Analysis / Anthems / France / La Citoyenne-Return



La Citoyenne - Return

Participant Judges

Scores

The up-to-date average score
      of the Technical evaluation is3.2points, and
      of the Artistic evaluation is2.4points, for a
            Total score of 5.6 points.

Comments sent with the Scores

None yet

Staff Judges

Analysis - Comments

General
          - the French National Anthem
      The words and music are by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle, 1792.
 The problems here are numerous because we are dealing with a recitativo, rather than a song,
      which seems improvised and formless, without anysymmetryor well disposedentities,
           each melodic motif (usually of 4 bars but two of them only 2 bars) appearing only once.
                 One point removed here.
     Establishing any kind of order would require
                complete reorganization of valid key elements and removal of the rest.
            Back to the original music page
(Bar-lines atLevel 0are indicated "/", and atLevel -1are indicated "\".)

Melo-rhythm
To simplify matters, allspreadsofEight note. Sixteenth notewill be treated as evenEight note Eight notein this analysis.
      Bars 1-4 (2-cells) consist ofEight noteEight noteEight note\Quarter noteQuarter noteQuarter noteQuarter note/Quarter note.Eight noteEight note' Eight noteEight noteEight note\Quarter noteHalf note Eight noteEight note/Half note.,KF KM,
                with aFeminine Rhymein bar 2 and a masculine rhyme in bar 4.
      Bars 5-8 (2-cells) consist ofEight noteEight note\Quarter noteQuarter noteQuarter noteEight noteEight note/Quarter noteHalf note' Eight noteEight note\Quarter noteQuarter noteQuarter noteEight noteEight note/Half note.,KF KM,
                again, with a Feminine Rhyme in bar 6 and a masculine rhyme in bar 8.
           Two acceptable melo-rhythms which have little to do with each other.
      Bars 9-10 consist ofEight noteEight note\Quarter noteEight noteEight noteQuarter noteEight noteEight note/Half note.,KM,
           and are completely apart from the other 4-bar groupings,
                disturbing the entire large level rhythmic organization.
      Bars 11-18,Eight noteEight noteEight note\Half noteQuarter noteEight noteEight note/Quarter noteQuarter note' Half note\Quarter noteEight noteEight noteQuarter noteEight noteEight note/Half note.' Quarter note\Quarter note.Eight note Eight noteEight noteEight noteEight note/Half note.' Eight noteEight note\Quarter note.Eight noteQuarter noteEight noteEight note/Quarter noteHalf note,
           produce a sequence of rhymesKF KM KM KF,
                which are current in French verse, but musically unacceptable.
      Bars 19-28,Eight note\Half note_Eight note Eight noteEight noteEight note/Half note.' Eight note\Half note_Eight note Eight noteEight noteEight note/Half note.' Quarter note\Half note. Quarter note/Whole note'\Half note Quarter noteQuarter note/Half note. Quarter note\Half note_Eight note Eight noteEight noteEight note/Half note.,
                 KM KM MM KM KM,
           are the Chorus of the piece, evidently irregular,
                with 2 extra bars (25-26) which should preferably be removed.
      There are 3 melo-rhythmic entities here -
           bars 1-4, bars 5-8, and the Chorus, bar 19 to the end.

Melo-harmony
There are relatively few secondary chords (indicated in parentheses) in the Melo-harmony of this piece,
           mostly in the Off-beat of the first cells, in bars 1 and 3, and in the Chorus at the end.
      In bars 1-4, we findI (V) / I \ (IV) V / I, basicallyI / I \ V / I, a normal complete harmonic entity.
      In bars 5-8, we findI / V \ V / I, the most basic chord pattern of all, also a complete harmonic entity.
      In bars 9-12, we findI / V \ V / Iagain,
           but this time in complete conflict with the words and melo-rhythm
                which start a new 4-bar (even 8-bar) group starting at bar 11.
                      Remove 1 point.
     In bars 13-18, we find(I7) \ IV (IV-3) / V \ I-3 / V \ I-3 / V , three consecutive cadences toV,
           with theI7 being aVofIV,
           theIV-3 being aII-5 ,
           and theI-3 being adominantized IVofV.
                There is no question of having modulated to the key of G minor.
      In the Chorus, bars 19-28, we findI / V \ I / V \ I (V) / I \ II / V (IV) \ (V64) V7 / I,
           in which removal of bars 25-26 would leaveI / V \ I / V \ I (V) / I (IV) \ (V64) V7 / I.
      There are 3 melo-harmonic entities here -
           bars 1-4, bars 5-8, and the Chorus, bar 19 to the end.

Melo-lines
From one section to the next, there is constant change in the nature of the melodic motifs -
      in bars 1-4, 9-12, 19-22, we find numerous skips and arpegio patterns, including bugle calls;
      in bars 5-8, 13-18, 23-25, we find more lyrical passages, almost entirely by conjunct motion.
 There are only 2 melo-line entities here, bars 1-4, and the Chorus, bar 19 to the end,
           both of which end on degree 1 on the scale.
      These 2 sections are particularly dramatic and effective.Add 1 point here.

Review of Entities
Bars 1-4 and the Chorus, from bar 19 to the end, are complete bonafide entities in the 3 categories,
      and bars 5-8 are recuperable material,
           an entity in melo-rhythm and melo-harmony, but not in melo-lines.
      However, bars 1-4, being acomplete bonafide entity, are aconsequent
           and bars 5-8, not a complete entity, are anantecedent,
                the opposite of their present position,a half-point removed here..
      Since both sections 1-4 and 5-8 need to be repeated because there is insufficient symmetry,
           we might have here the key to our reconstruction.

Reconstruction

Since it seems preferable to maintain the order of the 2 first sections, some decisions are inevitable. Note that, in each of the three 8-bar sections, a canon is possible, offering considerable added interest.

Bars 1-4 become 1-8
Create anantecedent for the first section
           by changing the melo-line in bar 4 to end on degree 3 instead of on degree 1.
      The original bars 1-4 become theconsequent.
 The canon is at a 2-bar distance.

Bars 5-8 become 9-16
Create aconsequent for the second section
           by transposing the first 2 bars a third higher and the last 2 bars a third lower.
      The slight change of melo-rhythm at the beginning of thisconsequent
           helps to eliminate the triteness of the parallel lines in the canon.
      The original bars 5-8 become theantecedent.
 The canon is at a 4-bar distance.

The original anthem is composed of 28 bars and we already have 16. With a chorus of 8 bars, we would end up with 3 equal sections of 8 bars each, 24 bars in all. Removal of the original bars 25-26, as suggested in the melo-rhythm, would produce the desired length.

The Chorus, bar 19 to the end
In the second bar of the Chorus, aFeminine Rhyme, to accomodate the word "citoyène",
      would produce theLanger Hingeof the 4-bar entity,
           a gift which only the French language could offer.
 Starting at the fifth bar, the canon is at a 1-bar distance,
      then, in the penultimate bar, at a half-bar distance.

This is what the reconstruction would look and sound like
camarsr

Scores

In the technical evaluation -
      2.5 points were lost,5 - 2.5 = 2.5
In the artistic evaluation -
       1 point was added.
 Total score = 3.5 points

Double Quality Control
The first Quality Control was our evaluation of the piece.
 The second Quality Control is your evaluation of Analysis,
      did you find it convincing, valid, and fair?
            Let us know, we will print your comments.

Comments and Questions after reading this Results page

None yet

-->

Previous Top Next