Table of contents
click on ± to expand or collapse

• Features

• When were the sections composed

• Duration estimates

• Scenes, sections and motifs
  • spreadsheet
  • diagrams
    1. diagram a
    2. diagram b
    3. diagram c

• overture

• act I

  • scene I-I
    1. thunder
    2. when shall we three

  • scene I-III
    1. foul and fair
    2. all hail
    3. Banquo asks
    4. answer to Banquo
    5. all hail Macbeth and Banquo
    6. earth has bubbles
    7. King Duncan's envoys

  • scene I-V
    1. letter
    2. milk of human kindness
    3. dialog

• act II

  • scene II-II
    1. Lady Macbeth alone
    2. Macbeth has murdered sleep
    3. a little water clears us

  • scene II-III
    1. good morrow
    2. O, horror!
    3. bells and trumpets
    4. general turmoil
    5. meeting proposed
    6. Malcolm and Donalbain flee

• act III

  • scene III-I
    1. Banquo solo
    2. invitation
    3. ride you
    4. all invited
    5. our fears in Banquo

  • scene III-IV
    1. guests enter
    2. murtherer
    3. ghost
    4. I am a man again
    5. relapse

• act IV

  • scene IV-I
    1. cauldron song
    2. enter Macbeth, Hecate
    3. apparitions
    4. Macbeth asks
    5. procession of kings
    6. Macduff has fled
    7. (optional) witches minuet

  • scene IV-III
    1. in England

• act V

  • scene V-I
    1. yet here's a spot
    2. fie, my lord
    3. all the perfumes of Arabia
    4. to bed
    5. (optional) orchestral interlude

  • scene V-II
    1. Scottish rebel army
    2. soldier's chorus
    3. tree bough stratagem

  • scene V-V
    1. Death of Lady Macbeth
    2. Tomorrow and tomorrow
    3. I will not be afraid of death and bane
    4. Macbeth decides to withstand siege
    5. Birnam wood moving
    6. Macbeth decides on sortie
    7. (optional) Soldiers march out

  • scene V-VIII
    1. battle — orchestral interlude
    2. Macbeth and Macduff
    3. finale

with heartfelt thanks for Mark 'Tarquin' Wilton-Jones              

 

SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\overture\overt.sib

"moissons" played twice, first in plain A minor, then with Hecate tonality counterpoint.

   A      starts in A minor natural, melody and accompaniment
   B      Hecate tonality in the accompaniment

	full 9 note scales
	bugle calls
	whole tone scale subset
	fourths, fifths subsets

   C      ends in A minor melodic

			

SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneI-V\leterb.sib

Based on "All hail, Macbeth" music of scene i-iii.
The time signatures to clarify speech rhythm – which should actually be loose.  
Speech epresented by the sizzling cymbal.

The "dearest" motif inserted two times, the 2nd very dissonant – a comment on "greatness" ?

Dynamics fake, just to deal with MIDI. 


SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneI-V\i-vb.sib

Macbeth's theme?  Eb Bb — Eb C — Eb A  (tritones all over in allhail, etc)

Lady Macbeth music starting  "Glamis thou art" is a variation from : c:\weird\repo\sceneI-V\varmelo.sib


SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneI-V\dialohec.sib

Four subsections:

   A        Macbeth announces Duncan's  visit  –  Lady Macbeth reacts (murder motif)
   B        " Thy face  ...  leave all the rest to me "
   C        reprise: " milk of human kindness "
   D        Macbeth and Lady Macbeth argue – orchestral ( murder motif with  "Hecate" tonality, 9 tone Messiaen )

• Sections a and b are based on weaving motives, as follows:
  • name themes for Macduff, Lennox, Banquo,Malcolm and Donalbain
  • murder counterpoint (for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth)
• Sections c and e are the development of the overture themes (the original Moisson ) .
• For contrast, section d is a plain automatic libretto-to-score piece.

