The five
preludes are short, most one page each, highly technical,
and more like etudes than preludes. All, except the last
begin tonal and end tonal with many chromatic
explorations in between, a procedure Wallingford Riegger
later described as ‘tempered atonality.’ Each
has a distinctive texture generated by one or two musical
ideas….Fine’s compositional technique has
become dramatic and terse, due, perhaps, to more command
over a restricted use of ideas and more freedom of
expression through her work with dancers.
–Heidi Von Gunden,
The Music of Vivian Fine, Scarecrow Press,
1999
Though Fine considered these works among her finest piano
pieces, Five Preludes was not officially premiered until
1962, when pianist Robert Guralnik performed them in New
York City.
The Preludes are
a set of five individual studies that bridge Fine’s
early atonal and subsequent tonal period. Each prelude
exploits a different musical element, explores
consonances and dissonances, and conclusively resolves to
a major chord. Its is as if Fine were simultaneously
struggling to maintain her strong atonal connections and
attempting to move in the direction of tonality
The first prelude,
suggesting C major, features chromaticism and major and
minor thirds presented in a recurring sixteenth-note
pattern. The opening measure, with this motive of
sixteenth-note thirds, immediately presents key
ambiguity: A minor or C major?
Each presentation of the
motive retains this sense of tonal ambiguity until the
final measure, where Fine resolves the question of key by
concluding with a simple C octave. Although the final C
octave does not contain the third and fifth of a C major
chord, I suggest the prelude’s key is C major
because the opening and recurring motive of thirds
contains the tonic and missing third.
In addition to the
chromaticism used in the motivic thirds, Fine writes a
series of chromatic octaves and single line chromatic
passages throughout the prelude. Although the tonality of
the piece is continually questionable, one feels a sense
of cohesiveness and a less harsh dissonant quality than
the solo piano work from her first style period (Four
Polyphonic Pieces), due to the frequent interjections of
the opening motive’s major and minor thirds.
The second prelude, marked
adagio calmato, captures the “wonderfully lyric
quality” of which Zuponcic speaks. With this
prelude, Fine explores a more homophonic style of writing
than she previously used in earlier solo piano works,
presenting a lyric melody with a traditionally classical
left-hand accompaniment. The piece begins and ends in
E-flat major, yet few other segments present the key as
clearly. An influence of jazz harmonies may be noted in
this prelude in its use of extended and altered
chords.
Rhythm and meter are two of
the more interesting elements that Fine exploits in the
third prelude. The beat continually shifts between eighth
and sixteenth notes, and the first eight measures alone
include five different meters: 3/8, 5/8, 6/8, 13/16, and
4/8. The sixteenth note serves as the common unit between
the meters, and sixteenth-note motion helps maintain an
uninterrupted rhythmic and melodic flow.
A lyrical melody,
interspersed with long passages of flowing chromatic
sixteenths, remains throughout in the right hand, but the
left hand shows Fine’s continued affinity for
linear writing. It serves alternately as accompaniment,
countermelody, and harmonic (consonant and dissonant)
complement. The prelude bears no key signature, but
A-flat often appears at significant structural points and
the final figure is an arpeggiated A-flat major
chord.
The octave, a consonant
perfect interval, was rare in Fine’s earlier piano
writing, but emerges as a significant interval in Five
Preludes. The rising importance of octaves suggests,
along with a prominent use of thirds) as seen
particularly in the first prelude), Fine’s growing
interest in consonant intervals, harmonies, and tonality.
The first two preludes uses octaves intermittently;
however, the fourth prelude prominently features them.
Differing from the other, more lyrical preludes, this
virtuosic prelude exhibits driving energy, a result of
the octave’s exploitation and incisive
articulation. Although Fine does not mark a key
signature, the first two measures, which occur repeatedly
in various guises, suggests D-flat major, as does the
last octave-fifth: D-flat/A-flat.
The last prelude of the set
moves with the same driving energy initiated in the
fourth prelude. Although this piece is not entitled
“toccata,” its flashiness and rhythmic verve
suggest this designation. Fine explores new techniques,
such as bitonality and glissandi, in this prelude, but
again chromaticism is the core of her writing. To create
a toccata-like effect, Fine divides a chromatic line by
alternating the pitches between the hands.
The left hand has a key
signature of G-flat major, while the right hand has none.
Fine subtly focuses attention on the pentatonic nature of
the left hand, and diverts attention from the chromatic
framework. However, in the middle section of this ABA
form, she abandons the pentatonic idiom for chromaticism.
Fine changes the left hand’s key signature to no
sharps or flats, yet she relies heavily on accidentals in
both voices. She also reveals a melody hidden in the
texture by double-stemming notes in the left hand,
changing the dynamic marking dramatically (f to p), and
indicating a change of mood to grazioso.
To delineate the sections
clearly, the transition measure (m. 31) contains the only
pedal marking in the prelude, one of the two pedal
indications of the entire set. The second A section
replicates the first until the last two measures. Here
Fine momentarily sets up a half-step conflict between D
and D-flat before concluding with a black-key glissando
in both hands, and a final G-flat major chord.
Perhaps the greatest
similarity between the preludes is the triadic or tonal
conclusion to each. Despite a degree of tonal meandering
in these preludes, Fine always concludes with a
nonambiguous ending as if to solidify her tonal
intentions. With the preludes, her writing becomes more
lyric and homophonic, although she never completely
disregards her linear interest.
–Leslie Jones, “The Solo Piano
Music of Vivian Fine,” Doctor of musical arts
thesis, University of Cincinnatti, 1994.