Melody

By Thomas Erma Møller (Translated from Norwegian by Sarah Osa)

Do you hum, whistle or hear a tune in your head when you are on your way home from work or taking a walk outside? Melody is one of the most important parts of a work in almost all musical genres. This is what etches itself onto the brain — to the listener’s delight or frustration — and which you can evoke when you want to remember a piece of music. There are also memorable melodies within the classical field, composed by the masters of melodic writing, whether it be for voice, solo instrument or for the whole orchestra.

In the beginning — which in terms of Western music means Gregorian chanting 1500 years ago — there was only melody. Or more precisely, there was only a single melody, without accompaniment and without any other voice. These ancient hymns are not particularly remarkable melodically, and most people would have difficulties in remembering them. The same goes for much of the multi-vocal choir music composed before 1600. Composers such as Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina were meticulous about writing well-balanced melodies, but to modern ears this music sounds like a continuous and meditative melodic stream, and not like expressive and individual tunes.

This changed in the 17th and 18th centuries, when melodies were increasingly cultivated, especially in the new genre of the time, opera. Some arias became so popular that composers would transpose them from one opera to the next even if they didn’t fit into the narrative. Opera singers were the great stars of the time and often demanded to sing the most beautiful melodies or the greatest virtuosic arias as their price. Some famous opera melodies from this period are “When I am Laid in Earth” from Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, “Lascia ch’io pianga” from Georg Friedrich Handel’s Rinaldo, and many of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s arias from The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni and Figaro’s Wedding.

Around the same time, memorable tunes appeared in the instrumental field, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is considered to have had a special knack for conjuring up dazzling, ebullient, well-functioning melodies, regardless of musical form or expression. Another composer who clearly also had this ability was Franz Schubert. He wrote over 600 songs, where his gift for melody became wholly apparent, and he brought this talent also to his instrumental writing. Just listen to his Symphony No. 8 or Symphony No. 9!

During the 19th century, most composers wrote music with catchy and expressive melodies. Still, some focused their style more on the melodies than others, and one of the forms that set melody in focus was the solo concerto. Felix Mendelssohn, Peter Tchaikovsky and Jean Sibelius’ violin concertos stand for many as examples of particularly impactful and successful melodic writing. Overall, Tchaikovsky can be said to be an archetypal melody writer and one who mastered that part of composing better than most, seen both in his ballets and in his symphonies. One might say the same about Edward Grieg, who in his Lyric Pieces, Peer Gynt, and Piano Concerto in A Minor produced many celebrated melodies.

Opera arias blossomed fully during the 1800’s and the first part of the 1900’s. We can mention but a few of the most famous ones: “Habanera” and “The Toreador Song” from Georges Bizet’s Carmen, “La donna è mobile” from Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto, “Largo al factotum” from The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini, “Casta Diva” from Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma, and a few of Giacomo Puccini’s most famous arias: “Nessun Dorma” from Turandot, “O Mio Babbino Caro” from Gianni Schicchi and “E Lucevan le Stelle” from Tosca. Also Richard Wagner composed famous melodies, such as “Ride of the Valkyries” from Der Ring des Nibelungen, although he is most known for the term “infinite melody” — a melodic stream which barely stops before the opera has ended.

With the onset of Modernism in the 20th century, a lot of music was composed where the melodies were so complex that they were difficult for the public to remember or even catch. Try listening to Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern or Alban Berg’s music, for instance. Still, many composers continued writing traditionally melodious music, but often with a twist. We can name Dmitri Shostakovich and Serge Prokofiev as outstanding examples of this, especially in the latter’s Peter and the Wolf and Symphony No. 1, where the melodies are seemingly uncomplicated, but always with an unexpected turn just when you think you know what’s coming.

Although not all orchestral music contains melodies which are easy to remember (or whistle, for that matter) after the concert is over, most classical music is actually melodic and aims to hit a stream of tones which have the greatest possible effect on the listener. Having said this, you may need to hear a symphony or a solo concerto quite a few times before its melodies stick in your head!