Bredon Hill (Arranged)

Overview

• Bells are central to the piece; insistent and symbolic.

• Material depends heavily on the text.

• Bells evoke memory, passage of time, and a haunting effect.

• Piano quintet + voice.

• Piano: chordal writing, extensive sustained pedal mimicking bell resonance.

• Bells resonate as the memory of the girl, evoke time passing but still present.

• Strings depict funeral in later sections.

Structure

• Strophic, but with variations; no chorus.

• Sections: Intro, A, A1, B, B1, C, D, A2, Ending.

• Section C: melody and tonality change, new material introduced.

• Bars breakdown:
  • Intro: 1–24 (mainly chordal introduction)
  • Verse 1: 24–35
  • Interlude: 35–39
  • Verse 2: 39–48
  • Interlude: 48–51
  • Verse 3: 52–66 (new material)
  • Verse 4: 66–82
  • Min intro: 82–84
  • Verse 5: 84–100
  • Verse 6: 100–114 (funeral)
  • Verse 7: 115–135
  • Postlude: 136–end

Dynamics

• Extreme range: ppp (bar 20, pesante – quiet but heavy, melancholy) → ff (bar 127, bells taunting).

• Dynamics reflect mood, distance, and emotional intensity.

• Frequent crescendos and diminuendos enhance bell effects.

Texture

• Mainly melody-dominated homophony; occasional antiphony and heterophony.

• Verses 1 & 2: simple homophony with sustained chords.

• Bar 15: heterophony (RH piano + violin 1).

• Bar 52: texture reduced to piano + voice, RH active with triplets → more movement despite thinner texture.

• Bar 127: piano activity increases, rising and falling arpeggios emphasize text (“bells to shut up”).

• Later sections: varied texture conveys funeral, haunting, or agitation.

Tonality

• Key signature: major, but modal and ambiguous at times.

• Verse 1: G pentatonic (G A B D E).

• Bar 29: F natural.

• Bar 33: G Dorian.

• Verse 5: blurred tonality with chromaticism → G Locrian (dark).

• Ends on minor 7; vocal melody ends on G → unresolved, haunted feeling.

• Lower part: A minor 7, upper part minor 7 → tonal ambiguity.

Harmony

• Built primarily on minor 7th chords.

• Beginning: alternating Emin7 and Amin7 (serene, perfect 4th).

• Bar 13: Cmaj7.

• Parallel harmonies, including parallel 4ths.

• Impressionistic parallel 7th chords.

• Bar 52: Cmin7 + added 9ths and 11ths.

• Non-functional harmony: no clear cadences → mood-focused, unresolved.

Melody

• Mainly stepwise, syllabic, conjunct.

• Bar 33: melismatic on “happy.”

• Large leaps: bars 68 & 70 (“among” major 6th, “springing thyme” minor 7th).

• Verse 1: pentatonic, folky, innocent simplicity.

• Verses 5 & 6: disjunct, chromatic, dissonant, Locrian scale.

• High range: verses 1–4 (“happy”); lower range: verses 5–6.

• Bar 24: tenor enters, voice “sung freely” like recitative.

Rhythm, Metre, Tempo

• Mainly 2/2, some metre changes (2/4, 3/2) → emphasizes text and melody.

• Verses 5 & 6: tempo slows, changes to 4/4.

• Accel. and rit. markings.

• Moderately tranquilo.

• Sustained tied notes represent bell tolls; shorter notes for bell activity.

• Bar 84: more sustained notes → melancholy.

• Bar 100: single bell toll, RH dotted rhythm, LH on beats 2 & 4.

• Bar 128: semiquavers vs. triplets → “bells be dumb.”

• Bars 134–135: note lengths → semiquavers → triplets → quavers → crotchet triplets → illusion of slowing down (Debussy reference).

Sonority / Instrumentation

• Lots of bells; piano quintet + voice.

• Piano: chordal, extensive sustained pedal → bell imitation.

• Strings:
  • Double stopping → natural harmonics, rich sound.
  • Pizzicato → arco (bar 100) → bell strike & decay.
  • Depicts funeral (verse 6).

• Con sordino: muted for subtle bell tone.

• Bell ringing evokes memory and time fading.

Wider Listening

• La fille aux cheveux de lin – Debussy (use of pedal for bell-like resonance).

• Schubert – cyclical structure reference.