7.1.2 Form

7.1.2 FORM The sentence structure in Britten’s work often suggests that it is based on a sung melodic line, even though the music is purely instrumental. He avoids a classical regular sentence structure, just like he avoids an ‘endless melody’. In that regard he is close to the neo-classical Stravinsky (see the example on page 200 of the middle part of the Symphony in C).

The form in Janáček’s last period demonstrate a curious inner contradiction that is absent from the work of the always controlled Britten: the direct, simple language of his building elements are placed in a rather rhapsodic and therefore hard to comprehend form. This contradiction is not a weakness of his style, it is one of the distinguishing characteristics of his music. Janáček’s ambition was to achieve the utmost spontaneity in telling his story. What follows is an ear-witness report of how he attempted to achieve this directness: ”…. from there [the piano room in Janáček’s modest house, PJW] the piano could be heard all morning, albeit in a rather unusual manner. Janáček would hammer, as loudly as possible and usually with the pedal permanently held down, the same motif of a few notes on the keyboard … He would repeat the motif over and over again, sometimes literally, sometimes with small alterations. The fervour with which he played made one feel how strongly the emotion of the motif had excited and transported him … In this early stage he would not be composing; he only tried to bring himself in a certain mood by constantly repeating a tiny motif, and then, in feverish haste, committing the composition straight to paper without using the piano.”113

7.1.3 SPEECH MELODY For both composers spoken language was a main source of inspiration. Both were opera composers who made significant contributions to the opera literature. In the text accompanying his opera Peter Grimes, Britten wrote: “Good recitative should transform the natural intonations and rhythms of everyday speech into memorable musical phrases.” As the example on page 183-184shows, the length and the rhythm of the vocal line depend on the text to ensure that it is recited in a natural manner. This leads to irregularity in the sentence structures.

Janáček took this even further. He told Max Brod114 that in addition to harmony, counterpoint, and formal theory, the theory of composition should include a fourth discipline: students, especially the ones who

113Message from the Brno music critic Ludvik Kundera, found in Leoš Janáček,

Musik Konzepte 7, p. 72. 114Max Brod, Sternenhimmel (Prague-Munich, 1923).