Overture No. 6 in D Minor - William Boyce

Today I had the pleasure of listening to Adrian Shepherd conduct William Boyce’s Overture No. 6 in D Minor. The composer, William Boyce, lived and composed music in the Eighteenth Century. This overture is about eight and a half minutes in length, and is divided into three movements, the first being fast, allegro, the second slow, andante, and the last also fast.

The entire piece of music has a specifically Baroque feel caused by the instruments used and the way in which they are played. The first movement begins at a fast-paced tempo with a forte, or loud, dynamic, the meter being simple, duple meter. The dominating instrumental group is clearly the strings, and particularly the high, soaring sounds of the violin. The rhythm of the stringed instruments keeps the music in constant motion. The rhythm is emphasized by the way in which the notes are played repetitively in quick motions on the violin, which greatly pronounces the beat of the music. The violins have an intertwining effect, similar to that of polyphony, by the way in which different violins enter the musical phrase at different moments and play different but complementary notes. The climax is reached when a cello plays up and down a certain scale of notes several times as the violins play in a similar and repetitive way only in a higher octave. A cadence comes in the first movement, and the second, slower movement begins.

The second movement is defined by the introduction of the harpsichord, and wind instruments, as well as brass horns and violins. The dynamic is a consistent mezzo forte, medium loud, for the entire movement, but unlike the first movement, this movement is in a triple compound meter. This movement has a Baroque-like, royal sound mostly given by the harpsichord. Furthermore, this second movement has a repetitive theme that is played by one instrument, then followed by all other instruments playing the exact same theme, one coming after the next. Often, the horn will play a sequence, and the other instruments will sound as if they are responding to the horn. The light, airy feeling of the wind instruments gives this movement a more buoyant feeling than the previous movement. Another cadence ends the second movement.

The third movement, though also in a triple compound meter, is much faster than the second movement, and has a somewhat more serious sound because of the minor key that it is played in. The strings, harpsichord and brass instruments are most prominent. Also, the rhythm is pronounced just as is found in the first movement. The strings are not playing long, legato, sequences, but are mostly playing short, somewhat staccato notes that give each phrase of music constant motion. Each phrase is repeated several times and finally ends with a sudden minor chord which ends the entire piece of music.

Although each movement differs in dynamic, meter, and instrumental technique, they each gave a necessary contribution to make the Overture a complete piece of music which is exemplary of the 18th Century Baroque style.