Performances
Videos
⇒ 6 more: 2. O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee • 3. I Love To Tell The Story • 4. My Country 'tis of Thee • 5. Joy to the World • 6. In The Sweet By And By • 7. O LIttle Town of Bethlehem
| Publisher Info.
|
Earl Richard Drehmer, 2011.
|
| Performers
|
Finale 2008
|
| Copyright
|
|
| Misc. Notes
|
Score performed by Finale, recorded by Audacity, video created with Windows Movie Maker.
|
| Purchase
|
Javascript is required for this feature.
|
| |
Synthesized/MIDI
⇒ 6 more: 2. O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee • 3. I Love To Tell The Story • 4. My Country 'tis of Thee • 5. Joy to the World • 6. In The Sweet By And By • 7. O LIttle Town of Bethlehem
| Publisher Info.
|
Earl Richard Drehmer, 2020.
|
| Performers
|
Finale 2008
|
| Copyright
|
|
| Misc. Notes
|
Score performed by Finale, recorded by Audacity
|
| Purchase
|
Javascript is required for this feature.
|
| |
Sheet Music
Scores
| Publisher. Info.
|
Earl Richard Drehmer, 2023.
|
| Copyright
|
|
| Misc. Notes
|
notated in Finale. all 7 separate pieces are in this collection.
|
| Purchase
|
Javascript is required for this feature.
|
| |
General Information
| Work Title
|
Chorale Etudes
|
| Alternative. Title
|
|
| Composer
|
Drehmer, Earl Richard
|
| I-Catalogue NumberI-Cat. No.
|
None [force assignment]
|
| Movements/SectionsMov'ts/Sec's
|
7 pieces:
- 1. O Come, O Come Emmanuel
- 2. O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee
- 3. I Love To Tell The Story
- 4. My Country 'tis of Thee
- 5. Joy to the World
- 6. In The Sweet By And By
- 7. O LIttle Town of Bethlehem
|
| Year/Date of CompositionY/D of Comp.
|
1985-2006
|
| First Performance.
|
1985
|
| First Publication.
|
2001
|
| Dedication
|
see below
- 1. Richard Earl Drehmer
- 2. June Lewis Drehmer
- 3. Timothy Joel Drehmer
- 4. Carrie Alice Drehmer
- 5. Robert Dale Drehmer
- 6. Dennis James Drehmer
- 7. Daniel Stephen Drehmer
|
| Average DurationAvg. Duration
|
27 minutes
|
| Composer Time PeriodComp. Period
|
Modern
|
| Piece Style
|
Modern
|
| Instrumentation
|
piano
|
| Extra Information
|
each piece is a standalone composition and would normally be performed separately
|
Navigation etc.
Chorale Etudes is a set of seven pieces for piano solo based on my family members' favorite songs at the time I asked them. The first one completed was my father's piece (1984) and the last was my brother Dennis's piece (2006). Dennis died shortly after he was born so I chose "In the Sweet By and By" for him. I love the idea of secretly hiding a musical idea and only revealing it little by little and maybe not at all fully. J. S. Bach was the master of the chorale. He loved to weave musical tapestries around well-known hymn tunes. Lesser known for this was Charles Ives. Though Ives's purpose was not to write a chorale, he did like to weave tunes into the fabric of his music. Further, he sometimes gradually revealed it after first occluding it. These are etudes in the sense that they are studies on these techniques.
- 1st piece: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel -- (written for my father, Dick Drehmer) This piece uses 3-part imitative counterpoint. The mood is set with a 4-measure phrase based in groups of 3 melodic intervals of perfect fourths. This odd melodic material is repeated and imitated throughout the piece, but never the same way twice. Each group of 3 notes is repeated, beginning on a pitch that is usually a second or third away from the end note of the previous group. In the first exposition of accompanying material, the material can be divided into two exact repetitions in a dubious Tonic/Dominant relationship. Variety is achieved by altering these pitch relationships in subsequent similar passages or repeating one of the 3-note groups. The hymn tune enters in E minor above the undulating 3-note pattern. Each phrase of the hymn is heard in order -- usually with the 3-note pattern in between each entrance. Some of the compositional techniques used are accompaniment by a chromatic line, dissonant counterpoint, and polyrhythm. The first major cadence ends with an F Major chord with an added 7th and 13th. The piece ends with a series of chords that imitate a traditional harmonic progression, but ending with a tritone root movement cadence with the melody ending on the 2nd note of the scale. Certainly this piece can be characterized as "pseudo-tonal".
- 2nd piece: O Master Let Me Walk With Thee -- (written for my mother, June Drehmer) Here we have massive quantities of Perfect 4ths forming layers of canons at various transpositions and of different types. Generally the piece is in two parts, with the clearest version of the Chorale tune appearing in augmentation in measure 114 in the Alto voice. Here it is finally harmonized in the key of G (if you allow for non-stop playing with fourths in the two accompanying voices). The opening salvo starts right off with the chorale tune, albeit in parallel Perfect 4ths and upside down! The tune provides its own accompaniment as canons erupt with the tune sometimes right side up and sometimes not. The second entrance begins at the so-called Sub-Dominant, also upside down. But it starts in a most un-traditional metric location 1 2/3 measures later. After the opening exposition of the tune finishes with its falling 3 notes (d-c-b in the Soprano), it continues to fall through 3 octaves as the 2nd voice finishes its own exposition at the top of its range (g-f-e). The second half of the piece is characterized by the tune playing in the key of G with itself in canon, but with one of the voices in augmentation.
