# How important are the movements / segments of a composition to you?



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

How important are the movements / segments of a composition to you, especially their names and where they start and end?

Do you really care if a slow movement is called Andantino or Adagio or Lento sostenuto?

I understand and appreciate the breaks between movements and the tempo traditions composers can adhere to or not as they see fit. Like chapters in a novel, they give you a good place to catch your breath or (with a recording) take a break when nature calls. They also give us some insight into the overall structure of a piece. But sometimes it is taken to the extreme by further breaking down individual movements into complex descriptions of how the piece is to be played.

I was shopping for Stravinsky's Jeu de cartes and found a digital version I thought sounds good only to find it is broken into segments, some lasting only seconds, each with its own name and playing instructions.

1 First Deal. Introduction
Igor Stravinsky, Neeme Järvi 0:41

2 First Deal. Pas d'action. Meno mosso
Igor Stravinsky, Neeme Järvi 0:49

3 First Deal. Dance Variation. Moderato assai
Igor Stravinsky, Neeme Järvi 1:37

4 First Deal. Dance of the Joker. Stringendo
Igor Stravinsky, Neeme Järvi 1:06

5 First Deal. Waltz-Coda. Tranquillo
Igor Stravinsky, Neeme Järvi 1:12

6 Second Deal. Introduction. Alla breve
Igor Stravinsky, Neeme Järvi 0:19 

etc.

What possible purpose is there in this?

It is not the price break that bothers me. I'm interested in the entire album. It's the number of files and having to worry about how they sort, or if I can concatenate them losslessly and move them around without misplacing one or more. It got me to questioning our entire habit of naming sections of pieces, especially when the sections are continuous, played without interruption.

Our conventions should change to accommodate the technology. I propose that a continuous section played without interruption is _de facto_ one movement sometimes serving the purpose of more than one the same way a contraction serves for words. In this way Beethoven's Emperor concerto and Schumann's piano concerto have only two movements. (In fact while researching this idea I found that Schumann preferred the two movement designation. We've been going against his wishes for nearly two centuries.)

The further breaking down could then be pursued by those who have an interest in digging deeper, not circumnavigated by those who do not.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

The purpose of breaking it up in the recording is to make it easier to go to a specific spot. Maybe you want to re-listen to an instrument solo of something. You can locate that spot. 

This can be a pain when buying MP3s, but the setup was created for the benefit of CD owners.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

+Weston In the piece you are referring to, the breaks are apropos, as the music is programmatic or descriptive. An interested listener could follow without guesswork. I don't agree that compositional conventions should change to adapt to technology. Technology serves us, and when it is unable to reflect our world and our thinking, then it has failed.

I like the naming of movements (English would be helpful  though), as they tell us something about the structure of the composition, and they also allow the listener a moment to take a breather, before continuing on with the next section, similar to the chapters of a book.


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

A dance work comes in sections as a hint to the choreographer what the composer is intending. A programmatic work (say, a Strauss tone poem) is broken up to make the narrative easier to follow. Baroque suites are basically sets of individual dances for your listening enjoyment with each movement named after the kind of dance it is and with the appropriate tempo, plus an opener ("ouverture") and often a close. More formal multi-movement works (symphonies, sonatas, etc.) evolved from Baroque suites, and assumed a "traditional" form -- with each movement acting as a separate whole within the whole, with its own tempo, form, and character, as delineated by its title and tempo. The tempo markings are a clue to the performers -- and also to listeners. Some like to know them, some not -- but they do no harm. Your quarrel is not with the composer but the record producer who can sometimes be clueless-- especially in this age of the "shuffle" function. Try employing shuffle on an iPod where each track is considered a separate piece -- say all 32 Goldberg variations, or a long Mahler movement broken into its tempo designations, or the three or four movements of a symphony or sonata. I've experienced some amazing juxtapositions this way -- the end of the overture to Die Meistersingers segueing into the beginning of Mozart's c-minor Serenade. That provides instant indigestion.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Weston said:


> How important are the movements / segments of a composition to you, especially their names and where they start and end?
> 
> Do you really care if a slow movement is called Andantino or Adagio or Lento sostenuto?
> 
> ...


It is _A BALLET SCORE,_ and the track listings are probably taken directly from markings which appear in the score, those segments designating specific scenes and actions of the libretto (yes, _libretto_ is not exclusive to opera/oratorio/cantata 

_Stravinsky was first-hand familiar with ballet, and his ballet scores are all specifically marked in similar fashion.

_This by no means, especially with a ballet, means each section designated is of some highly different character or a vital key element of the overall comp -- it is just markers of 'the acting scenario.'

The score of Le Sacre du Printemps is marked 'introduction,' (the opening multi-layered counterpoint) at the end of those few minutes, "Le Rideau" (_curtain_  Each following segment is also marked as to the action of the ballet's libretto. These marking are all about theater utility, then, not major structural moments.

... and sometimes, they are both the action and distinctive movements
Ravel ~ _Daphnis et Chloé_
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphnis_et_Chlo%C3%A9#Structure

Stravinsky ~ _Le Sacre du Printemps_:
Introduction (before the curtain rises) / Rideau (curtain)
Les Augures printaniers
Jeu du rapt
Rondes printanières
Jeux des cités rivales
Cortège du sage: Le Sage
Danse de la terre

Part II: Le Sacrifice
Introduction
Cercles mystérieux des adolescentes
Glorification de l'élue
Evocation des ancêtres
Action rituelle des ancêtres
Danse sacrale (L'Élue)


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## Turangalîla (Jan 29, 2012)

Weston said:


> Do you really care if a slow movement is called Andantino or Adagio or Lento sostenuto?


Yes, very much so. Andantino and Lento sostenuto denote very different tempi and musical affects, and such descriptions are very important when forming an interpretation.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I do appreciate it when variations are split into separate tracks, however short they may be. I'm sure this 'crib sheet' approach would help me with the likes of the 2nd VS where application of variation is often sophisticated to the degree where it's not exactly easy for me to discern where one finishes and another begins.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Very important. I cannot listen to a recording of the Mahler 6 when I know the andante moderato is played before the scherzo after the first movement. This makes no musical sense to me and I would question the conductor's musical credentials.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I use the segments / tracks to help know where I am in a piece of music. This is especially important in long pieces. Though I don't really need to see a four movement symphony further subdivided on a CD track listing. Short dances in a ballet should probably be given different tracks on a CD. 

My version of the Enigma Variations is one 30 minute track. I would like to see this subdivided. 

That being said, I'm not likely to listen to one track only, I'll start at the beginning of a piece and play it in it's entirety.


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