Study guide
Portman
Includes a detailed summary of the information needed for A2 exam. Background, Key points of interest, Structure, Melody, Tonality, Harmony, Texture, Sonority, Rhythm & Metre. (FYI Secured B Grade with these notes)
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Rachel Portman’s The Duchess:All Pieces
BACKGROUND
- Portman: Oscar winning composer for original score in period drama 'Emma'
- First female composer to win in this category (Best Original Score)
- Has composed music for over 100 films,
↪ eg. Chocolat and the Cider House Rules
- The Duchess: Based on the controversial life of Georgiana Cavendish,
Duchess of Devonshire.
- Film is set in the late 18th century and includes Portman's music,
↪ as well as movements from composers Beethoven and Haydn
POINTS OF INTEREST
- How the score reflects the period the film is set in: late 18th century
- Underscoring techniques
- How emotion and tension are built
- Restrained and non-virtuosic writing
- Development of ideas
/
, The Duchess Main Title
STRUCTURE
Point Explanation Reference(s)
Built on 3 themes: This music cue: JOHN WILLIAMS- JURASSIC PARK
- Reflects the grandeur of the Main theme made up of auxiliary note
ALL IN D major manor house and significance of idea with a balanced phrase structure
occasion that is repeated throughout.
Bars 1-16: - Serves as backdrop for the
- Theme A: wedding sequence with no
Violin melody with dialogue. RACHEL PORTMAN-
harp/string quaver THE CIDER HOUSE RULES
accompaniment & Opening bars of the first music cue: String chords
off-beat lower string - Audience is presented with a
chords stereotypical Portman sound- DARIO MARIANELLI-
Bars 17-34: scape as Georgiana walks out PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
- Theme B: onto the balcony of Althorp Somber minor chords in melancholic
Solo violin melody, Estate having learned she is to be moments as an underscoring to the
with continuing quaver the next Duchess of Devonshire action on screen, not detracting
accompaniment attention from the action, but rather
accompanying.
Bars 35-43:
- Theme C:
New idea based on
auxiliary note motif,
followed by solo violin
idea based on end of
Theme B
This is the shortest
section
/
, MELODY
Point Explanation Reference(s)
Melodies made up of 2, 4 or 8-bar units
- Even phrases
- Phrase endings = clear & predictable
Mostly conjunct movement
Theme A:
- Built on 2-bar phrase
- Modified by sequence
- & modified again to lead into upper, descending
phrase
- Then expanded to reach end of section
- This section is basically built on a triadic basis
Theme B:
- Built around a D major triad
- Rising at first and then descending stepwise from
tonic to subdominant
- Including flattened 7th (C natural), gives mixolydian
sound
- Develops the accompaniment:
becoming all the while more exciting and ‘busy’
E.g cello quaver arpeggios at bar 33 and viola
syncopated flourishes at bar 37 onwards.
- Double stopping strengthens in intensity
- Piano and harp increase the range of the quaver
patterns
Theme C:
- 2 Phrases, both built on ideas from Section A;
1) Auxiliary idea from b.2 = basis for melody of b.35-36
2) Falling phrase from b.12-13 = basis for solo violin
melody of b.37-40
- Increased use of manipulating note lengths
throughout the cue with the trend of melodic material
becoming shorter in phrase length as the piece
progresses
Increased use of manipulating note lengths throughout the Increased use of manipulating note
cue lengths throughout the cue:
- With trend of melodic material becoming shorter in - adds to the effect of
phrase length as the piece progresses creating momentum and
building excitement as the
piece unravels
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