Traditioner af Swenska Folk-Dansar, 1st part, nr 27

Description

Almost free of springing dotted figures, No. 27 is a D minor dance whose right hand sings one smooth, chordless line, written nearly all in eighth notes. It lasts about thirty-seven seconds. The piece comes from the first part of Traditioner af Swenska Folk-Dansar, a three-part Swedish folk dance collection of the early nineteenth century in which traditional dance melodies, their makers unrecorded, are written out for keyboard.

Written in D minor, it moves in 3/4. The right hand is a single line without chords, a flowing line written almost entirely in eighth notes. The left hand mixes eighths with longer half and quarter notes and supports the tune with two-note chords. The range covers three octaves, from A2 to A5. Springing dotted figures are almost absent; its character lies in a smoothly singing line.

It is rated intermediate, with 216 notes. Since the right hand is a single line of running eighths, the expressive work centres on evening out the notes and giving the phrases a natural rise and fall. Hold the long left-hand notes firmly to support the flow from below. Listen closely to the right-hand line at a slower playback speed and check the phrase groupings in the score view to shape the melody.

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