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Students Guide
To
Chaconne from
Gustav Holst
By
Juan Rivera
Mus 110D
December 8, 2016
F.Heuser
2
Unit Contents
I. Introductionpg. 2
V. Assignments:
a. Listening Assignment..pg. 5
b. Practice Assignment.pg. 7
c. Creative Project..pg. 8
Introduction
This guide to Gusatv Holsts First Suite in Eb for Military band is designed to
help students understand the historical, composition, and performance aspect of the
work. It includes everything you need to know including terms and a score analysis. Go
through all the sections at your own pace so that you can fully understand the concepts
Learning Goals:
By completing this guide, students will be able to:
also a driving force that helped spur some of the most prominent composers of the day
to write for the medium of concert band. Interestingly enough, the work wasnt
officially premiered until 1920 at the Royal Military School of Music on June 23, 1920. A
piece in three movements starts with the Chaconne which is a 16 note melody that
starts in the baritone and makes its way throughout the entire band. This is followed by
the Intermezzo and a march. Holsts style is different from other composers who would
generally write for the concert band as if it was and orchestra without strings. In
one of the best composers of western music. In 1893, he entered the Royal College of
Music where he developed a friendship with Ralph Vaughn Williams whom boht
became involved with the rediscovery of English folk songs. After graduating, Holst
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made a living as a professional trombonist for the Carl Rosa Opera Company and later
with the Scottish Orchestra. From 1904 until the end of his life in 1934, he was the
director of St. Pauls Girls School in London. Other notable works of Holst from the
concert band repertoire include the Second Suite in F (1911) and Hammersmith: Prelude
and Scherzo (Op. 52). Holsts most famous work was the Planets which was written
between 1914-16.
Listening Assignment
1. Listen to the Chaconne and answer the following questions. You can follow this
2. If you listened very carefully, you should have heard a reoccurring melody
What you hear is called a Chaconne. You may be asking yourself, what is a chaconne?
Good question. A chaconne is like a set of variations that are based on a repetitive chord
The melody in question consists of just 16 notes that make up the following melody:
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3. Listen to the recording again and write down the number of times you hear this
Practice Assignment
1. Warm-up by practicing the concert pitch scales and arpeggios that are used in
Scale Arpeggio
Eb Major: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 3 5 8 5 3 1
Concert Pitch Instruments: Eb F G Ab Bb C D Eb Eb G Bb Eb Bb G Eb
Bb Transposing Instruments: F G A Bb C D E F F A C F C A F
Eb Transposing instruments: C D E F G A B C C E G C G E C
F Transposing instruments: Bb C D Eb F G A Bb Bb D F Bb F D Bb
C Minor:
Creative Project
All of the thematic material (i.e. melodies) heard throughout the entire piece come from
the opening of the chaconne. Lets look at the original theme again shall we.
Then, in mm. 81-88 you have what is called an inversion of the melody.
What is an inversion?
An inversion is basically to change its ascending intervals to descending and vice versa.
For example, the beginning of the original them goes a step up while the inverted goes a
step down.
Lets take a look at a few more interesting things that occur. From comparing the
original with the one below, can you tell me what is going on?
If you said that it is transposed, then you are correct! This is another
compositional technique many composers use to make new melodies from old ones by
moving the notes up or down by a constant interval of his/her choosing. This particular
Lastly, lets take a look at the remainder techniques we are going to be using.
Here we see the original melody followed by an augmentation and a diminution of the
same one. What do you think is happening here? From just thinking about the word
augment, you may be thinking to get bigger. In contrast, diminution means to get
smaller. In these examples, the note values are being lengthened by augmentation while
the note values are being shortened with diminution. All of these techniques are labeled
Project:
Glossary of Terms
Chaconne: A form of variation based on a repetitive chord progression similar to a
passacaglia usually in a triple meter major mode.
Brillante: Brilliant
Mestoso: Majestic
Pedal point: a compositional technique in which one note, usually the tonic or
dominant of the piece, is held for several measures while the other parts play the
changing harmonies.
Score Analysis
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