Rachel Portman - The Duchess
Harmony & Tonality
Rhythm & Metre
Melody
General Context
Instrumentation
Structure & Form
Texture
End Titles
Mistake
(Opening)
Six Yrs
End Titles
Mistake
(Opening)
Six Yrs
End Titles
Mistake
(Opening)
Six Yrs
Mistake
Six Yrs
(Opening)
Never
End Titles
Mistake
(Opening)
Six Yrs
Mistake of Your Life
Six Years Later
The Duchess (Opening)
Never See Your Children Again
She was the first female composer to win an Oscar for Best Original Score which she won for Emma (1996) and she was awarded the OBE in 2010
Her style is approachable and lyrical with emphasis on melody - often lush string-based arrangements - avoids electronic/synthesised sounds
Rachel Portman is an English composer born in Surrey in 1960, who specialises in music for film, tv and stage.
The Duchess - 18th century drama released in 2008 directed by Saul Gibb, based on controversial life of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire - her unhappy marriage, friendship with Lady Bess Foster and affair with Charles Grey
strings, harp, woodwind and horns
strings, timpani, piano, woodwind, horns
strings, woodwind and harp
Begins sus tonic in Dm with dissonant quaver figure over top
End Titles
Same as The Duchess (Opening)
Whole film has relatively limited orchestral palate, using mainly instruments that were available at the time (Classical)
Most melodic interest in upper strings throughout all; Little independent writing for woodwind and horns --> harmonic fillers; Most writing restrained and non-virtuosic
Open - harp quaver motif - reappears in cue
Bowed and arpeggiated accomp
opens with violas, timpani - which has ostinato pedal D - and lower strings slow build up --> reflection and sadness;
bowed, arpegg accomp; piano enters for 2nd theme; ends just strings
Solo violin plays melody from (Opening); cue starts with pizz strings
'Oom-pah-pah' accomp creates waltz feel
strings and harp
Timpani figure from Mistake leads up to where harp enters
End titles
Built on themes A, B and C
Similar content to (Opening): Shortened theme A, Modified theme B, C modified & extended w/ some rhythmic augmentation, section based on aux idea from (Opening), theme C acts as a coda
2 sections: A and B
Intro A B A B A (different themes to opening)
Intro - waltz accomp in D in pizz strings&harp
Theme A - violin melody w/ harp/string quaver accomp and off-beat lower string chords
Theme B - Solo violin melody w/ continuing quaver accomp
Theme C - New idea - based on auxiliary note motif - then solo violin idea based on end of theme 2 (shortest section)
Never
Never
Never
Never
Modal D major - C♮ (flat 7) suggests Mixolydian - as with most diatonic film music, short cues don't allow much room for modulation/tonal development
Modal Dmaj - Same as (Opening)
Gm - diatonic w/ modal passages - some shifts to Am not prep modulation, just side-step
Modally inflected Dmaj - C♮ - Mixo
Dm but frequent C♮s suggest Dorian. Final Gdim/D sustained in lower strings --> harm/tonally ambiguous, uncertain end
Mostly homophonic - mel & accomp --> accomp - ostinato figures - recurring 5ths
Same as (Opening)
Hom mel&accomp; timpani ped ostinato in intro w/ sus bass ped; arpegg accomp figure
Mel&accomp - but mel is so slow-moving seems only accomp is moving - sus low notes underpin entire texture
Mel and accomp - Section A - oom-pah waltz accomp - Section B - sync rhythms accomp
Theme A - 2-bar, modified by seq and modified again to upper desc phrase, then expanded to reach end of section - Section A basically triadic basis
Mostly same as (Opening) - original theme A shortened & some rhythmic modifications to B and C
2 ideas: A - rising, stepwise, 1st 5 of Gm scale - later expanded by transposition to Am. B - piano idea, auxiliary idea and falling min6th, extended by desc seq
Slow-moving ascend stepwise shape w/ rocking quaver accomp --> melody does not appear dominant element in cue
Open phrase Section A - triadic idea, ascend and descend through an 8ve sometimes w/ decorative lower aux note
On-Screen Action
Mistake
Six Yrs
End Titles
Never
(Opening)
4/4 but sounds 2 minim beats per bar
Same as (Opening)
Slow tempo, no sense of pulse at start despite v quiet timp ostinato, clear pulse from 19, each theme = repeated rhythms --> unity and structure
gently rocking 3/4 w/ slow tempo --> grief and reflection of Duke's threat - rocking movement maintained throughout & other parts longer values, often dot minims
