Composer Notes

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Berio - Sinfonia - Third movement - Page 3

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Berio bar 108 / Mahler bar 110
  • Tenor 2 sings Mahler fragment
Berio bar 108-110 / Mahler bar 110-112
  • Violins play fragment from Debussy La Mer
Berio bar 106 / Mahler bar 108
  • Tenor 1: Yes, I feel the moment has come for me to look back. I must not forget this, I have not forgotten it. But I must have said this before, since I say it now
Berio bar 111-113 / Mahler bar 113-115
  • Clarinets and bassoons join Mahler
Berio bar 112 / Mahler bar (114)
  • Oboe, bassoon and cello play fragment from Ravel La Valse
Berio bar 114-115 / Mahler bar 116-117
  • Flute and oboe play fragment from Ravel La Valse
Berio bar 115 / Mahler bar 117
  • Horns join Mahler
Berio bar 118-120 / Mahler bar 120-122
  • Flute and oboe play fragment from Ravel La Valse
  • Trumpets play fragment whose source is yet to be identified
Berio bar 121 / Mahler bar 123
  • This section culminates in woodwinds, horns, timpani and strings playing an emphatic dotted rhythm figure (the rhythm previously heard in bar 74 and throughout the Mahler) Ex.3. The source is Ravel La Valse and is in turn a quote from Beethoven Symphony No 9
Berio bar 122 / Mahler bar 124
  • Tenor 1: They think I am alive, not in a womb, either ... Well, so there is an audience, it's a fantastic public performance
Berio bar 123-124 / Mahler bar 125-127
  • Mahler in clarinet and bassoon
Berio bar 125-126 / Mahler bar 127-128
  • Violins and viola join Mahler
Berio bar 127-130 / Mahler bar 129-132
  • Sopranos sing Mahler in solfege
Berio bar 129 / Mahler bar 131
  • Flutes, oboes, clarinets, horns and strings play excerpt from Mahler Symphony No 9
  • Bass 1: and the curtain comes down for the ninth time
Berio bar 131-134 / Mahler bar 133-136
  • Strings play Mahler
Berio bar 134-139 / Mahler bar 136-141
  • Trumpets play rhythmic figure from Debussy La Mer
Berio bar 135 / Mahler bar 137
  • Flute and oboe play Mahler
  • Bass 1: You never noticed you were waiting
Berio bar 138 / Mahler bar (140)
  • Bass 1: You were waiting alone, that is the show
Berio bar 139-140 / Mahler bar 141-142
  • Flutes and violins play fragment whose source is yet to be identified
Berio bar 140-146 / Mahler bar 142-148
  • Starting with horns, then clarinets, then flutes, oboes, bassoons and strings play Mahler which gradually comes to the fore until it completely takes over
Berio bar 147-150 / Mahler bar 149-152
  • Mahler in strings and voices singing solfege
Berio bar 151-169 / Mahler bar 153-171
  • Mahler continues in strings joined by woodwinds and keyboards. Berio embellishes Mahler with chromatic runs, additional harmony and triplet rhythms which gradually thicken the texture and quicken the pace leading to a substantial quote from Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Berio bar 154 / Mahler bar 156
  • Bass 1: I shall say my old lesson now, if I can remember it
Berio bar 155-158 / Mahler bar 157-160
  • Trumpets join Mahler
Berio bar 155-180 / Mahler bar 157-182
  • Soprano 1 enters imitating the strings
Berio bar 156 / Mahler bar 158
  • Tenor 2: then I shall have lived they think I am alive, not in a womb, either, even that takes time
Berio bar 156-180 / Mahler bar 158-182
  • Tenor 1 enters imitating the saxophone
Berio bar 158-180 / Mahler bar 160-182
  • Alto 1 and 2 enter imitating the keyboards
Berio bar 159-180 / Mahler bar 161-182
  • Bass 1 and 2 enter imitating the strings
Berio bar 163-180 / Mahler bar 165-182
  • Soprano 2 and Tenor 2 enter imitating the strings
Berio bar 169-177 / Mahler bar 171-179
  • Full orchestra plays excerpt from Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
  • All 8 voices continue to imitate orchestra
  • Mahler in keyboards
Berio bar 178 / Mahler bar 180
  • Mahler in woodwinds and strings
Berio bar 179 / Mahler bar (181)
  • Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Berio bar 180 / Mahler bar 182
  • Mahler in woodwinds and strings
Berio bar 181 / Mahler bar (183)
  • Alto 1: it is
  • Tenor 2: keep going
Berio bar 182 / Mahler bar (184)
  • Alto 1: it is?
Berio bar 182-183 / Mahler bar (184-185)
  • Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Berio bar 183 / Mahler bar (185)
  • Tenor 1: It is as if we were rooted, that's bonds if you like
  • Bass 1: keep going
Berio bar 184 / Mahler bar 186
  • Mahler in woodwinds and strings
Berio bar 185 / Mahler bar (187)
  • Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Berio bar 186 / Mahler bar 188
  • Mahler in horns, trumpets and timpani
  • Tenor 1: the earth would have to quake
Berio bar 187-209 / Mahler bar 189-211
  • Throughout this section the orchestra alternates between fragments from Mahler Ex.4a, Stravinsky Agon Ex.4b and Debussy La Mer, mvt III Ex.4c. These three sources alternate until the end of bar 209 while Alto 1 and Tenor 1 deliver the texts below
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