A lyrical yet uncanny Aequale for Horn in A, Mellophone, Tenor Trombone, and B♭ Bass Ophicleide. In ternary form, the work is suffused with a moody melodicism throughout.

 

 

 

 

Below you will find the "conductor's score":

 

 

 

Some notes on the theme of the first section, below:

 

 

 

 

 

The theme of the "A Section", a long-limbed bel canto melody, mostly resides in the Mellophone:

 

 

 

 

 

However, this melody passes to the Horn in A as the "A Section" comes to a close:

 

 

 

 

 

The "antecedent" portion of the melody consists of a steadily rising figure, tracing out a minor sixth:

 

 

 

 

Answering this "antecedent" is a  "first consequent":

 

 

 

 

 

Observe that the figure with which the "antecedent" opens ... :

 

 

 

 

... reappears at the beginning and the end of the "first consequent" -- each time tracing out a tonality-affirming perfect fourth, situating the melody solidly within its tonal landscape ... :

 

 

 

 

The "second consequent" of the bel canto melody further intensifies the melodic line, introducing more rapid harmonic changes, interposing chromatic neighbor notes and even inversions, elaborations, and pitch set transformations of the foundational "rising perfect fourth" motif:

 

 

 

 

The "second consequent" leads to a more or less exact recapitulation of the melody (barring rhythmic irregularities), aside from its ending as the first section comes to a close. Thus, the "second consequent" reappears in the Mellophone ... :

 

 

 

 

 

... only, as stated above, for the melodic line to pass to the Horn in A, which at first mirrors the immediately preceding statement of the Mellophone ... :

 

 

 

 

... but afterward rounds out this first melody, while smoothly transitioning into the succeeding "B section" melody [which is first stated in by the Horn in A], with a sequential passage ... :

 

 

 

 

... that reduces the eighth-note perfect fourth motif to minor seconds (arguably the most dissonant, and thus a highly expressive and unstable interval even when sounded in succession rather than as a simultaneity) ... :

 

 

 

 

... and pairs this in sequence with the motif, discussed earlier, tracing the traditionally mellifluous interval of a minor sixth. This motif appears twice, the second iteration a whole step (major second) lower than the first:

 

 

 

 

 

The painting in the video is "Salammbo" by Gaston Bussiere.          

 

 

 

 

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