SCORE:   c:\weird\repo\sceneII-III\II-IIIab.sib 

   initially three themes woven:
      Macduff
      Lennox
      Murder counterpoint (for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth)
   
   then more themes for   Banquo, Malcolm and Donalbain

      what's the business:   from scene ii-ii

SCORE:   c:\weird\repo\sceneII-III\ii-iiicd.sib

   overture (moisson) themes used  for II-IIIc; no automatic composition here.
   
   vilely clobbering the text!
    
   some libretto to text for II-IIId, which is just summons for the meeting,
   not too poetical or emotional.
          file                c:\weird\shazar\ivib\txtii-iiid


SCORE:   c:\weird\repo\sceneII-III\ii-iiie.sib
    
   overture (moisson) themes used  for II-IIIc; no automatic composition here.
 
			

 
SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneIII-I\iii-ia.sib

    Uses one of the variations in varmelo
           c:\weird\repo\sceneI-V\varmelo.sib
    but not obviously Glamis, Cawdor or "shalt be king" motifs. 
    
    Uses the "weird sisters" motif.
    
    Authentic bugle calls: "mess call", "1st sergeant call" : 
             Macbeth, who is top boss now, calls courtiers to dinner.
 
SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneIII-I\inviteb.sib

 
SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneIII-I\rideyou.sib
    more "horsy" stuff : 
       c:\weird\repo\sceneIII-I\ridesthou11  (my score)
 
SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneIII-I\iii-ib3.sib

SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneIII-I\rosalia.sib
 
A      our fears in Banquo
             rosalia, with witch tonality, much munged
             meas 36-41 in A min, for Banquo's issue I defiled my mind ,  may be taken as theme,
	         or as the motif Banquo_issue

B      murder 'motif' (actually counterpoint) 
	        for the last rhymed couplet -- also munged rosalia 
			

 
SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneIII-IV\III-IVa.sib

welcome theme        sung by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
guests procession    a combination of two themes with Hecate tonality 

SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneIII-IV\yab34.sib

sections
  A        there's blood upon your face
           beginning of murder scene
           my murder theme and Mordwerk leitmotif
           replicated 2 times:  4 voices, 5 voices  (just happened that the text fit so)

  B        saucy
           uses witch tonality and motif from sc.III-I (rosalia.sib)
           ornamented with turns  (why?)

  C        safe in a ditch
           end of murder scene
           my murder theme and Mordwerk leitmotif
           ends with Ghost Trio quote to connect with gho.sib


SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneIII-IV\gho.sib

woven from:
     Beethoven      Ghost Trio, Op. 70 No. 2 in E♭ major, IInd movement theme, munged  
     Wagner         Flying Dutchman, act iii, maiden's choir : "Gespenster sind's"

Sections:
    A      iii-ivc      Avaunt...
    B      iii-ivc2     Sit, worthy friends   
    C      iii-ivc3     Approach thou like ... bear ... rhinoceros   

Sections A+B have ( almost everywhere ) the same orch. parts as sec C; the vocal parts are notes picked from that, 
sometimes new notes to complete chords.

SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneIII-IV\pretend.sib

    Berg         "Der Wein" (only vocal part, first measures)
    
    Macbeth and Lady Macbeth sing almost identical tunes (transposition , accompaniment differ)
    
    Closed mouth choir: guests murmur at royals' pretension that it's all OK

SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneIII-IV\relap.sib

Sections:

    A    Macbeth             "can you see such sights"
                                   woven from 
                                   Macbeth's aria in ghost section (  gho.sib  )
                                   one quote of the Ghost Trio theme 

    B     choir              "what sights"
                                   based on Macbeth's aria "Can you see such sights"

    C1   Lady Macbeth chides Macbeth                    based on "can you see such sights"

    C2   Lady Macbeth dismisses guests                  based on Lady Macbeth's welcome, III-IVa.sib

    D     choir              "good night"        guests leave
                                   based on guest procession and 1st choir entry "thanks to yor majesty", III-IVa.sib

                                   cancrizans, of course, as guests leave
			

 

SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneIV-I\liver.sib

WITCH TONALITY

Sections:

