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Träumerei

Schumann: one long breath, rising to its dream

% Schumann's dream is ONE phrase that keeps not ending. It opens with
% a bare rising fourth onto the tonic, leans off it onto the seventh
% below, and climbs the tonic arpeggio back up through it. That whole
% gesture is the DREAM, and six measures of this piece open with it
% and with nothing else:
 
bpm 60
instrument plain
meter 4
unit 1/4
key f maj
 
Arp   ::= 1 _2 3 _2 5 _2
Dream ::= 1 _10 .7 _2 Arp
Theme ::= 5 _2 '1 _2 2 _2 3 _2 4 _2 6 _2
 
assert Dream == 1 _10 .7 _2 1 _2 3 _2 5 _2
assert Dream[2:] == Arp
 
.5 _4 Dream Theme
 
 
% The high point is the same climb reaching ONE step further:
% sequence the theme up and the phrase finds its peak:
 
Arp Theme {Theme}@~1
 
 
% Dreaming slower: the whole phrase augmented is the reverie
% itself; '{…}_2' is the only pedal this music needs:
 
{Arp Theme}_2
 
 
% Under it all, the left hand answers in kind: the same rising
% fourth, an octave down, a beat behind:
 
{Arp Theme Theme, - _4 {.5 _4 1 _8}@-12 {Arp}@-12 {Theme}@-12}
 
 
% NOTE FOR NOTE. From here on this IS the piece: its leading voice,
% the first pickup to the last chord, twenty-five measures. The Dream
% above carries most of it; two more names carry all the rest.
%
% FORM: A mm.1-8 · B mm.9-12 · C mm.13-14 · A' mm.15-23 · coda mm.24-25.
% A and A' state the same period; B crowns the Dream differently and
% answers with Fall; C is the Dream itself, three steps up.
 
bpm 60
meter 4
unit 1/4
key f4 maj
mode diatonic
 
assert Dream == f4 _10 e4 _2 f4 _2 a4 _2 c5 _2
 
% SETTLE is the Dream's answer: the tonic fills a measure whole and
% sinks a semitone. It closes the first phrase, closes the return, and
% has the last word before the coda:
 
Settle ::= 1 _16 .7 _8
 
assert Settle == f4 _16 e4 _8
 
% FALL is a chain of sighs, every long note answered by a short one,
% carrying the line down a seventh. Spelled from F's own degrees it
% closes the middle section; a fifth higher it is the climax:
 
Fall ::= {7b, 3} _8 3 _4 2 _6 {3, .7b} _2 4 _6 {3, .5} _2 2 _6 .6 _6
 
assert Fall[:2] == {eb5, a4} _8 a4 _4
assert Fall@7 == {bb5, e5} _8 e5 _4 d5 _6 {e5, bb4} _2 f5 _6 {e5, g4} _2 d5 _6 a4 _6
 
 
% mm.1-8: the pickup leaps its fourth and the Dream is crowned by
% the OCTAVE. Settle answers. Then a whole measure of C, bare and
% then in triad, with a quarter of C to lead back in, and the Dream
% comes again, crowned this time by the TENTH, the phrase's peak.
% The close drops to the third, holds it a measure and an eighth, and
% steps down chromatically: F, E, E flat over A flat and G flat.
 
assert '1 == f5
assert '3 == a5
assert .5Dia == {c4, e4, g4}
 
.5 _4 Dream '1 _2
  Settle
  .5 _8 .5Dia _8 .5 _4
  Dream '3 _2
  3 _18 {'1, 3b} _2 7 _6 {7b, 2b} _2 1 _8 .7 _4
 
 
bpm 51.75
 
% mm.9-12 are slower, and the crown changes: the flat seventh over the
% fourth, E flat over B flat, which tips the key toward B flat major.
% Fall answers on F's own degrees and takes the line down to D.
 
- _2 .5 _2 Dream {7b, 4} _2
  Fall
 
 
bpm 58.75
 
% mm.13-14: the whole gesture three scale steps up, on B flat. One
% thing about it is new: the top of the arpeggio is held a quarter
% instead of an eighth, and one override says exactly that. No second
% name for a section that is the first figure moved.
 
assert {Dream \4 {5 _4}}@~3 == bb4 _10 a4 _2 bb4 _2 d5 _2 f5 _4
 
{- _2 .5 _2 {Dream \4 {5 _4}}}@~3
 
 
% mm.15-23: the climax, then the return. Fall a fifth above its
% first statement is the summit of the piece; the second over the
% seventh below is the pickup that brings the opening back. And it
% comes back WHOLE: Dream to the octave, Settle, the measure of C,
% Dream to the tenth, with Settle closing it this time instead of
% the chromatic descent.
 
assert {Fall[:1]}@7 == {bb5, e5} _8
 
Fall@7 {2, .7} _4
  Dream '1 _2
  Settle
  .5 _8 .5Dia _8 .5 _4
  Dream '3 _2
  Settle
 
 
bpm 44
 
% mm.24-25 are the coda, slower still: the sixth below, the fourth
% below, and the tonic over its own third. Four notes, and the dream
% lets go.
 
