Exercise 2
Using the upper number of the time signature, identify the meter. Using the lower number, determine the pulse
note. Write the counts below the melodies and clap each exercise.
- Liebesträume No. 3 (F. Liszt)
Meter: Compound duple
Pulse note: Quarter note - Prelude, from Le Tombeau de Couperin(M. Ravel)
Meter: Compound quadruple
Pulse note: ____
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RHYTHM: COMPOUND METER EXPANDED1 + a 2 + a 3 + a 4 + a 1 + a>>>>>OR 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3Musical note: Liebestra ̈ume
Franz Liszt composed a set of three solo piano pieces collectively called “Liebesträume” (“Dreams of Love”) which were
published in 1850. Originally, the pieces were written for soprano and piano and later transcribed for both piano duet and solo
piano. Liebesträume No. 3, which is the most popular of the solo piano collection, looks at mature love that mourns death: “Love
as long as you can. The hour will come when you will stand at graves and mourn.” Note that the tempo marking, “con affetto”
translates to “with tenderness.”Vocabulary note
TOMBEAU
Le Tombeau de Couperin(tombeauis French for “tomb”) is a suite of six pieces written by Maurice Ravel between 1914 and
1917, each piece commemorating a friend who had died in World War I. (Ravel served during the war as a driver.) Rather than
paying homage to the famous seventeenth-century French composer Francois Couperin, Ravel was honoring the Baroque
keyboard suite which is a collection of dances. This Tombeau opens with a Prelude dedicated to Lieutenant Jacques Charlot who
had transcribed one of Ravel’s duets for solo piano.