- 3rd piece: I Love to Tell the Story -- (written for my brother, Tim Drehmer) This melody starts with an upwardly moving Perfect 4th. So, the opening notes of the right hand voice have the same. This interval (and its inversion the Perfect 5th) features prominently in the left hand part also. Measure two has the first hint of the opening motive of the original tune (except it is a variation of a Perfect 4th - an augmented 4th). The tune is greatly occluded at first. In measure 5, we get a little more of the original tune's motive. Measure 7 is the inversion of measure 1. The right hand part is the inversion of the right hand part and the left hand part is the inversion of the left hand part. The left hand part has the same range in both measures. This inversion creates a whole different feel. Measure 1 has a tremendously dissonant sound whereas measure 7 sounds almost tonal. The left hand in measure 1 outlines the Tonic and Dominant of an Ab harmony whereas in measure 7 it is a Db harmony. The inversion of the right hand part is a different inversion, so the resultant harmony between the left and right hand in measure 7 is quite different from that in measure 1. Along the way there are sections of very random notes, creating an effect of chaos. Numerous variations of fragments of the tune are heard until a massive climax where an Eb chord introduces the finale with the fully exposed tune in the original key of Ab. When the melody is finished, the harmony alternates between Ab and D chords (a tritone apart). This is the coda and it finally ends in the I-IV-I of the Amen, though expanded for dramatic emphasis. The last three chords are I-V-I. However, the V chord has in the Bass a flatted Super-Tonic of Ab Major, the Bbb. This acts as a downward leading tone to the Ab, strengthening the resolution and reflecting the tritone relationships earlier in the piece.
- 4th piece: My Country 'tis of Thee -- (written for my sister, Carrie Drehmer) Though "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" is the chorale tune, also woven in are snatches of "O God, Our Help in Ages Past". The first hint of a chorale tune is the first 5 notes of "O God…" in measure 3. This melts down to the F that begins "My Country…". The tune is so well hidden that it is virtually unnoticeable. This is aided by the augmented rhythm, where 50% is added to each value. A quarter note becomes a dotted quarter and a dotted quarter becomes 9 16ths. The next phrase of the tune enters in a different key, Eb. The chromatic middle voice helps redefine harmonies and occludes the chorale tune. This exposition of the tune ends with the rhythm becoming compressed, finally ending in 8th notes. The introduction is again heard, with a bit more of the "O God…" tune (seen here in the middle voice). Measure 49 begins the coda, which reaches a climax on A/Eb harmony, somehow resolving to Eb, accompanied with Major seconds moving up by Perfect 4ths in the right hand, ending on GbAb in the right and Eb in the left. Amazingly this sounds like the piece has cadenced in Eb major!
- 5th piece: Joy to the World -- (written for my brother, Bob Drehmer) This is the oddest and most dissonant piece in this set. It is basically a series of canons with the chorale tune entering occasionally. The opening 4-measure phrase is right hand only. It is repeated note-for-note by the right hand but with this alteration: the first two measures have a 16th note added to each note and the last two measures have a 16th note removed from each note. Meanwhile, the left hand enters in measure 5. This melodic material ends on the 2nd 16th note of measure 11. The right hand repeats the left hand notes in canon, beginning in measure 9 on the 5th 16th note. After playing the first 2 measures of this material, a 16th note is removed from each note for 2 measures then a 16th note is added to each note for the rest of the material. In measure 13, the meter changes to 2/4 and the chorale tune is heard in its entirety, in the key of D. The texture becomes more and more dense. Eventually 32nd notes are introduced. The pace picks up and the tune is heard in octaves in the left hand, with only the first phrase, the downward moving major scale of the melody. The final chord has added notes (13,#11,9,b9,7).
- 6th piece: In the Sweet By and By -- (written for my brother, Dennis Drehmer) This piece has the unusual distinction of using the Sostenuto Pedal to sustain all the black notes from Eb below middle C through the Eb above the treble clef. This is prepared in advance, possibly requiring the use of both forearms. Notes above this have no dampers so they will automatically sustain. As the piece opens, the Sustain Pedal is used to sustain all notes. When this is released at the beginning of measure 9, it is not necessary until measure 43 since the Sostenuto Pedal will be sustaining the black notes in this section. The opening notes of this piece begin very slowly and extremely soft. They are black notes only and are widespread and cover much of the lower half of the keyboard. Soon after the beginning the lowest black note Bb is accented. This accented single lowest Bb will be heard again in measure 70. The repeating black-note pattern runs through much of the piece. It represents the sustaning life of the womb. Occasionally Dennis's melody is heard in fragments in G Major. His life is beginning and by the end of the piece his life ends. In the middle, the melody is heard spread over a wide time span in Db Major. The lowest Bb is a portent of death and represents the minor key of the black notes. The final lowest Db represents the life of Dennis's soul, and the final fluttering represents his soul winging its way to Heaven.
- 7th piece: O Little Town of Bethlehem -- (written for my brother, Dan Drehmer) The final piece in this set is one long exposition of the chorale tune. It opens with a 5-measure introduction that sets the mood, ending with the beginning note A of the tune in the key of F. As you can see in these measures, the notation can be quite complicated because of the need of having multiple voices. As you can also see, the melody moves along quite slowly, with some unusual harmony. The 1st measure exposes the 16th note accompaniment that features prominently in this piece. Measure 4 and following has these same relationships, with some variety. The scalar passages tend to be Major 3rd, 5 notes a half step apart, then another Major 3rd, outlining an octave. This is definitely not a traditional scale. The tune can be found sometimes in the Soprano and sometimes in the Middle voice, obscured by the surrounding texture. The very last note of the tune is on the 1st beat of measure 32, in the Soprano. By this point, however, the tune has been played so sporadically and embedded so deeply in the fabric, that it has been virtually unnoticeable. Measure 33 marks the beginning of the coda, which ends with a huge glissando and a huge rolled chord covering as many white notes as possible at the top of the piano.
-9096.jpg)
