What's your favourite circle of fifths?

[amateur51]

A bit more help needed here. I know what a fifth is. I know what (diagrammatically) the circle of fifths is. Does this mean that a composer works her (heh, heh) way through that circle ...

@ your (heh, heh), ff

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Rarely through the whole cycle, frenchie, and often (as in the Mozart example mentioned earlier) "cheating" to fit in with Tonality (eg the Bass will fall - and it's always [?] a falling progression - G - C - F - B - E - rather than Bb - Eb).

There's usually a gorgeous sequential passage in the melody line(s) above, too.

[french frank]

Thanks fhg. The falling idea is a scrap that I understood. Perfectly

(Apols to AscribeUntoTheLad for taking things back to basics)

[Nick Armstrong]

A bit more help needed here. I know what a fifth is. I know what (diagrammatically) the circle of fifths is. Does this mean that a composer works her (heh, heh) way through that circle, in its natural order, in a particular passage?

This is quite helpful, especially if you can play through the illustrations at the pianoforte http://mailer.fsu.edu/~nrogers/Hando...ce_Handout.pdf

[french frank]

This is quite helpful, especially if you can play through the illustrations at the pianoforte http://mailer.fsu.edu/~nrogers/Hando...ce_Handout.pdf

Ha! downstairs to get this up on my laptop and sit at the, erm, Clavinova . Thank you.

[amateur51]

This is quite helpful, especially if you can play through the illustrations at the pianoforte http://mailer.fsu.edu/~nrogers/Hando...ce_Handout.pdf

The pianoforte being at the menders () I've set up my post-festivities glass harmonica & I'll let you know, Calibs!

[Nick Armstrong]

The pianoforte being at the menders () I've set up my post-festivities glass harmonica & I'll let you know, Calibs!

YAY! Film it and stick it on youtube, ammy !

[austin]

Some examples of bass lines here from Alex Ross from his book "Listen To This".

http://tinyurl.com/6ks5frq

[Finzi4ever]

if non-choral is allowed, the numerous examples in Mozart piano concertos are very enjoyable (IMO)

Staying in this rich vein, there's always the 1st movt of the D minor 2nd quartet in Haydn's Op.76 set (the one before the famous Emperor/Deutschland, Deutschland C major one). It's nickname is the "Fifths" for that very reason: wonderful piece.

[Vile Consort]

Bartok - first movement of Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste. All the way round, I think, and that is probably unique.

[rauschwerk]

A striking and beautiful example is to be found in Jerome Kern's All The Things You Are. Beginning in the key of F, the bass notes go: D-G-C-F-B flat_E-A (we are now in the key of A major) then D-G-C-F-B-E (we are now in E major after 16 bars). 12 fifths have been traversed but because two of them are diminished (jumping across diameters of the circle) we have not returned to our starting point. That's what happens in the following 8 bars (the bridge) and then Kern extends the return of the first 8 bar section to 12 bars in order to finish in the home key. What an excellently composed song this is!

The Bartok cited above is not really a circle of fifths: we have a series of fugal entries beginning on A-E-D-B-G and so on, making two circles going opposite ways. It's ingenious and beautiful but not a circle of fifths in the generally understood sense (meaning harmonic).

[Troublebob]

Does anyone know of a really perfect circle of really perfect fifths (avoiding the "comma")? I can't remember hearing about one but I'd be surprised if it hasn't been done.

[mopsus]

I'm not sure this was quite what people were asking for, but Beethoven's two Preludes Op. 39 traverse all major keys through the circle of fifths.
If you're interested in different tuning systems, you ought to explore this page http://www.prismnet.com/~hmiller/music/index.html and some of the linked pages, but you need a stiff drink to hand. Suffice to say that neither Ravel's Pavane nor Pachelbel's Canon will sound quite the same again.

[Flay]

Do the circles work in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere?

[mercia]

are there lots of circles-of-fifths "going on" in the opening section of the Mastersingers Act one prelude?
(it sounds as if there are)