# Expressive Chromaticism in Tonal Music



## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Recently re-discovering my love for Dvorak, I came across some beautiful I wasnt too familiar with. It is his American Suite Op 98. 
Written in 1895 for piano and later orchestrated (though he didnt live to see the orchestration performed).

In the 4th movement, 'Andante', there is a beautiful ascending theme:









Later in this piece, this theme is 'compacted'. Nearly all the intervals are turned into semi-tones yet the association with the original theme still exists. To me - this is the most beautiful moment in the piece and I feel that this chromaticism is the (rather obvious) explanation.










The above excerpt can be found at approx 2:55 in the following video:






My question to you is, can you recommend me any similar uses of chromaticism with great expressive power?

:tiphat:


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

A lot of rubato in this performance...


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