Nocturne For Dani Falling Fifths for Piano by Dan Welcher Chamber Music - Sheet Music

SKU: PR.160002210

ISBN 9781598061710. UPC: 680160570591. 9 x 12 inches. Key: G major.

Nocturne for Dani ("Falling Fifths") was written for the memorial concert celebrating the life of Danielle Martin, a well-loved pianist and teacher in Austin, Texas. Incorporating elements of Martin's beloved Schumann and Wagner, as well as her favorite interval, the falling fifth, friend and colleague Dan Welcher captures a lifetime of moods and memories within this emotionally diverse piece for piano. For the college-level or professional pianist. Duration: 7'.
Nocturne for Dani (“falling fifths”) was written for the memorial concert celebrating the life of Danielle Martin, pianist and teacher, who was murdered in her home in April of 2004.xa0 Dani Martin was a vivacious, outgoing person who loved teaching and who loved music with an intensity I’ve not encountered very often.xa0 Her musical gods were Schumann, Debussy, and Brahms, and she herself was a warrior princess – a passionate advocate for truth and beauty.xa0 She was already on the faculty at the University of Texas when I joined that faculty in 1978, and we became fast friends.The story behind my Nocturne is one of nostalgia and heartbreak.xa0 Gregory Allen, a lifelong friend of Dani’s and a colleague on the piano faculty, was talking about their early friendship.xa0 “When Dani was nineteen, she told me that her favorite musical interval was the falling fifth.xa0 The first piece I remember her pointing this out to me was Schumann’s “Kind in Einschlummern” (“Child Falling Asleep”), from KINDERSZENEN.xa0 Whenever a falling fifth occurred, she would nod her head, just so… (and he demonstrated).xa0 After that, if we were in a concert and she heard a falling fifth, she’d lean over to me, whisper “F.F.!!”, and nod her head.xa0 Soon we were able to simply look at each other and nod when we heard one.”Taking Greg’s story as a jumping-off point, I wrote a seven minute piano piece that’s entirely about falling fifths, and which derives its central motive from the Schumann piece.xa0 Framed in a fast-slow-fast-coda format, the piece begins with an agitated figure (falling fifths, in contrasting keys) that eventually spells out a slower theme above the figuration.xa0 This grows and reaches a climax, after which the figuration pulls the music down from its high tessitura to the lower reaches of the keyboard.xa0 The middle section, marked “Serene,” introduces a new melody, comprised of both falling and rising fifths.xa0 This music is dreamy, free-flowing, and gentle, in contrast to the more nervous outer music.xa0 At the end of the section, though, the agitated feeling returns, and leads to a transfigured recapitulation of the opening music – pianissimo this time, with low bass fifths anchoring the harmony.xa0 The coda, based on the central slower music, reveals what has been dormant within the music all along: Schumann’s child, falling asleep.xa0 But rather than simply quoting the great German master, I combine Robert’s tune with another German master’s sleep music: Brünnhilde’s Sleep motive from Die Walküre by Richard Wagner.xa0 The two nineteenth century melodies complement each other perfectly (and I’d always suspected that Wagner borrowed his motive from Schumann in the first place), and the piece ends with the sadly chiming fifths, singing out own warrior princess to sleep surrounded by her Magic Fire.