Ondine is the first movement from Ravel’s fabled 1908 composition Gaspard de la nuit. The piece is regarded by many as one of the most demanding piano works. This fact certainly hooked me into its orbit but it’s really the post-romantic/impressionistic harmony that fascinated me.
Maurice Ravel, born 1875 died 1937, was a French Basque composer and pianist most closely associated with impressionism, a movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in art and music:
The most prominent feature in musical Impressionism is the use of “color”, or in musical terms, timbre, which can be achieved through orchestration, harmonic usage, texture, etc. Other elements of music Impressionism also involve new chord combinations, ambiguous tonality, extended harmonies, use of modes and exotic scales, parallel motion, extra-musicality…
Wikipedia
Impressionism, in particular its harmony and melodic ideas, became hugely influential in jazz during the 1950s and 60s. Echoes of Ravel and Debussy can be heard in the playing style of pianists such as Bill Evans, Ahmad Jamal, Brad Mehldau and others.
Ravel recoiled at the term impressionism for himself, despite being posthumously regarded as one of the style’s most prevalent proponents. In a letter to Debussy he wrote:
…imbeciles call ‘impressionism’, a term employed with the utmost inaccuracy, especially by art critics who use it as a label to stick on Turner, the finest creator of mystery in the whole of art!
François Lesure and Roger Nichols, Debussy Letters.
I started working with Ondine back in 2014 in Logic, discarding the project after frustrations surrounding Logic’s capability for tempo-mapping rubato [which I have since changed my mind on]. Earlier this year, colleague Ethan Hein started doing these great visual deconstructions of harmony for classical canon in Ableton Live so I decided to join in.
Background and Form
I’d always understood the translation to be “Gaspard of the Night” – like a fairy or pixie, but the translation is from the Persian the man in charge of the royal treasures. The poem it is based on makes it more explicit that this is a siren, someone seducing the listener and luring them to their watery death. Ondine is the first of three movements (Le Gibet and Scarbo being the other two). It starts in C# major but moves around through numerous different keys and tonalities.
Both Ondine and Scarbo are loosely based on sonata form. Sonata form was widely used by European composers from the 18th century onwards. Although it can be heavily expanded upon, the core idea is that there are three delineated sections: the exposition, development and recapitulation. Typically motifs, themes or musical statements are explored during the exposition. These are developed and expanded upon during the development and then resolved during the recapitulation.
On the surface Ondine seems complicated but is actually comprised of just a few discrete ideas. The opening phrase is a simple melodic idea that is latterly modulated through several tonalities and contrasted with newer material but throughout there is constant reference to it, both rhythmically and melodically.
Gaspard de la Nuit is notorious for its difficulty; the third movement, Scarbo, in particular (Ravel wrote this with the intention of it being more difficult than Balakirev’s Islamey). While there is a degree of dexterity to the opening passages, the complexity (as well as dynamics) is ramped up significantly towards the piece’s climaxes at the beginning of the recapitulation and also again in the coda.
For the purpose of this analysis I’ve removed many of the dynamic markings, tempo instructions and superfluous text from the score in order to give myself as much real estate on the page as possible. This does not mean I don’t deem these important; of course they are fundamental! But this article is more a harmonic and melodic analysis, not a guide of how to play this piece. If you want to learn to play it, this is not the place for that, but if you want to learn from it, then this might be of interest to you.
Exposition
The exposition is broadly arranged into two subjects connected by a transition or bridge.
Subject 1
The first subject material appears at measure three. It’s a very lyrical melody and is repeated throughout Ondine in different keys. We can infer this is the voice of the sprite.
The melody is based on the fifth mode of F# melodic minor. It’s like a Mixolydian scale (major scale with minor seventh) but it also has a minor sixth degree: C#, D#, E#, F#, G#, A, B, C#.
The melody is re-contextualised over some exotic chords, D#m13 (yellow), B9 (green) and F#m11 (pink).
The first material is repeated with a busier right hand part that moves through the octaves. Left hand melody is also doubled in octaves. At IC there’s a new melody introduced over chords F#9 (pink) and B#+7/A# (yellow).
The B#+7/A# is enharmonically a C+7/Bb if that’s easier for you to read. This melody makes many appearances throughout.
