Sabre Dance
"The Sabre Dance" (Armenian: Սուսերով Պար) is a movement in the final act of the ballet Gayane, written by Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian and completed in 1942. It evokes a whirling war dance in an Armenian dance, where the dancers display their skill with sabres. Its middle section incorporates an Armenian folk song from Gyumri.[1][2] Due to its exceptionally exciting rhythm, the "Sabre Dance" established a place for itself in common concert practice, leading also to various adaptations in popular music. Its recognizable ostinato and popular melodies have made it a popular concert band piece.
The orchestral version is written in the key of G major. It starts out with a recognizable motif ostinato with the timpani and strings that can be heard throughout much of the piece. The upper woodwinds and keyboard percussion take an exciting dance melody, later accompanied by the low brass. Then the strings come in with a folk song melody. The first melody is then briefly recapitulated. Descending chromatic eighth notes bring the piece down to straight eighth notes on the note G in the low strings. The piece ends on ascending quarter notes in a F♯ pentatonic scale (against the G bass) to an open G octave.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Randel, Don Michael (1996). The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674372999.
- ^ Studwell, William Emmett (1997). The Americana Song Reader. Haworth Press. ISBN 0789001500.
