Discovering music , 20/3/14

name: Charles Dancla
date of birth: 19th december 1817
nationality: French
date of death: 10th october 1907
type of composer: romantic classical
period: classical
secular or sacred: secular

The piece i am going to provide feed back on is : Charles Dancla- Variations on a Theme by Pacini Op.89 № 1.

This piece starts of as short and soft melodies of piano notes. It was then complimented by a violin, as this happened the piano work became softer. The piano work then became more powerful and joyful and had a counter melody against the short jabs of the violin.

The main characteristic of this piece is most definitely the violin, as it is played the loudest and is played in a very melodic fashion with allot of dynamics. The violin is complemented by a piano that has allot of dynamics and counter melodies to the string work. The tempo of this piece is constantly changing, from slow to fast.

This piece has an impact on me in a positive way, making me feel relaxed and happy, the reason for this is the fact that the piano is played softly , with joyful melodies. And the string is played in long notes, then short 'happy' counter melodies to the piano.

The key similarities and differences between all four of the pieces i looked at are that they all seem to have some string work , weather it be the main characteristic or just a complement to the piece. The differences are the purpose of which they were composed, one was sacred - to be played in a church environment. The other 3 were secular, which means they are meant to be played in a theatre. Also in all four of the pieces there was a lot of melody and counter melody work, with lots of different dynamics.