Critical analysis
Classical - Rondo Alla Turca by Mozart
For your National 5 exam you must be able to identify different styles of music. When analysing music it is important to consider the following key elements to help understand why the composer has chosen them:
- melody/harmony
- rhythm/tempo
- texture/structure
- timbre/dynamics
Analysing how these elements have been used can help you understand why the composer has chosen them.
Watch this video performance of Rondo alla Turca by Mozart. Think about how the elements are used and why.
Daniel Ciobanu plays ‘Ronda alla Turca’ by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Instruments and genre
This excerpt is a solo piano piece. It is clearly identifiable as classical and there are a number of features which demonstrate this.
The piece features Alberti bass. This consists of playing the notes of a triad, a three note chord, individually to create a broken chord pattern. Starting with the lowest note, then playing the highest then the middle notes. This is a very simple bass line which works well with the melodies added on top of it.
Melody/Harmony
The piece features key changes, with Mozart using different scales for sections of the music to create melodies and accompanying chords. (EXPAND ON THIS TO A LEVEL EXPECTED AT N5)
Rythm/Tempo
(EXPAND AND SPECIFIC INFORMATION ON THIS)
Texture/Structure
Classical composers like to have structure in their music and they write pieces with clear sections and form. The form of a piece is a description of how many sections there are and in what order they are played.
This piece is in the rondo form. It is divided into clear sections and it begins with a theme that is returned to later on.
- Theme A is played in a minor key
- Theme B is introduced. This is played in a major key and is full of scale passages.
- A new minor key theme, theme C, is introduced for a short period of time and then we return to theme B again.
- Theme A is introduced for the final time before Mozart introduces a coda to end the piece.
Each of the above themes has a different melody and key so we can identify it.
(SUM UP THE EFFECT OF THIS(above)
Timbre/dynamics
Mozart creates interest for the listener by using dynamic variation, playing loudly or quietly. (MORE DETAIL NEEDED ON THIS)
