Frederic Rzewski’s The People United Will Never Be Defeated!Analysis of the Theme and 36 Variations

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  • ジェフスキー≪「不屈の民」変奏曲≫におけるテーマと36の変奏曲の分析と考察
  • ジェフスキー《「不屈の民」変奏曲》におけるテーマと36の変奏曲の分析と考察
  • ジェフスキー 《 「 フクツ ノ タミ 」 ヘンソウキョク 》 ニ オケル テーマ ト 36 ノ ヘンソウキョク ノ ブンセキ ト コウサツ

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This study examines The People United Will Never Be Defeated! composed by Frederic Rzewski, a prominent American composer-pianist, through an investigation of overall structure of the work and an analysis of the theme and 36 variations. This examination reveals the complexity and diversity of the work and how this complexity is related to the power of uniting the diverse groups of people. The theme is based on a Chilean revolutionary song,“¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!” (The People United Will Never Be Defeated!), composed by Sergio Ortega, and Rzewski composed 36 variations from this theme. It is clear that Rzewski achieves an incredibly elaborate formal plan for the entire work and the momentum from the first stage to the sixth stage represents how the Chilean people united to oppose the new power. An analysis of the theme and variations reveals that the whole music except for cycle 5 has three common musical features: the minor 2nd /perfect 5th motive (6-20 hexachord according to Allen Forte’s classifications), descending diatonic/chromatic bass line, and the circle-of-fifths sequence of the harmonic progression. These musical elements are used both in tonal and atonal variations so that the composer manages to maintain a certain unity through the lengthy work. This work is a wonderful gift from the twentieth century and a landmark in the history of variations. The present study has aimed to introduce Rzewski’s piano works to pianists and audiences in Japan, and give them the opportunity to perform/understand his pieces.

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