6/8 - compound duple - lively rhythmic reinforced by oom-pah accomp. Changes to 4/4 for B --> (Opening) & tempo increases but then slows down again for coda
Accompanies the title sequence
End credits - provides balance to opening material of (Opening)
reflects Duchess' loneliness and state of her failing marriage
Duke discovered affair with Charles Grey & threatens to prevent her having contact w/ her children
more optimistic waltz theme - set the scene after time lapse of 6yrs
Predominantly tonal harmony w/ modal elements - Portman avoids conventional funct harm progressions + tradit cadences --> effect of non-funct harmony at times
Small no of chords - simple harmonic scheme - Tonic (D) chords and Dom min (Am) chords - cue largely underpinned by pedal notes e.g. whole of B has ton pedal
Tonic ped - B section
Section C - 2-bar held notes alternate ton/dom underpin
2, 4 or 8-bar unit melodies, even phrases, mostly conjunct
Section B - around Dmaj triad -rising then desc stepwise from ton to subdom w/ flat 7 -->mixolydian
Section C - 2 phrases both built on ideas from section A: auxiliary idea basis of 1st then falling phrase basis for solo violin melody
Regular, clear pulse
melody note values simple an mostly unsyncopated but some sync in accomp
Theme A x2 - 2nd transposed up by tone to Am
Intro - low string chords w/ bass & timpani dom ped
Theme B - piano melody, accomp by strings & woodwind
Theme A 8ve higher w/ crotchet countermel based on 3rds & arpegg accomp
Theme B tutti w/ arpegg accomp then end based on A --> 1st phrase x2 end w/ unresolved 6/4
Ends unresolved 2nd inv chord - feel unfinished (not uncommon in film music)
dissonant min 9ths and 11ths in opening; extended V can hear as imperf cadence; modal flat 7 chord
A - triadic melodies, chromatic lower aux note fig - extend and sequential in 2nd part of section
Coda - uses quaver 5ths from opening cue intro
B - based on themes A, B & C from opening cue
Link - based on intro now arco w/ added aug D chord
Based on D and Am chords - link section - Ddim, adds harmonic colour - ends w/ held D chord then 5ths ostinato in harp from opening over tonic in cellos
Section B - all taken from (Opening)
A - mildly dissonant string quaver fig over gradually desc bass line then entry of slowly rising stepwise melody
B - begin w/ timp ostinato from Mistake - section dominated by 2-note quaver motif in harp
Cue ends with unresolved dissonant chord Gdim/susD
A section quavers contain dissonance
Accomp of A and all of B dominated by 2-note quaver motif
Schindler's List Theme - idea A distinctive leap and quaver movement - idea B dotted rhythms & lower violin range
Batman Returns - Use of themes - Penguin, Catwoman and Batman motifs
Schindler's List Theme - Grace notes in A1 section extended ending of idea A
Note values = quavers, crotchets & dot crotchets Section A and longer notes Section B
Schindler's List - dotted rhythms - idea B
Schindler's List - only one change of metre - intro - 5 bars= 3 of 3/4 and 2 of 4/4
Schindler's List - slow tempo - solemn
Schindler's List - Intro, A then repeat of A 8ve higher
Schindler's List - Intro then 2 ideas: A & B repeat (Intro/Ax2/B/A1 - extended binary/ternary)
Schindler's List - Melody-dominated homophony --> focus on violin melody
Schindler's List - ends with IV-V-I perfect cadence - CONTRAST --> ends with unresolved 6/4
Schindler's List - Dm modulates to dom (Am) at A1 - CONTRAST --> frequently modal & some unconventional modulations e.g. Mistake side-step not prepared
Schindler's List - Solo Violin (freq in Duchess); woodwind - opening cor anglais; wide violin tessitura but not virtuosic (restrained, non-virtuosic in Duchess)
Schindler's List Theme - John Williams; King Kong Central Park & It Was Beauty That Killed The Beast - James Newton Howard; Pride and Prejudice Dawn - Dario Marianelli
Beauty Killed the Beast - minor tonality - sadness/loss --> Mistake (failing marriage) and Never (threat from Duke)
Central Park - Love theme
Beauty Killed the Beast - haunting vocal melody - pathos --> A section dissonant string melody - ultimatum/loss of Grey
CONTRAST - Central Park - no harsh dissonances
Central Park - strings, piano & oboe
Central Park - Melody & Accomp
Dawn - use of triads
Dawn - use of sequences
Dawn - slow tempo
Dawn - change of metre - 6/8 to 3/4 halfway through
Dawn - A, B, A1, Coda
Dawn - Mel dom hom
Dawn - C major throughout w/ chromatic notes colour melody
Dawn - CONTRAST - piano only