What do you get when you cross Bach and Wagner? The answer is Cesar Franck! Franck was born on the very day Beethoven finished his 9th Symphony, so perhaps he was predestined to develop a close relationship with music of the past. As Johnandrew Slominski reveals, the Prelude from Franck's signature 'Prelude, Chorale and Fugue' follows an arpeggiated voice-leading pattern that could have been ripped from Bach's figuration preludes in the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier, except that it employs late-romantic harmonies reminiscent of Wagner. Inside the moody first few bars of the Prelude lies a motive that ends up unifying the entire work: a "Kreuz," or "cross" motive that resembles Bach's musical signature.

Preludes have been indelibly linked fugues ever since Bach composed his "48," the so-called Well-Tempered Clavier. While Bach rarely united his preludes and fugues motivically, Franck made a point of it. As Johnandrew Slominski shows, the Fugue from Franck's Prelude, Chorale and Fugue incorporates the sighing motive born in the opening bars of the piece and developed further over the course of the Prelude. Slominski then considers how one might choose to interpret this connection in performance.

Although originally intended as a Prelude and Fugue in homage to Bach, Franck's signature piano work eventually sprouted a chorale. As Franck explained to his student Vincent d'Indy, the Chorale serves a unifying role in the work. As Johnandrew Slominski shows, this unification is achieved through Franck's use of motives. First, Franck enlarges the double-neighbor motive that forms the crux of the work and uses it as a structural key scheme for the Chorale. In the Chorale's melody, Franck appropriates a storied bassline pattern known as the "Romanesca," which can be heard from Pachelbel to Beethoven to Wagner. Slominski considers the religious overtones of the Romanesca and its significance in Franck's work.

Studying a piece of music is quicker and easier when you think like a composer. Join Johnandrew Slominski for a look at how composers decorate underlying harmonic formulas that, once you learn them, make the music far easier to understand, play, and ornament. From C.P.E. Bach's varied repetitions, to Mozart's continuo parts, to Beethoven's exquisite sonata Op. 109, these harmonic formulas are your chance to become fluent in the language of music.

Conversations have stock components, with beginnings, middles, and ends, and the same is true of standard harmonic formulas. This video addresses harmonic formulas for endings; that is, cadences. Slominski describes how four types of cadences are constructed, each strictly defined by their scale degrees in outer voices, figured bass, and metric placement: complete, deceptive, converging, and Cudworth cadences. Slominski lays out a simple, step-by-step process for becoming fluent with any formula: play or sing-and-play the outer voices, add inner voices, use compound melody, and stylization.

Conversations have stock components, with beginnings, middles, and ends, and the same is true of standard harmonic formulas. This video addresses harmonic formulas for beginnings. Slominski describes how four types of openings are constructed, each strictly defined by their scale degrees in outer voices, figured bass, and metric placement: the Romanesca, Meyer, sol–fa–mi, and do–re–mi formulas. Slominski lays out a simple, step-by-step process for becoming fluent with any formula: play or sing-and-play the outer voices, add inner voices, use compound melody, and stylization.

Conversations have stock components, with beginnings, middles, and ends, and the same is true of standard harmonic formulas. This video addresses harmonic formulas for the middle of phrases. Slominski describes how three types of connecting phrases are constructed, each strictly defined by their scale degrees in outer voices, figured bass, and metric placement: the Comma, Passo Indietro, and Prinner formulas. Slominski lays out a simple, step-by-step process for becoming fluent with any formula: play or sing-and-play the outer voices, add inner voices, use compound melody, and stylization.

Harmonic Formulas: Connecting Phrases