  A   intro, thunder

  B   cauldron song, 1st verse: Round about the cauldron go

  C   2nd verse: Fillet of a fenny snake

  D   3rd verse: Scale of ravin'd salt-sea shark 
            Liver of blaspheming Jew:   klezmerei on oboe
            There is only one possible counterpoint for that particular tune  GBBB GCCC... 
            (various random seeds don't matter) 
            
  E   By the pricking of my thumbs

SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneIV-I\yantrada.sib

    libretto to notes  
    c:\weird\ivib\drhino.pl made chords, and banal 18/8 which I changed to my own 4/4 rhythm
    much munged 
    
    entrada:  establishing Hecate tonality ( Messiaen 9 notes mode )
    connection to apar3plu.sib  DF#A — D♭ F B♭

SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneIV-I\apar3plu.sib

Sections

    meas7 - meas17 (after 1st apparition)
    meas32 - meas48 (after 2nd apparition)
    "unfix its root ... and yet my heart..."                   MUCH TOO LONG

witches+Hecate music made by     weird\shazar\hec6.pl
Macbeth's music                  drhino.pl 
"I shall be satisfied"           my tune + 
                                 Alberich curse:  Wagner Teratology leitmotif, 
                                                  Donnington 13 = Mann 23 = Collingwood 23 = Wolzogen 29
                                 shazar.pl for weaving motifs.

SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneIV-I\proking.sib

    Procession of kings. Macbeth's aria.           Section before aria  TOO LONG.
    
    Based on "I shall be satisfied" woven with British anthems: God Save the King, Rule Britannia.
    
    Interlude, to Lennox's knock at the door.

SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneIV-I\butwhy.sib

SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneIV-I\wimifix.sib

    "Witches minuet", Haydn "Fifths" Quartet, Hob III:76 Op.76 No.2, Menuetto 
    combined with scales and arpeggios in Hecate tonality
    the whole severely chopped

			

 

SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneIV-III\cousin.sib

A    intro: England
             based on English folk tunes and Macduff's greeting my ever gentle cousin, welcome hither

B    Macduff and Lennox
             ancient libretto-to-score file      
                       C:\weird\ivib\prescoreiv-iii

C    Malcolm and Macduff
 
D    Macduff solo  
            accompaniment based on Macduff's tune, sec.C above, like_a_man


E    Malcolm and Macduff, bis
            ?continuing C:\weird\ivib\prescoreiv-iii
			

SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneV-I\ful-v-ia.sib
SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneV-I\ful-v-ib.sib

          weaving motifs:

		  Ophelia's mad laugh, Ambroise Thomas, Hamlet
		  Dolce suono, madness scene, Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor
		  Mordwerk  Wagner Tetralogy leitmotif,  Mann 69 = Collingwood 88 = Wolzogen 83


SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneV-I\nointerl-v-icd.sib

   V-Ic

   A      LM: ...all the perfumes of Arabia...

   B      Doctor: What a sigh
          		    libretto to chords applied to V-Ic.
                    sources
                            txtv-ic
                    passed to 
                           c:\weird\ivib\drhino.pl 
                    then rhythm manually from excel
                          vic.xlsx
                    some munging 
   V-Id

   C      LM: Wash your hands 

                    libretto to chords applied to V-Id,   TO BED
                    sources
                            txtv-id
                            ry2bed
                    passed to c:\weird\ivib\drhino.pl
                    minimal munging, but transposed CMAJ --> FMAJ
                    Then woven with lullabies:
                          Brahms lullaby
                          Mozart lullaby, AMAJ piano sonata

 



ALTERNATIVE SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneV-I\orc-v-icd.sib

   V-Ic

   A      LM: ...all the perfumes of Arabia...