Transition
This section is used to move from subject 1 to subject 2. It has modulated to the dominant key (G#), a familiar practice in classical music. There are some really interesting chords here, in particular the A13(b9)/D#, which I’ve written about here, comparing John Coltrane and Erykah Badu.
Subject 2
The introduction is repeated before we hear the opening statement in G#.
The right hand accompaniment gets busier and more extravagant with sweeping arpeggios and the melody often crossing staves.
The D# (13th of F#) is heavily emphasised in this section, creating a jazzy and colourful tone over the alternating dominant and minor chords.
Development
The development sees the intensity and harmonic colourations increase as the piece moves towards it’s climactic conclusion.
Introduction
The first melody is repeated in D#, the dominant of G#. The D#9 (yellow) is juxtaposed with a vivid A9 (green), a dominant chord a tritone away, another harmonic device that would later feature in jazz reharmonisations.
Central Theme
We are introduced to a theme that will make a number of appearances, first in G minor, later in C# and Bb major.
I’ve notated this an octave up to avoid ledger lines. While the key signature denotes C major, the chord is preceded by a Phrygian colouration.
There’s a lot of exploration of the altered scale in the following measures, with various dominant and dominant suspended chords with scale alterations (#5, b6, b9).
More dominant scale alterations (b5, b9).
The mode here looks to be aeolian (which in turn creates a #9 interval over the C# from the dominant chord), but we also have an Eb (b5) and Bb (b9).
Fig. 4 is repeated with a C# dominant / diminished feel (blue), alternating with a G7 chord (pink).
More tritone movements between the C# and G chords. Written an octave about sounds.
Fig. 4/5 is repeated in Bb, with Bb9 (blue), Fm/Bb (purple) and E9 (green).
Transition
This transitions out of the development section towards the recapitulation. While the chord tonalities shift down (G# major, F# minor, E minor, C# major) the voicings move upwards.
Recapitulation
This is the big pay off in the movement where new material is introduced as well as some older themes in newer contexts.
Recapitulation Main Theme
Apart from the cadenza this is the peak in terms of dynamics and complexity. A descending whole tone scale based on C# is contrasted by pairs of minor and dominant chords that make up rapid arpeggios. The chords are Bm9 (green), D13 (light blue), Gm9 (purple), A#9 (blue), D#m9 (yellow) and F#13 (pink). Each pair of chords is separated by a minor third. This loops back around with the F#13 functioning as chord V of B minor.
Here the whole tone top melody can be seen/heard in isolation.
New material in B minor. We again see contrasting polyrhythmic arpeggios between the left and right hand, part of the reason this piece is so demanding.
Transition
Some idiomatic sweeping glissandi.
From C major we move a tritone to F# major with some very pentatonic harmonies and arpeggios. Again these lines lend themselves to the piano very well. We then hear new material in A# minor (blue) which moves up a half step to A minor (green). The last measure is a D#9 chord (V of G#).
Recapitulation Subject 1
The D#9 from the previous measure cadences to G# minor where we repeat the first subject material in this new tonality.
A quiet and slow melody in D melodic minor before the cadenza.
Coda
It was often a feature of sonatas to have a coda – sometimes containing a cadenza. This was a showy bit attached at the end to demonstrate the instrumentalists virtuosity.
Cadenza
The cadenza is in three sections. The first is rapid arpeggios in D#m9/C (yellow), followed by some seemingly unconnected descending diminished fragments (grey) followed some more arpeggios of D#ø7.
Closing Chords
The movement concludes with a nod towards the opening tonality (C# major with a minor 6th), the minor 7th provided by the melody is omitted, which to my ears gives a more finished quality to the chord.
Further Reading
References
Related posts:
Altered Beast: A Brief Guide to the Altered Scale
Cadences, Turnarounds and Endings
Breaking the Fourth Wall: A Brief Guide to Quartal Harmony
The CAGED System: Unlocking Guitar Chord Inversions
Chord of the Day: The Jump Monk V
Drop Voicings
A Guide to Chord Substitution
Major and Minor Triads, Sevenths, Ninths and More…
Erykah Badu – Other Side of the Game
Bebop Classics: A Guide to Bebop Jazz