Christmas with the Master Composers (Part 9) - Analysis of The Nutcracker's "Arab Dance" by Tchaikovsky

Pixabay.com: Licensed in the Public Domain

Hello everyone! Welcome to tonight's analysis of the famous Arab Dance from the nutcracker. For those of you who are new to this series, this is a series in which I will be analyzing all of the Nutcracker suite and the Christmas portion of the Messiah in order to celebrate this holiday season. If you have missed any of the previous articles, they will be linked at the bottom. I will admit that this article has taken me by far the longest to come up with just a little analysis because this piece is quite complicated. Without any further dilly dallying, let's get into the analysis.

Analysis

Form

As always, a piece's form is one of the first things we should take into account when analyzing it. Through the form, we know what is likely to happen, and we will have an easier time broadly understanding the direction of the piece. For this piece, the form was kind of tricky. Almost the whole piece employs a pedal point (more on that later), and its sections are very closely related to each other as a result. My final decision was that this was more or less a ternary form. I have debated whether or not to call it rounded binary. The reason I decided on ternary is I think that the B section finishes and then the A section begins again. It feels as if each of the sections are complete in themselves. Now let's talk about the individual sections.

First, we get this A section which employs an ostinato in the bass.

What is noticeable about this A section is that the bass does not change in any way. This is very much an ostinato and pedal point.

After this A section, we get what starts out sounding like the A section again but turns out to be a B section which starts similarly to the A section.

Notice that in this B section, Tchaikovsky ditches the G,D,G pedal point and actually employs harmony in the bass. This is why I consider this section unique.

Lastly, we get a varied repeat of the A section and then a coda (you will see the music for that in the video).

Both the A section and the B section seem to lead to a finishing point where this F major chord picks up the ball and kicks the next section into gear. It is because of this completion that I consider this piece to be ternary form.

Effect of Pedal Point

I will admit, on Sunday I bragged to @remlaps about how easy this analysis would be since the bass doesn't change. It is 5:44pm on Thursday and I am still somewhat clueless about this piece. I solicited the help of a college professor who I met on a visit (and is quite friendly with me if I email with questions and ideas). He reminded me that roman numeral analysis only goes so far, and often we forget that harmony is just the interaction of melodies. Therefore, music is fundamentally melody, and sometimes that means that to analyze something from a harmonic standpoint is foolish. This, according to him (and I would agree) is one of those cases.

In his email, he discussed one of the common psychological effects of a pedal point. Pedal points often depict a lack of progress, or being trapped. Despite what goes on above it, the pedal point does not change. This creates a brilliant effect psychologically for audiences. So, I began to wonder, what effect does this pedal point have on the nutcracker, and why does he abandon the pedal point in the B section?

I think this first question has many answers. Personally, my favorite idea is that he wanted to depict something mysterious. This piece comes in the portion of the ballet where the girl is being given a tour of the exotic regions of the world. This piece (not surprisingly considering the title) is meant to be arabian. I think this pedal point helps to create a new mood that is foreign to the sound world of the rest of the nutcracker. I don't think the pedal point is necessarily meant to depict being trapped, but rather being free: exploring an exotic region of the world. It creates this effect through its contrast with the sound world employed by the rest of the ballet/suite.

So, why does he ditch the pedal point in the B section? I think the short answer would be to avoid being dull by creating contrast. To be honest, I am not entirely sure of what the other effect of this decision is, but perhaps it also depicts a certain growth within the piece. We start with a pedal point, grow away from it, and then come back to it. This seems like a beginning, middle, and end, or to have a circular message that we will always wind up right back where we started. I don't think I am nearly qualified enough to answer these questions however.

Musical Analysis?

So far, I feel I have lacked in the musical portion of this analysis, but I am afraid of thinking incorrectly about this piece. This piece is obviously meant to differ from traditional ideas (in its use of scales for instance), and I am not experienced enough yet to provide a proper musical analysis of this. I will list a few of the ideas I've had however:

First of all, I find the emphasized dissonance in the 5th measure (and in analogous sections) quite fascinating. You can observe that he has a dissonant (when placed on the pedal point) harmony on beat 1, and a consonant harmony (with the pedal point on beat 3. I feel that this creates an effect of tension.

I also find the chromatic motion in the B section quite fascinating. This is where I began to feel confused about the harmony. I think the reason for this confusion is that it is less about the harmony and more about the chromatic descent occurring.

I will not write anymore for fear of sounding stupid, and, frankly, I have no idea how to describe a lot of what is happening within this piece. It is quite different from what I have analyzed so far. I hope you enjoy it! I certainly have learned a lot from this one piece! Here is the video (if you can't see it on Steempeak, here is a hyper link):

Previous Analyses

The Nutcracker Suite
Miniature Overture (12/4)
March (12/6)
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (12/8)
Trepak (12/10)
Arab Dance (12/12)

The Messiah
Overture (12/5)
Comfort Ye. . .Ev'ry Valley (12/7)
And the Glory of the Lord (12/9)
Thus Saith the Lord. . . and But Who May Abide? (12/11)

Upcoming Analyses

** And He Shall Purify from Handel's Messiah (12/13)**

Conclusion

Thanks for reading this!I am behind now (all caught up in terms of writing). I am going to try my hardest to keep this series going at a consistent rate, but I might have to take a week long break to copy the rest of the Messiah (I am almost surpassing myself). Please remember that feedback is always greatly appreciated! As I already previously established, I do not know everything and would love to hear your thoughts or criticisms. Hopefully I will see you tomorrow!

(Note) In order to encourage meaningful feedback on the platform, I will check comment trails of users who leave superficial comments (ie "Awesome post," or "Upvoted.") and will mute any users who exhibit a pattern of leaving "spammy" comments.