La Noche de los Mayas (The Night of the Mayas) IV. Noche de encantamiento
Silvestre RevueltasPiece Duration: 8:56
About this Piece
(Movement IV. is 17:19-26:15)
Program Note: "Revueltas scored or contributed music to eight more films before he died in October 1940. One of the last of these was La noche de los mayas, adapted by the director Chano Urueta from a story by Antonio Mediz Bolio, who was born in the state of Yucatán and became an important advocate for Mayan culture.
In 1960 the composer and conductor José Yves Limantour arranged music from the 36 cues of Revueltas’ score into a four-movement suite. This suite has the shape of a symphony. Following a foreboding introduction, the finale (Night of Enchantment) is a fluid theme and variations, a sacrificial frenzy that exhausts itself in a storm of percussion." - John Henken
Recommended Performance Video: Due to copyright issues, another performance of this piece, featuring Alondra de la Parra conducting the Orchestre de Paris, can only be viewed on YouTube. Click here to view it! (Movement IV. is 19:25-29:05. Timestamps for this video are linked in the notable passage text, below)
Table of Contents:
I. La noche de los mayas
II. Noche de jaranas
III. Noche de Yucatán
IV. Noche de encantamiento
Notable Passages
Description:
Accents are heard throughout this section! Can you find them in the score?
Listen for the double basses with their sharp pizzicato entrances, and the brass instruments with their punctuated chords!
(Recommended Performance Video: 19:25-20:33)
Keywords: Accent
Description:
Dissonance and 12-Tone Serialism, First Section: Listen to this section with your eyes closed, and then try to play the notes written below at the piano. In the introduction, all 12 chromatic pitches are introduced!
First, the strings hold out a dissonant four-note chord [Bb, Ab, G, B natural], while the clarinets outline two different chords, Eb major [Eb G Bb] and B minor [F# B D]. This means that seven different notes are heard at the very beginning of the movement!
The oboe plays a chromatic melody in the second measure [F#, G#, E# (F), E Natural]. In the third measure they play an A natural. In the fourth measure, the Brass and Strings play an accented C, and in the sixth measure the oboe plays a C#. This gives us all 12 chromatic pitches!
After all pitches are heard, the next section begins at 17:49
Note: The score is transposed, so the clarinet notes are written a whole step higher, and the french horn notes are written a fifth higher. Also, the viola uses Alto Clef, so look out for that too!
(Recommended Performance Video 19:25-19:50)
Keywords: Dissonance , Twelve Tone Serialism
Description:
Dissonance and 12-Tone Serialism, Second Section: Listen to this section with your eyes closed, and then try to play the notes written below at the piano. All 12 chromatic pitches are cycled through once again!
In the first measure of this section, the bass clarinet, bassoons, and cello begin with a six-note figure [F# G D# E F A]. The timpani trills C# and D. In the next measure, the six-note figure changes to [A# B G G# A C#], and the brass accent a different chord [F G B]. In the third measure, a C natural is featured in the next six-note figure.
These six note figures continue to rise and rise, snowballing to a climactic eight-note chord [C C# D E F F# G Bb]. Then the percussion takes over!
Note: The score is transposed, so the clarinet notes are written a whole step higher, and the french horn notes are written a fifth higher. Also, the viola uses Alto Clef, so look out for that too!
(Recommended Performance Video 19:49-20:33)
Keywords: Dissonance , Twelve Tone Serialism
Description:
Dissonance: The french horns play a melody using the F pentatonic scale [beginning with C D C A G A F] while the xylophones are heard playing two alternating Major 2nds: C# / D#, then F# / G.
Note: The score is transposed, so the french horn notes are written a fifth higher.
(Recommended Performance Video 21:04-21:39)
Keywords: Dissonance
Description:
Percussion Instruments are heavily utilized throughout the movement, and in this section they are given an improvisatory cadenza!
(The score video does not take much time at this section, but the Recommended Performance Video absolutely does! Use this link: 21:39-23:20)
Keywords: Cadenza - Form , Percussion Instruments
Description:
Listen for the compound meter in this section! The percussion plays in 12/8 time.
(Recommended Performance Video 23:57-25:00)
- Watch for the conductor's four-beat pattern in the Recommended Performance Video
- Conduct along with her!
- As this section ends, the conductor's beat pattern gets incredibly small as the music decrescendos to a piano dynamic. Can you do the same?
Keywords: Compound Meter