through the Night” (presented by Catriona Young) on BBC Radio 3, the Slovenian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra conducted by Samo Hubad.
George- Admin
- Posts : 357
Join date : 2017-11-26
A moment ago, I enjoyed listening to Camille Saint-Saëns’s Danse macabre, Op. 40, in “Through the Night” with Catriona Young, played by the Norwegian Radio Orchestra with Kjell Seim as conductor. This short tone poem, which features a solo violin with the E-string tuned down a semitone to E♭ (a technique known as scordatura), is in G minor.
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