Mendelssohn Italian symphony:
Exposition – subject 1 (1 – 66)
- Violins play in octaves, lower strings don’t appear until bar 10. Violins create a light sound
- Pizz. strings
- Homophonic at the start
- Bar 11 – descending couplets in answering phrase
- Bar 23 – brief hesitation before the flutes, oboes and horns play the fanfare motif. Busy
texture
- Bar 25 – strings play quiet answering phrase
- Bars 51 – 66 – repeat of bars 2-10 + timpani. Concludes in A major
Transition (67-91)
- Begins with an antiphonal passage, oscillating quaver motif as strings alternate with the
rest of the orchestra
- Key at bar 70 (Bm)
- Key at bar 72 (DM)
- Bar 82 – return to fanfare motif with violins
S2 (92-187)
- Begins in EM but shifts to the parallel minor (Em) by 97
- Clarinets and bassoons play the main material in S2b
- Material is transferred to flutes and oboes in bar 124
- Bar 132 – full orchestra plays pp with a reference to the melodic motif from bar 17 over an
8 bar A pedal note. Timpani roll
Exposition – subject 1 (1 – 66)
- Violins play in octaves, lower strings don’t appear until bar 10. Violins create a light sound
- Pizz. strings
- Homophonic at the start
- Bar 11 – descending couplets in answering phrase
- Bar 23 – brief hesitation before the flutes, oboes and horns play the fanfare motif. Busy
texture
- Bar 25 – strings play quiet answering phrase
- Bars 51 – 66 – repeat of bars 2-10 + timpani. Concludes in A major
Transition (67-91)
- Begins with an antiphonal passage, oscillating quaver motif as strings alternate with the
rest of the orchestra
- Key at bar 70 (Bm)
- Key at bar 72 (DM)
- Bar 82 – return to fanfare motif with violins
S2 (92-187)
- Begins in EM but shifts to the parallel minor (Em) by 97
- Clarinets and bassoons play the main material in S2b
- Material is transferred to flutes and oboes in bar 124
- Bar 132 – full orchestra plays pp with a reference to the melodic motif from bar 17 over an
8 bar A pedal note. Timpani roll