assert {1, .3} == {f4, a3}
 
.6 _8 .4 _4 {1, .3} _8

% Schumann's dream is ONE phrase that keeps not ending. It opens with
% a bare rising fourth onto the tonic, leans off it onto the seventh
% below, and climbs the tonic arpeggio back up through it. That whole
% gesture is the DREAM, and six measures of this piece open with it
% and with nothing else:

bpm 60
instrument plain
meter 4
unit 1/4
key f maj

Arp   ::= 1 _2 3 _2 5 _2
Dream ::= 1 _10 .7 _2 Arp
Theme ::= 5 _2 '1 _2 2 _2 3 _2 4 _2 6 _2

assert Dream == 1 _10 .7 _2 1 _2 3 _2 5 _2
assert Dream[2:] == Arp

.5 _4 Dream Theme

% The high point is the same climb reaching ONE step further:
% sequence the theme up and the phrase finds its peak:

Arp Theme {Theme}@~1

% Dreaming slower: the whole phrase augmented is the reverie
% itself; '{…}_2' is the only pedal this music needs:

{Arp Theme}_2

% Under it all, the left hand answers in kind: the same rising
% fourth, an octave down, a beat behind:

{Arp Theme Theme, - _4 {.5 _4 1 _8}@-12 {Arp}@-12 {Theme}@-12}

% NOTE FOR NOTE. From here on this IS the piece: its leading voice,
% the first pickup to the last chord, twenty-five measures. The Dream
% above carries most of it; two more names carry all the rest.
%
% FORM: A mm.1-8 · B mm.9-12 · C mm.13-14 · A' mm.15-23 · coda mm.24-25.
% A and A' state the same period; B crowns the Dream differently and
% answers with Fall; C is the Dream itself, three steps up.

bpm 60
meter 4
unit 1/4
key f4 maj
mode diatonic

assert Dream == f4 _10 e4 _2 f4 _2 a4 _2 c5 _2

% SETTLE is the Dream's answer: the tonic fills a measure whole and
% sinks a semitone. It closes the first phrase, closes the return, and
% has the last word before the coda:

Settle ::= 1 _16 .7 _8

assert Settle == f4 _16 e4 _8

% FALL is a chain of sighs, every long note answered by a short one,
% carrying the line down a seventh. Spelled from F's own degrees it
% closes the middle section; a fifth higher it is the climax:

Fall ::= {7b, 3} _8 3 _4 2 _6 {3, .7b} _2 4 _6 {3, .5} _2 2 _6 .6 _6

assert Fall[:2] == {eb5, a4} _8 a4 _4
assert Fall@7 == {bb5, e5} _8 e5 _4 d5 _6 {e5, bb4} _2 f5 _6 {e5, g4} _2 d5 _6 a4 _6

% mm.1-8: the pickup leaps its fourth and the Dream is crowned by
% the OCTAVE. Settle answers. Then a whole measure of C, bare and
% then in triad, with a quarter of C to lead back in, and the Dream
% comes again, crowned this time by the TENTH, the phrase's peak.
% The close drops to the third, holds it a measure and an eighth, and
% steps down chromatically: F, E, E flat over A flat and G flat.

assert '1 == f5
assert '3 == a5
assert .5Dia == {c4, e4, g4}

.5 _4 Dream '1 _2
  Settle
  .5 _8 .5Dia _8 .5 _4
  Dream '3 _2
  3 _18 {'1, 3b} _2 7 _6 {7b, 2b} _2 1 _8 .7 _4

bpm 51.75

% mm.9-12 are slower, and the crown changes: the flat seventh over the
% fourth, E flat over B flat, which tips the key toward B flat major.
% Fall answers on F's own degrees and takes the line down to D.

- _2 .5 _2 Dream {7b, 4} _2
  Fall

bpm 58.75

% mm.13-14: the whole gesture three scale steps up, on B flat. One
% thing about it is new: the top of the arpeggio is held a quarter
% instead of an eighth, and one override says exactly that. No second
% name for a section that is the first figure moved.

assert {Dream \4 {5 _4}}@~3 == bb4 _10 a4 _2 bb4 _2 d5 _2 f5 _4

{- _2 .5 _2 {Dream \4 {5 _4}}}@~3

% mm.15-23: the climax, then the return. Fall a fifth above its
% first statement is the summit of the piece; the second over the
% seventh below is the pickup that brings the opening back. And it
% comes back WHOLE: Dream to the octave, Settle, the measure of C,
% Dream to the tenth, with Settle closing it this time instead of
% the chromatic descent.

assert {Fall[:1]}@7 == {bb5, e5} _8

Fall@7 {2, .7} _4
  Dream '1 _2
  Settle
  .5 _8 .5Dia _8 .5 _4
  Dream '3 _2
  Settle

bpm 44

% mm.24-25 are the coda, slower still: the sixth below, the fourth
% below, and the tonic over its own third. Four notes, and the dream
% lets go.

assert {1, .3} == {f4, a3}

.6 _8 .4 _4 {1, .3} _8

running…edit it and it re-runs as you type

Träumerei · Showcase