Concerning the Issue of Interaction between the Melodic Element and Harmony in Sergei Rachmaninoff”s Works
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Abstract
The article shows the results of research of the mutual influence of the melodic element and the
harmonic side in Sergei Rachmaninoff”s musical compositions. The object of the study is presented
by the linear functions of harmony, the elements of the harmonic vertical in the melodic line, and
the processes of the melodic enrichment of the chords and the harmonic progressions. In a whole
set of cases the chord or chord progression become the objects of melodic development through
the saturation by means of non-chordal pitches and entire intervallic-chordal strata, through
melodic development in separate textural lines. Simultaneously there occurs the saturation of the
melody with all the richness of harmonic colors, which becomes possible because of the tight
interaction between all the textural strata. Especially important for the issue of the correlation
between melodicism and the harmonic processes in the musical texture in general is the problem
of phonism. The conclusion is arrived at that all the levels of harmony demonstrate the activity
of general tendencies: modal transformations of the harmonic interpretation of melodic units (the
reharmonization of the tone, motive, syntagm and theme); the avoidance of traditional progressions;
the overcoming of insularity and univocity of harmonic interpretation of the melodic unit; the
prevalence of tension and procedurality; attention to the phonic side. The melodic and harmonic
motion interacts with each other in the tightest way, and this not only does not impoverish the
melody, but endows it with additional colorfulness and capaciousness, at the same time endowing
the harmony with special intonational satiety.
Keywords: Sergei Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninoff’s melodicism, Rachmaninoff’s harmony, the
interaction between the melodic element and harmony.
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