Cesar Franck
Violin Sonata
Cyclic Music
A cyclic piece of music is a multi-movement composition in which themes from one movement reappear in later movements. This didn't happen much at all in the height of the classical era (e.g. Mozart, Haydn). Except for mood and close key relationships, movements could almost be mixed and matched between symphonies and you wouldn't know it. One of the earliest examples of explicitly cyclic music is Beethoven's 5th symphony (written between 1804 and 1808). Yes, too popular and over-played, but nonetheless it's astonishing how frequently that 4-note motif hammers its way through the entire symphony. It's almost constant, yet it never gets boring- quite the opposite - exciting. Sometime as your homework - go listen to all of Beethoven's 5th, all movements, and just listen for that 4-note motif that it opens with. How often do you hear it?
Do you ever ask the question: if you were stuck on an island for the rest of your life with one piece of music to play, what would it be? What is your absolute favorite piece of music ever written? (For me, maybe I'd pick The Ring only because it's 19 hours!!! so that's kind of cheating.... :D
Among my TOP favorite pieces of music is the Franck Violin Sonata. (We used to call it The Frank Sinatra). Many many reasons it grabs me and fills me with joy; but one of them is that it is explicitly cyclic. I love cyclic music. There's something about the feeling of 'returning home' to a long-lost distant place and time, the feeling of closure and cohesiveness, when themes bind together a long multi-movement work.
I want to point out a few examples of how the themes recur and transform throughout.
First, listen to the opening theme of the first movement...
m1 main theme.mp3This theme comes back in different guises, moods, textures, in all the other 3 movements.
2nd movement... big and dramatic...
m1 main theme in m2.mp33rd movement... contemplative...
m1 main theme in m3 a.mp3and in another guise in the 3rd movement. Note the vague outline of the theme echoed in the piano...
m1 main theme in m3 b.mp34th movement... rollicking and frollicking...
m1 main theme in m4.mp3Another example ... listen to this beautiful passage from the 3rd movement
m3 just so beautiful.mp3Smaller snippet of the same passage - focus on this bit...
m3 beautiful short.mp3That sweet melody comes back in the 4th movement here, piano with the melody and violin accompanying...
m3 beautiful in m4 a.mp3Then again as violin and piano swap roles...
m3 beautiful in m4 b.mp3Later in big bold exuberant form at the climax of the 4th movement...
m3 beautiful in m4 c.mp3Third example -- this wild forceful theme in the 3rd movement...
m3 big.mp3returns in a different key and bolder, but otherwise unchanged in the 4th movement...
m3 big in m4.mp3The next example isn't really a cyclic example (because it's all taken from the 4th movement), but it's just a very cool instance of thematic transformation. In this case a little snippet of a melody (or motif) is used in a completely different way.
First, listen to the serene canon between violin and piano at the opening of the 4th movement...
m4 main theme.mp3Now a smaller snippet of the same theme. Focus first on the piano, the rising then falling 9-note motif, followed by the same 9 notes in the violin...
m4 snippet.mp3That motif comes back VERY AGGRESSIVELY in the bass of the piano here...
You also heard it before ... 5 clips ago at the very end!
m4 snippet later.mp3There's a lot more in this glorious sonata to be discovered. The above is only a small sample. Listen to the piece yourself and find more instances of recurring cyclic themes and the rest of its magic.