I save music and other materials whenever I come across something I might want to revisit later for teaching, writing, or blogging. In addition to files of works chosen for their music content – such as phrase structure, harmonic pattern, polyrhythms – I also have files for extra-musical themes. This is one example. Rather than a single ‘Idea to Try,’ here are several pieces on the theme of May.
This is from a set of 12 piano pieces by Fritz Spindler. I chose this one and re-engraved it because its simple clarity makes it useful for creating variations of all kinds. The full set of May Bells is available on IMSLP.
Frederic Cowen’s The Months casts May as an Italian Serenade. It’s a laid-back 2/4 emphasizing a sense of beat and ‘off-beat.’ You’ll also find the binary trochaic rhythm (dotted eighth – sixteenth) and perhaps imitations of other Italianate instruments.
This SATB Choral work by Philip James uses lyrics by Thomas Weelkes from 1598. In addition to some fun moments of polyrhythm, it has some surprising harmonic colors from augmented intervals.
Schubert’s “Drinking Song in May” is a short piece for men’s voices (TTB) in the dactylic rhythmic mode. (He actually wrote six separate “Trinklieder,” including one for winter!)
The librettist of Trinklied im Mai, Ludwig Christoph Heinrich Hölty, also wrote the poem Tanzt dem schönen Mai entgegen (Dance into the Beautiful Spring). This was set to music by Felix Mendelssohn as well as Max Meyer-Obsersleben. IMSLP has the latter, for women’s voices.
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