The concept of nationality in a range of fields is one of the historical factors in the nineteenth century which influenced the expression of nationality in music. Ever since the days of the early Classical Period, musical styles, forms, and languages were largely influenced by traditional standards of Austria and Germany. However, around the middle of the 19th century, composers from many other countries around the world began trying to establish distinctive national styles that represented their own nation by using traditional forms of dance, folk songs and history. Many expressionist composers based their music on nationalism and themes. Kryzysztof Penderecki’s ‘Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima’ and Peter Sculthorpe’s ‘Jabiru Dreaming’
…show more content…
“Jabiru Dreaming” is built around staccato and overlapping rhythm patterns that are found in traditional Aboriginal didgeridoo music, which Sculthorpe says are echoed in the rhythmic walking pace of the jabiru, a unique Australian stork. The traditional Aboriginal didgeridoo dreaming piece called “Spirit of Uluru” has a similar rhythmic vibe to that in “Jabiru Dreaming”, showing the influence of indigenous music on Sculthorpe’s work. This composer also includes the habitual use of long pedal points to achieve slow harmonic movement in his music which conveys the vast landscape and sense of very slow geological change in Australia. During the song, each instrument plays their part off-beat and not in sync with each other. Sculthorpe adapted this technique from the ideology of Japanese court music where the wind instruments play a little bit behind and a little bit ahead of each other to get a lovely sound that creates the feeling of a halo forming around the melody. In the “Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima”, there is no feeling of beat in the music. In bar 6, each instrumentalist chooses one of the 4 given groups of extended techniques and executes it within a fixed space of time as rapidly as possible. This comes from the style of aleatoric music and this compositional technique of playing produces rhythmically irregular tremolos and vibrato. Penderecki also incorporates serialism elements in his work by notating strict time indications in seconds at the bottom of the
“Jabiru Dreaming” is built around staccato and overlapping rhythm patterns that are found in traditional Aboriginal didgeridoo music, which Sculthorpe says are echoed in the rhythmic walking pace of the jabiru, a unique Australian stork. The traditional Aboriginal didgeridoo dreaming piece called “Spirit of Uluru” has a similar rhythmic vibe to that in “Jabiru Dreaming”, showing the influence of indigenous music on Sculthorpe’s work. This composer also includes the habitual use of long pedal points to achieve slow harmonic movement in his music which conveys the vast landscape and sense of very slow geological change in Australia. During the song, each instrument plays their part off-beat and not in sync with each other. Sculthorpe adapted this technique from the ideology of Japanese court music where the wind instruments play a little bit behind and a little bit ahead of each other to get a lovely sound that creates the feeling of a halo forming around the melody. In the “Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima”, there is no feeling of beat in the music. In bar 6, each instrumentalist chooses one of the 4 given groups of extended techniques and executes it within a fixed space of time as rapidly as possible. This comes from the style of aleatoric music and this compositional technique of playing produces rhythmically irregular tremolos and vibrato. Penderecki also incorporates serialism elements in his work by notating strict time indications in seconds at the bottom of the