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This is an extension of the one about cyclic music, and focuses on a subset of cyclic techniques in which a prominent theme at the very beginning of a multi-movement work comes back at the very end. This dramatic technique gives the listener a sense of a completed journey, returning home. When the melody is strong and memorable as in these three great example, the effect can be hair-raising and downright goosebumpy.
1. Brahms Symphony #3.
It opens with this big, bold, dramatic, dotted-rhythm, downward minor arpeggio:
Brahms1.mp3and the last movement ends with this most serene transformation of it... listen to the same downward arpeggio in the strings to end the symphony on a gentle note.
Brahms2.mp32. Dvorak's Serenade for Winds.
It opens with this strong dance like theme with a touch of medieval harmony.
Dv1.mp3Then toward the end of the 4th movement we come back to this after much buildup and fanfare...
Dv2.mp33. Rachmaninoff Elegiac Trio in D Minor.
Very Russian accompaniment with its heavy oppressive downward chromatic figures, and the melody crying on a single plaintive note...
Rach1.mp3then toward the end of the last movement it comes back this time a scream instead of a cry...
Rach2.mp3Page updated
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