CHAPTER 5 | BANDS IN ANTEBELLUM AMERICA 117
date: ca. 1863–64
performers: The American Brass Quintet
Brass Band
genre: dance music
meter: duple
form: three-part or ternary with varied
repeat: ABA'WHAT TO LISTEN FOR- mellow sound of nineteenth-century brass
instruments - characteristic schottische rhythm
- clearly delineated sections with much
repetition - use of contrasting keys
Listen & Refl ect
- What features mark Helene Schottische as functional music, appropriate for accompany-
ing dancers? - What features make it suitable for nonfunctional (i.e., concert) performance?
timing section strain comments
0:00 A a The piano (soft) dynamic displays the cornets’ and saxhorns’
sweetness of tone. The fi rst 4-bar phrase ends with an inconclusive
half cadence; the second phrase begins like the fi rst but ends with a
more conclusive full cadence.
0:13 b The forte (loud) dynamic and minor key provide contrast and make
even sweeter the return of the opening strain.
0:26 a The a strain returns.
0:40 B c The B section, or trio, typically modulates to the subdominant key
(a fi fth lower than the tonic), for an effect of relaxation. The 4-bar
alternations of the opening strains here become 2-bar alternations of
forte and piano.
0:53 c The c strain repeats.
1:06 d A break strain, as it would come to be known in later band music: a
shift to a minor key and alternation of lower and higher instruments,
building tension.
1:20 c The c strain returns.
1:33 A' a The recapitulation of the a strain creates a sense of return.
1:47 e A new continuation of the melody marks a departure: this is not a
literal repetition of the A section.
2:00 coda A drum roll and grandiose chords bring the schottische to an
impressive, operatic close.Listening Guide 5.1Helene Schottische
CD 1.15 ARRANGED BY WALTER DIGNAM172028_05_106-131_r3_ko.indd 117 23/01/13 8:21 PM