Motivic Development in the Hebrides Overture

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Christopher Reed Brent Weaver MUSI 320 Form and Analysis April 5, 2011

Motivic Development in Mendelssohn s Hebrides Overture (Fingal s Cave) , Op. 26 !

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Written in 1830 and revised in 1832, the Hebrides Overture was inspired by a visit to the Hebrides Isles off the coast of Scotland. The overture underwent revision time and time again, with each new version bearing a new title. The original, for which "

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the opening theme was written the day before Mendelssohn s visit to Fingal s Cave, was entitled Ouvertüre zur einsamen Insel (Overture to the Lonely Isle). In a letter to his sister Fanny he wrote the following: “In order to make you understand how extraordinarily the Hebrides affected me, I send you the following, which came into my head there.” What followed was a simplistic, rough-hewn theme that would eventually "

be developed into one of Mendelssohn s most important works. The main theme, presented immediately in the bassoon, viola, and cello, outlines a B minor triad with an ornamenting C# (fig. 1). The motive then moves up a third, so that it outlines a D major triad instead. It is then brought up yet another third, to outline an F# minor triad before the theme makes its way back to B minor by way of B major and E minor.

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Fig. 1: Opening motive (m. 1-2) Basic pitches: F#-D-C#-B-F#

One extremely interesting note about this motive is that it is almost immediately developed, although not quite as one would expect. “The descending figure of [bar] 1 … generates in [bar] 3 its own accompaniment, which appears essentially as a retrograde version of the original [motive]” (“The Hebrides” 64). If one superimposes the bassoon part (which still has the melody) over the cello part, the retrograde

Fig. 2: First motive with retrograde accompaniment. The bassoon part is shown in black, the cello in grey.

relation between the two parts becomes obvious (fig. 2). A simplified version of this motive (

rather than

) is introduced by the woodwinds at m.29, and the original

and simplified versions of the motive are developed throughout the rest of the piece. For instance, the presentation of the main motive at Rehearsal B (m.77) has the rhythm as                !  

, and at m.140 the motive is found in the flutes as

, using an understated

version of the opening few bars to evoke the feeling of isolation and gloom that Mendelssohn wanted for the overture. Another motive that is found frequently throughout The Hebrides  is a rhythmic one, found first in the woodwinds at m.26-27. In what Wagner called the “wailing [of] sea-winds over the waves,” (Grove 2) this rhythm (

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)

first appears as a melodic gesture, but afterward is used as much more of a

Fig. 3: Rhythmic motive in woodwinds (m. 26-29, above) and in trumpets (m. 211-213, below).

fanfare motive, typically being presented in the brass and on one pitch class in octaves

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(fig. 3). It also appears in the low strings, used in an ascending chromatic bass line leading up to the opening theme presented in the relative D major. These two motives have an interesting interplay in the middle of the overture. At m.149, Mendelssohn interjects a fugue of sorts using these two subjects. Using a sempre staccato  style, the opening motive and the eighth-note motive answer each other repeatedly (fig. 4). This “demifugue” Fig. 4: Motivic interplay at m.149. Note that the first measure presented shows it as m.170 - the Hebrides  was revised many times. (Graphic: Sea Gulls 13)

serves to heighten

interest by providing something somewhat new for the audience, as well as to rejuvenate the already much-used motives. The second theme of the overture begins at m.47, where the bassoons and "

cellos once again take center stage (fig. 5). This theme is in D major, which you ll remember is the relative major of the tonic key. It is smooth, placid, and expressive; “[i]ts song-like lyricism is romanticized by asymmetrical phrasing, and, like the first theme, it manifests a tendency to shift phrases to different pitch levels” (Mercer-Taylor 102).

Fig. 5: Second theme, in D major (Cello and bassoon line shown)

Next we have another fanfare motive that is passed around throughout the entire orchestra at one time or another. It has its genesis as an accompanimental pattern at Rehearsal B, where the brass has big, booming chords. These chords, shown in figure

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6, are modified into a constant dottedquarter, two sixteenth rhythm that becomes a driving force of the piece Fig. 6: Brass, m.77-78. The rhythm of the first two beats are repeated in later iterations of the motive.

henceforth. One could argue that this

rhythm is an echo of the opening motive - that certainly could be the case, and if so is another example of how that particular motive is developed throughout. Yet another accompanimental motive is employed throughout the piece, and this "

I ll call the “rolling wave” motive. It is a series of roiling triplets in the low strings, indicative of the impending “storm” toward the end of the overture. The dark sound created by the cellos and doublebasses evoke immediately the mental image of stormy, choppy waves building up. Over and over again in the Hebrides , the string parts call for “undulating notes” or “fingered tremolos.” John Michael Cooper writes on this in his essay “From Notation to Edition to Performance,” saying: “Initially, these notational particulars might seem arbitrary or capricious, but I believe they are telling indicators of the substantive differences in "

the relationship between the overture s thematic and motivic material and the fact that the engravers of the first edition of the score and parts  closely followed the abbreviations and writings-out of the autograph suggests that the differences between the two were not entirely incidental.” (Reichwald 181) If that is the case, it follows that the undulations were purposeful, rather than just laziness, and it also follows that they qualify as a motive, since they are used plentifully in the overture.

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The coda of the overture is basically a tour de force  of all the motives used in the piece, coming to rest in an understated manner with the opening theme presented once more in the clarinets, played at a placid piano  dynamic with dramatic fullorchestra fortissimo  hits all around (fig. 7). “The very end brings the descending opening motive and the rising gesture of the lyrical theme simultaneously in contrary motion, as the music fades to silence.” (Mercer-Taylor 102) Overall, Mendelssohn takes only a handful of motives and weaves them together to craft a beautifully haunting 10-minute-plus work. The motives work together in such ways as to be familiar"

sounding, even if they re not always "

immediately recognizable as they re being developed.

Fig. 7: The last five bars of the overture. Note the soft dynamic of the clarinet as compared to the rest of the orchestra.

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Works Cited

Grove, George. "Mendelssohn's 'Hebrides' Overture." The Musical Times  46.750 (1905): 531-33. JSTOR . Web. 4 Apr. 2011. Mercer-Taylor, Peter Jameson. The Cambridge Companion to Mendelssohn . Cambridge: Cambridge Univ., 2004. Print. Reichwald, Siegwart, ed. Mendelssohn in Performance . Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2008. Print. Todd, R. Larry. Mendelssohn, the Hebrides and Other Overtures: a Midsummer Night's Dream, Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, the Hebrides (Fingal's Cave). New York, NY, USA: Cambridge UP, 1993. Print. Todd, R. Larry. "Of Sea Gulls and Counterpoint: The Early Versions of Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture." 19th-Century Music  2.3 (1979): 197-213. JSTOR . Web. 4 Apr. 2011.

Chris -- Brief and to the point, but very well organized and researched. This is one of the best research papers I've had in this class. With your  permission, I'd like to keep it to use as a model for future classes (without  your name attached). 100/100