   B      Doctor: What a sigh
          		    libretto to chords applied to V-Ic.
                    sources
                            txtv-ic
                    passed to 
                           c:\weird\ivib\drhino.pl 
                    then rhythm manually from excel
                          vic.xlsx
                    some   munging 
   V-Id

   C      LM: Wash your hands 

                    libretto to chords applied to V-Id,   TO BED
                    sources
                            txtv-id
                            ry2bed
                    passed to c:\weird\ivib\drhino.pl
                    minimal munging, but transposed CMAJ --> FMAJ
                    Then woven with lullabies:
                          Brahms lullaby
                          Mozart lullaby, AMAJ piano sonata

   interlude  between V-I and V-II,  from to_bed to  march i.e.  soldiers chorus 

   D      mostly to_bed

   E      mostly march 
   

			

SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneV-II\V-IIa.sib
   background: initially march, then a free section, starting at "now he feels"

   march, to serve as background for all of the scene V-II
       four square
       tonal: g minor
       based on  within my sword's length set him + this tune goes manly  from scene IV-III
   
SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneV-II\v-iib.sib
   
   soldiers chorus (a must) --- while marching, etc.
       the march
       almost authentic Shakespeare text

SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneV-II\v-iicde.sib
   background:  march 

			

SCORE:   c:\weird\repo\sceneV-V\v-va.sib 
    
woven from

    Lady Macbeth's motif  what's the business, scene II-III
    dearest motif, scene I-V

SCORE:   c:\weird\repo\sceneV-V\v-vb.sib

A:   tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow 
B:   life is a walking shadow, a poor player
C:   a tale told by an idiot

             A,B,C based on scene IV-I, witches+Hecate : Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth

D:   orchestral passage 
            weaves blues and Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth

E:    blues
    

SCORE:   c:\weird\repo\sceneV-V\v-vc.sib
    
Macbeth's lines repeated as 2nd soldier's chorus

Melody uses the same notes as Macbeth's blues of V-Vb. The rhythm is just a fortunate subdivision of the eternal iambic pentameter.

   blues chords for Macbeth's lines
   chorus sings a canon, with free accompaniment
   the whole is tonal, C Major no less.    
 
SCORE:   c:\weird\repo\sceneV-V\v-vde.sib

An old score, without a formal base (or at least I can't find or reconstruct any)
Melodies are pure recitative, with repeated reciting tones.

sections:
   A:      mostly C Major, bent a little to harmonize with Birnam mention (Hecate tonality)
   B:      Hecate tonality, quotes the harmonies of IV-I, lines: 

	Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until
	Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill
	Shall come against him.

   C:      C Major
 
SCORE:   c:\weird\repo\sceneV-V\v-vf.sib

3rd soldier's chorus 

words: just "arm,arm and out"

music woven from
   harness on our back
   blow wind! come wrack!
   and the previous march from V-Vc
			

SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneV-VIII\brasbatl3923.sib
 
 enigma built over  taps + last post + taps
 bugle calls added to enigma
 
   
SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneV-VIII\v-viiiad.sib
   
motifs:
    bear                     scene iii-iv        bear-like I must fight the course / approach me as the rugged Russian bear
    Roman carnival, Berlioz                      Why should I play the Roman fool
    beware Macduff           scene iv-i
    if he'scape              scene iv-iii
fight:
    Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet  Allegro giusto theme, in counterpoint with itself (orig, cancer, table, mirror)
various motifs:
    of woman born
    Birnam/Dunsinane from the blues, V-V
    march from V-V in counterpoint with Romeo and Juliet


SCORE:  c:\weird\repo\sceneV-VIII\v-viiie.sib
 
a capella

Begins with "hurly-burly" in choir, then the three witches.

			

The "date created", "date modified", etc., which I can check in the files directories, are unfortunately rather irrelevant, because I copied and reorganized files a lot. Using weird.htm, all I can see is that the first ideas are from December 2012, and the opera was complete in May 2014. As for remembering ... that was too much longer then 10 minutes ago.

