User:Silence of Järvenpää/Songs

Op. 23[edit]

Published by Helsinki-based Fazer & Westerlund [fi] in yyyy ... hmmm, IMSLP says 1897, but how is this possible given that Sibelius didn't make the arrangements until 1898?!

Song-by-song details[edit]

Score here

Sibelius.fi here

Analysis here, enter pg. 74

How to find a PDF of the Preface to the Critical Edition Series VII (Works for Choir) Vol. 1?

@Aza24 and Aza24: ~ Hi! (1) I was wondering if, given my lack of understanding of music, you might be able to help me understand how to identify a key. For example, I see that No. 1 has four flats, but does this mean it's A-flat major or the relative minor of F minor? I was kind of looking at the treble clef line to see which scale (high or low) it looks more like, and because it was lower, I guessed F minor. Does this seem sound to you? (2) I also am searching for Finnish-language tempo marking terms, since this is what the score utilizes. Right now, I have had to use Google Translate to get rough literal English approximations. Any suggestions? So far, I have only turned up Italian music terms [fi] on Finnish Wikipedia. Thanks! ~ Silence of Järvenpää 18:53, 2 April 2023 (UTC)

EDIT: Well, looks like pg. 133 of this dissertation has our answer! Still, it'd be nice to learn how to identify. ~ Silence of Järvenpää 19:24, 2 April 2023 (UTC)

Hey! There's no hard/fast rule for distinguishing major or minor, but the standard way is to look at the first and last chords to see if they prioritize one over the other. In addition, a preponderance of the IV and V chords usually indicate major, while if the leading tone is present usually means minor (the leading tone being a half step from the minor key, i.e. G♯ in a minor, A♯ in b minor etc.) For the first one, its definitely in A♭ major because it ends in that key and begins with (as well as features prominently throughout) a D♭ major chord which is the IV chord of A♭.

I glanced at your analysis below, it looks like No. 3 should be F-sharp minor, not major. No. 4 is rather curious, ending and beginning on the IV chord, but including a lot of leading tones so I'm not sure... No. 5 is also a bit uncertain, but I'd lean more towards A♭. The rest all seem correct. It might be that Nos. 4 and 5 are modal, which would make sense if these are folk-song derived songs; No. 4 could possibly be in Lydian for instance. Aza24 (talk) 05:11, 3 April 2023 (UTC)

No. 1 is in common time. (A-flat major) ... marked "March-like". (Marssin tapaan)
No. 2 includes both female and male soloists. It is in 5/2 time. (G-sharp minor) ... marked "Not too leisurely" (Ei lüan verkalleen)
No. 3 includes a female soloist. It is in 6/4 time. (F-sharp major) ... marked "Lightly" (Keveästi).
No. 4 is in 3/2 time (F minor) ... marked "Quickly" (Nopeean) ... maybe Accelerando?
No. 5 includes a female soloist, accompanied only by tenors and baritones. It is in 6/4 time (F minor) ... marked "Leisurely" (Verkalleen).
No. 6a is in cut time. (F minor) ... marked "Like a folk-song, briskly" (Kansanlaulun tapaan, reippaasti).
No. 6b is in common time. Begins with sopranos and altos, eventually joined by baritones, tenors, and female soloist (F minor) ... marked "Simply" (Yksinkertaisesti).
No. 7 is in 6/4 time. (G-sharp minor) ... marked "Briskly" (Reippaasti) ... maybe Presto?
No. 8 is in common time. Accompanied by bass drum, triangle, and cymbals. (E major) ... marked "March-like". (Marssin tapaan)
No. 9 is in cut time. (E major) ... marked "Festively" (Juhlallisesti)