Etudes Tombeaux Series 1 for piano solo Piano Method - Digital Sheet Music

The movements are:1. Capriccio2. Nocturne3. An Answer for AntonínThe Études-tombeaux are both concert studies posing both technical and musicalchallenges to the pianist and essays in historical styles created by the composer in the interest ofelaborating upon and advancing the great traditions of Western tonal art music. Theyfollow earlier piano pieces, also designated "tombeaux," which were not specifically focussedon the technical aspects of pianism. The tombeau as a genre stems from the "lament," a type ofcomposition appearing under various titles that commemorates the death or legacy of a celebratedperson, although not all of Ford’s tombeaux and études-tombeaux reference specific individuals.The études-tombeaux may be performed individually or as distinct series, as each seriescomprises, in effect, a suite of movements related both tonally and stylistically.The Capriccio, in G minor, is cast in rondo form, its various sections comprising astructure that can be generally represented as A B A’ C A" Coda. In A, B, and C, the musicalmaterial is repeated. The principal theme A is characterized by caprine leaps and, especially inthe final iteration, flowing passages in sixteenth note sextuplets. Theme B takes on thecontrasting character of a relatively quiet slavonic dance that twice shifts playfully from the relativemajor B-flat to G major and back again. Theme C consists of rapid triplet figures performedsimultaneously in both hands even as the right hand sings an impassioned melody in the moreremote key of E-flat minor. The key of G minor returns immediately in A", to which a coda-almost a new theme in its own right-is appended.The Nocturne, also in G minor, clearly grows out of the Field-Chopin tradition, butpossesses distinctive qualities of its own. The movement is cast in four sections. The first, intwelve-eight meter, begins with a four-measure introduction, setting up a languid, steadily flowingstream on which a delicate, plaintive melody in the right hand gently floats. The theme isdistinguished by numerous quadruplets that produce cross-rhythms with the bassaccompaniment, and eventually takes on a highly florid character. After a brief transition over apedal trill, a second folk-like theme is intoned in E-flat major and three-four meter that abruptlyshifts to C Major and continues in double notes. Then, just as abruptly, a new dance-like section begins fortissimo in A-flat major at nearly doublethe previous tempo. This sudden change of mood lasts nearly as long as the previous two sectionscombined, interrupting the dark nocturnal stillness with a kind of festive excitement. But atits height, the manic mood sinks precipitously and the original theme is resumed, finds its waygradually back to G minor, and is further developed and elaborated until it coming quietlyto rest in the tonic."An Answer for Antonîn" actually begins with a brief eight-measure idea penned by Dvořáktitled "Question" ("Otázka"), B. 128bis, composed in 1882. Ford in this movement proposes anextended "answer" to this musical query by extending Dvořák’s miniature of just eightmeasures into a sonatina movement of seventy seven bars. Dvořák’s theme in G minor isextended in a rhythmically vigorous dance-like manner for another six measures, then a newtheme in B-flat major is introduced that concludes with a coda before the entireexposition is repeated. The development section alludes first to Dvořák’s original