I made a list of dependency of sections and motifs, using my own motifs only. The reason is that a motif has to be ready, before being used in some section. So, the section where it first appears – let's say where it first appears with a defining text or situation – precedes the sections where it is used ( with similar words or situations ). Then I wrote a topological sort – for the how manieth time, and how much stupider than old ones – applied it to the dependency ordering, and here is the result:

I composed first the witch scenes; rather obvious, because this is the main attraction of the whole opera. The order is, probably:
1	cauldron song, IV-I	composed	witch tonality
2	all hail, Macbeth I-IIIb	libretto to chords
3	when shall we three I-I
4	the flight of the witches I-I	weave motifs
5	the rest of IV-I		Hecate tonality
6	the rest of I-III
7	the rest of I-I
Then, IV-III, "in England" is relatively early, because I kept trying my libretto to score final solution on it. V-II, "invading armies" certainly follows, because it uses elements of IV-III for soldier's march
8	my ever gentle cousin IV-III	libretto to chords
9	the rest of IV-III
10	V-II
The sleepwalking scene, V-I, was ready, either before or after V-II, because it does not depend on other original motifs (it quotes, of course, madness scenes from "Lucia di Lammermoor" and "Hamlet")
11	V-II	weave motifs, add vocal part
After which, according to my memo, I composed act III, before 3/24/2014. This is mostly independent of the other sections; it uses many motifs, but not mine, and defines only two: "bear", "Banquo's progeny" (the last one not reused, I think):
12	III-I Macbeth invites nobles to feast; in order III-Ia to III-Id	weave motifs
13	III-IV feast, guests procession	weave motifs	Hecate tonality happens to sound like a pavanne
14	III-IV Banquo's ghost at feast; in order III-IVa to III-IVe	weave motifs
The overture and scene II-III, "Duncan's murder discovered" are based on an ancient tune of mine, "moissons". This gets combined with several other motives, in particular "name themes".
15	overture	composed weave motifs	natural minor; Hecate tonality
16	II-III a-b	name themes weave motifs	natural minor
17	II-III c-d, e	composed; add vocal part	minor
18	end of II-III c-d	libretto to chords
The last three scenes were V-V, II-II and V-VIII.
19	V-V a-c death of Lady Macbeth	weave motifs; add vocal part
20	V-V a-c I will not be afraid	composed	blues
21	V-V d-f messenger reports Birnam wood moved	weave motifs; libretto to chords
22	II-II	weave motifs;
Scene V-VIII, which is also the last scene of the play, quotes motifs from many of the preceding scenes.
23	V-VIII battle	enigma; weave motifs
24	V-VIII Macduff kills Macbeth	weave motifs
25	V-VIII finale	weave motifs

DETAILS

Rosalia

Most of my music qualifies as formal; it is composed using various programs which implement apriori rules, and cannot implement anything having to do with feeling or beauty. I do, of course, listen to it, and sometimes munge it till it sounds better to me, but I wouldn't call any of it beautiful. And it's not the case that The music is ugly, as always in my compositions; it corresponds with my artistic and spiritual disposition. I would only write beautiful music, the world is unpleasant enough as is.

And then, very seldom, I get an idea which I like, and which, if I knew how, could become music. For instance, the overture:

is something that occured to me, complete, around 1965. It seemed (and still seems) ready to turn into a piano concerto, but... At the time, I called it Pavote, Intervention et Bruchollerie composées par ... et dediées à Mlle ... pour la Fête des Moissons and kept whistling it; there was a long time till I noted it down, with all the rhythm changes and the exotic scale, A minor natural excluding any G or G#.

BTW, this may be part of my musical personality (style? let's not exaggerate). Macbeth's blues is also in C Major, omitting B.

One good reason for that is that an opera (seria) should end with everybody on scene. Then they can take curtain calls.

Besides, I don't think there is a clear cut victory of good over evil. The witches are ever ready to turn an upright hero into a criminal. The fact that the principals sing in the choir means that this fate may apply to anyone, independent of status. All in all, a very consoling thought about moral responsibility.

But then, witches don't particulary exist ...

C C# D E F F# G# A A#

C	D	D#	E	F#	G	G#	A#	B
C	C#	D#	E	F	G	G#	A	B
C#	D	D#	F	F#	G	A	A#	B

Anyway, the Overture uses

C

C#

D#

E

F

G

G#

A

B

C

E

G

whole tone scale:

C#

D#

F

G

A

B

BTW, "Bella figlia dell' amore" ( Rigoletto, Verdi ) is a bugle tune: