From the opening three bars, it is difficult to tell what the meter of the piece is aurally.
Example 1 – Peter Mennin, Symphony No. 3, m. 1-3.
Example 2 – Peter Mennin, Symphony No. 3, m. 1-3.
Unless you are familiar with the piece, these opening measures can be felt as two beats to the bar, putting the first dotted half note on a beat. The horns reinforce this implied meter until the timpani plays syncopated off the written meter in bar five. It really is not until just before the primary theme that we get the sense of three beats to the bar as the steady pulse.
Example 3 – Peter Mennin, Symphony No. 3, m. 1-20.
The other rhythmic device that he uses frequently is that of motivic displacement. Mennin is different from other composers who play with rhythm and meter because he plays with his rhythmic motives within phrases.
First, take a look at the opening phrase generated by the motto theme. In this example, I have boxed off rhythmic motives that are displaced.
Example 4 – Peter Mennin, Symphony No. 3, m. 4-11, violin.
As you can see here, the half notes are on the beat the first time through, but are felt off the beat in the second instance. This use of rhythmic motives allows for Mennin to create a sense that the material is unified and is all generated from the same source, yet also creates a sense of diversity and interests in his themes.
In this next example, Mennin combines both these ideas together to create a really clever primary theme. The opening of this theme recalls the metric ambiguity of the opening bars. Even though the 3/2 meter is firmly established now, there is a clear relationship between this measure and the rhythmic grouping of the opening phrase. Second, the use of motivic displacement has created another level of metric ambiguity. These opening bars are more naturally felt in a 4/2 pattern, putting a strong downbeat stress on beat two of the second bar of this phrase. This is marked in the example below.
Example 5 – Peter Mennin, Symphony No. 3, m. 14-17, horn.
Notice how the same four-beat rhythmic motive is repeated here. Even though the pitch material is only remotely related, a strong four-beat figure is established on top of the dominant three-beat pulse. This metric ambiguity is heighted because the three-beat pulse is not emphasized during this passage in any form.
This leaves us with some interesting interpretation questions as a conductor. Do you emphasize the three-beat pulse when possible to heighted then metric conflict, or do you down play it to make the piece more fluid and take the edge off the theme? Should the ensemble play these “displaced downbeats” with the same emphasis as a downbeat, or should the syncopation be emphasized?
Since Mennin writes the piece in 3/2, I feel that the sycopated feel is very important to get across. The opening theme should be felt in three, giving a rather hard accent on the sycopated figure. In the primary theme, I would make sure the string pulse as clear as possible and put some weight to the pulse to emphasize the rhythmic complexity of the primary theme. The tenuto marks above the hlaf notes in the strings is a big ambiguous, but seems to suggest a pulsing figure.
This all plays very well into the idea that the primary theme is suposed to be lively and the second theme lyrical. Mennin acomplishes this through rhythm and meter in this symphony.
Works Referenced
- Mennin, Peter. Symphony No. 3. New York: Hargail Music Press, 1948.
- Mennin, Peter. Symphony No. 3. The Seattle Symphony, conducted by Gerard Schwarz. Delos DE 3164, 1996. Compact disc.
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