Symphony # 1 in G Major

Composed by

Peter Pike

Copyright 2009.  All Rights Reserved.

First Movement:

Second Movement:

Third Movement:

Notes:

For my first MIDI symphony, I decided to keep the music almost entirely in 6/8 time.  There is one section in the third movement that goes to 4/4 for a bit.  Despite being in the key of G major (or e minor in the second movement), there are actually quite a few key changes throughout the pieces.  This is largely because music that doesn’t change key eventually becomes somewhat lifeless, and when three movements have the same key signature that only compounds the problem.

The first movement hearkens a bit to Beethoven.  It then uses the 6/8 time in its capacity as feeling both like a 2/2 march and a 3/4 waltz.  This is because the beats 1-2-3-4-5-6 can be divided into twos (1-2-3, and 4-5-6) or threes (1-2, 3-4, 5-6).  The second movement is the slower movement, and mainly stays in a 3/4 feel.  Finally, the third movement is more of a march and thus sticks primarily with the 2/2 feel.